So, being back on American soil is not what I expected it to be. My squad literally landed less than three hours ago, and Angela Aston and I are already in our hotel room near the airport. It was a crazy adventure getting back here, and yet so easy compared to all we have been through this year.

We left our hotel in Delhi at 7PM on the 30th. My teammate Krystle stayed in Delhi, because she has other plans. We flew out of Delhi at 2:25AM THIS MORNING according to the international date line in a giant Airbus. At 7:25AM Germany time, we arrived in Frankfurt. We were there until 10:25AM, and then we started the second leg of our trip home as a squad in a double decker jumbo Airbus. We left Julie in Germany, and while we were sad to see her go, it was a happy moment too. 

Around eight hours later, we arrived at JFK airport at 1:00PM. I expected it to be strange. I expected it to be clean. I expected it to be crowded. 

What I didn't expect was the numbness. This feeling of...apathy. It was exciting to be able to understand every conversation around me, and to go into the Citizens Only line, or to be able to read every sign that I walked by...

It was the things I didn't even think about that surprised me the most. For example, this apple that I found in Germany:

Around the world, they grow normal fruits, and eat them the way they grow. They don't add chemicals, and they don't spray them with parasites. So, coming from normal sized apples to the genetically altered gigantic apples of the Western world was a huge surprise. 

I was also very suprised at how rude people can be. I mean, in south-east Asia it was culturally acceptable to call people fat. They will tell you if you look like crap, or if you are wearing something ugly. 

However, the rudeness that I was so used to before I left is much more shocking now. For example, Angela and I left the airport and stood in line for 15 minutes to get a taxi. When we finally got one, he was very grumpy. He didn't want to take us because our hotel is near the airport, and he was sick of staying around the airport. So, pretty much our first few minutes outside of the airport were sprinkled with the driver saying God and Jesus' names in vain and cursing and yelling.

To be honest, it was a very harsh reality slap. We are not outside of the U.S. anymore. For the most part, people were very kind to us around the world. They understood that they were getting paid for a service, and they respected us for that. 

However, America is not like the rest of the world. This place is a bubble like no other. 

And no matter how hard it is to integrate back in, I know that I am happy to be in my homeland. 

This transition is crazy. I know that my emotions will be a little crazy for a while, but I am realizing that I will need to be careful not to judge the people around me. Before the Race, I would have been sarcastic and rude back to the taxi driver. Instead, 11 months later, I made small talk and prayed for him. By the end of the ride, I told him we were coming off the the missionary field and that we had been flying for around 18 hours. He gave me a 60 cent discount and wished us luck. 

That moment gave me hope. Yes, Americans are busy. Yes, many can be rude and selfish. But they all have hearts. And Jesus loves them all. They don't understand slum children eating trash or women being used as sex slaves or babies dying of AIDS because their fathers were not faithful to their mothers. They have not experienced what I have experienced. So who am I to judge?

So, I think my motto for the next few months will be:

This month our main project was renovating a two room house in the red light district. SFI and Mary Wanless Hospital are working with the local CSWs (Commercial Street Workers) or the local women who sell themselves for money. This place is going to be used for the women who have come out the that life to make jewelry, dresses and other things to sell for their basic necessities. 

It was a huge project, which surprised me. I mean, two rooms? That shouldn't take very long, right? 

Well, here is a step by step look at what we did for two straight weeks:

(Kumar, the cutest little boy ever)

The majority of the children we are working with this month are dying. They are HIV positive, and their tiny bodies are like ticking time bombs. However, here they are simply called 'friends' to protect their identities. Of course, I know God could heal them. But none the less, their situations break my heart.

Or, at least it would if they didn't have so much joy.

So this blog is about them and their beautiful, joyful faces.

So, I love India.

We are doing everything I have wanted to do for the last 10 months: Medical, babies and relaxing! 

Anyways, we got the go ahead to blog now, so there should be a couple more blogs before the end of the month.

Thanks for reading!

It hit me at that moment that God was changing had been changing me since month one. When had that happened, and where was I?!

I cannot believe in five days I will be entering MONTH 11! My mind is literally melting from the prospect. 

We completed African ministry last night with door to door and a church service for the youth. Jake and I visited a few people, but no one gave their life to Jesus. Until the last house.

We met Joseph, a 19 year old secondary school student with a Christian mother. I started talking to him about why he didn't want Jesus, and he really didn't have an answer. And then Jake told him, not suggested, but told him that he had no answer. That something was holding him back, and that that something was not worth it. Jake also told him that God does not want to control him, but to live life with him. 

Joseph thought about that for a minute, then blurted out, "I want Jesus."

Jake and I were shocked, so we asked him some more questions to make sure he understood what we were telling him. He understood.

So, on our last ministry day in Africa, a 19 year old man was saved. 

Before this trip, I didn't really believe that all this craziness was worth the one soul we might save on the way. Of course I knew that it was, but I was sure that I needed to see a few hundred more come to Christ for this trip to be worth it.

But in that moment, sitting in this house in the middle of nowhere, watching a young man transform in front of me...

We had over 10 people give their life to Christ in the two days we did door to door evangelism. Three were muslims, and we found out later they are from the same family! It was a wonderful experience, and I wish I could share every wonderful moment with you all.

Thank you again to everyone who is praying for my parents. They are also my final supporters on this trip, but with the current situation if any of you can give some of the last $2,228.65 I have left to raise to take some of the burden off of them, it would be amazing :)