Another long Sunday

We went on a long journey to a village church today. The church took almost two hours to get to and it was way out of town. We were told we should visit this church to give them encouragment. When we arrived they were not quite ready for church so we went to a home next to the church to visit some of the believers. The one young mother that we visited was anxious to tell us her story. I included a picture of her, her children, and friend. She introduced us to her two children. One was a boy of about 7 years and the other was a 1.5 year old girl. She said that she lost her two middle children in childbirth. I am learning that many of the village people lose children in childbirth becuase they do not go to the hospital and have very poor care. The woman was so thankful for the little girl who had been born healthy and stayed healthy. She said that she is struggling very much because her husband has left her and moved in with another woman. He is still married to her though and he comes by once a week to give her 50 rupees (1.25$) and to check on her. The mother in law still lives with the woman and the mother in law is very mean to her. It is common for the mother in law to be harsh towards the daughter in law here. This woman will live a very difficult life because of her husband. She will not be free from his family but will be somewhat of a slve to them. Eventually the mother in law came in and the woman was not allowed to talk to us any longer. The mother in law wanted to take Moriah to the church and care for her during the service. I decided that was not best. I kept Moriah on my lap. Moriah was a little fussy today during the service so I spent most of it out on the "porch" of the church, sitting on the ground rocking her. She was very tired today. She fell asleep nice outside in the shade but then all the village people wanted to come see the white baby. I was drawing quite a crowd and Indian people do not believe in letting a baby sleep. They always pinch their cheeks and try to wake them up... I dont know why... So I decided I should go back into the church building so Moriah would not get woken up. She did okay in there. Dad yelled loud once during his sermon and that scared her but other than that she recovered nicely:)
A lady in the church provided a meal for us afterwards. It is very nice of them to feed us but it is such a struggle for me in paticular. They serve so much rice and they put spicy gravy on it with chicken and vegetables. I have been eating Indian food for 5 months and I still have watery eyes and a runny nose every time. They always think I am getting a cold because I have to keep my nose from running the whole time. It is pretty amusing. Plus I am still learning to eat with my right hand... I am not as skilled at this as Rob:) The portions are huge and they are very offended if you do not eat it ravenously like it is the best thing ever. Rani helps arrange the meals during the week at the mission and she tries hard to make things that I would like. She has made me french fries a couple of times by cutting potatoes and frying them... She adds hot pepper and curry but it is still a nice treat. She also makes an interesting version of spaghetti for me which I appreciate. So all of this is to say that we are not wasting away by any means but we are definately still adjusting:)
It was 3 by the time we got home. Rob left for a memorial service for Marion Damon at 4. Moriah and mom were just too tired. Moriah and I napped and snacked the rest of the day away:)