Ratatouille

Hey everyone! This is Hannah Novak, and today I'm going to tell you about the most disgusting experience of my life. Yesterday, we visited a Rat Temple in Deshnokh. The temple was beautifully ornate on the outside, but inside, the smell of rat poop overtook us instantly. There were rats scurrying across the floor and climbing all over the walls. It was obvious that the rats were diseased because their tails were falling off and their fur grew in clumps. The smell was putrid and everyone felt like their skin was crawling. The spiritual death I have felt over India was strongest in this place. I could feel God's heart breaking. But what affected me most of all was that these people were so ardently worshipping something so vile. Rats are small and powerless, and they represent everything dead and decaying. There were dead rats everywhere. My God is not dead. I worship a god that is HUGE and POWERFUL and GOOD, and it made me angry and sad to see people living in such darkness. Later, we visited the home of Blessy*'s father, who has been a pastor in India for 45 years.  We participated in a prayer service which consisted of traditional Hindi lyre music and traditional Christian hymns. It was a beautiful portrayal of the universal nature of Christianity. We were in a tiny room on plastic chairs singing out of ancient, poorly translated hymnals, but it was one the most beautiful worship services I have ever taken part in. These people are so on fire for God and its tangible. How unique to see so closely the juxtaposition between a place so dark and dead and a place so filled with the presence of God.

*Blessy is Veer's wife