Three months ago to India
With zeal and excitement
A beautiful place it is and very cold for equatorian
To whom winter is alien
A mountain tortoise crawling in cold Mussoorie
But praise the Lord, adjustment was smooth.
Praise the Lord for friends He gave and good
American, Italian, French, German and Indian, ‘berhuud accha’ (very good)
However taking a bath here is not so good
It is a mini-project indeed
And no longer a daily affair
Plus no excellence in Hindi, just fair
Here resides beautiful mountains and fresh air
The Majestic mountains reflect the awesome God, the Creator!
The Creator granted my prayer, snow fell! Ineffable wonder!
Blessed with fun friends to celebrate Eve of Christmas and New Year
A new experience and beginning for the New Year
May my life bring Him glory in the year
And be alert to Him in my ear!
And all my years
Hallelujah!
Friday, January 22, 2010
God’s Goodness
Three months ago I set off for India with excitement, anticipation and zeal. And not without plenty of prayer and various support rendered by cousin, cell group, good friends and pastors.
I was very thankful for the special escort by Highpoint India director and wife to settle down near language school in Mussoorie (further north of Delhi ) for language acquisition.
Wolfsburn had been my dwelling place for three months. A beautiful and quiet place with a nice professor as my landlord.
Initial adjustment was the cold. It was too chilly for me coming from the equator. I met a pastor who had been to Singapore for bible school training for four years and was very understanding, nice and friendly. He immediately offered to lend me his hot air blower. I knew absolutely nothing about a hot-air fan! A fan that blows hot air! WOW! I felt like I was a ‘mountain tortoise’ crawling in the mountains of Mussoorie!
Then came the struggle with Hindi. The sentence structure is weird, a new discovery of the type of structure and the challenge to try to verbalise it by first twisting in my brain to reform the sentence from English to Hindi, subject first, then object, then verb..... and etc, etc...
The Lord blessed me with many good friends. Firstly I was introduced to two Godly American ladies, then my nice Italian neighbour and companion for three weeks. Thereafter a nice French lady for a month and a German man for a few weeks and a few very nice Indian friends.
It never dawned upon me that to take a shower became a mini-project that I had to ‘learn’. That is, to do it the quickest way with the least ‘suffering’ of cold while showering and after. First, I have to be sure to get all things ready, clothes, slippers, shower gel, shampoo, towel, change of clothes, etc. For one missing item may mean more or longer fighting of teeth! Plus, check that the sun is there, the electricity is not cut-off when the geyser is warming up the water, with either one missing, the mini-project fails.... However, I always feel great after a shower despite it is the winter season. ; )
After spending a few nights at friends’ place, I discovered a new way of taking shower that makes it more pleasant. Keep the room warm when taking a shower! How...!? Turn on the hot-air blower! That I did and kept my toilet door open and it became a more pleasant and enjoyable time when taking a bath. Great! : )
A day visit to Dehradun (the town nearest to Mussoorie) reminded me of my future reality in Delhi, noisy, crowded, dirty and sometimes smelly in the streets. For the first 15 minutes in Dehradun, I missed Mussoorie. I will need humility and wisdom to survive in Delhi.
Beautiful, tranquil and friendly Mussoorie. One cannot help but marvel at God’s creation, AWESOME! The mountains and the vastness and expanse of them speak of the ineffable beauty of God’s hand in creation. The overwhelming loveliness magnifies in my visits to the villages, there emerges the inexpressible splendour and peace as I admire His creation. Right here, I am so pampered with consistent pleasure to the eyes of the numerous attractive mountains within sight, and I am always amazed by the Lord’s majesty.
And there was the snow! I asked the Lord to grant me my wish to be able to experience and watch snow before I depart for Delhi and He did! It was on the 13 January 2010! I spotted it (with forecast given by a friend) at about 6:30am where it began, tiny bits of snow and slowly heavier. Marvellous, I was elated, filled with unspeakable joy! Praise the Lord! : O
Festival Celebration
And Christmas time was wonderful also. I was invited to stay over at friends’ place for some celebration of Jesus’ birth on Christmas eve and days prior to that was Christmas carolling in the cold, in the night time walking from house to house. It was great fun! And I was also invited to a very good Christmas dinner at a Korean friend’s house. And a special New Year’s Eve where I visited a place of interest in Mussoorie with a nice Indian man and had freshly squeezed fruit juice (for the first time after I landed in India) and was walked home safely. And on New Year’s Day, I played badminton! WOW! I did not expect to be able to play badminton, (one of my favourite games) in India, much less in Mussoorie! I had fun!
New Lessons learnt
I developed a different attitude to taking classes here. It is not all about my interest anymore, because having a lesson means income to the teacher. Once I was not feeling very well and was thinking of cancelling the class but I had to consider the fact that if I cancelled the class, my teacher has less income for that day, and I was the only student left for her in this winter period. Therefore, I motivated myself to go, not so much for myself but more for her on that particular day. This is different in Singapore, or at least I will have a different attitude to this back in my country. And the more important thing about having lessons or services (house helper or taxi) here is the relationship and not the ‘business transaction’, it is quite unlikely to have the win-win situation, and it is not the thing to want to strive for anyways, but the relationship.
Conclusively, relationships is the thing that I treasure most in my experience and time here in Mussoorie. Praise the Lord I have pleasant relationships built with people God put in my life. Some children in the Children’s Home where I volunteered to teach are close to my heart. Some great companions whom I share my time with as well and not forgetting my teachers too.
I praise and thank the Lord for a almost health-perfect, memorable and wonderful three months in Mussoorie. ; )
Left for Delhi on 21January 2010.
I was very thankful for the special escort by Highpoint India director and wife to settle down near language school in Mussoorie (further north of Delhi ) for language acquisition.
Wolfsburn had been my dwelling place for three months. A beautiful and quiet place with a nice professor as my landlord.
Initial adjustment was the cold. It was too chilly for me coming from the equator. I met a pastor who had been to Singapore for bible school training for four years and was very understanding, nice and friendly. He immediately offered to lend me his hot air blower. I knew absolutely nothing about a hot-air fan! A fan that blows hot air! WOW! I felt like I was a ‘mountain tortoise’ crawling in the mountains of Mussoorie!
Then came the struggle with Hindi. The sentence structure is weird, a new discovery of the type of structure and the challenge to try to verbalise it by first twisting in my brain to reform the sentence from English to Hindi, subject first, then object, then verb..... and etc, etc...
The Lord blessed me with many good friends. Firstly I was introduced to two Godly American ladies, then my nice Italian neighbour and companion for three weeks. Thereafter a nice French lady for a month and a German man for a few weeks and a few very nice Indian friends.
It never dawned upon me that to take a shower became a mini-project that I had to ‘learn’. That is, to do it the quickest way with the least ‘suffering’ of cold while showering and after. First, I have to be sure to get all things ready, clothes, slippers, shower gel, shampoo, towel, change of clothes, etc. For one missing item may mean more or longer fighting of teeth! Plus, check that the sun is there, the electricity is not cut-off when the geyser is warming up the water, with either one missing, the mini-project fails.... However, I always feel great after a shower despite it is the winter season. ; )
After spending a few nights at friends’ place, I discovered a new way of taking shower that makes it more pleasant. Keep the room warm when taking a shower! How...!? Turn on the hot-air blower! That I did and kept my toilet door open and it became a more pleasant and enjoyable time when taking a bath. Great! : )
A day visit to Dehradun (the town nearest to Mussoorie) reminded me of my future reality in Delhi, noisy, crowded, dirty and sometimes smelly in the streets. For the first 15 minutes in Dehradun, I missed Mussoorie. I will need humility and wisdom to survive in Delhi.
Beautiful, tranquil and friendly Mussoorie. One cannot help but marvel at God’s creation, AWESOME! The mountains and the vastness and expanse of them speak of the ineffable beauty of God’s hand in creation. The overwhelming loveliness magnifies in my visits to the villages, there emerges the inexpressible splendour and peace as I admire His creation. Right here, I am so pampered with consistent pleasure to the eyes of the numerous attractive mountains within sight, and I am always amazed by the Lord’s majesty.
And there was the snow! I asked the Lord to grant me my wish to be able to experience and watch snow before I depart for Delhi and He did! It was on the 13 January 2010! I spotted it (with forecast given by a friend) at about 6:30am where it began, tiny bits of snow and slowly heavier. Marvellous, I was elated, filled with unspeakable joy! Praise the Lord! : O
Festival Celebration
And Christmas time was wonderful also. I was invited to stay over at friends’ place for some celebration of Jesus’ birth on Christmas eve and days prior to that was Christmas carolling in the cold, in the night time walking from house to house. It was great fun! And I was also invited to a very good Christmas dinner at a Korean friend’s house. And a special New Year’s Eve where I visited a place of interest in Mussoorie with a nice Indian man and had freshly squeezed fruit juice (for the first time after I landed in India) and was walked home safely. And on New Year’s Day, I played badminton! WOW! I did not expect to be able to play badminton, (one of my favourite games) in India, much less in Mussoorie! I had fun!
New Lessons learnt
I developed a different attitude to taking classes here. It is not all about my interest anymore, because having a lesson means income to the teacher. Once I was not feeling very well and was thinking of cancelling the class but I had to consider the fact that if I cancelled the class, my teacher has less income for that day, and I was the only student left for her in this winter period. Therefore, I motivated myself to go, not so much for myself but more for her on that particular day. This is different in Singapore, or at least I will have a different attitude to this back in my country. And the more important thing about having lessons or services (house helper or taxi) here is the relationship and not the ‘business transaction’, it is quite unlikely to have the win-win situation, and it is not the thing to want to strive for anyways, but the relationship.
Conclusively, relationships is the thing that I treasure most in my experience and time here in Mussoorie. Praise the Lord I have pleasant relationships built with people God put in my life. Some children in the Children’s Home where I volunteered to teach are close to my heart. Some great companions whom I share my time with as well and not forgetting my teachers too.
I praise and thank the Lord for a almost health-perfect, memorable and wonderful three months in Mussoorie. ; )
Left for Delhi on 21January 2010.
After Snowfall
The topmost picture is the path and view right outside my cottage. The picture was taken a day after the snowfall.
The second from the top picture is on the way back from the village. I went for a pre-planned village visit with a team of Koreans and a local Indian, walking in the snow and rain! ; )
The third picture from the top is the heavenly view of the mountains after the snow... Awesome
The bottom-most picture is the view shortly after the snow fall stopped, the mountain was covered with snow, the picture was taken after a short time with the children in the villagers in one of their houses.
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