Pray for India

We are home again! 

I hope to go back and add to my blog with what I wrote each day, but first I wanted to let you know that it was an amazing experience!

Bill and Samuel are still in India for another week speaking to ministers in Ahmedabad where Samuel grew up. 

Robyn is also still in India visiting friends and will arrive home later in the week.

We did lots of travelling around Southern India and saw lots of places and met many people. 

Again I'll expand on each day as I go. 

First, though, I'd like to ask you all to please pray for India! Pray for IEM in particular, their missionaries and churches, as well as for Bill, Samuel and Robyn still in India.

God is working in India, His Kingdom is growing and His name is being glorified through His people there. 

(our last night in Hyderabad)

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

John 4:34-38

Heading Home

Saloni and I were up at 5am to be ready to go by 6am. We quickly packed our last few things into our suitcases and headed downstairs to meet the others. It wasn't till we were in the elevator together that we looked at one another and said "good morning!" So half asleep were we that we hadn't spoken to each other yet! :)

Kumar and Crownie met us at the hotel along with two taxis to get us to the airport. We said our goodbyes and loaded our bags into the taxis before heading off. 

The sun rose as we drove to the airport.

It was a little strange travelling with just the five of us left after being eight for so long. 

The first leg of our journey to Delhi went quickly and we had coffee together at the airport while we waited to board our flight back home to Melbourne. 

We had been reluctant to leave India but once you're on a flight heading home it's hard to wait to get there. Saloni seemed to bounce all the way home, that's the best description I have for her excitement. I think if there was a possibility that will power could make the plane go faster Saloni would have succeeded. :)

I didn't get much sleep at all but had plenty of great conversation, which is one of many blessings that come with travelling with friends. 

As we neared Melbourne I managed to nod off for a few minutes. I awoke to find Saloni's excited face as she drew my attention to the sunrise over Melbourne. She was so excited she'd been waiting for me to wake up in order to share it with someone. It was a beautiful sunrise:).

Customs and baggage claim was quick and easy now that customs is almost completely electronic. 

Luke and Alex were picked up by a friend from church and headed home to Frankston. Keaton, Saloni and I were picked up by Andrew and Liza (Saloni's sister) and headed first for a quick coffee stop and then home. 

I talked for a while with my family and showed a few photos before heading for the shower and then the comfort of my bed. I napped for probably an hour and then went and visited Joel, Steph and Winter (their puppy). 

It was nice to catch up with all of my family and share the details of our trip together. 

There's a similar feeling to coming home from camp. When you spend every day with a group of people and then all of a sudden it's back to normality, each in our own homes with our own families. I miss them all already. It was great fun travelling with one another and sharing with each other as we experienced India and it's people.

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is

when brothers dwell in unity!"

Psalm 133:1

A Tourist Day

I had blissful night spent on clean sheets and with a refreshing clean shower. 

Today is our last full day in India, so a day of sightseeing has been planned for us. I can barely believe we'll be leaving tomorrow. It feels we've spent such a short amount of time here and yet at the same time we've managed to fit so much in to these last couple of weeks. 

We had a buffet breakfast together and chatted a bit about how we each feel the trip has been so far. Samuel and Bill will be leaving us this afternoon to head off on the next leg of their journey to Ahmedabad. Robyn will also be heading off on her own after we leave tomorrow to visit friends. 

Kumar, Crownie and Gracia picked us up in the bus after breakfast and we headed off to the museum. 

We weren't allowed to take bags into the museum. Only ladies handbags were allowed, which meant Saloni and I had to give up our backpacks. We had to pay for lockers to keep our bags in and then pay an extra fee for cameras, so Samuel decided we'd only take my camera in and just share the photos. The price to get into the museum was different depending on whether you were a foreigner or local. Saloni and Samuel both got local price, even though they're not locals, simply because they look Indian. I can't remember the exact amount but it was a significant difference in price. 

This marble statue is apparently quite famous because of the delicate carving of the veil. 

The museum has an old wooden mechanical clock which chimes at 1pm each day and all the sightseers gather to see the little men come out and ring the bell. Can you spot the foreigners in the photo above? :)

We walked through room after room of different collections and I lost all sense of direction. There were several room with ceramic and porcelain items. I laughed to read the name plates labelled "vase" "jug" "vase" "bowl" "vase" with no other description. 

Once we'd had our fill of looking at vases and jugs we left for lunch.

We went to a Biryani house with six different levels, all of which serve biryani! Each level becomes more expensive the higher up you go. The food is all cooked the same, you simply pay for the atmosphere. Unfortunately Bill and Samuel had to leave before lunch, though Samuel had been looking forward to this Biryani house. We each said goodbye and Luke and Saloni had a few extra minutes with their dads before they left for the airport and we headed into the restaurant for lunch. Kumar and Gracia ordered for us as most of us will eat just about anything. I only had one request, paneer butter masala, my new favourite dish. The food was delicious, though in my opinion Saloni's mum makes a biryani even better than their's. I'm going to miss eating with my fingers as I'm not sure I'll be able to get away with it at home. :)

After lunch we were taken off to do tourist shopping. :)

We split up, boys one way, girls another, to get a few trinkets to take home with us. I've been admiring the Indian dress so much that I wanted to buy something to wear back home. I knew I couldn't pull off wearing a sari so I compromised by buying an Indian style dress which Robyn and Saloni helped me to pick out. I managed to get a few small things like scarves and keyrings for my family. Crossing the road to look at different stalls was an experience in itself and Saloni, Gracia and I had to hold hands as we madly dashed into traffic. We headed back to the bus to meet up with the boys at the set time but the boys didn't arrive. With no way of contacting them, we decided to go and search for them in case they needed something. Saloni, Gracia and I headed back into the traffic and bustling pedestrians hoping we'd find them at the music store down the street. After a few minutes of searching in shops with no success we decided we'd have to just go back and hope they turned up. Thankfully we met the bus driver on our way back coming to tell us that they'd shown up from the other direction. 

Kumar, Crownie and Gracia took us back to their little flat for the evening and we all sat in Gracia's room together. It felt a little odd to convert her room into a sitting area for us like this. I wondered how I'd feel having a group of foreigners come and hang out in my room and sit on my bed like that. Like a typical missionary's kid though, Gracia didn't seem to mind at all and made us feel at home. 

Luke was pretty happy to pick up Gracia's guitar after doing without his since leaving Bangalore. We did a little more singing, with Luke and Keaton making up songs about our trip and all the little jokes along the way. 

Gracia had collected some henna leaves at one of our stops yesterday and asked if any of us wanted it done. I volunteered and she set to work blending the finely chopped leaves with water and did a traditional design on my right hand. 

Saloni followed suit and so did Alex and Luke, though the boys chose to do different designs. I could barely believe how bright orange it stained my skin after about an hour of soaking. Apparently it will take about a month for it to wear off my palm and for my nails I'll have to wait till they grow out. It's a bit unusual and I keep expecting to wash off but it doesn't. 

We had a dinner of sandwiches and watermelon together with Gracia and her family. It was a nice evening of fellowship with each other as we all tried to forget that we were leaving in the morning. 

On the way back to our hotel we stopped at a supermarket to buy some spices and Luke ran across the road to another store to buy a last minute gift for someone. 

Saloni and I managed to get into bed by 10pm! 

This trip has been such a great experience for all of us, marked by abundant hospitality from the believers and good Indian food. :)

I am looking forward to the chance to have a nice long nap once I'm home but I also feel like it's been such a short trip. Twelve days goes far too quickly for an overseas trip. 

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

Philippians 1:6

A Full Day with a Full Heart

Another morning was spent packing for the next journey. 

We knew we had a long day ahead of us, travelling back to Hyderabad. We've all enjoyed Chinnoor and are a little disappointed to be leaving so soon, though I must admit that I'm glad we're moving on to a different hotel and hopefully cleaner sheets. Alex got bitten quite badly by something during the night, which always makes travelling that much more uncomfortable. 

We packed up the van and headed over to Amu and Joseph's for breakfast. We sat in the morning sunshine while breakfast was being prepared and Luke attracted a crowd of young fans at the gate. 

We have felt very welcome here and I'll admit I'm a little jealous of the opportunity Robyn had to stay in Amu and Joseph's home. 

Breakfast today was a dish a little bit like savoury couscous which we were instructed to dip in sugar. Very nice but also quite filling. Also, the standard boiled eggs, toast, bananas and coffee. 

As we sat and ate our breakfast together, kids from the surrounding community snuck in the front gate and peeked in through the door at us, before being shooed off again. 

First thing after breakfast we headed to another church. This is the biggest church we visited for our trip. We were served an Indian sweet sort of like rice pudding in a nearby room before being seated up the front for the church service. They danced for us and we sang for them before Bill spoke and the skit was performed again.  

I love all the beautifully coloured saris and also the way that the whole of the women's side of the church sort "tinkles" with the sound of bangles and anklets. 

It was another 2 hour service and we quickly left, knowing we had few more places to visit before heading off to Hyderabad. 

Second church for the day. Most of the congregation here seemed to be women and children, at least that was the turn out today anyway. We noticed, though, that today our bus driver who is Hindu came and sat up the back for some of the church services. 

There was more dancing.

This young boy was called up the front to pray specifically for us. 

I couldn't understand what he was saying but I was touched by the gesture anyway. 

After the service we gathered on the roof to pray for the new Sunday school room they plan to build up there. 

We fellowshipped with one another after the service and met more believers. 

Us girls enjoyed meeting some of the little ones. This little girl loved Saloni and was quite happy to stay in her arms. 

Keaton and Luke were keen on playing some games with the kids and tried to teach them a few new ones. Here the young boys are enjoying watching them inflict pain on one another in the game of slaps. 

We enjoyed lunch here before saying goodbye and heading off again. 

Half the time I have no idea what's next on our agenda or where we're headed next for the day. In fact Samuel barely knew today's plans as they kept getting changed. The day began with the plan of some quick stops for prayer in a few churches on the way to Hyderabad but ended up being a lot more than that. 

In between church services during our bus rides, Luke entertained us with his jokes and Robyn with her sayings and stories. It was another hot day and we drank bottles and bottles of water between us. 

Our next stop was a small village church which we had to walk a short distance to get to. We passed a man on our walk who was keen to talk to us but by the smell of him was quite drunk. Gracia interpreted for us and though the man seemed quite friendly the conversation didn't get very far. 

What was meant to be a quick stop for prayer with the believers turned out to be another full length church service. By this stage I was beginning to lose my voice and struggled to lead the standard "Jesus loves me", thankfully we all know the drill and the others carried me through. 

More dancing and colourful saris. 

More children peeking in the door. 

We left almost straight away when the church service finished. It's a shame we didn't get to really meet the people here but we had several more places to get to. A few quick handshakes and a smile will have to do. 

We had a slightly longer drive this time and we stopped for a few minutes to pray for a missionary family before continuing on.

We were all getting pretty tired and we visited so many places that it's all a little bit of a blur for us. 

We stopped again and were fed a quick snack by another missionary family, something I can only describe as like curry doughnut/pancakes with spicy relish. Just as we headed in to start another church service the power went out. It's probably not the first time this happened to them and candles were lit for the pulpit until the power came back a little while later. This was a tiny little church with a very low ceiling and Alex had to walk with his neck almost sideways which cause a little laughter. :) Despite the size of the building it was filled with people ready to hear the Word of God and Bill barely had enough room to do the skit at the front. 

We ate dinner with the family here afterwards and Saloni and I decided to share a plate together to avoid being given too much. I was happily chewing away on my chicken curry when I bit into the liver. I've had chicken livers before and though they're not horrible it's a little bit of a shock when you're not expecting the distinct flavour and texture. 

We were eating outside and though the bugs can be annoying, I was excited to see fireflies just above us almost like shooting stars against the night sky. 

This was our last stop before driving to Hyderabad and I realised as we prayed with the people here that it was our last church service for the trip. Though I'll be happy if I don't have to sing "Jesus loves me" for a long time, I'm sad to be finishing up this encouraging ministry of visiting these growing churches. 

We had hours ahead of us on the bus and we were all exhausted from the busiest day by far of the trip. Despite our fatigue, travelling by bus doesn't really allow one to fall asleep comfortably. Saloni and I managed to find some relief by leaning on each other but even then it was only a few minutes before we'd wake again with a jolt. I've discovered how delirious a person can get from lack of sleep and the groups antics are probably best left to the imagination. That Saloni and I started singing "Joy to the World" in the early hours of the morning randomly is an example of how crazy we could get. 

We arrived at our hotel in Hyderabad by 2am and unloaded our bags. Saloni and I took just long enough to exclaim "Look, a real bathroom and toilet!" and "Look, clean white sheets!" before jumping into bed and sleeping quite soundly. 

I can't believe we're leaving Sunday morning. 

I was thinking this morning on 1 Corinthians 13. I wondered; how can I love a people that I barely understand and hardly have met? Only Christ's love within me can cause the fullness of my heart towards His people, not just here, but believers all over the world. Many of them have such a simple understanding of the Gospel and thirst for more, but they know Christ the Saviour and His joy shines from their faces. 

Lord, may Your love grow more and more in the hearts of us, Your people. 

"So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13:13

"Namaste" (greetings) to Chinnoor

Up and ready to go again at 9am.

Exhaustion apparently covers a multitude of sins and we all felt rested though with the addition of a few mysterious bug bites after our night in the hotel. 

I sat with Saloni in the foyer of the hotel while we waited for the others to get up and for the bus to arrive. Each hotel we've stayed in has had some form of idol in the foyer and this morning they were burning incense to the idol. I can barely stand the smell of incense, especially while drinking my tea, and I was relieved when we were ready to go. 

We went to the missionaries' (Amu and Joseph) house, where Robyn had stayed the night, for our breakfast. The house is also a boys hostel and we got to meet all the boys. This room they are seated in is the room that all 30 of them sleep in at night but they have recently begun building another room onto the house for them.

They were all dressed up in nice shirts as they prepared to go home to relatives for the 9 day holiday beginning today. We were glad we'd arrived before they headed off. 

They sang for us and did a special welcome song which these two boys repeated 8 times gesturing with their hands so that we were greeted individually. Some recited passages of Scripture and one boy even shared his testimony with us.   

We did the usual singing routine and then Bill got up to speak. 

Bill tried a new tactic for the boys and began with a skit, which became an illustration for his short talk. The boys laughed as Bill pretended to speed along in his car, darting in and out of traffic and honking his horn just like Indians drive. He was in a hurry to get from Hyderabad to Chinnoor to see the boys in the hostel, but he got pulled over by the police for speeding! The policeman (Luke and his siren noise) told Bill in his best Indian accent that he would have to pay a fine of 250,000,000 rupees (about 4.5 million Australian dollars)!! The boys were absolutely enthralled with the story and gasped at the impossible amount. Bill made all sort of excuses and tried to convince the policeman that he had done lots of good things like going to church, giving away money to the poor and driving under the speed limit most of the time. The policeman was undeterred by all these facts and Bill even said "but I'm a pastor!" (a title which is respected by the Indian people). Of course, the policeman would accept no excuse, and Bill had to admit that he had no way of paying the outrageous amount. The policeman gave Bill another option; go to jail instead. How long would he have to go to jail for? The policeman looked at Bill for a moment (with dark glasses over his eyes and a very stern expression) and said "250 million years". What!? The boys again could barely believe the punishment. There was no other way though; Bill would have to go to jail. 

Just as the stern policeman was dragging Bill out the door and off to jail, Alex jumped out of his seat and said "wait!". The boys eyes never left the scene and they all seemed to take in every detail, as Alex got down on his knees and begged the policeman to take him instead. Bill asked, "could Alex really take my place?" The policeman agreed and Alex was dragged off to jail. 

Bill hopped back in his car and was able to make it all the way to Chinnoor thanks to Alex! 

Bill explained that he could never forget about Alex but instead would live his life in thankfulness toward him for what he'd done. 

You've probably worked out by now what the story is a picture of. Bill went on to explain that Jesus did exactly that for us. No amount of good things we've done can ever make up for our sin. We have a huge fine to pay which will cost us eternal death and there is no way out of it. Jesus stepped in a experienced eternal death on the cross so we could go free! Do we shrug our shoulders and say "thanks Jesus!" and continue on with our lives? No!! Our lives are filled with gratitude toward Him and all He has done for us. We don't obey Him out of a sense of duty but with an enthusiastic thankfulness! 

Even the missionaries and Kumar, who interpreted for us, were enthralled by the whole story and I doubt that they'll ever forget the vivid illustration of salvation. 

We said goodbye to the boys and headed off to visit a missionary family a short drive away. 

Sitting inside their little house and talking with them as their young daughter slept on the bed in the corner, they explained how many poisonous snakes lived in the roof along with the rats. They smiled and declared how good God is, as they shared how many they'd caught this year and nobody had been bitten. 

Just a few minutes down the road is the village church that they minister in. 

On this Thursday morning, when usually everyone would be working on their farms, the church was full of people ready to worship together. We were told that many were missing due to recent outbreaks of malaria and typhoid in the village. 

We had a full length church service with prayer and singing and Bill did his sermon and repeated the skit from the morning. A few boys from the hostel were there and giggled expectantly, knowing what was coming next in the story. The story seems to really work well and the people show much more understanding than they did with some of Bill's other sermons. I think a lot is lost in translation and the simplicity of the story along with all the action going enables them to understand more. Of course, the depth of truth in the story is also so great that they have many questions for Bill afterwards. One man asked the exact same question that one of the boys did this morning, "why were you speeding?" :)

A young Christian man shared his testimony with us as Gracia interpreted. We were encouraged to hear that even as a young christian he was heading off to study at Bible college in order to become a leader in the church. 

This lady stood up and was introduced to us as they explained that today was her first time coming to church, a big step for someone in this kind of community. 

It was a hot day, reaching around 40 degrees and Bill was dripping in his long sleeved shirt. He has to dress the part as a pastor, and the people often look a little strangely at the boys when they wear shorts as it as seen as extremely casual. 

The couple in the foreground to the right are the missionaries at this church and cooked us all a yummy lunch to share along with the congregation. We begged the right to dish up our own plates in order to avoid being given mountains of food and then feeling rude when we can't finish. I love the way they deep fry fresh river fish, but find it painful to pick out all the tiny bones! The advantage to using your fingers to eat everything is that you never burn your tongue and you can pick out bones easily before finding them in your mouth. 

We were taken back to the hotel after lunch to rest for an hour in the heat of the day. Of course, being crazy foreigners, we decided we'd prefer to take a walk and explore the little roadside stalls nearby. Saloni, Samuel, Bill and Robyn took the opportunity to nap and us four remaining set out on our walk. Gracia came with us to keep us out of trouble. She's like our lovely tour guide, interpreter, protector and little sister all rolled into one very gracious young lady. 

We very quickly got mobbed by people wanting to know who we were and why we were there and have pictures with us. We have to be careful not to cause problems for the missionaries in the community and so avoided elaborating on why we were there. Gracia said that they become so interested because they can hear our accent. If they had heard an English accent among us they would have had nothing to do with us. As it is most of the village people have no knowledge of Australia at all, and the few that do know only cricket:). We became uncomfortable with all the attention after only a few minutes and so headed back home with Keaton being the only one to make a purchase of few pomegranates from a stall.

We walked down to Amu and Joseph's house, a slightly more relaxing walk amongst the little houses of the village. We had coffee and tea with biscuits along with Keaton's pomegranates. Amu and Joseph are very hospitable and make us all feel welcome, along with Kumar, Crownie and Gracia. 

The sun began to set over their garden as we headed off to visit another church. 

Colour is such a huge part of India that it hardly seems unusual to see the churches decorated so brightly.

We did the usual church service; singing and Bill's sermon with the addition of the skit, as well as Keaton and Alex both sharing their testimonies. We sat up the front again, facing the congregation and were almost eaten alive by mosquitoes and various other bugs. I was thankful for Robyn's scarf that I've been using as a head covering and wrapped it securely around my neck to stop the endless amount of moths that delighted in flying down my neck and the front of my t-shirt. Aeroguard seemed to have no effect at all on the creatures. We must have looked funny as we tried in vain to protect ourselves from the bugs and sporadically began whacking ourselves to kill those that landed on our skin. Saloni left to use the toilet at the beginning and came back more than a little disturbed after the experiencing of "going bush" as we would say in Australia. I've had to "go bush" in Australia before, but can imagine it would be an entirely different experience in India where it is significantly more populated and where it's difficult to walk in the dark because of the danger of walking into one of the many open sewers. 

We all enjoy meeting the congregation after another service. Even if I can only shake hands or greet someone with a "namaste" and a smile, it's enough to see the light in their eyes and feel like family amongst them because of the same God we serve. As much as most of you know I love my words, and I've spoken in a previous post about words meaning more to me than pictures, I also believe that gestures or actions are worth more again. I don't know any of these people personally, I don't even know their names; and yet as I shake the hand of every person that reaches out to me, I feel like somehow we have welcomed one another, met with one another, and accepted one another. I don't need words, so long as I can reach out a hand in greeting and a smile in friendship and love. 

We went back to Amu and Joseph's house for dinner together and were fed till we could eat no more and still the food kept coming. We ended our overflowing day with prayer together and then walked back to our hotel by torchlight to avoid the sewer trenches. 

I managed to get to bed just before midnight. 

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." 

John 10:27-28