On Friday another Korean team came to the school for the day. We had a project day planned out batik dye (similar to tie dying) some handkerchiefs with the children, but when the team arrived in a large bus and announced their plans to take the children to the zoo, project day was changed! Only a handful of the teachers went to the zoo, because the children were already outnumbered 3 to 1 by volunteers. Laura, Jana, and I stayed back and hung out in the office of the pre-vo school with Hema, the young woman who works in the office.

Seriously, I have been praising God a lot for the work he has done in Hema's life! She is only 29 years old, but has been through so much. Married when she was 16, Hema had her first son when she was 17 and her second when she was 18. Her husband physically and emotionally abused her continually for 3 years, and committed suicide when she was 19. This means that Hema has been a widow and single mother for ten years. She moved back to Mysore to live with her mother, and first heard about Jesus Christ from a relative who had begun praying to Jesus in the midst of her idol worship. Hema read the scriptures, abandoned her idol worship, and got connected with a local church. She has been such a blessing to me already. I had the plan to go to church with her one sunday, and then we hatched a plan to get Laura and Jana to come to church as well. Her church was having a special service today with the focus of inviting friends. Since I was already going, we knew that I could convince them to come with us. It worked! More about that later.

Another one of Laura and Jana's friends came to Mysore on Friday to spend the weekend, so we made dinner at the apartment and welcomed her. I've been doing lots of mendhi (aka henna, the beautiful skin designs that are common in India) for Laura and Jana because they are somehow convinced that mine are the best. About 3 hours on Friday night were spent putting intricate designs on their hands in patterns I had just seen in a book.

On Saturday we decided to take a trip out of Mysore to see Shravanabelagola, home of "Lord" Gomateshwara, the largest monolith in south India. Gomateshwara is a 3 hour bus ride from Mysore, so we left fairly early in the morning to make it by 11 am. The farmlands and small villages surrounding Mysore are picturesque and incredibly beautiful, so the bumpy and crowded bus didn't seem quite to annoying. The statue of "Lord" Gomateshwara stands 58 feet tall on top of a very large hill in the middle of the town. Around 1,000 steps were carved into the very steep slope, so we removed our shoes (because it's a holy place for Hindus) and began the climb. Because it's a site of pilgrimage, and because there was no lift, even 80 year old women in saris were faithfully headed up the hill to give their offerings to the monolith. There are several smaller temples at the top as well, so we stopped to see those before entering the large one where the statue rests. Ah yes, did I mention that the statue is completely naked? It's meant to symbolize complete holiness, as though he has nothing to hide. I took pictures, but may not post them on facebook? haha. Hindus bowed before the statue to pray, and a priest stood by the bless their foreheads and lay their offerings of coconuts, rice, and hard-earned money at the feet of the statue. Although it was an incredible sight to behold, I can admit to feeling both anger and deep sadness while visiting this temple. Satan is really good at deceiving people! The view from the top of the temple once we were finished seeing Gomateshwara was incredible.

Laura and Jana agreed to come to Hema's church this morning, which was very interesting. The assembly was much more charismatic than I am used to, so it was strange at times, even for me. Their worship was simple and heartfelt, but their pastor was ill this week, so a guest speaker delivered the message. It was a woman from Kenya who recently spoke at a conference in Bangalore and happened to be in the area. Although there was nothing wrong with her message, her voice registered somewhere around a scream for the entire sermon, which sounded like ranting and raving to Laura and Jana despite the topic: Christ's love for us. They also told me that it was strange to hear someone say "Hallelujah, Praise the Lord" at the end of every sentence. I enjoyed that each person in the room seemed to be involved in the service. Except for maybe the message, people felt free to share and pray and sing at any time. Laura and Jana were completely scared, however, when she began speaking in tongues during the prayer time after the message. Hema was so glad that we came, and introduced us to all her friends there. She told me to let her know if Laura and Jana asked me any questions today about the service, because she was very curious. She and I both know that they can be convinced to attend church while in India, but aren't likely to attend once they go back to Germany. Their comments today were, however, mostly of surprise at just how "crazy" things seemed. I'm definitely praying for them to ask more questions and to find the answers they need.

After church we went up to Chamundi Hill, which is the tallest point in Mysore, only a short bus ride away. We have a spectacular view of Chamundi from my apartment, but I hadn't visited the temple at the top until today. As the most sacred place in Mysore, Chamundi is a really big tourist place. The Golden Temple at the top was especially busy today. Hindus will wait up to 3 or 4 hours in lines that reminded me of amusement park lines in the U.S. to give their offerings at this temple. We saw the temple, but walked a bit further to the village of Chamundi which sits just outside the temple area. The view from the village of all of Mysore City was spectacular, and you could even pick out our apartment building from 3500 ft up. The best way to leave Chamundi Hill is to walk down maybe 3000 hand-cut steps to the city at the bottom. Some people even choose to walk up all those steps to get to the top. Women will mark the edge of each and every step as they go with red and orange holy powder all the way to the top. Halfway down the hill is Nandi, a giant stone bull, and another sacred place to give offerings and pray. Nandi was massive. And there were lots of people draping flowers on him and leaving burnt offerings around his hooves. Chamundi village was a very beautiful and relaxing place, so I will probably take a few more trips to the top before I leave.

If you remember, please pray for another good week at the school building meaningful relationships! On of Sunita's friends just arrived with her two young children and will be staying in the apartment with me (it's a 2 BR) basically until I leave. Please pray for good interactions with them, as she was not pleased with the cleanliness of the rooms last night and paid two Korean girls who live in the complex to clean them today. (I promise I had just cleaned!!!)

Love and miss you all!