the beginning of dharamsala.

I think I am in a much better place today than I was a mere 48 hours ago. Which feels like an eternity ago, btw.

I'll try to paint a better picture of Delhi, because I don't think that I was really doing it justice.

Delhi is dirty. Delhi is crazy. Delhi has flies everywhere. Delhi is smelly. I actually have clothes and a sleeping sack that still smells of Delhi. Delhi has chewed us up and spit us out and I am so thankful.

I think that coming off of 24 hours of traveling and then watching two team members get a bad case of something nasty from ICE CUBES, the eminent goodbyes to our friends, and the fact that we had a 16 hour bus ride ahead of us put me into a less than optimistic mood.

Now though, the air is sweet. And I did some shopping. So, life rocks.

Dharamsala is incredible. We're situated in the Himachal Pradesh region of India, almost to the foothills of the Himilayas...but don't let the "almost" fool you. Our guest house has the most exquisite view. We're tucked into a mountain and look out over several thousand feet at small villages below. There's a waterfall in the distance, and the snowline is a five hour hike north. This place is incredible.

I will say this about dharamsala though. There's a darkness here. I imagine that it's all over India, but it's this palpable yearning that the people seem to have. Like, they light up but are already looking for the next high. I can see that some feel full of life after some super spiritual experience, but they seem to droop within hours, wanting more.

So, prayer requests? For boldness. For wisdom. For joy. For delighting ourselves in the Lord and trusting that He's at work even if we can't see much beyond the smoke from the backpackers' temporary high.