Boxers or Debriefs?

Greetings -

Well, I'm back in Hyderabad again. We took the train all wednesday afternoon/night and arrived hear early thursday morning. This part of my trip is almost over. We finished the debriefing session for the OM interns today and I have got my train ticket down to Tamil Nadu to visit my friend Noah, which leaves saturday night. The debriefing has been helpful in guiding my reflection process, although I am approaching it slightly differently from the rest of the interns since I am not going back to the states yet (the rest of the interns are).

Probably one of the most impactful experiences thaat I have had so far has been my time in the classroom. Getting thrown into a class where I can hardly communicate has been both humbling and frustrating. Since my ability to teach was severely hampered, all that I could really communicate effectively was love. Even that was difficult. Each day I had to make a conscious decision to display the love of Christ to these children even if I could teach them nothing else. It forced me to be intentional about loving. I began to realize the weight of Jesus' command to love my neighbor as myself and my horrific failures to do so. Fortunately the greatest command is the basis for my love for others. It is by loving God with everything that I am only that I am able to love others. Loving is supernature. Please pray that I would abound more and more in it.

I am going to be doing quite a bit of traveling this weekend, as there is no direct train to Madurai. Because of this I will be doing a bit of train switching in the process. This is going to be made slightly more difficult because I am still experiencing some lingering effects from my ear infection, basically I just can't hear out of my right ear right now. It's supposed to get better soon, but it might make travel a little more difficult. Hopefully you will "hear" from me when I get to Madurai.

Kyle

AUI #5

My hair was getting a little shaggy so I decided to go to an Indian Saloon (that's how they spell it here) and get a trim. Once I got there I figured I would go the whole nine yards and get a shave too. What a great experience! Most of the haircut was what you would expect and the shave too, although I've never had that before so I'm not entirely sure. The best part, though, was the oil massage after the cutting was finished. It begins with the squirting of a large amount of coconut oil onto one's head, followed by a vigorous slapping and pounding similar to how one would knead bread dough. Then, to my delight, the saloonist strapped a vibrating contraption to the back of his hand and began to massage my head, neck, shoulders, arms, and back. It was glorious. All for $2.50.