Final days in India

On Saturday, we took a trip to Karnataka to visit the Brethren In Christ church there.  The group had to split up for travel—some by van, some by bus and a few on a scooter—for a 3 hour drive!  We all arrived safely late afternoon on Saturday, with lots of stories to tell.  Everyone had an interesting experience with their mode of transportation. 

Our hotel in Karnataka was also an interesting experience.  We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Saturday night we spent time with Hephzibah’s family.  We shared a meal together and spent time sharing with each other about our roles within the Brethren in Christ Church and Brethren in Christ World Missions.  Pastor Aaron, Hepzie’s father, is the pastor of the church there, and Hepzie’s sister, Angel, leads the Kids Up ministry.  We learned that the church is definitely growing, but also experiencing a great deal of persecution.  It was exciting to hear how God is working through the leaders there to reach the neighboring villages as well.

On Sunday morning, Chris and Bruce shared in the church service, and a group of us helped Angel with the Kids Up program.  Amy read the Bible story of Noah’s Ark while the children held up animal puppets we brought along with us.  There were 60 children!  We didn’t have enough craft material to do crafts with all of the children, so we spent some time coloring with them. 

After church, we shared lunch with the family before traveling back to Goa.  We all split up again, either by bus, van or scooter and left for Goa. 

Today, Monday, we leave for the U.S.  We’ll first fly to Mumbai in the evening, then onto Newark, arriving early Tuesday morning (but it won’t feel like morning to us when we land!! Jet lag is sure to hit us soon).  Pray for safe travels as we make our final trip home.

Our two weeks in India and Nepal have gone by fast, and it will be hard to say goodbye to this part of the world.  But we are looking forward to returning home and sharing with many of you about our trip and our vast amount of pictures!!

Thanks for following along with us as we have travelled! We have greatly appreciated your prayers and support.

Our time in Goa

It’s been a few days, so we’ll try to catch up here.  The hours for the internet café are not always fitting into our schedule of when we can get there to update the blog.

On Wednesday, we spent some time in a town near Goa, experiencing the culture.  It is very warm here!  We all received our driving lesson to use the scooters here, too.  It definitely takes some getting used to.  They drive on the left side of the road here and there are also cars and other random things (people, pigs, dogs) to watch out for.  Everyone is doing a great job with the driving! 

In the evening, we also had the opportunity to spend time with Dan and Karen Deyhle and Cam and Hephzibah Deyhle and their team at their praise, worship and prayer meeting.  They have a ministry here called “Everybody Ought to Know” (EOTK).   They have been blessed with a facility (All Nations Center) to have all of their services.  They have various services throughout the week.  They also have a tailoring class and a photography class they have started to teach the people here.  After the service, we shared an Indian meal together in the home of the pastor.  It was a great time together. 

On Thursday, we went back to the All Nations Center for a few hours of sharing.  The leaders of this group shared with us about their ministry here in Goa.  People here are beginning to grow as amazing leaders.  It’s a wonderful thing to see.  They also asked us to share about our roles in the mission office and the things we are doing in the States.  It’s so exciting to see God at work all around the world. 

In the afternoon, we were part of the “Kids Up” ministry that the Deyhle’s have put together.  It is a ministry for children in a poorer section of town and it is done on the beach.  This particular time, there were 50 children!  They are so beautiful!  Time is spent singing, hearing a Bible story and playing games.  We helped out with the game time.  There were several things going on at one time.  Frisbees were being thrown, soccer was being played and they taught us a game that is very similar to “duck, duck, goose.”  We taught them “red light, green light” but realized that they have no idea what that would even mean.  There are no traffic lights here at all, so, we changed it to just say “red or green”.  They had fun with that game.

On Friday, we visited a local school where they provide free education for children ages 16-17.  They have classes six days a week.  They Deyhle’s have been partnering with this group while they have been here.  After visiting the school, we went to a local spice farm where the spices are grown.  At one point in the tour, they showed us how they climb the tall palm trees and swing from tree to tree (like a monkey!) to harvest the fruit.  They gave us an opportunity to try this as well.  Bruce did an awesome job!  In the afternoon, we went to Cam and Hepzie’s home for Cam to give us a “test run” of some of the material he is planning to use in the STEP India program later this year.  The STEP program is for anyone from the ages of 18-30.  It’s an internship where they can choose to either go to Honduras or India.  The team spends 3 months in discipleship training in New York and then spends 6 months in the field, either India or Honduras.  This year is the first time for the India program. 

We appreciate your prayers so much.  The team is doing well.  We have been blessed with safety in all of our travels and now, safety in the scooter driving.  This weekend, we would appreciate your prayers as we travel by bus, van and scooter (the group is splitting up and traveling various ways) to Karnataka.  We’ll be traveling on Saturday afternoon and coming back on Sunday night.  While we are there, we will take part in sharing with the churches, and offering encouragement to their leaders. 

Thanks so much for joining us on our journey!

Moving on to Goa

Since we didn’t have a chance to update you Monday or Tuesday, here is what we did on Monday.  We finished up the meeting with the church leaders.  There was a lot of great discussion on some very sensitive subjects.  God was definitely at work. The meetings were very successful and everyone felt blessed to be a part of them.

Late morning on Monday, a few of the team members went back to the SPICE hostel to spend time with the children.  We jumped in our rickshaws for another entertaining ride.  The children were all excited to see us again.  Some of them were in school, so we were not able to see all of them.  But, some of the boys found out we were coming and they left school to come back!  We weren’t quite sure how they found out we were coming back when we only decided we were going back to visit them a half hour before we actually got there!?  In any case, we were welcomed with lots of smiles and greetings.  We took a tour of the boys and girls dorms and then spent some time singing together.  They wanted us to teach them something “American”, so we taught them “If you’re happy and you know it…” and “the hokey pokey.”  They LOVED the “hokey pokey.”  They wrote the words down in English so they could continue to practice it. 

After spending a few hours at the SPICE hostel, we started walking down the street to find some rickshaws to take us back to the rest of the group.  A lot of rickshaws passed by us and we didn’t know why.  We found out later that they were on their “lunch break” so they didn’t want to pick us up.   After walking a bit, we finally found enough rickshaws to take us back.  We joined the rest of the team and church leaders for lunch.  They offered us a special treat for dessert—ice cream cones!  We were all very excited!!

About 4:00 in the afternoon on Monday, we left for the airport for our flight back to Kathmandu.  When we arrived at the hotel in Kathmandu, we found out that there was no electricity…and, that the electricity would be on from 1:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.  WHAT?!  Who needs electricity at those hours?!  Needless to say, there was no hot water, so not many showers were taken! And the elevator was not available to use because we had no power, so we dragged our baggage up 4 flights of stairs…quite the workout, but we were grateful for the exercise, since we had been spending much of our time sitting in traffic or on an airplane.  We all went to a restaurant for a very late dinner and called it a day around 11:00 p.m. (no reason to stay up later since we had no electricity!). 

Now…on to Tuesday.  This was a transition day.  After breakfast at the hotel, we piled back in the van to drive back to the airport.  We were flying from Kathmandu, Nepal to Mumbai, India; and then from Mumbai on to Goa, India.  All of these airports have been so interesting!  It’s amazing the difference in the entire security process and baggage claim compared to the States.  Ask us, and we’ll tell you all about it! 

We had a small issue when we arrived in Mumbai from Kathmandu, before our flight to Goa.  Three members of the team were detained in immigration.  It was in relation to the tourist visa and having to leave and re-enter India.  All of us had the correct paperwork completed; however, the seven other members of the team got through, but three did not.  They were pulled inside the immigration office to go through some additional paperwork.  Ken was able to speak with them and help fill out the paperwork.  It was a little frustrating, because we had another flight to catch and didn’t have much time.  And...it didn’t make sense that seven got through and the three didn’t.  Our theory was that it was a slow day (which it was, hardly any lines) and someone wanted to throw their weight around a little bit.  After about a half hour detainment (and being served some tea!), they were on their way again to catch up with the rest of the group.  We ended up running through the airport to try to catch the next flight and actually made it.  Thankfully, that flight was delayed for some reason; otherwise, we would not have made it on.

We made it to Goa safely and we’re now experiencing the tropical side of India.  It is very warm here.  We’re staying in a guest house, and we’ll be meeting with some other church friends over the next several days.  We’ll also be involved in some children’s ministry work and other church services this weekend.

We have certainly experienced a full circle of temperatures while we’ve been here.  Early on in the trip, we had the cold and rainy days.  Then, needed wool hats and gloves for our trip to the top of the mountain; and now, very warm temperatures at the beach!

We joined our friends here for dinner on the beach and are calling it a day around 1 a.m. We are excited to spend the next 6 days here in Goa- learning and experiencing the culture, spending time with church leaders and friends, as well as be involved in several different ministry opportunities.

Everyone continues to be doing well. We praise God for the safety of our travels today and that all minor “glitches” worked themselves out.

Please continue to be in prayer for the health of the team as we are into the last week of our trip.  Pray for renewed strength and energy as we minister here in Goa, as well as pray for all connections that will be made as we work with the people here.

We do not have internet service here at the guest house in Goa.  So, we’ll be going to a local internet café periodically to update the blog.  That being said, we may not have opportunity to update each day.

Thank you all for your prayers. We definitely feel them over here in India!

Adding some SPICE to our life!

After breakfast this morning, we joined the church leaders from several conferences in this area for our meetings.  Thank you for your prayers for our time together.  Many sensitive subjects were discussed, but the leaders were able to speak with truth and love and to share concerns about their regions from their hearts.  The meetings will continue tomorrow morning as well.

Late afternoon today, most of our group left the meeting early to visit the children at our SPICE hostel here.  We were excited to have an opportunity to ride in a rickshaw to the hostel.  What an adventure!  It definitely takes a lot of skill and strength to dodge numerous pot holes, dogs, goats, people and other vehicles all the while peddling the weight of 2-3 people sitting on the attached seat. But we made it to the hostel safely, with nothing to complain about.  We had so much fun with the SPICE children!  We took a tour of the boys and girls dorms and visited with them.  The children learn English in school so we would always ask someone in the room to speak with us.  Each room has a “captain.”  Their role is to help the younger children with their homework or anything else they may need.  Most rooms have an average of 15 children in each room, all ranging in age from 8-18.  While we were visiting one of the girls rooms, Leah had the privilege of meeting the girl that she sponsors.  They spent some time visiting and taking some pictures.  It was a a special moment for both Leah and the young girl.

Then, we were all excited to be able to spend some time playing with the children.  We brought soccer balls, frisbees and some other items to give the children.  We threw out the balls and frisbees and it was a flurry of excitement and happiness from the children.  It was so fun to watch them running all over the place!  It was awesome to see the joy on the children’s faces.  Several of us asked to play football (soccer) with the children.  Most of our team played together and then after awhile, one of the boys suggested that we take on their football team.  Some of the boys actually play on a BIC team!  So, we had some fun with that!  Needless to say, we won…they didn’t know we had a “ringer” with having Leah on our team!  They were very impressed with Leah (and the fact that the girls wanted to play football at all)!  Leah, Vicky, and Bekah were having difficulty wearing their Indian attire while playing…it definitely makes things interesting! 

Joleen and Amy spent some time singing with the girls.  Then, the girls wanted us to teach them our national dance.  Well, of course, we don’t have one, so we just told them to give us a rhythm and we would dance.  They were all laughing and having so much fun.  We did a congo line with them and then played “duck, duck, goose” and “red light, green light.”  It was dark when we left the hostel, and all the children were sad to see us go.  The feeling was definitely mutual, as we all would have loved to stay there hours longer with them.

Tomorrow the meeting continues and then in the afternoon we fly to the next location in Nepal. Please be in prayer for all those involved in the meeting, as well as for our travel from here.

Thanks again for your prayers! We appreciate each and every one of you and your support for our trip.

Jai messee! (Praise the Lord!)

We had an amazing day today!   After a great night’s sleep, we enjoyed some breakfast at the hotel.  We were all dressed in our “Sunday’s best” for church today.  We took a group photo for your enjoyment.  The plan for today was that we were going to join a church in Nepal for worship and then also be part of a new church building dedication.  Our meetings with the church leaders were to start in the afternoon.  Well, we should know by now, that nothing ever goes as planned here.

Some of the church leaders joined us at the hotel for breakfast and we all filled up two vehicles for our 2-1/2 hour ride to the church.  However, half way there they decided to stop for a bathroom break and some tea.  We were laughing because we ended up with a late start from the hotel and the time we stopped for tea was actually the time we were supposed to be at our final destination!  But, our hosts didn’t seem to mind.  And we are learning that it is best to just “go with the flow” and enjoy the ride. When we finally arrived at the church that was to be dedicated, we found out that this would be our final stop.  Originally, we were going to stop here and then go on to another church for their worship service.  God was certainly going before us!  We were meant to be at this worship service today. 

It was a wonderful thing to be part of.  The people all greeted us with “Jai messee” which means “praise the Lord!”  Ken had the honor of doing the ribbon cutting for the dedication ceremony.  Then, we were seated in the front of their building and they all filed in.  We were introduced and welcomed by each receiving a rose.  A leader at the church shared how this church was a church plant and started in 2000 with four baptized and now they have baptized 275.  There are four sister churches nearby.  There are 11 families in this village who worship in this church.  In 2004, one of the believing families donated land for this church building.  It took them two days to build the structure.  They will continue to add to it—right now it is just straw and bamboo.  They will mix a mud mixture to pack and dry on the walls and roof.  The families who worship here hope to invite more locals so their church will continue to grow.  Other families are also going to donate more of the surrounding land to expand the church.

They sang some songs and then both Ken and Chris shared a message.  There was time spent praying your own prayers, out loud, together.  It was such a powerful thing to be part of!  After the service, they each took the time to greet us as they left the building.  We spent some time visiting with the people and children.  Several of the people requested prayer, so there was a time for that as well.  The church then served us lunch before our 2-1/2 hour drive back to the hotel.  So we boarded the vans for another adventurous ride dodging water buffalo, goats, cows, bicyclists, people, other vehicles… you name it, we almost ran into it! The best might have been the goats strapped to the roof of the bus in front of us…didn’t seem to phase the goats, after all they were probably safer up there then on road.

After returning to the hotel, we went to the BIC Church office building to begin our meetings with the church leaders from this area.  We had thought we were going to be able to visit the SPICE hostel again today, but, again, plans are always changing here.  We met with the church leaders and were encouraged to be open to God’s leading during these next few days of the conference. 

Please pray for our meetings tomorrow, Sunday.  Please pray for open minds and hearts that the leaders would hear what God has for them.  Please pray for Joleen, as she will be sharing tomorrow as well.  Also pray that we will have an opportunity to share and visit with the SPICE children sometime tomorrow. 

Our journey continues...

Just a quick update...it's been a long day.  It's Friday night.  We've arrived safely to our next destination.  We're experiencing so much diversity on this trip!  This morning we were on the top of the mountain wearing wool hats and gloves and this afternoon we are in a tropical environment!  No one is complaining...

We got settled into our hotel and then went to our SPICE hostel nearby.  For those of you who don't know, the SPICE program is the BIC-sponsorship program for children in this area.  The children had prepared a special program for us to welcome us.  They are very excited to see us! 

Both Ken and Joleen shared a bit of how we are so excited to be here with them and look forward to being with them this weekend. 

The local pastor invited our group to his home for tea after the program.  We spent some time sharing with them.  Then, we came back to the hotel for supper. 

Tomorrow we begin our meetings with the church leaders as well as spending time with the children.  We will also be attending church service in the morning (Saturday is the day they worship here rather than Sunday).  Please pray for Joleen as she will be speaking to the group.  Please also pray for both Ken and Chris as they will be preaching.

We hope to share photos from our SPICE hostel later.  The internet connection is limited here right now.

Thanks for your continued prayers!

Majestic Mountain View

Just a quick update for Friday morning.  Thank you for your prayers.  It was a beautiful and clear morning at the top of the mountain.  We were able to see the sunrise and it was stunning!  Pictures cannot capture what we saw.  God's creation is magnificent!  According to Ken, it hasn't been this clear up there in the last 5 times he was there.  So, thank you so much for your prayers!  God blessed us with a beautiful morning.

We all layered up in any clothes we could find for our cold visit to the top of the mountain.  The temperature was probably around 37 degrees.  The top of the mountain is about 7,000 feet above sea level. 

We took some time just appreciating the glorious landscape that God provided for us.  It was just breathtaking to see the snow-capped Himalayan mountains. 

Now we're leaving to catch a flight to our next destination.  Thanks for your continued prayers as we meet with our church partners this weekend.  We're not sure how our internet service will be where we are going, but we'll update you again as soon as we can.

Here comes the sun!

The sun was shining today AND we all slept more than 4 hours AND we had hot showers AND we enjoyed a slightly American breakfast!  We knew it would be a good day!

Today was another day of more cultural learning.  This gives us all a chance to adjust to the culture and the time change. 

After breakfast, we went to a Buddhist temple area.  There were many areas to walk around and shop.  We spent a bit of time there.  There were monkeys everywhere, hanging out on the roofs and in the trees.  There were many prayer flags and prayer wheels and lots of people worshiping.  There was a look out area to view the city of Kathmandu and on a clearer day, the mountains would have stood out even more.  We would have left the park sooner to go for lunch, but Vicky and Leah were inside a shop for quite a bit of time trying on jewelry.  The guys made several laps of the entire park looking for them.  All the while, Vicky and Leah were unaware, assuming that since Amy sent them to the shop in the first place, she would have known where they were!  In the end, no harm done--the guys got some exercise, Vicky and Leah were happy with their purchases and we all went to lunch.

We enjoyed Chinese food for lunch.  We ordered an assortment of food to share.  It was excellent!  The Chinese food tastes so much better here.  Why wouldn't it....we are so much closer to China here!

After lunch, we went to another shopping area in the historic district of Kathmandu.  There was shopping for tea and more jewelry (not Vicky and Leah), but the hot spot this time was a guy selling wool hats and gloves.  They are made from yak wool which is very common in the area of Nepal.  And, by the way, we are all becoming quite the experts in bartering.  We're pretty sure that all of us will be wearing these warm items for our early morning trip to the top of the mountain tomorrow.

We went to a local "hole in the wall" Indian restaurant for supper.  It was considered an Indian fast food restaurant.  We could watch them make the naan and tandori chicken in the tandori oven.  The food was great!

We have an early start on Friday morning.  We are leaving at 4:45 a.m. to drive to the top of the mountain to see the sunrise.  Please pray for a clear morning.  The view is supposed to be spectacular.  We'll even be able to see Mount Everest.   In the afternoon we will fly to another city in Nepal to begin meeting with our church leaders.  That's when our work will begin...

As we've been out sightseeing these past few days, we have been reflecting on how fortunate we are and grateful for the many blessings we have in the US.  The people here work so hard to make a living for their family.  As we observe the traffic, which is so hard to explain or even show in pictures, we see the people here demonstrating so much patience with each other.  In the US, most would respond much differently.   It's humbling to observe day to day life here.

Everyone is still in great heatlh.  Please pray for safety again in our travels tomorrow.  Please pray for the meetings we will have with our church leaders and partners this weekend. 

Thanks for joining us on our trip!

Really!?...Raining again.

Today was another travel day.  After an early breakfast, we all piled into a van to go to the airport to fly to Kathmandu, Nepal.  We were hoping for a clear sky for our flight in, so we could see the Himalayan mountains, but no such luck.  We're hoping we can see them when we fly out later this week.   

It's raining again today...pouring rain.  Ken and Carol keep telling us that this rain never happens in February.  In all the years they have brought teams during this time, this has never happened!  And, we're pretty sure it's warmer back in PA.  We are all digging deep into our suitcases to find ANYTHING that we can layer to keep warm.  Some of us still haven't regained feeling in our toes.  And, at the present time, we are taking part in "load sharing" with the electricity with the rest of the city--meaning we (the hotel) are without power in electrical outlets for hours at a time.  We're hoping for hot water in the morning for showers, but we're thinking that won't be the case.

After settling in to our hotel here, we all piled into two taxis to visit the Tibetan Refugee area of town to see rugs being made.  You can see in one of the photos the guys all crammed onto the seat in the van.

When we reached this area, we noticed things hanging on a line, which looked like laundry (in the rain?), but we found out they were Tibetan prayer flags.  The people write their prayers on papers and hang them on this line.  Then, every time the wind blows, they believe their prayers are being sent.  There were also prayer wheels outside the temple in that area.  Same concept, people write their prayers and place them inside these wheels.  Every time a wheel is spun, the prayer is being sent again.

The rug weaving was very impressive to see.  These women work 9 hours a day, weaving these carpets.  They follow a pattern and weave it--it looks sort of like a counted cross stitch and latch hook concept.  We found out it takes almost a month to complete one. 

After the rug weaving shop, we went to Patan Durbar Square.  It is the old city of Patan with a lot of old temples and beautiful architecture.  We spent a little bit of time walking around there.  We were all getting pretty damp and cold by this point.

We finished our day with a delicious meal at the hotel restaurant.  One of the dishes was a complete fried fish, as you'll see in the photo.  Ken offered the head to Vicky, but she politely declined and he proceeded to enjoy it himself.  We end up with some very interesting conversations at our dinner table.  Everyone is pretty tired--you never know what someone is going to say!

Everyone continues to do well.  We're thankful to have had internet service so far each day so we can keep you all updated.  We appreciate all of your prayers so much!

Experiencing Delhi

Horns honking, dirty feet, crazy rides in tuk tuks, shopping, and persistent street vendors--yep, pretty much sums up our day today! 

Woke up to horns honking, doves cooing, smell of diesel, people yelling and a goat bleating--how's that for a wake up call?  After a delicious breakfast on the rooftop of the hotel, our group headed out to experience the sights, sounds and smells of Delhi.  It was raining again, which apparently never happens in February (at least that's what they keep telling us).

Shopping was successful, some of you may even be getting some gifts from today!  The guys were troopers through it all--not much they could do as the seven girls sorted through dozens and dozens of bags, purses, and scarves to find the "perfect one."  At one of the shops, they served us some tea as we shopped.  That was a nice little treat.

We experienced some great sweets at Bangla Sweet House and then went for a great lunch at Bangla Deli--the "Panera Bread of Delhi."  Ken ordered us quite an assortment of Indian dishes.  The highlight was the salted lime soda he ordered for Amy.  After her reaction, we all had to try it.  And, the general consensus was it was like swallowing a mouthful of seawater followed by a rotten eggs aftertaste.  Sounds yummy, right?

After lunch was, of course, more shopping.  We ended the day with an "early" dinner at 9:00 p.m., which was much quieter than last night...the jet lag is hitting.

We have an early morning start tomorrow.  Leaving the hotel for the airport for our flight to Nepal.

Everyone continues to be doing well.  We appreciate your continued prayers for health and safety in travels.  We'll update again whenever we can.

We have arrived safely....

Greetings from India!  After our 3 hour drive to Newark Airport, 14 hours in the air, and an hour drive to our hotel, we are beginning our adjustment to this culture.  Riding in the van from the airport was an exciting experience--driving on the opposite side of the road, the cow walking down the median strip, and cars somehow merging safely.  It's actually raining too, which apparently is not very common in February.  What is it that they say...New York is the city that never sleeps?  Well, India can fall into that category too.

It's 1:15 in the morning here, and we're running on very little sleep.  We've missed the entire Valentine's Day holiday (so Happy Valentine's Day to all of our loved ones at home), but just had our first Indian meal together and we're soon heading to bed....hoping we can sleep!

Everyone is doing very well.  All of our travels have gone smoothly.  We're hoping for a good night's rest for our full day tomorrow....adjusting to the culture, time change and shopping. 

Thanks for your continued prayers!  We just have two pictures to post....our last meal in Newark before we left and our first meal here together.

We'll update again as soon as we can!

Some Prayer Requests as we go...

Our departure date is coming quickly!  Here are some specific prayer requests.  Thank you for your prayers!

Prayer Requests:

• Safety in our travels and ability to make all of the connections in our travels.
• Pray for the preparation of the leaders who will come together in the gatherings in which we will participate.
• Growth and development of the Christians represented by the four national churches involved in our travels.
• Vision for developing self-support, the theme of the Round Table, even as conferences partner together in specific ministry.
• Health and strength for the team
• Strength for our hosts as they are doing many things to prepare for us
• Ability of the team to connect with the people we meet and come to understand some of what it means to be a Christian within their culture.
• That the people we meet will sense our support in the midst of their life situation.

Preparing our hearts for India...

Preparing our hearts for India....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnJL5oZ1w8k&feature=related