Take A Walk In Calcutta, India

A friend of mine by the name of Josh Casper is spending a few months among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India.

Here's his most recent note:

I wish I had more of a capacity to explain my thoughts.

I have seen so much in only 2 days that I'm wondering where I'll be in 4 months. Calcutta wears her brokeness on the outside. There are some things I won't share on this blog..but perhaps a conversation over some chai. (which is oh so amazing here)

I'm sitting at a little internet shop. the blisters on my feet aren't very fun..especially when 'calcutta juice', as I like to call it splashes all over them due to the epic downpours of the monsoon season we arrived in. the rain is great. makes some things more difficult, but it's about 86 degrees here and is beautiful and breezy at night. when it's not breezy...it feels like walking down the streets of new orleans on a warm summer day.

i'll have to explain later my thoughts of the people here...and what it's like serving among the poorest of the poor. it's hard. children hardly wearing anything pull at my shirt...and my heart. upon arriving in bombay (mumbai), we stayed at a hotel after a greeeeat 15 hour plane ride. the hotel was heaven but on the ride there I saw two girls sleeping on the street. the size of my two little sisters. it was something I couldn't let go. I still can't...am I'm not sure if I ever will..I pray I won't.
i can't imagine my little sisters having to sleep underneath a doorstep their who lives...wearing the only scrap of dress they have.

sometimes. it's hopeless. and aggervating. none of us can really interpret what we're feeling...but, without hope there is nothing.

so...I'm gaining hope. God had to have made so many Indian people for a reason..right? They are some of the most beautiful and couteous people I've met and interacted with. but, there are exceptions.

Prayer is something done as I walk...as the blisters ache my feet and my sinuses make my head feel as if it were about to explode...I pray to not forget what I see. The air here is heavy. polluted. one main reason for this great 'groggy' feeling..heh.

blisters are nothing. sinuses are nothing. i have medicine for that.

know that I'm here to see what Jesus looks like in Calcutta. I'm here for them. i'm here to serve among the poor..not TO the poor...this is something I'm having to learn quick. you will burn out quick if you don't.

big week ahead. going to momma t's houses and learning the public transportation routes which are...yikes...intimidating...but we'll be okay.

love you all. remember us in your prayers. remember the people in the city of joy. words cannot describe the beauty, the sadness...the hell...the salvation and the love that is here.

namashkar.

jc

If you would like to keep up with his trip you can at his blog appropriately titled "My Journey to Calcutta..."