Day 3: encouraging encounter

Not much to report today. Just another day of checking out the main shopping precincts of Bangalore. Augustine our supervisor spent a good 2hours filling us in on the history of India. Its amazing hearing the influences, the culture, the people, the religions, the conflicts, the good, the bad, everything that makes India, India.

Yet possibly the highlight of the day happened in the morning. My routine involves getting up early and sitting on the rooftop, reading my bible and getting to know Him more. There's no where better to read then just in the open air, soaking in all the sights and sounds of the streets of Bangalore. Yet one sound stood out from the rest.  I heard the  gentle sound coming from behind me, 'hello' and then again in all its gentleness, 'hello'. So i turn around, and there was a woman standing on her verandah calling out to me. It's our neighbour. Next minute, we were having a chat, but not any ordinary chat, this was a rooftop chat haha. only in India. We did the usual chats, 'who are you?', 'where are you from?' etc. Her name is Lena and she is a doctor. After some chatting she asks what i was doing on the rooftop. I told her i was reading my bible. Knowing that Indians are religious and are not afraid to talk about religion (actually they insist on it), I asked her if she was religious. Her reply was, 'yes, I'm catholic'. I was very curious and asked her for her story, how did she become a follower of Christ? Her story was one of amazement and encouragement. She told me that she had been Christian for 27 years, most probably being brought up in a Christian environment, yet, she said that it wasn't until the last 7 years that she's really known God. She told me that at that time her husband was diagnosed with a medical condition that would soon kill him. Being a doctor, she knew that this was the case. no treatment or surgery was going to fix him. Yet after praying to God, the miracle happened where her husband was healed and is alive today. Her heart and her church's heart is to share this hope, this message, this God to all her community. She was such a lovely lady that she offered to get her son to come pick me up and take me to her church on the weekend. What a kind soul, such hospitality and love for people, and she'd only just met me - sitting on a rooftop reading my bible. What an encouraging encounter.

one of the main streets in Bangalore

irony

old school building

dude with a bag on his head to keep dry from the rain....classic