One Handful of Rice

There was word this morning from Orissa that the Hindu Extremists have called for another round of persecution against Christians in the month of December. Four of the women here will leave Saturday for their homes in Orissa, or for the place they now live since their homes were destroyed two years ago.  I wonder how they have the courage to face the dangers, the uncertainties and how they can go forward in ministry with the knowledge that they may be killed if they show their faith publicly. They endanger their families as well. Could I do it? I want to say yes, but honestly, I’m not sure.

Kumudini, who lost her aunt and uncle and her mother in the killings two years ago said that she will again be a target for the radicals because they know she identified the bodies of her family and fear that she may testify against them in court. This isn’t the kind of mild embarrassment I’ve experienced at home when someone makes a joke about Christians in the staff room or when someone ridicules believers in casual conversation–it’s the real deal. How would I react? If my life were on the line, or the lives of my family, could I do it? I can only pray for them and believe that God will take care of them. In Philippians Paul is talking about no fear of death. In fact, he says, he would rather die and be with Jesus which is much better. He saw Jesus face to face on the road to Damascus, maybe that is the key–seeing Jesus clearly. Will you pray with us here that God will intervene in Orissa and that the Christians there will stand in faith?

I had this post nearly finished earlier this afternoon and then the electricity went out. It goes out daily, sometimes numerous times. Now there is a big thunder storm going on which clears the air some and helps to cool the temperature, but doesn’t help the humidity. Roger is in Hyderabad and I’m not sure how he is getting back here. The roads are more dangerous when the roads are wet, so I’m praying him back in.

Today I taught the devotional hour and then sat in on the women’s classes. They are very interesting, but my tailbone isn’t used to sitting for three or four hours of lectures. Today an anthropologist spoke on Hinduism and some of the history of the people groups of India. I’m learning lots of things and also finding that the Christians here know their Bibles much better than we do, especially the Old Testament in which they find many links to Indian culture and history.

Again I’m going throught my usual trauma with seeing so much need and worthy projects all around me and then going home without being able to help very much. I think I am learning that I can pray and  though all the projects need money, they also need prayer. I don’t understand how God works through my prayers, but I know He does and at least I can do that. I can’t generate the cash that people need, but I can love them and pray for them

In just a few days I’ll be leaving the humid, hot weather, the bugs and lizards and frogs, the dark rooms filled with avid learners, the friendly smiles, the tea five times a day (and you’re in trouble if you skip it), the love and the dedication and the beautiful atmosphere of love here at TENT. I will miss these women so much.

Well, believe it or not, as I speak there are about fifty workers building an ark. It is a one-third model of the real ark as described in Genesis and is being built as a retreat center for the TENT campus. It’s pretty cool. Right now it consists of hundreds of upright poles which is the way they build here. On top of the poles is a layer of wood and the concrete is mixed, lifted up by big buckets on some sort of lift and then dumped and spread. It is one step up from mixing it by hand and lifting it up in small pans like they still do in some places. You should see the people work. They will work constantly for about twelve hours until the entire pour is finished. Women and men work side by side shoveling up gravel, pouring in the cement and water, moving the large buckets to the proper place and then dumping the cement in the right place, where other workers spread it out. There was a little prayer service this morning in honor of the pouring of the cement and all the workers were treated to a small piece of candy. By the way, Dr. Vijayam told me that the women workers working right alongside of the men receive less pay—nothing new under the sun!

Last night I took paper, markers, scissors and tape over to the meeting room and we made finger puppets and pop-up books like crazy. Many of these women will have children’s ministries, or teach Sunday School or VBS so they need simple ideas. My motto is “never throw anything away– it can be used in children’s ministry” and so I took over tp rolls and random paper and we had a good time together. Today Roger and the Nurses’s husband Suvendra, went into the nearby market and bought some more yarn, so tonight is crochet time once again. I can’t believe how quickly they learned, most of them just by looking at the samples I had made before the trip. Many of these women come from the northeast of the country, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, and these areas were introduced to Christianity earlier than other parts of the country. Thus, they have greater Western influence.

No T.V. here. We spend time each evening watching Halfback and his friend, Fullback catch bugs. We even try to send some in their direction, but we are afraid that Halfback may have some mental challenges. He is quite slow to intercept free food.

Today Auntie Vijayam met with the women and refreshed their memories on some teaching she had done earlier in the training. It was all about starting a women’s group in their chosen villages when they get home. They are being trained in how to start micro-banks amongst the women. They begin by making friends with one family, getting to know them and then inviting them and neighboring women to come to a meeting. It costs one rupee to attend the meeting, and the money goes into a “bank”. When the group of between 15-20 women has gathered 2,000 rupees (by meeting weekly)  the president (chosen by the group) accepts requests for small loans. The loans may be for small businesses such as selling vegetables, or some project such as making soap or shampoo and then selling it, or even something such as a childcare center. By concensus the group selects the applications found worthy and the loans are made. They are charged 1% interest per month which goes back into the bank along with monthly payments which then enables other applications to be filled. Careful records are kept because when the government inspects their records and finds them in good order the group can apply for government grants to really get the program rolling. It is all very interesting because all of this is done before sharing the Gospel. Interestingly, the same idea has been tried with men, but the government stopped their grants as the men didn’t repay the loans.

I am doing my teaching on inductive Bible Study. I have only given about one third of the lessons and the women are worried by this. I keep telling them they can do many of them on their own, but they have a sense of wanting to complete things together. I’ll do what I can.

We can’t wait to come home and see all of you, but we will be leaving a whole group of new friends that we’ll miss as well. Next time I’ll tell you about a young woman from Orissa and her proposal for a children’s home for 30 children affected by the atrocities in Orissa—homes, churches, pastors, family members all gone. I wish I had video equipment to tape some of their stories. We do have a tape recorder, and I am taking lots of notes. That will have to do for this trip.

Last night we returned from two days in Jangaon, which is abou 50 km. from here. We hired a taxi to pick us up and enjoyed the day drive there. It is greener than usual from the same rains that brought flooding to other parts of Andhra Pradesh. I never get tired of watching the people. The women’s clothing is always bright and colorful, the men, not so much. I like watching the working women carrying things on their heads. Everything from food, to wood, to clothing to bags of cement go up on top of their heads for transporting. Sometimes they have a little circle of cloth there to protect their heads and help with balance, but just as often it’s not there.

We enjoyed two days at Dayanilayam in Jangaon. Sadly we recognized just a few of the children there now. Of the 60 or more children I taught two years ago I only saw two or three. Of course many of those children were from the community and do not live in the hostel. The other component is that these children all come from extremely poor families who are often in upheavals of one sort of another and so they come and go. One little three year old boy just came there as his mother was beaten to death by his father and then the father committed suicide after coming out of prison. We enjoyed watching the children  give little performances for Children’s Day which is November 14th and celebrates the birthday of Nehru. They say he loved children and there is a national holiday in his honor. Children are allowed to make up songs, dances and skits and perform them–this is a big deal as usually they only recite or perform things in strict conformity. In the evening they also sang their songs and did their dances and honored us. It felt familiar and strange at the same time to be there. It has been nearly two years since we spent two months there. We still follow the progress of some of the older children who are attending high school,junior college, nursing training or other things. Often the courses they are taking are just a shadow of the kind of education they would get in the U.S. or some other developed country, but it is a big step for them. Just learning English will guarantee a better job and a better life for them. Dayanilayam has had an infusion of support and they are building a dining hall, a new boys’ dorm and an English Medium school. So time marches on and “progress” is coming to them as it does in our areas where an empty spot has another building put on it.

We were happy to return here to TENT as there is only one week left to be with the women and we enjoy them so much. This morning was their last Sunday before going home and many of them had songs to share in thankfulness for their time here. During the service one of the elderly teachers known as Uncle George, a retired English professor, shared that the man who killed the Australian missionary several years ago and two of his children by firebombing their car, had been baptized in prison. Everyone cheered at that news as a sinner was reclaimed by God. Then one of the women from Orissa got up and prayed for the salvation of the Hindu Extremists who killed her parents.

At lunch the director’s wife told how when the Tsunami hit the southern part of India and Sri Lanka they traveled down there and brought back 50 women who had lost husbands, children and homes, and thus their livelihood. They stayed here for six months learning a new way to make a living. One woman told how she had given her child into the arms of her mother while she went into her hut to cook. When the wave came, she watched helplessly while both her mother and child were swept away.

Do you wonder why we seem to have an easy life in America? I do. The topic of teaching this morning in church was partly from James, suffering for Christ and being courageous as you go. Will there be persecution? Yes, for these women there most likely will be. They are going into their homes and into nearby communities with the truth of Jesus who wants to reconcile people to God and they may need to turn the other cheek as they go about their work. I feel like I’m on holy ground here.

We’re anxiously looking forward to Thanksgiving with our family. Today it is probably in the low 90’s, partly cloudy, a little windy and very humid! We’ll come home to typical Northwest weather I’m sure and will probably freeze for a few days.

I’m getting some excellent interviews with various women and hope to turn some of them into “real writing.”  Thanks to those who comment and e-mail, it is so great to hear from you.

I just wrote an e-mail to our daughter, Sara, telling her that the women here listen to everything I say and soak it all in. Well, everyone but one, who is 16 and long ago decided that she isn’t going to participate too much. There are language barriers, cultural barriers, all kinds of reasons that we might not understand one another, but they are fully engaged and seem to understand nearly everything. Today we talked about prayers of submission, what they are, when we might want to use them, how to teach about them and it was very good. Then we began our study of Philippians, Chapter 2. It is definitely an ego-booster to a person who loves to teach. Dr. Vijayam’s wife, Mary, is their usual teacher but she has been home sick with some sort of virus. She is in a lot of pain, but she showed up today to finish her syllabus and so she took part of the morning. She is a lovely woman who pours herself into these women. After this group leaves there will be another group that stays for only one month. They have a very well-written curriculum that prepares them to go home to evangelize their areas, meet the needs of the people in their home villages and then also begin a “technology” to earn a living. Later on, they share that technology too. They teach sewing, make Bible covers, also with a sewing machine, make candles, soap, laminated pictures and also learn tree grafting, compost making and other things. I am in awe of the work Dr. Vijayam has done here and the success he has. He loves his people and is giving them opportunities to move out of the crushing poverty they have suffered with for so long and become self-sustaining and strong in the Lord. If you are interested in reading about him and his life work, there is a new book out called In the Presence of the Poor by Kay Marshall Strom. I found it on the internet.

We will have a visit from Susie Reddy, who visited our home last spring. She is the daughter of missionaries from Canada, grew up in India not too far from here and has married an Indian man. They have three grown sons and she oversees the Cherial Bible school that we visited last week. She also helps oversee a network of churches that began as a house church in her home some twenty years ago. She is busy with women’s meetings in the nearby town of Ghatkesar. She will ride in on one of those crazy pedicabs this afternoon.

Roger has been going into town sometimes as he doesn’t have as many responsibilities here as I do. Tomorrow we’ll leave for a two day visit to Dayanilayam. Roger has already been there and notes that they are building a lot of new buildings and there are a lot of new students whom we don’t know. Often the guardians of the children move them to another hostel or take them home to work or get married. They come and go.

I am tape recording our interviews with all the women. Asking them about their hopes and dreams after they leave here. Every one of them has plans and the desire to serve God. some are very young and others have family responsibilties to return to as well as their new ministry. Others already have ministries and just came here to learn more Bible, leadership skills, outreach techniques and the like.

I am missing my home and our familiar routine. It is very humbling to be here and have people caring for us. The dhobi woman came and washed our clothes today. She washed for us two times and only asked for 75 rupees, which is less than $2. We gave her more. She is a tiny little thing. She goes and fills big buckets with water and hand washes things and then hauls them up on the roof to dry. Sometimes she hangs them on fences and they come back with little weeds sticking out of them. But they are clean and we are happy. We supplement the meals of rice, curries and hot vegetables with packets of chips and cookies which are very cheap to buy. Sometimes there is an egg or some fruit which we have been diverting to one of the women who is pregnant and sick. We drink Chai at least three times a day and sometimes five. I love it, but always try to estimate how many teaspoons of sugar I am drinking with each cup. Jenny Craig, here we come!

We are relaxing into the rhythm of this place. Yesterday we toured the part where they teach worm compost making. We had seen it before, but it was good to see something so simple requiring just a few worms, some cow dung and leaves to produce in 90 days a salable product. They sell a lot of compost and teach both the men and women to make it with just a minimal cost to begin and then it is entirely self-sustaining.

I finished interviewing the four women from Orissa. I mentioned before the atrocities committed against them and the government camps that some of them still live in. Several of them came here with no clothes or possessions but were given what they needed. One is going home to a hostel for 90 children that keeps being destroyed and rebuilt. Another is caring for 30 children in addition to her own son and three cousins after a horrendous experience with deaths in her family and going from one family member to another searching for a safe place to live. Most gave them some food and sent them away to protect their own families. It reminded me of the Nazi attempts to eradicate Jews and how some people stepped up to help and others turned their backs on them.

Today Roger has gone by bus to Jangaon to visit Dayanilayam . Our friend Gordon Goering from AIM in Kansas is there and Roger wanted to visit him. He also will pay the English Medium School tuition for Krupa, a girl we support and who was Akanksha’s best friend. She is a very bright girl. She was going to be married at age 15, but her elder brother was murdered in the forest and for some reason related to that she was allowed to come back to school.

Today I taught the women on Psalm 23 and ways to make it come alive for women and children as they teach them. I have some little books on Psalm 23 and Psalm 139 given me by David and Helen Haidle of Seedfaith Books. I will give them as presents to the women at their commissioning service on the 21st. We are also doing inductive Bible Study on Philippians. I thought I was going to teach every day, but that isn’t turning out to be true. However I find that I need to be ready to jump in whenever they say I can. So today I had three hours and some days none. They are all finishing up a strategic action plan which they must complete before graduating at the end of next week. It is crunch time for them.

Tonight I will interview two women from Assam who have a ministry to women. You should hear them pray–right from their heart. I seldom see such dedication and resolve in America. Not to be critical of our own bad selves, I just think our life is too easy to be as desperate and driven as these women are. I want to learn from them as I teach them and come home with a new resolve to serve too.

Both Roger and I still marvel at what we have been allowed to do and how we came to be in India. It is a constant source of both joy and pain. We learn more each time we come and I think it takes time to be effective in a new culture, getting ourselves out of the way, seeing clearly and knowing how to come alongside and support.

Last night it was cool enough to turn off the fans. As I drifted off to sleep I heard lots of birds, trains off in the distance, the guard who blows his whistle as he walks the circumference of the grounds, it reminded me of when I was a little girl and I heard the trains far away in the night. We are at peace here and are just living day by day seeing what God will teach us before we come home in two weeks.

It is raining here and the beginning of their winter. It is still in the high 70’s or low 80’s and the humidity is so high that the pages of all our books are curling and when I took out a piece of gum to chew, it drooped and felt wet!  Bugs galore–we slather ourselves with Odomos, a bug cream and spray with deet and still get lots of bites. But—that is just the little stuff. There is BIG stuff happening all the time.

Yesterday we attended the three hour service held here for students and faculty. It was so sweet, the time flew by. Roger preached on faithfulness and it was powerful and well-received. We are both teaching morning devotion times. Roger goes to the men’s part of the campus although we live in the women’s section. I have lots of lessons prepared and the schedule is on Indian time so I never really know when I will have another teaching time until it happens. Good thing I prepared before coming or that would be upping my adrenaline levels. As it is I love the women and bonded with them instantly.

Last night I sat with three of the women who come from Orissa. Their stories are heartbreaking. In one church thirty of the members were killed during that uprising in August of 2008. The persecution continues, although it is not openly violent right now. One of the women was a teacher. She can have her old job back if only she will pretend to be a Hindu. She would need to wear the red dot or the red line down the part of her hair, and everyone would allow her to come back. But if she stands up for Christ, she has no job. She lost her mother, her aunt and uncle in the killings. She had to identify their bodies. Many of the women had been raped and then their breasts were cut off. Would I have the faith to stand for Christ in such circumstances? These women do. They all say it is not their ministry they return to, but God’s. One of the women has 90 orphans in a Christian hostel that keeps being attacked and destroyed, then they rebuild. The other one has thirty orphans she has gathered up after their parents were killed. The government has given her 40,000 rupees to rebuild a home, but when that is gone she doesn’t know how they will live. It took me a long time to go to sleep last night after hearing their stories.

Yesterday afternoon we had a women’s craft time. We continued to learn to crochet, and I had brought some materials to make bookmarks and verse cards decorated with stickers and pens. They were all over that project and the materials quickly disappeared. The women from the Northeast, Assam and Manipur, made beautiful bookmarks that they will save for Christmas gifts for their women and children.

They always worry that we don’t eat enough. This morning they made french toast and fried eggs for us. We didn’t eat the heaping bowl of rice or much of the peanut chutney that was also on the table so I suppose we are still in trouble! We always get better food than the rest of the people and we struggle with that, knowing there isn’t a thing we can do about it. Culture– you both love and hate it.

I am fully adapted now to being in India. My hair is stick straight, the eye make-up is a total waste of time in this humidity, it just runs all over the place. The lights are so dim that even looking in a mirror you can’t see the latest zit or the gray roots–all in all it is very freeing and relaxing. The clothes are loose and most women my age have ample tummies. I know I will suffer when I get home, but right now it seems very unimportant to be thin and worried about looks.  They women say I look good to them and Roger has gotten his usual remarks about looking like he is from Hollywood. Ahhhh, life is good!

The fourteen women here at TENT now are two weeks from finishing their six month’s training in practical Christian evangelism. They have been studying cross cultural evangelism, Bible, contextualization and also learning several “technologies” such as laminating pictures to frame and sell, making detergent, worm composting, mango tree grafting and others. In this way they will have a skill to do themselves to raise money and will also have a life-sustaining skill to teach to others. During the six months they take several trips home to do profiles of three or more people groups living in their areas. Each group will have its own language and culture with their stories, life views, mythologies, superstitions, etc. Knowing all these things will help the women find ways to share the gospel with them in a way that makes sense to them. These women are perfectly serious about their ministries. Some of them already have training centers (might be an 8 X 10 room) or orphans to care for. Many will begin new women and children ministries. I am taking some of their class times, and some of the devotion times. I am also teaching about half of them to crochet and they are loving it. It has been easy to build rapport with them and I find I have missed teaching. Not enough to take another job however:)

Yesterday Roger went into Hyderabad while I stayed out here on the beautiful campus. Roger bought some long pants that are cooler because he can’t wear his “knickers” in formal meetings here. This place is clean, well-kept and a model of how India could be if everyone had the vision for order, hygiene and godly living. Hopefully it will be the India of the future.

The girls are on a field trip into the city today. A bus tour, picnic at the Fort and some time to shop and then tea at the home of the director. They were very excited. We almost went along, but thought better of it. They will climb the fort steps, eat outside on the grass and the thought of managing 14 women shopping in the crowded markets was enough to make us want to stay home.

Last night the women skipped dinner and had “fasting prayer” from 8:30 – 12:30. They were excited about doing it and reported this morning that it was a good time. They are up at 6:00 a.m. each day and their days are busy with classes, study time, devotions, prayer, worship. I think being here would be like attending a women’s retreat for six months solid. Life becomes focused on God and His purposes and everything else retreats into the background. I feel very fortunate to be here.

This morning Roger and I ate our breakfast at our special guest table and then took our tea to sit with the women. This shocks them although they know that Americans don’t really like the separation of higher and lower. They have been trained in respect of anyone in authority and feel that they are disrespectful if they don’t follow those ways. We feel it is perpetuating a master/student model that isn’t God’s best. It is a cultural thing and not right or wrong. But we took our tea over to their table anyway.

TENT is an amazing training center about 15 km from Hyderabad. It feels like being out on a farm somewhere in the midwest with weather to match. It is in the low 90’s and very humid. The last few days have been cloudy with a little bit of wind which helps keep us cooler. Halfback is a little lizard who lives on our wall and hunts in the evenings. He somehow lost his tail and it is slowly growing back–thus his nickname, Halfback.  We like him better than the huge spiders.

Today I attended a devotional teaching by an elderly man named P.George. He is a retired English professor from Osmania University in Hyderabad and a long-time personal friend of the director here, Dr. Vijayam. He spoke about Mary of Bethany pouring out her love for Jesus by breaking the alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. He went on to talk about other people who have sacrificed in the same way and how Jesus finds that personal sacrifice very pleasing. Mother Teresa, Watchman Nee, Jim Elliott, and more. It was a very peaceful and powerful teaching. The girls were riveted to it. Later I sat in on a three hour class on communication across cultures. It was hot and sticky in the room and the material was college level, but the girls hung in there. They are just a few weeks from leaving this place to return home and put into practice all they have learned. They have researched the people groups of their home areas, and have five year plans in place to begin ministry when they go. One of the girls is from Orissa where the persecution has been so devastating. She lost most of her family including her parents last year in the killings. She is going back to help believers who are in hiding and who are too afraid to profess Christ anymore. I will interview her before I come home.  Their plans include practical business projects which they can share with women at home. That will provide help to their neighbors and give them opportunities to share their faith as well.

Roger went into town this morning to get cooler pants to wear. His “knickers” are not acceptable in the formal class and church settings. We’re having a good time. We’ll go off campus several times to visit people and to go to the orphanage for a day or so. Lots of people we’ve already seen want us to come back, but I think our time will fly away quickly. It’s hard to believe that at home it is approaching the winter holiday season as it is so hot and humid here.

Right now the dhobi (clothes washer) is pounding away at our clothes. Well go rescue them from the roof later on. I’ll tell you this: clothes really know they’ve been through something when the dhobi gets through with them! Now I’ll go and see who is free to talk with me and maybe give some more crochet lessons. There is time to read and write too. I want to start working on the Bible women stories while they are fresh in my mind.

Send us some comments to let us know you’re with us! We’re praying for Marc and Ted as they get ready for their trip to Sierra Leone. They’ll also plunge into another world as we are now. Nothing like it!

As we continue to meet with our friends in India I have been thinking about the relationships we form and how they come about. We all know God is in control of everything, but we often think that our friendships are just accidental crossings of paths. Our Hindu friend, Rao has us over to his humble home every time we are in Hyderabad. If we can’t go to his place, he packs up food in the layered metal dishes they use and brings it to us in the hotel. His wife has made clothing for Sharon and I and they never fail to help us in any way possible. We pray for Rao and his wife, daughter and nephew and they, we just learned, go to Hindu temples and pray for us. May the God of all be revealed to them. We love them.

We had a wonderful visit with Akanksha, her husband Kalyan (recently baptised and now known as Thomas) and Akanksha’s cousin, Onesimus. They are all from the Buduga Jangam people and we see God beginning a work in that group through house church plants. Our good friend, Nehemiah, though a Banjara (Gypsy) has a strong ministry to Buduga Jangam people in his area and is interested in reaching out to that same group in other places. Thinking back on the way we adopted Akanksha those years ago, losing her when she married, finding her again, and now seeing her in Bible school, we marvel at the way God works.

Yesterday we got up early, checked out of our hotel and drove to Cherial, about 140 km. away. We met with the girls who live and train there in Bible and all ways of serving the church, and I interviewed six Bible women. I had seen five of them before, so got more of their stories. I also interviewed the lady who was my translator as she has a very interesting story of ministry to Banjara people when she was a young woman of 17. We spent the whole day there and were blessed and exhausted when we left in the evening. We drove the several hours back to the TENT facility outside of Hyderabad and fell into our new bed there. We have amazing facilities here, large clean room, bathroom, the whole enchilada as they say. Of course there is the usual wildlife to contend with— lizards, bugs and frogs, plus a spider the “size of New York” as I screamed to Roger. I did my first teaching this morning as the wife of the director, Mary Vijayam is ill. I had to dive in early and it went fine. We will probably be here and make day trips out when I’m not teaching. The girls are very sweet. They range in age from 15 to one lady who is 54. They are speaking up quite well and are a joy to work with. I may not teach as much as I thought as they are at the end of their term and have their strategic action plans to finish plus various other guest speakers. But I will be ready “in season and out” and just dive in when they say it’s time. Indian time, you know.

Our time is flying by. It is in the low 90’s and very humid here. It is their winter. Today is cloudy and windy so it’s not too bad. There is no A/C here, but the fans work well. I’m nearly as good as new although yesterday there was a seatbelt in the car (amazing in itself) and it hurt to have it buckled up against my side.

Looking forward to returning home to our winter holidays and family. Love to everyone back home. See you in a few weeks.

We are busily meeting with the people we missed seeing last week. We had a very long train trip from Secunderabad to Peddapalli yesterday where we met with Uma and Sampath. She has been ill and we have been worried about her pregnancy, but she seemed fine yesterday. Nehemiah traveled with us which makes the whole experience feel safer and easier. We actually found the A/C car. Secret: look for darkened windows. Who knew?

Some of the things we see in India still become burned into my mind: a man laying in the street on the way to the Delhi airport. I’ll never know if he was drunk or dead. The way his limbs were lying it seemed he was dead. No one was paying any attention. Three little children, filthy, no adult with them crying in a little phone area. People passed them on all sides. What could be done for them? A man crawling to the train on hands and knees. His knees “”walking” on that hard cement. So much misery and despair. I think if I lived here all the time I would understand better how people access help and who really needs help. It’s hard to see though.

Today we met with Krupal and his family. Their little girl, Rachel is two now and no longer a baby. Krupal will work with Nehemiah and Sampath will also, to continue to build house church networks.

I was reading the newspaper yesterday and looking at the marriage ads. In many of them it advertises the caste and adds the word “wheatly” or sometimes “fair”. These are ways of saying their daughter is not dark-skinned which is seen as less attractive. They would laugh at us paying to go to tanning booths to get darker.

On the train trip yesterday I saw that it was harvest time for both cotton and some kind of grain. I don’t think it was rice, but I’m not sure. The grain was all cut and in the middle of each field there was a round area where the threshing had been done. The grain was lying there in piles and women were filling pans of grain, dumping them in the bed of trucks and then it was hauled away. They have tractors in some places, but still do so much work by hand. It was beautiful to watch.

This afternoon we will have a visit with our adopted granddaughter and her husband and then tomorrow morning we will drive an hour and a half to Cherial where I will meet with the girls of the Bible School and then interview some of the Bible women. After that we drive another hour or so to TENT, the training center where I will spend the rest of our trip. All prayers for successful teaching will be appreciated.

I am feeling fine now, just sore and trying not to sneeze which still hurts. I’m looking forward to being in one place and not having to cross through the traffic as we do here in Hyderabad. If I were a cat I’d have used up about 8 of my lives from sheer panic as I walk through the cars, motorcycles and pedicabs!