"What IS that?"
"Look at the bright side! You have to eat it, cuz that's all you're gonna get =D."
"...That's not a bright side at all D:"-brian
"...That..was my knee popping out of its socket. . .And refusing to pop back in."
".....o__o"
"...Yes. It's extremely painful."-brian
"I would be really upset if this plane were to crash right now."-beth
"Hey Hannah, do you notice all the masks that the flight attendants around here are wearing? But they don't hand any out for the passengers to use..now it's either just me, or is there something they're not telling us."- eddie
" 3:50-We eat raw salmon. Possibly the strangest thing I eat the entire trip, and I ate everything that came my way. Brian tries to eat the whole thing in one bite, and this is a mistake"-beth
"Sara! Brian's hitting me!
...Saraa! Brian's still hitting me!
.....Sara!! Brian took off his shoe and is hitting me with iit!"
"Wait--he hit you with his shoe?!"
"...Well, metaphorically."
God blessed me with a row family of Beth, Brian, and I all seated in a row in the back of the plane, with Michelle and Joe sitting in the seats right in front of us =]. Perfect head petting distance! And pet we did <3 . And poke at, and played trivia games with, under the guise of cover names such as Rick, Chan, and Stef (?). We watched Bolt, passed around a Captain's Log, Brian's knee popped out of its socket and in that process of us panicking probably subtracted a good few weeks from both me and Beth's lifespan, ate airplane food, and survived the seemingly all powerful suction of the airplane toilet flushing. And all in this process made an amazing discovery!
The Crazies hang out in the back of the plane < 3
-Navreena and Joe playing elementary school clapping games
-Eddie and Brian singing along to Prince Ali from Alladin
-Beth being the amazing trivia game champion
-Beth and I falling asleep on Brian's shoulders till it went numb
-Eddie exposing Brian's shoulders to us as pre-used, by him
-Eating meals together -somehow finding every other piece of trash from Brian's tray ending up on mine
- And finally -SUCCESS BAG # 1
When I survived the landing without needing to use the provided barf bag. Yay =D
Only a few hours into this and already Bethany Sekishiro had been the blessing and amazing sister that God promised her to be. I don't even remember the context of the conversation, but I think I mentioned feeling like I hadn't been very good at sharing my faith or something. And she shrugged it off, but did so quite sincerely with the response that I'm sure God had been wanting to convey to me for weeks.
"It's the Holy Spirit, Hannah. Good thing it's not you. It's the Holy Spirit =]."
It seems super basic, but answered so many questions. It isn't up to me. It isn't the number of books I read or the correct approach or even the words that I think I'm making up myself as I'm conversing with someone. It isn't my job to convert or to convince people. That's something the Holy Spirit does in their lives. I'm not necessary, and I'm not performing in any way.
Also the night before, Brian and I ate dinner together and I got to tell him some of the doubts that had been on my mind. His advice was just as basic and direct, plus some Brian insight that he would lovingly give to any of his friends.
"You're lucky you're not a guy, Hannah. Or else I would SMACK YOU UPSIDE THE HEAD right now =D. "
Hahaha xD. That's basically all it took. Or it summarized, and he explained eventually, what he meant. All these things I was putting on my plate, was not for me to try to solve or resolve on my own. They weren't solely in my hands, in fact, some things I should trust..no...all things, I should trust as not in my hands at all. They were things I could only doubt and worry and be anxious over. But God had already provided the answers. And the anxiety was from me doubting those answers, and His ability to care for me and have things under control. The inability to trust in the power of His will, and trust in it as what's best.
I deserved the mental/hypothetical smack =]. What else are friends for?
Eventually as the flight went on, I remembered I only had one hour of sleep. I had no idea how I was still awake, but I knew I couldn't until I could get myself to process some things before I did. I reflected on the things and events that had been preoccupying my mind the weeks before leaving for India.
Even to the last minute, my time was spent with those issues instead of with God. I realized the extent that my heart had been neglecting aspects of my faith and even just how much I had put Jesus in the back burner as I continued to be proccupied by other things that I thought for some reason required more attention for me to feel at ease. I apologized for the way my heart had strayed..and I think with that, whether I was aware of it or not, began to close the doors on the life I was so preoccupied with before.
The journey itself from San Francisco, to Hong Kong, to India was like a whole nother mini chapter of its own. Something to get through to get to the other side. We didn't know what to expect, and we knew whatever we did expect would probably get blown away anyway once we encountered whatever was on the other side of those terminals. I'm not quite sure when it was that home ended and India started.
And even now as I'm thinking about how it felt to be there,
I'm still trying to figure out where India ended and home started.
And it's not going to.
That makes more sense.
Whatever happens there, or has been happening there will keep happening with or without us there to witness it. The work and miracles God is doing in people's lives there, is happening as we speak. In every moment of every day, people are suffering, people are crying, people are breaking...but also..people are healing. And that's something that doesn't end. That's something not in our hands that God is doing, has done, and will continue to do. To the places seemingly unreachable to us. And if anything it makes me realize...that we're the ones who sometimes insist on being unreachable ourselves. Running away, or belittling, or being apathetic to the miracles that happen around us every day.
India will keep happening. It was just a little over two weeks, a few days over fourteen days. In those 14 days, God healed. And will continue to. There are still. so. much. people. hurting.
I want India to remain a part of my life forever,
as small as two weeks might be to hundreds and hundreds of days.
Whatever we saw or learned or touched or were allowed to be a part of in India,
isn't something that we have to limit in our lives to stay at -just- India.
It was all part of the journey I guess..
I didn't know what to expect, or what not to.
I didn't know what I'd remember or forget.
I didn't know, and still kinda don't know if I have the right to make the claim
that 'this experience changed my life.'
Because two weeks is still just a part of it.
To say that would mean that I'd need to live up to those changes,
I claim to have happened.
Maybe that's the real reason why I hesitate?
...But on an unrelated note.
"Look at the bright side! You have to eat it, cuz that's all you're gonna get =D."
"...That's not a bright side at all D:"-brian
"...That..was my knee popping out of its socket. . .And refusing to pop back in."
".....o__o"
"...Yes. It's extremely painful."-brian
"I would be really upset if this plane were to crash right now."-beth
"Hey Hannah, do you notice all the masks that the flight attendants around here are wearing? But they don't hand any out for the passengers to use..now it's either just me, or is there something they're not telling us."- eddie
" 3:50-We eat raw salmon. Possibly the strangest thing I eat the entire trip, and I ate everything that came my way. Brian tries to eat the whole thing in one bite, and this is a mistake"-beth
"Sara! Brian's hitting me!
...Saraa! Brian's still hitting me!
.....Sara!! Brian took off his shoe and is hitting me with iit!"
"Wait--he hit you with his shoe?!"
"...Well, metaphorically."
=.....the people you eat it with =]
God blessed me with a row family of Beth, Brian, and I all seated in a row in the back of the plane, with Michelle and Joe sitting in the seats right in front of us =]. Perfect head petting distance! And pet we did <3 . And poke at, and played trivia games with, under the guise of cover names such as Rick, Chan, and Stef (?). We watched Bolt, passed around a Captain's Log, Brian's knee popped out of its socket and in that process of us panicking probably subtracted a good few weeks from both me and Beth's lifespan, ate airplane food, and survived the seemingly all powerful suction of the airplane toilet flushing. And all in this process made an amazing discovery!
The Crazies hang out in the back of the plane < 3
-Navreena and Joe playing elementary school clapping games
-Eddie and Brian singing along to Prince Ali from Alladin
-Beth being the amazing trivia game champion
-Beth and I falling asleep on Brian's shoulders till it went numb
-Eddie exposing Brian's shoulders to us as pre-used, by him
-Eating meals together -somehow finding every other piece of trash from Brian's tray ending up on mine
- And finally -SUCCESS BAG # 1
When I survived the landing without needing to use the provided barf bag. Yay =D
Only a few hours into this and already Bethany Sekishiro had been the blessing and amazing sister that God promised her to be. I don't even remember the context of the conversation, but I think I mentioned feeling like I hadn't been very good at sharing my faith or something. And she shrugged it off, but did so quite sincerely with the response that I'm sure God had been wanting to convey to me for weeks.
"It's the Holy Spirit, Hannah. Good thing it's not you. It's the Holy Spirit =]."
It seems super basic, but answered so many questions. It isn't up to me. It isn't the number of books I read or the correct approach or even the words that I think I'm making up myself as I'm conversing with someone. It isn't my job to convert or to convince people. That's something the Holy Spirit does in their lives. I'm not necessary, and I'm not performing in any way.
Also the night before, Brian and I ate dinner together and I got to tell him some of the doubts that had been on my mind. His advice was just as basic and direct, plus some Brian insight that he would lovingly give to any of his friends.
"You're lucky you're not a guy, Hannah. Or else I would SMACK YOU UPSIDE THE HEAD right now =D. "
Hahaha xD. That's basically all it took. Or it summarized, and he explained eventually, what he meant. All these things I was putting on my plate, was not for me to try to solve or resolve on my own. They weren't solely in my hands, in fact, some things I should trust..no...all things, I should trust as not in my hands at all. They were things I could only doubt and worry and be anxious over. But God had already provided the answers. And the anxiety was from me doubting those answers, and His ability to care for me and have things under control. The inability to trust in the power of His will, and trust in it as what's best.
I deserved the mental/hypothetical smack =]. What else are friends for?
Eventually as the flight went on, I remembered I only had one hour of sleep. I had no idea how I was still awake, but I knew I couldn't until I could get myself to process some things before I did. I reflected on the things and events that had been preoccupying my mind the weeks before leaving for India.
Even to the last minute, my time was spent with those issues instead of with God. I realized the extent that my heart had been neglecting aspects of my faith and even just how much I had put Jesus in the back burner as I continued to be proccupied by other things that I thought for some reason required more attention for me to feel at ease. I apologized for the way my heart had strayed..and I think with that, whether I was aware of it or not, began to close the doors on the life I was so preoccupied with before.
The journey itself from San Francisco, to Hong Kong, to India was like a whole nother mini chapter of its own. Something to get through to get to the other side. We didn't know what to expect, and we knew whatever we did expect would probably get blown away anyway once we encountered whatever was on the other side of those terminals. I'm not quite sure when it was that home ended and India started.
And even now as I'm thinking about how it felt to be there,
I'm still trying to figure out where India ended and home started.
...Maybe India never ended.
And it's not going to.
That makes more sense.
Whatever happens there, or has been happening there will keep happening with or without us there to witness it. The work and miracles God is doing in people's lives there, is happening as we speak. In every moment of every day, people are suffering, people are crying, people are breaking...but also..people are healing. And that's something that doesn't end. That's something not in our hands that God is doing, has done, and will continue to do. To the places seemingly unreachable to us. And if anything it makes me realize...that we're the ones who sometimes insist on being unreachable ourselves. Running away, or belittling, or being apathetic to the miracles that happen around us every day.
India will keep happening. It was just a little over two weeks, a few days over fourteen days. In those 14 days, God healed. And will continue to. There are still. so. much. people. hurting.
I want India to remain a part of my life forever,
as small as two weeks might be to hundreds and hundreds of days.
Whatever we saw or learned or touched or were allowed to be a part of in India,
isn't something that we have to limit in our lives to stay at -just- India.
It was all part of the journey I guess..
I didn't know what to expect, or what not to.
I didn't know what I'd remember or forget.
I didn't know, and still kinda don't know if I have the right to make the claim
that 'this experience changed my life.'
Because two weeks is still just a part of it.
To say that would mean that I'd need to live up to those changes,
I claim to have happened.
Maybe that's the real reason why I hesitate?
...But on an unrelated note.
That ramen at the HK airport was effing good <3 .
Journal Entry Excerpt:
"I got my hair stuck on the hanger knob on the backseat of the person in front of me.
Brian and I are like the obnoxious kids in the backseat of a long road trip.
Secret #1: I am Rick formerly known as Chan.
Secret #2: Brian is Stef. Joe is suspicious. As he should be.
6:30
"I woke up to a surprisingly peaceful, at ease, feeling...and looked up to see that Brian wasn't there =P"
I think almost everything is worth writing down.""I got my hair stuck on the hanger knob on the backseat of the person in front of me.
Brian and I are like the obnoxious kids in the backseat of a long road trip.
Secret #1: I am Rick formerly known as Chan.
Secret #2: Brian is Stef. Joe is suspicious. As he should be.
6:30
"I woke up to a surprisingly peaceful, at ease, feeling...and looked up to see that Brian wasn't there =P"
