Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures

scenery shot from the bus window

Our time in Hyderabad was spent as guests of our dear friends Sagar and Kaliani as they became our guide’s for the wedding of Sagar’s brother, Vijay. We kicked off the time with shopping for sarees, kurtas and shalwars (traditional Indian clothing items), had the chance to go to a dedication of an indigenous church, and got to enjoy all of the trappings of a wedding weekend (including purchasing bangles, which made the other girls beside themselves with joy). One tradition that we got to enjoy was the groom preparation ceremony. After a time of blessings offered and prayers given, the ceremony devolved into a festive party, celebrating Vijay and his new life. Of course, this is India, so celebrating involved a massive dance party (Bollywood style!) and the tradition of covering the groom with paint. And maybe also covering all the guests in paint.

The wedding itself was so much fun to be a part of. I was honored that we were invited and included the way we were. All told, the time in Hyderabad was one for the memory books – I got to wear a saree, got henna on my hands, took fancy photos with the team and got caught up in the joy that swirled all around me.

Another fantastic highlight of the trip was the afternoon we got to spend having tea and conversation in Sagar and Kaliani’s home. I had the privilege of knowing Sagar when he was at Truett and it was fantastic to see his life in India and how he has carved out life for himself since leaving. It was an honor to have them share their souls with us for that time.

Stay tuned for the next installment: iPhones and camels: juxtaposition in jaipur

Just to clarify. These signs were everywhere in Hyderabad.

Our first order of business was the purchase of appropriate clothing. While the guys quickly picked out their wedding kurtas, the girls got swept upstairs to begin with our daily wear – shalwar kameezes. We then headed downstairs to be fitted for our wedding sarees. Shout-out to the men, who waited paitently during that four-hour shopping process.

The saree store. INSANE.

Getting henna done for the wedding!

Vijay’s preparation ceremony – getting covered in curry paint

CJ and Katie cannot believe they have their faces covered.

Mal struggles to take photos with her face painted

With Michael in our wedding wear!

Kari and I in our sarees

Mal and I react to how ridiculous our lives are at that moment

Stroope and the girls in our wedding finest

Pictured above is the Mango Tree Temple, nestled inside the massive temple in Kanchipuram. Our tour guide told us that this was the temple you went to worship at if you wanted a spouse, or if you had a spouse, you went to pray for children. Most of our marrieds stayed far away, but us single folk traipsed through in hope. You enter right here and then walk around the tree counter clock-wise. Once you reached the entrance again, you were met by a priest standing in front of an altar. He then sprinkled white power into your cupped hands and placed a blessing on your forehead. A pretty straight forward process.

Except, of course, for me.

I somehow got separated from the rest of the team and ended up in the middle of what I can only assume is the Indian version of the YaYa sisterhood. Giggling young women around my age surrounded me as I approached the priest. He asked my name and I replied, “Kristen.” He then placed the dust in my hand and replied, “Name.” Confused, I said, “Kristen.” Because, you know, that’s my name. One of the women crowded in next to me said, “No, he needs to know the name of the man you are to marry.” Confused and feeling a little bit snarky, I replied, “Zach Levi.” He then nodded, placed more dust in my hand and some on my forehead and I was sent on my way.

Thus, if I ever meet/marry Zach Levi, I’m converting.

(For anyone who doesn’t know, Zach is the star of the television awesomeness Chuck and is pictured here: )

kanchipuram was in the middle of a festival so it felt like a meeting had just let out. people EVERYWHERE.

Our time in Mamallapuram was short – although, to be fair, our time in each city was short. After arriving on Sunday night at the Ideal Beach Resort (which, trust me, was ideal), we took a bit of a death march down the beach into town so we could call home and check email. For me, it was the first time I got to check in with my parents. I know I’m a jetsetter-type and I have never chosen to live near my parents, but that does not mean I don’t love to hear their voices and crave hugs sometimes. Anyway, we then hiked back to the beach (during which I got to have a fantastic conversation with Michael) and settled in at the resort for a fantastic dinner.

The next day is one that goes down in history as “The Day I Got Engaged to Zach Levi Without Ever Meeting Him”. But before we get to that, let me say (in full knowledge that I need to type more about Hindusim): Hindu temples are where life is lived. In the same fashion as the rest of the country – there is no divide between sacred and secular. So, in the three temples we toured that day, we saw people eating their lunches, doing their homework and worshiping any number of gods. There aren’t really central worship times at most temples, so it’s constantly organized chaos as people swirl around you to find the shrines to their individual god. The first temple we went to was a temple to Shiva and we were escorted into an alcove to get prayed for and blessed by a priest. We went to two others that day, as well as some ancient ruins that were pretty rad.

Now, onto the photo tour! Tune in next time for Bangles, Sarrees and Kurtas, Oh My!: Or: Our Time in Hyderabad.

Cows. Everywhere.

This is our tour guide – whom we affectionately refer to as “Sindhu, Sindhu, Sindhu.” He’s demonstrating meditation position at the second temple we went to.

One of the crazy ancient sites we went to: this whole thing is carved out of one piece of rock. No, I’m not kidding.

Team upon our arrival at Ideal Beach Resort. We were greeted with flower necklaces, fresh lime sodas and bindi dots. We felt like heaven.

Walk down the beach next to the Bay of Bengal. No big deal.

Main temple in Kanchipuram – which is a suburb of Mamallapuram. Easily the biggest, most chaotic and one of the more fascinating temples we went to.

Team at Temple

Walked out of lunch to see elephants on parade. Once again, no big deal. (There is no place like India. No where.)

Also, Michael got to celebrate his birthday on the beach in India. Memories, eh?

chennai is located in the state of tamil nadu and the native tongue is tamil

I know I promised in the last post that I would be talking about temples, but that is actually going to wait for one more city. I’m splitting up time in Chennai with time in Mamallapuram. Sorry if this causes emotional distress to any of you.

What I remember about the travel process to Chennai is being completely exhuasted. We took off from Hong Kong around midnight, landing in Delhi for our layover at around 3am and then finally landing in Chennai shortly after 11am. I was so ready to be horizontal. This is also a pretty decent time to mention that my feet did not love India. I think the total blister count was around fifteen – including one that the team referred to as the ‘toe tumor’ because it was almost larger than the toe itself. (by the time we hit Hyderabad, they were much better.)

One of the statements made about India is that is an assault on your senses. This is completely true. India does not allow you to ignore it – the sounds, the smells, the odors, the masses. India crawls right up and demands to be dealt with. As we drove from the airport to the YWCA where we stayed that evening, our bus was silent save for the sounds of camera shutters. I’m sure some of it was jet lag, but I know some of it was that none of us were quite sure what to do and how to process everything we were seeing. I’m still figuring out how to describe India – but I will make this statement: life is lived outside. Constantly. Laundry, bathing, cooking, eating; life happens on the street. It’s an amazing juxtaposition.

We spent that day settling in (and I desperately tried to get the swelling in my feet to go down!) and attempting to rest. We only spent one night and a portion of a day in Chennai. The morning was spent in church at an Anglican Church of Scotland – complete with giant eagle podium – and then we did the tourist thing for a wee bit of the afternoon before loading a bus to drive to Mamallapuram. I have thoughts about the church… but those are for a later post. Here’s a quick photo summary of our hours in Chennai. After the quick photo tour – be sure to tune in tomorrow for the story of how I went to Mamallapuram and got promised marriage.

The little vehicle in the foreground is a auto-rickshaw – affectionately called a ‘tuk-tuk’ because of the noise they make as they drive. We took these frequently and they were my favorite mode of transport.

They had these signs all over the place and they always made me laugh. Always.

We thought this meant ‘no bugles.’ Instead, it meant ‘no horns.’ Considering, as Casey said, the horn business would be good to go into in India, that made more sense.

Just in case you were wondering, seeing cows everywhere never got old.

Housing happens wherever you can find it

The Apostle Thomas – of doubting fame – reportedly made his way to India shortly after the Day of Pentacost. There is a vibrant faith community still in India that traces itself back to Thomas – calling itself MaraThoma Christians. However, it is not just the MaraThoma who claims Thomas’ contact with India. Pictured above is his “tomb” – complete with creepy wax figure.

After a long flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, we landed in the city of four thousand neon signs. Our first stop was Starbucks (to demonstrate our devotion) and then we made our way to Sha Tin and the top of the hill to check in at our lodging, the Tao Fong Shan Buddhist-Christian Conversation Center. A charming retreat center with fantastic beds, shower pressure and free internet – we were thrilled. After quick showers, we made began what is affectionately known as “The Death March” by past teams. Stroope’s goal is to conquer jet lag and he does that by not allowing us to rest until after dinner. We walked down the hill (and looked like a living, breathing Kashi add) and walked to the ferry and took the ferry and went to the top of Victoria Hill and took pictures and and and… The last part of the death march was a walk to this noodle shop that Stroope claimed he read about in the New York Times. We got exceptionally lost and ended up eating possibly the worst meal of the trip. I *heart* paying for lame ramen. However, despite the lame ramen – I loved this day. I loved walking around Hong Kong! Walking around a city always makes me feel like I know it better – I would much rather meander through a city than ride in a big tourist bus. While I was only in HK for a few days, I want to go back. I loved the bustle and the chaos. It felt like London and yet completely different and that was fantastic.

The next day was a day full of conversations with American expats navigating life in Hong Kong. It was one of the first times of the trip where I really had to confront the fact that my faith paradigm is not typical for American Christianity. It may be to generic to say that I don’t fit in the faith paradigm of my home culture – so forgive me if that sounds crass – but I’m still figuring out to express my feeling of un-fitted-ness. I am not judging – honestly – there are just simply things taken for granted that I no longer believe to be complete truth. I know that’s a cryptic comment and one that needs to be unpacked with care. But this day was a bit of a preview of things to come, as I spent most of the trip wondering where the separation was between gospel and culture. Of course, to be fair, I’ve been questioning that boundary for a few years now.

One of the highlights of the trip (I think for all of us) was a meeting with Sam Say of Bolaven Coffee. Bolaven is the a sustainable cooperative of organic coffee growers in Laos. As Sam told us his story and the story of the farm, it became more and more clear that this was a special thing that I wanted to be a part of. Thus, I hereby encourage you to purchase this coffee and to support a farm based on excellence and equality.

After that conversation, we headed off to the airport to board our flight to India! Next up on the recaps: templetastic blessings for marriage: or, our time in chennai

Many of you have asked many wonderful questions about my time in India and I thank you for your comments and emails as I traveled. I’m glad the follow-along-blog was a good idea! In light of your questions and the fact that I have a 15 page reflection paper looming on my “to-do” list, I thought I’d start the process on here. I plan on doing a city-by-city general summary of what happened and some thoughts.

So, first off, PASADENA!

After the first few states of our month-of-excessive-time-spent-in-airports, we made it to LA and got a first-class introduction to Los Angeles Traffic. It’s okay, though, because along the way we got to meet Creepy Wall Jesus (who doesn’t know what to do with his hands) and got a classic reaction from Stroope to some LA fashions. After sitting on Broadway for the longest time, we made it out to Pasadena to stay at William Carey International University. Throwing our bags into our rooms and quickly freshening up, we made our way to the house of our hosts for an excellent evening of conversations and questions. This evening is also where the blog title comes from, as Stroope made us introduce ourselves in alliterated form. So, for example, I was “charismatic Kristen.”

The next day was a full one. After a morning at church (which I have thoughts on), we headed out to Malibu. We met some students and had some time at the Malibu Hindu Temple – which is the second largest in the United States – and had our true first introduction to Hinduism. I plan on blogging about the monster known as Hinduism at a later date – but know that it both makes complete sense and no sense at all. The temple was a great introduction to some of what happened over the next month.

Then we headed out to the beach (drove past Pepperdine and felt horrible for Ken Starr and his change of scenery) and hiked down to Point Dume beach for conversations and bonding with some of the students who attend Chaiwalla at USC.  Then the day was topped off with time at the Glenn’s house for a LOST finale party. For the record – I am pretty annoyed at the finale. I am open to being less annoyed once they release the whole thing on DVD and I get a chance to re-watch everything, but right now? NOT COOL.

Our last day in Pasadena was a fairly academic day – so, of course, I loved it. We chatted with Varun Soni, the Dean of Religious Life at USC, who is also the first Hindu person to serve in such a position in the United States. He was gracious with his time and gave some valuable perspective on the system we were about to swim in. The afternoon was spent with H.L. Richards, who is a preemminent scholar on the interaction between Hinduism and Christianity. Also a valuable perspective.

As we boarded the flight that evening to Hong Kong, I had many thoughts swimming around my head. There was a lot of conversation about community and what community could look like. What does ‘doing life’ with Indian students living in the United States look like? A completely communal culture intersecting with a completely individual one – what boundaries need to die for those two to do well together?

Also – we spent a lot of time before we left studying how Hinduism and Christianity intersect in India… but this was the first time it occurred to me that they would intersect differently in America. How does folk Hinduism interact with folk Christianity?

I was honored and humbled by the people who opened their lives to us for those few days – both our hosts and the Chaiwalla students who were willing to be grilled mercilessly – and how I hoped to be able to be that for others. We talked about what makes a job ‘enough’ and how we judge ourselves against our calling. We talked about balancing sabbath with productivity and how leaning into questions is really the only way to survive life.

I remember feeling really antsy as we spent time in LA – ready to “start the journey” and get the trip underway. Now, as I reflect back, I realize that many of the questions I asked throughout the entire trip were responding to conversations over this period of time.

next up: walks of death to noddle shops (or: our time in hong kong)

So, I’m back from India and I’m just beginning to figure out everything that happened. If you’re a faithful reader of this blog, look forward to hearing more about my trip – my reflections, my pictures, my witticisms. However, today, I thought I’d go with my “summary of the month” motif and give a highlight summary of each day.

May 22: Left Waco EARLY in the morning (before the sun was up) and spent the day traveling
23: Had a LOST finale party and am still annoyed about that finale
24: In one of my favorite conversations of the trip, we got to chat with Varun Soni who is the Dean of Religious Life at USC. He’s the first Hindu person to hold such a position at any institution in the U.S. and he offered us valuable insight into Indian and Hindu culture and the interplay with the United States. We boarded a flight that night to leave for Hong Kong.
26: Landed in Hong Kong (after loosing a day to the International Date Line) and marched around all day, getting to know the city and attempting to stay awake. We took the Star Ferry from one island to the other and experienced Hong Kong cuisine. Hotel: Tao Fong Shan
27: Conversations with knowers about life in Hong Kong. I had blisters that had blisters on my feet, but I persevered! We also had one of my favorite meals of the entire trip – Dim Sum!
28: Met Sam Say of Bolaven Farms and decided that I want to be involved in this man’s work somehow. After a quiet afternoon at Tao Fong Shan, we caught a midnight flight to Delhi

29: After a long journey, we finally arrived in Chennai. The drive from the airport to our hotel was a overload of sights and sounds and an excellent introduction to India. Hotel: YWCA
30: After attending church in the morning in Chennai (a deeply Anglican church that could have literally been on the Ormeau Road in Belfast), we boarded the bus for the drive to Mamallapuram. We walked on the beach next to the Bay of Bengal and enjoyed our fantastic room at the Ideal Beach Resort
31: TempleTastic Day! I got blessed for marriage, walked out of lunch to see elephants on parade and saw statues that were from the 6th century

June 1: Spent most of the day traveling to Hyderabad but spent the night shopping for proper wedding attire! Saree shopping is intense, y’all. Hotel: Club View Hotel
2: Sang at a church dedication, got henna on my hands and attended a Banjara groom preparation ceremony. AMAZING day.
3: Attended Vijay and Priyah’s wedding in full garb. Watch out for a full blog about this – it was intense.

4: Travel to Cochin. While at the Hyderabad Airport, got to talk to Sarah which was dearly needed. Hotel: can’t remember the name but it was right on the Arabian Sea. Ridiculous.
5: Sabbath Day! Team meeting in the A.M and truly odd oil bath in the afternoon. But overall, excellently restful day, capped off with watching the sunset over the Arabian Sea.
6: Toured Cochin – saw Jewtown and the Royal Dutch Palace of Kerala. Topped off the evening with possibly the oddest theater experience I’ve ever had.

7: Travel to Jaipur and our entrance into North India. Hotel: Madhuban Guest House.
8: Conversations and interactions with knowers and exploration of Amber Fort. To say that Mike – the architecture geek – freaked out is an understatement.
9: Instead of hanging out with the team as they walked around Jaipur, I hung out with Dustin and we had a doctor come visit us and diagnosed us both with pre-pneumonia. So we had great conversations and watched old episodes of 30 Rock. Then, at night, the whole gang went to Chocki Danni (which we affectionately call the Rajasthani State Fair). Highlights included a man-powered ferris wheel and camel riding.

10: Travel to Calcutta and our last domestic flight of the journey. Hotel: Fairlawn Hotel
11: Quiet morning of exploring and lunch included one of my favorite conversations of the trip. The afternoon included a tour of Mother Theresa’s house and I am still awed and humbled by her life and choices.
12: My head chose ‘no’ to life and so I spent most of the day resting processing and thinking. The silver lining was more good conversations
13: Worked at PremDan – the Missionary of Charity’s Home for Physically and Mentally Challenged Adults. Lots of thoughts about this – look for a further blog
14: Quiet day in Calcutta spent talking with people back home and people on the trip
15: Another day of random errands and saying goodbye to Calcutta. That evening was spent at the Calcutta Train Station, waiting on our train to Varanassi which was delayed by 8 hours. But yeah, India via train is an experience.

16: After getting of the train in Varanassi, we made our way to our hotel which was right on the Ganges River on the Assighat. As Cara Jane so eloquently said, we arrived at the bottom of the well. After settling in and getting a great lunch, we took a boat down the river and had a conversation with a Hindu Christ Follower about how he dances out his faith
17: Visited the Monkey Temple, attended the evening puja to the Ganges and traveled most of the day by cycle rickshaw. Crazypants.
18. Definitely my “it’s time to go home” day. After waking up seriously early for a sunrise boat ride down the Ganges (which was excellent and enlightening), we drove to see Buddha’s tree of enlightenment and then sat in a super hot hotel room, watched the first half of the US v. Slovenia game and then schlepped to the train station. Now, friends, I love India. But the Varanassi Train Station doesn’t fall anywhere in that love. It was a situation.

19: After arriving in Agra and at the super fabulous Trident Hotel, we went to the TAJ MAHAL. That’s right, one of the Wonders of the World. Ah-mazing. Oh, and I may have realized I had an absessed tooth. The trip largely became about pain management at this point.
20: Traveled to Delhi and checked into the Swargarath Hotel
21: The morning was spent at the Sikh temple where I got to help make chapati and had easily one of the holiest moments of the trip. We then got to see where Ghandi was assassinated and had one of our last team times over a pizza party in Stroope’s hotel room.
22: Spent the morning affirming the goodness and strengths we found in each other – I found out that I’m a Banyon Tree – and then began the process of traveling home. We made a brief detour to the house of some friends and had a final puja and then drove to the Delhi airport for the first of three flights home.
23: Landed in Hong Kong, then landed in San Francisco, then landed in Dallas. Craziest thing was that my parents were waiting in DFW to surprise me!

Clearly, there are many stories to tell from this trip and many things left to process. I have myriads of questions – ones that I’m not sure have answers and ones that I’m sure must. I plan on typing many of my thoughts out, but I know that many will linger for years. My trip to the bottom of the well and back shaped me in ways I am only beginning to understand.

I’m sure are you’re reading this, I’m on my couch, hovering around consciousness and trying to re-orient myself to Waco.

Thanks for following me as I’ve journeyed. I look forward to conversations where I can more fully explain what I’ve experienced. In the mean time, keep your eyes peeled on my Flickr page as I post pictures in the next few days and weeks.

Thus concludes my Indian Follow-Along-Blog. Thanks for reading.

And this is what we’ll be seeing when we finally leave an airport next….

After saying goodbye to our teammate Andy in Hong Kong (so that he can do his mentoring there for the rest of the summer), we’ll be returning to Texas via San Francisco. Theoretically, we land at 7:40 CST in Dallas – but this is international travel, so who actually knows. I’m going to look like death getting off that plane – let’s hope that people still chose to love me once they see me. I’m sure that if you asked me about the trip at this point in the journey, I’ll grunt and tell the funny stories. Check back with me in about two weeks as I begin to translate my groanings into words. I know that I will not be the same – I never am after accumulating another passport stamp. I can only hope that as I continue to experience other cultures and peoples that I am transformed by them into a better version of myself.

Quote of the Day

“Those like myself whose imagination far exceeds their obedience are subject to a just penalty; we easily imagine conditions far higher than any we have really reached. If we describe what we have imagined we may make others, and make ourselves, believe that we have really been there…” – C.S. Lewis

“There is no place like home.” – Dorothy Gale of Kansas

the Red Fort in Delhi

There is far too much to see in this city in two day’s time, so I’m sure I’ll leave feeling slightly unfulfilled. We’ll be spending a majority of our time on this last day in conversation with Jesu Bhaktas – Hindu Christ Followers(HCF). We’ll have our farewell dinner as we attempt to end well with the team and continue to lean into the questions posed to us by the HCFs. What does it mean to be a HCF? Why is the title of “christian” deemed inappropriate by some Hindus who chose to follow Jesus? These are questions that are probably best discussed over coffee so I hope we get to do that once I’m back stateside.

We won’t head to a hotel tonight, but instead transfer to the airport for the long night flight to Hong Kong.

Quote of the Day

“The idea of the church without mission is an absurdity.” – Vincent Donovan, Christianity Rediscovered