Why does God always take me seriously when I make these promises to Him!?!

I should have known. I mean, when you end a blog with "Here I am. Send me." what can you really expect?! I'll tell you what you can expect:

A) Your visa to re-enter India will be denied
B) India will make a new legislation stating that anyone with a tourist visa must wait a minimum of two months before they can re-enter the country
C) God will make you an ITINERARY of the next weeks of your life

So I can't get back into India. Jay called yesterday afternoon from the Indian consulate in Kuala Lumpur to say that there is NO WAY I can get back into India before March 9th, even if I had a visa (and my visa application was denied...what they failed to mention at the Visa office was that you have to wait a min of one month after your visa expires before you can re-apply for another.) So I had some quick decisions to make. Since I was mis-informed about the new policy and everything, they were willing to grant me a transit visa to get me into India for a week and a half, until my visa runs out (Feb 9th), so I can retrieve my stuff (like 80% of my stuff is still there...all I brought to Malaysia was my backpack, a purse, and a mini-duffel), but then I would not be allowed to re-enter until April 9th. However, if I were to stay out for another 6 weeks or so, I would be able to re-apply for my visa and re-enter the country by about March 15.So talking back and forth with Jay and Steph, we came up with a plan, that I think is ultimately God's will, and has come together in a really cool way, even if it means I will have to postpone my return home. (Come on, you're probably so used to me being gone, you won't even miss me! Plus...I'm not really sure I could handle the cold weather...it is 37 degress here!)

So, here goes! This is Jay's proposed plan for me for the next few months:

Jay postpones the flight I had booked to India which flies out on Sunday night with the other interns, and re-books for mid-march. I go with Jay and Steph and the other interns to Singapore so they can catch their flight, and then Jay and Steph and I stay in the the airport overnight to catch our flight the next day (Monday) to....Manila! Since Jay is not allowed back into India either, he and Steph really wanted to stay together, especially after having been apart for so long this past semester. So the three of us will spend three weeks in Metro Manila, working with the torchbearers there, in high schools, teaching english and values, and helping at a student center. We are even planning on heading out to that midwifery school on one of the other islands to visit! Three weeks is as long as we can stay for free, otherwise we'd have to buy visas for a longer visit, so after that we plan to fly to....Jakarta, Indonesia! We will meet Jeff and Allison, who are flying there right now, and be there altogether for a week, while they show us what they have been doing (working in an international school, teaching/assisting teachers). After that first week, Jeff and Allison will fly to the Philippines, and Jay and Steph will take off as well, and I'll be there, staying at a family's house who are friends of Jay and Steph, and brother to the torchbearer reps in Indonesia. A few more weeks there...(I think 3??) and I will fly back to Kuala Lumpur on the ninth of March to re-apply for my Indian visa (it is the best place to get it, in other places I can't necessarily get it). I am giving myself plenty of lee-way for delays, and will probably book my flight for the 18th, just in case. I can stay at Harvest Haven, where I've been for the last two weeks, and help out there as much as possible. Once my visa is cleared I will fly to India, finally!, to go back to Green Valley, and maybe even the orphanage for a few weeks.

Surprised? No more than I am!

My heart is amazingly composed at this point. I can't explain it, but I feel like God was planning this all along. It has all come together so easily, and somehow, I feel like God was working in me beforehand to prepare me. Like I said in my last post....making me ready to go anywhere for Him. And here I am! Lauren and her Best Friend off on another Crazy Adventure to find and love and learn with new people way across the atlas. It's a bigger plan than even my imagination could have come up with. Praise the LORD, my completer, the one who begins a plan with the end already in mind.

Your prayers are needed now more than ever...but fear not, I'm in the best of hands :) Love to you all from this side of the globe...