Saturday afternoon, we went with Bro and Sis to the new land that they are about to purchase. This land is for the new homes that they want to build- a boys home, and a separate girls home, a women's shelter(for the sex workers), a hospital, and a chapel. They are so excited for the dreams that God has given them-they have the money for the land but that is it right now. The new building will have central air too! It is 45 minutes away from the Red Light District (RLD), while the home now is RIGHT INSIDE the RLD. This will be a good move because the kids/women will not be able to see their pasts right outside their window every day. Leela and Easo are happy to bring Jesus to this village that is half Muslim, half Hindu. There is a Poly Tech University being built right next to their land and an English training school is about to be built across the street! How awesome is that!?
Well we were there for over 2 hours and Jodi and I had decided to sit in the car for a little bit. This gentleman brought us over some lays chips and we ate them and had some water and I some Gatorade too. All of a sudden, I got a pain in my back-I though I was about to start my you know what. But then the pain concentrated itself right about my right hip on my back. It continued to get more and more sharp, more and more excruciating. So anyway I had only told Jodi about it and I layed on her lap as we left for home. As we got on the road, I was in SO MUCH PAIN I could not sit still to save my life. I was so close to biting the seat just to take my mind off of the pain. (This whole thing is SO weird, btw...never had this happen before). So next thing I know, I have to puke. Praise God, we were stopping to get some Pepsi at this place so as soon as we pulled in, I opened the door and threw up everywhere. Ugh. SO then Brother and sister realized that I was sick and they got a little flustered. She came and rubbed my back, gave me some water and a washcloth and he went and got me some Pepsi to calm my stomach. They asked me if I wanted to go the DR and I said no, I wanted to just wait it out for a bit. So after I vomited 3Xs, the edge of my pain went away. I came back to the house and slept until the pain was gone. I am assuming that it had something to do with a heat stroke...
So in chatting with the Daniels the other night, I found out about the terrible reality of Devadasi temple Prostitution. In an excerpt from Beyond the Soiled Curtain by David and Beth Grant, they describe this phenomenon:
"Amy Carmichael, better known in India as Amma (meaning mother in Tamil), was a pioneer in ministry to sex-slaves. Though she started her ministry more than 100 years ago, she is the one whose path we followed into the work of healing young girls trapped in sexual slavery.
Historically sex was a form of worship. Sometimes it was even required. A man would have sex every day as a part of his daily worship. It was not unusual for man to go to the local temple to have sex. Families gave a daughter to the temple, normally at the age of 12, as an offering to the gods. In doing so, they believed they would be blessed.
Many girls were sexually enslaved, and are still at much younger ages. Some girls, then and now are as young as 7 years old."
This is so hard to me to wrap my mind around-families give their daughter up as a sacrifice, donating her to the temple's priest? The priest and his servants are then able to have sex with the girls as much as they want. This goes to show how much the enemy has people in bondage without knowing the Father. With that, a lot of the brothel owners are Muslim and they perform ceremonies on the girls regularly, offering them to the gods and filling them with spirits of lust, sexual desire, etc. When most of the girls come out of this industry, it is only the Father's grace that can cover their deep dark pasts and cast away their oppression/possession.
The women in the Indian culture do not call their husband by his first name; they do this as a sign of respect. Each man has a designated pet name and his wife will only call him that. Interesting, huh?
Last night, we went to a place that is a faux "Rajasthan"-a state in India. This state is full of desert and Nomads-the people there are very very poor. Well there is an exhibit type place that is a representation of Rajasthan. They have puppet shows, dancers, a fire breather, a magician, henna, pottery making, tight rope walkers, a camel to ride, and they serve dinner. It was so fun to see their culture and watch them perform. Most of the dancers had us get up on the stage and dance with them! haha. I got to ride an "Indian Camel" so that was pretty cool. For dinner, we sat on the ground and were served by all these teenage boys a vegetarian meal. I had no idea what most of the food was, as I normally don't here, but it was delicious and filling!
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