A day of sight seeing...

Apologies for the late post, the Internet is not particularly reliable over here and was unavailable last night. We began our first Sunday in Dehli by 'doing church' together in one of our rooms which was a great way to start the day. We had a time of worship followed by a short word from Georgi and some prayer. Along side all the excitement about what is to come from Monday onwards there are also some nerves about how we'll cope with what we find and how we can really make a difference to those around us in such a short space of time. We spent some time reflecting on how important it is to rely fully on God and what we need Him to help us with on a personal level as well as a team. God gave me an encouraging word to remind us that though we may be limited in what we can do to alleviate physical suffering, He is sending us out with the hope of Christ in our hearts. A hope that stands firm when suffering looks set to overwhelm and a hope that has claimed victory over death. If we step out in faith that the power of this truth and His Holy Spirit go with us I believe we can bring life and joy to those in Seelampur. We're all eager to get our Indian clothes on tomorrow and get stuck in! 

We spent the majority of the day visiting some of the famous land marks in Dehli which was fantastic , even with the drizzle! We started off by driving past the famous monument India gate on our way to Dehli's presidential palace. The grounds of the palace were very impressive and we were fortunate enough to see the official guards make their way through on horse back. We also saw a few monkeys which was very exciting! 

Our next stop was at the beautiful Lodi gardens (comparable to kew gardens perhaps) which were full of amazing birds and plant life. There were several famous tombs throughout the grounds dating from as early as the 1400's which had remarkable detail throughout the arch ways and walls. We stopped off at a quirky western restaurant called 'big chill' for lunch...we may have indulged in some rather tasty puddings too! :-) 

After lunch we visited another tomb which is the famous resting place of the Mughal Emperor Humayun, built in the 1500's by his second wife who supervised the project over the nine years it took to build! Thankfully the sun decided to appear at this point which was well received by everyone. Our final destination for the day was the Lotus temple of the Bahai religion, it had an interesting feel as it was very contemporary and beautiful from the outside but felt sparse and slightly empty from the inside. It was interesting to find out more about a religion that most of us had never heard of and it gave us an insight into the diverse and varied faiths existing in India. 

It's been a lovely day exploring more of Dehli together and we are all pretty keen to get a good nights sleep before tomorrow so I'd better round this up! I will just ask you to pray for Georgi who had to miss out on the last part of the day due to a persistent headache, she is doing a little better this evening but is still suffering with pain towards the back of her head and neck. Please pray that this would go away tonight so that she can feel fit and ready to really enjoy tomorrow. 

Thanks so much for all your ongoing prayers! 

 

God Bless,

Amy x