Not just another sunny day

Lara and I decided to wear our salwar
kameez to church on Sunday

The last several days have been both eventful and relaxing. Nepal is a restful change from our hot, fast-paced India experience - but that comes later. First, there is much to tell of our last day in Delhi.

We woke on Sunday morning with enough time to get ready and eat breakfast before walking to church. Prior to our departure, Faythe had asked a former missionary to India if he could suggest a good church to attend. He gave a couple of options, and after looking up their statements of belief on the church websites, I chose the Delhi Bible Fellowship. It just happened to be about a fifteen-minute walk from our hotel!

We arrived to the service a few minutes early, with just enough time to find seats and take in our surroundings. To our delight, the church filled with mostly Indian Christians, a large number of other Asians, and very few other faces that looked like ours. The service was in English and began with worship at 9:30.

Church on Sunday morning at Delhi Bible Fellowship

The pastor preached a sermon on divine healing. Before he began, he mentioned that many of the congregants had been asking what the church believes about healing. It was awesome to know that this sermon was an intentional part of the discipleship process for the Indian believers in that church. The sermon was very well-done, and all three of us took something away from it. What an amazing thing to be able to worship and learn with Christ-followers halfway around the world!

After church, we decided to take the metro to see the Jama Masjid, which is the largest mosque in India. The mosque is in Old Delhi - a far cry from the metropolitan streets in the newer part of the city. Dozens of power lines adorned the streets, which were crowded and dirty with people buying and selling everything from fresh fruit to rubber tires. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant per the guide book's recommendation. After eating, we crossed the street to the mosque and had what was likely one of our least favorite experiences of the trip. It was probably a more difficult experience because we were three young women touring a religious building highly dominated by men.

The white building on the left is a Hindu temple,
the middle domes are part of a Buddhist temple,
and the left dome is part of the mosque we visited

We left the mosque intending to visit next the memorial at the sight where Gandhi was murdered. Unfortunately, we discovered when we arrived that the memorial was closed because the prime minister from some foreign country would be touring the next day. At this point, Faythe was beginning to feel really ill, and after some trouble finding the metro again, we headed back to our hotel. Since it was not quite evening yet and we had some shopping we wanted to do, we left Faythe in the room and headed back to Connaught Place - home of the "hassle-free government emporiums."

Our primary objective was to purchase tea and honey, though, of course, we found a few other things that sparked our interest. After buying those few "other" items, we searched for a store that sold tea and honey. The directions that we received from some kind Nike store workers were to no avail, as the small store that they sent us to was closed. We wondered what to do for a moment, when Kelsey spotted a couple sitting on a bench and decided to ask for help.

We found out later that we had interrupted them in the middle of an argument. Nevertheless, this unlikely couple became our friends for the next hour or so, as we went on one of our most fun adventures yet. The woman (whose name I don't remember now) offered to walk us to a store where we could purchase tea, rather than to simply give us directions. We were very appreciative, since following someone's directions in an unfamiliar country where you don't speak the language can be rather difficult. Her English was excellent, and as we walked, we discovered that she was a very well-educated assistant professor of sociology.

They were so nice! (This is outside
of the Bengali sweets shop.)

Much to our chagrin, the store that she and her husband took us to was also closed. She told us that many of the stores are closed on Sundays because it is a holy day for both the Hindu and the Muslim religions. After a quick discussion, the couple offered to take us to another place, not far away, where there would be an open market. We would need to take an auto rickshaw, but they would go with us and show us where to buy the tea. As the four of us squeezed into the rickshaw Indian-style, I asked Kelsey under my breath, "Is this crazy?" Overhearing my question, our new friend spoke up, "Oh, no, you're fine. You can trust me! There are many people you can't trust, but I'm a teacher!"

As promised, we soon arrived at a little market, where we were able to buy the tea and honey - now a highly-valued commodity, considering the lengths we went to to find it. After we completed our purchase, the husband asked if we would like to try some Indian sweets. Across from the little store was a Bengali market, which displayed desserts in glass-covered cases, like a bakery. They ordered us the wife's favorite sweet: rasgullas. These cottage cheese balls covered in syrup were certainly a new taste for us!

After that, they took us back to Connaught Place by rickshaw. We headed back to the hotel on the metro and crashed. Our flight to Nepal wasn't until the early afternoon, so we had time to pack in the morning. Read on to here about our adventures in the Kathmandu Valley!

PS Lara wrote most of this one.