Christmas

As some of you may know, I had the opportunity to come home for Christmas! And it’s quite a story. The whole trip, from beginning to end, is a reminder that God is truly in control.

Everything was out of my control from the very beginning. On December 11th, I realized that the plane ticket I originally bought wouldn’t get me home next summer like I planned, at least not without a very large fee. I was left with an un-refundable ticket home, and since most of the office would be off for Christmas anyway, I decided to use the ticket and spend Christmas at home. Less than a week later, I was on a plane headed to the States.

I was so excited for a chance to go home. But I was also sad for my friends, who I knew would have loved to see their families for Christmas, but who would be remaining behind. “Who knows?” said my friend as I described my conflicting emotions, “Maybe there’s a reason God has you coming home, and them staying here."

I decided to treat the entire trip as a giant Christmas present from Jesus. It was amazing how much I was able to do. In the same two-week period, I was able to visit with my boyfriend and his family, be there for my brother’s 18th birthday, spend Christmas day with my family, attend my roommate’s wedding, visit with friends from high school and college, and spend time with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents at our annual Grimes family Christmas gathering. Everything was timed so perfectly. It was clear that God was orchestrating this adventure for me.

But on New Year’s Eve, I still wasn’t aware of the full extent of God’s plan for this trip. I spent one last day with my extended family before my flight back, which was scheduled for New Year’s Day. As has become tradition, we went to catch a movie with our cousins (there’s a lot of us, with a wide age range, so we usually split up). I was sitting between two of my cousins, wondering what would happen after Jack slayed the giant who had just stomped on everything, when I heard a voice behind me saying “GG’s sick. We have to go.”

I remembered my aunt telling me earlier in the day that my grandma was sick, so I knew that if I was receiving this message again in the middle of a crowded movie theater that it was serious. We grabbed our coats and ran out of a still-dark theater and into the parking lot. “No, God!” I thought, fighting back tears as we rushed toward the car, “This CAN’T be the reason you brought me back here!”

At some point in the course of that hectic night, I learned enough to put together a story that highlighted the continuing theme of God’s timing. GG had experienced a sudden heart failure in her living room. My Grandpa and aunt found her, and called 911. Just as the dispatch officer was beginning to instruct my aunt in CPR, my other aunt, who is CPR certified, walked in the door. She immediately began the procedure, and continued for what must have seemed like an eternity until the ambulance arrived. As the ambulance drove toward the hospital, my family followed, certain that GG was gone. Much to their joy and surprise, the doctor at the hospital informed them that not only did she have a pulse, but she was responding to vocal cues as well.

As GG continued to improve and we began to relax, more stories of God’s timing popped up. Some of my family wouldn’t have known what was going on, but for my one-year-old cousin who happened hear his aunt’s phone vibrating in her purse and managed to grab it and toddle over to her. My cousins and I at the movie theater realized as we piled into the car that we were almost out of gas and didn’t know if we could even make it to the hospital in time (we did). My whole family happened to be in town for Christmas to help care for GG and my Grandpa, and my aunt walked in at exact right moment to save GG’s life with her years of CPR training. And I was there with my family through the whole process, instead of receiving frantic text updates from hundreds of thousands of miles away.

I am so grateful that I was able to be with my family for Christmas and during those chaotic couple of days. God may have led me across the ocean to a new place, but he also led me home right when I needed to be there. He put everyone exactly where they needed to be this Christmas. Anytime I begin to be afraid that something won’t work out (which I’m sure I will), I just need to remember this Christmas and be reminded that God’s timing is so much better than my own, and I can trust him to be in control of everything.

What's Life Like?

I've been living in South Asia for over 4 months now. And it's finally starting to feel normal. When I first arrived, I was so busy trying to mentally accept everything new that was being thrown at me that I didn't have the ability to realize how out-of-sorts I was. Now, looking back, I can see clearly the difference between my state of mind at the beginning, and my state of mind now. I'm feeling comfortable getting around on my own, and navigating the daily tasks of transportation, grocery shopping, and work. I've also made a great group of friends, both from IJM and from my church, that make going about daily life lots of fun.

The strange thing about living here is that it doesn't always feel that strange. It seems like every moment  should feel exciting and exotic, but often it just feels like I moved to a different town and started a new job. But then, just as I think everything is normal, something will happen to remind me that "I'm not in Kansas anymore." I'll describe to you what a typical day is like for me, and then let you be the judge of whether or not life is "normal."

I wake up in the morning, get ready for the day, and my roommates and I walk out of our apartment to catch an auto rickshaw to work. After about 20 minutes of dodging other vehicles and inhaling gas fumes I arrive outside the office. We pay the rickshaw driver (a little more than 50 cents) and make our way through the mobs of people on the street and into the relative peace of our compound.

Our day at the office begins with office devotions, where all the staff gather together to sing, hear scripture, and pray for the work that we will do that day. Everything is covered in prayer, from ill family members to office purchases to rescues and rehabilitation. Afterward, we find our desk or a quiet corner for half an hour of personal devotional time. At the end of this period, my team (the Administration team) gathers again to pray for our teams specific needs that day, and then the work begins.

So far, my jobs have included a wide range, from interviewing potential legal employees to designing posters for our office photography competition. Aside from the variety of "as needed" odd jobs, my main tasks include assisting the HR (Human Resources) department, managing the office timesheet and employee leave process, and helping schedule visits to the office. Since I have no experience whatsoever in HR or recruiting, the amount of responsibility I have came as a surprise to me. What kind of standing do I have, with my Bachelor's degree, to be trusted to interview candidates many years my senior in both age and experience? Recruitment is the job that's been assigned to me, so I take a deep breath and, ready-set-go, dive into the world of recruitment. I've been gathering that this is a common experience in IJM offices. "I'm sorry, I must have heard wrong. You can't possibly have just said that you want me to write a training manual for police in dealing with trafficking victims," said one of my colleagues. But here, things need to get done, and if you're the one available to do it, then your supervisors  trust you to do what it takes to get it done.

At about one in the afternoon, I take a break for lunch. I usually run down to the vegetarian restaurant down the street to buy something delicious to eat. Paneer biryani (rice with spices and cheese), idli and wada (fried and steamed breakfast biscuits, served with a yummy coconut chutney), and masala dosa (fried flatbread stuffed with spiced potato) are some of my go-to staples. Sometimes I'll order reshmi chicken (chicken cooked in a creamy spiced yoghurt sauce) from the non-veg restaurant around the block. I'll bring the food back to the office, where I head to the legal department to eat with the legal team and the other interns for lunch. Tastes of my coworkers' lunches are shared just as readily as stories and jokes, and after a nice break and a full stomach, I head back to my desk to start work again for the rest of the day.

At about 5:30 things start wrapping up, and my roommates and I head back out through the crowded street to catch an auto rickshaw back to our apartment. Our evening activities are as varied as the languages we hear on the street during the commute home. I might spend a quiet evening cooking dinner, reading, or catching up with family and friends. Or I might head to my friends apartment to borrow their blender to cook or to watch their TV. Or I might head out for dinner with the other interns or friends from church. The last couple weeks before Christmas, it seemed as if everyone leaving for home or having a birthday- that made for a couple busy weeks of both celebrating and saying goodbye.

On Saturday mornings I'll catch a rickshaw with my roommates to our friend's apartment where our church's small Bible study group gathers. Afterward we might to one of the nearby malls for lunch and a movie (complete with the national anthem and a 10 minute intermission that sometimes arrives right in the middle of an important dialogue), or even to HyperCity, the local grocery superstore. On Sunday mornings, we'll catch a rickshaw in the other direction to church, which is usually followed by trying out one of the many restaurants in the area with a group of friends from church.

I've described a typical week, but the events of each week are about as varied as the languages we hear on the street. And that's encouraging to me. It means I've found enough friends and activities for life to start flowing on its own. Although I miss my family and friends in the States, I'm so grateful for all I have here, and that I'm starting to feel at home.