Members of the Body

It was another morning spent repacking and preparing for the road again. We've all enjoyed our stay at OTI and the chance to get to know people a little better. I'm looking forward to the next part of our trip but am also sad to leave OTI behind. 

I picked up my suitcase off the floor this morning ready to go and discovered a little scorpion underneath! I decided to leave him in peace after snapping a photo:). 

We left around 9am to head to Bangalore and back to the IEM headquarters where we began our trip. I decided to swap cars with Alex so I could chat to Robyn which also gave Alex a chance for a change of scenery for a while. Saloni gave me a dark look as she realised I was leaving her by herself with the boys, but forgave me eventually:). It was a fairly short trip, only a few hours, and we were soon in Bangalore. Thankfully Saloni had survived the trip with the three boys and their antics:). 

We once again met for singing, prayer and an update on IEM's work. Our group was asked for some feedback on our trip so far from some of us, so Samuel shared an overview and then nodded for me to take over. So, I quickly shared some of my personal highlights and how we'd all been encouraged and challenged to see the enthusiasm and growing faith amongst the people in the various churches we'd visited. Everywhere we go we are exhorted to remember the people and the mission work in prayer and are assured that they already do so for us in return. 

We were each given a book, a carved wooden elephant and a prayer poster of all the IEM workers as a thank you. Bill and Samuel were also presented with a shawl, which was placed over their shoulders and is the traditional way to honour someone. 

Somehow in the course of conversation Keaton discovered that one of the staff at IEM owned a piano accordion. Keaton was pretty excited to give it a go and spent a little while fiddling around with it trying to work it all out. He was even able to play us a few songs. 

Luke had a go too. Saloni and I had a good laugh as we watched him concentrate so hard that his tongue couldn't help but stick out the side of his mouth. 

The boys had good fun playing around with their various instruments. 

Bill and Paul. 

We had lunch at IEM and the boys went straight back to playing music afterwards while the rest of us chatted. We had prayer with the staff just before we headed off to the airport. We had Gupal and a new driver taking us to the airport which meant we had to say goodbye to Paul. Paul has been an amazing driver/guide/friend to us all, in fact he reminds me a little of my dad. Paul had tears in his eyes as he hugged us all goodbye. From the short amount of time I've had with this man I've seen someone with a great passion for missions and prepared to sacrifice everything for Christ. 

As we piled into the cars we realised that neither of the drivers knew how to get to the airport! This meant we had to take an extra person with us again. I jumped back into the other jeep again into the now familiar sardine type fit we've worked out. It was probably the longest trip we've done this way, but it wasn't that uncomfortable. We said goodbye to Gupal at the airport. I'm not exactly sure what his impression of us might be, having spent many long hours with us in a state of something like cabin fever. We're going to miss Gupal though we could never really communicate properly. 

Through the Holy Spirit Himself, we are part of one and the same body together; the body of Christ. 

I cannot begin to imagine what it will be like to one day spend an eternity with these believers, praising God and serving Him together. 

Prepare us for that day, Lord. May none of us be ashamed at Your coming but instead rejoice.

-

Our flight from Bangalore to Hyderabad took only an hour and a half. We arrived about 7pm and were greeted by a missionary family: Kumar, Crownie, and their daughter Gracia. For this part of our trip they have hired a 12 seater bus for us to travel in together. We're looking forward to being able to travel as a group, though not so much the 5-6 hour trip ahead of us. 

We stopped for tea on the outskirts of the city of Hyderabad, about an hour from the airport. There is a festival on at the moment and so the restaurant was fairly busy with families out for the night. While we waited for a table, Robyn noticed a waiter clearing the tables and sorting the cutlery. The waiter proceeded to put the cutlery that he thought looked clean back onto the table to be used for the next group. I don't want to think on to what happens in the kitchen but am glad that I've been eating with fingers the whole trip!

I've been told that Hyderabad has some of the spiciest curries, at least in Southern India. Gracia was a little fearful that we wouldn't be able to handle the spice and kept discouraging the boys from taking too much. Most of it was simply delicious and didn't taste that spicy at all. I guess maybe my taste buds could be getting used to the spice now. There was one side dish though that I didn't touch as it had the boys' foreheads beading with sweat. 

We ate quickly as we were all keen to get back on the road again and closer to bed. 

At 3am we arrived in Chinnoor.

Most of us didn't get any sleep at all, discovering that the seats in the van were not very comfortable and had nowhere to rest your head. Arriving at the hotel, all we wanted to do was fall into bed. Of course it wasn't that easy, and there ended up being a bit of confusion with the rooms that had been booked for us. In the end Robyn had to go and stay with one of the missionary families in their small house. Saloni and I stumbled into our rooms, and discovered a very smelly bathroom with very questionable looking sheets on the beds. I took the time only to change and cover the pillow with my towel, deciding that I needed sleep more than I cared about dirty sheets. Saloni also covered her pillow and some of the bed and we both kept our shoes on rather than go bare foot on the dirty floors. We were so tired after our long day that despite the state of the sheets we soon fell asleep. 

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free- and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many."

1 Corinthians 12:12-14