first days in mumbai

mumbai is probably the dirtiest place i have ever seen. there is trash strewn about everywhere and the smell of smog is prominant, among other whiffs of unpleasant grossness. think of LA times 375839532.
i love it here, though. rev. wankhede has graciously opened his home to us and i couldnt be more thankful for a cold shower! it's very hot and humid here. the rain is starting soon, though. apparently it will cool off a bit, but i'm sure that will equal mroe humidity.

we have gotten to see a lot of things just walking around i could tell you about, but i don't have a lot of time.

today we visited the orphanage run by the nazarene church of a district here in india. it was an amazing experience i'll never forget . there were about 16 kids there, ages four to ten i think. they were all very small, though. i have never seen more well bahaved, sweet children in my life. they spent hours a day praying on their own, woke up at 5am for devotions, and had memorized (in marahti) every book in the bible, tons of psalms, etc. it was incredible. they were SO SO CUTE! they taught us their songs that they knew in english as well as some marahti songs. they all just embraced us with kisses the whole time. when they prayed, they really prayed. the littlest one was a girl about four, prana (i think). she led many prayers and was very articulate.
my favorite story is komala. she hung aruond me the most and kissed me constantly, and always wanted me to hold her. i later found out from rev omega that her father was an alcoholic, and would occasionally come to try and get her. komala would pack all of her bags, come downstairs, get to the gate and would go no further. she would wave "bye bye" to her dad, to show him the disappointment that he had shown her his whole life. she would walk back in with her suitcase, to show that this is her home now, and her home is not with him anymore. keep in mind this girl is no older than six.

i wish i could say more but others want to get online. i will hopefully have pictures asap! i have some really cute videos of their songs as well.