Home sweet home... Chandigarh

So last week I took a train (all by myself =]) from Delhi to Chandigarh. That was one fabulous train ride... it was like a plane ride, minus all the safety demonstrations and the take-off, landing difficulties.

I was there from last Friday to Thursday (day before yesterday). I got to visit some of the old places still in my memory. Most vivid in my memory is my old house and so I got someone to bring me there.




I have to say, it looks much smaller than what I remember from 11 years ago. It might have something to do with the fact that I was about half as tall as I am now the last time I saw the place. The house is also vacant, and apparently has been for some time now, and so there is grass growing through the driveway, some of the windows are broken, and the backyard is a terrible mess of overgrown plants and weeds.

It was a sad sight. The most depressing part was that I remembered a Jasmine plant right in front of the house, but it was not there anymore.


I also got a unique chance to visit my old school. St. Anne's Convent School. Ah... the memories. The fields I used to play in were now in utter dismay because construction is going on for a new auditorium. I was able to catch some sweet sights. Like this stage in this picture. There are two tunnel-like hollow spots beneath the stage, in which I have eaten lunch many times.




The church there is also very dear to me. This church started when my sister was born. Its extra special because the first 2 or 3 years the service was held at our house. The pastor and certain people there were very close to me as I was growing up, so there is definitely a lot of connections. The Sunday that I was there, Pastor insisted that I speak. Not terribly horrible for my first attempt, and I somehow squeezed out a 20 minute message, including translation.... and testimony...


Moving on...

I stayed there for another four days. Some people visited me... They all knew me, but alas I knew none of them. Its weird how I have forgotten EVERYTHING...

One day we went to visit a place called the Rose Garden. Unfortunately, it is not the season for roses, and so we saw very few of them. The best part was getting there though. We took the bus and unfortunately, the cord link connecting the accelerator pedal to the engine snapped. Under normal circumstances, that would be the end of the ride... but not today! The driver went to the back, opened up a compartment and began fishing out the snapped cable. He then brought the end he just fished out to the front and gave it a nice tug. VROOOM!!! the engine revved... and thus the remainder of the trip the driver PULLED ON THE CABLE to accelerate in place of pressing the pedal. I thought it was fantastic and ingenious.

=) (thats the back of the bus, you can kind-of see the cable...)


I'm back in Delhi now. Its 9:30pm on Saturday night. Tomorrow around 4 pm we are leaving for Nepal! I'm set to be driving for part of the time, so keep that in your prayers. They are also asking me to take 4 sessions at the youth camp in Nepal. So... please please PLEASE keep that in your prayers too.

Good Night and God Bless!

Bihar, Jarkhand, and lots of Water!

AH... Bihar.

That was one fantastic trip. We took a Rajadani train from Delhi which brought us to Katihar Bihar in about 20 hours. The train was pretty nice... there were 6 beds in each compartment and my uncle and I got the lower berths on opposite sides. #33 and #36 =]


Then there was a family with a young kid in our same section, so then I switched to their middle berth and she slept with the kid on my lower berth.



All in all the food and general comfort of the trip can be rated as excellent! They even gave us ice cream =]

YUM

Then we got to Katihar, Bihar...I was pretty tired so all I noticed were small huts and such on the side of the road. I fell asleep in the van (Omni =]) ride to Purnea, Bihar. Next thing I know we are in front of a cement building. Luckily for me, the first actual building I see in Bihar (other than the station!) was the home we would be staying at. I think God had pity on me and blessed me with very comfortable accommodations. There's no other way of explaining it. The family hosting us was a malayalee family too, so that was a double bonus.

The whole reason we were in Purnea, Bihar was for a three day convention. The church there was holding the meeting in a school. They had brought in a lot of people from flood affected parts on buses and they arranged for the people to stay in the classrooms.

Those people. WOW. I have never seen people so sad... I guess is a way to explain it. They never NEVER smiled.

Years and years of poverty and repression and the whole deal with losing just everything in the flood might have something to do with it.

It was like this for the the first 3 or 4 meetings. Only after 3 meetings of telling jokes and trying to get them to laugh did they finally start loosening up a bit. Seeing them smile finally was such a heartwarming experience. It was fantastic!

We heard a testimony of a man, his wife, and their two kids who were all stuck on the roof of their house for 18 days during the main Bihar flood. They didnt have any food or anything and they boiled the flood water for themselves and thier kids. The most touching part of the testimony was the fact that even as they were barely getting by, people were dying right before their eyes.


That is the family with one of their children


I cant even begin to imagine what it must be like for people who lived through the flood. In an instant EVERYTHING they owned and knew was gone. Just gone... washed away... How can people cope with the trauma of realizing that even their families,very the people they ate food with the night before, are all gone...

It's really heart wrenching.

I also got the chance to visit a flood victim's relief camp run by New India Evangelical Team in Purnea Bihar.

It was stunning. When we got there it was milk time and they let me pour milk for the first few kids.






After Purnea we drove back to Katihar. My uncle's ministry has a church in Katihar and we met up with the pastor there. In the evening, we went to speak at a village which was located in the middle of a flood affected region. So we first took an auto from the hotel we were staying at (Rs. 250 a night = 6 dollars!) to the edge of the water. Then we took a boat (which was filling with water, by the way) to the other side of the flooded area. Then we walked through some fields till we got to more water. At this point, we had to roll up our pants and walk through the water!! The water came up to about the middle of my thighs! =D



The meeting at the village was good and we prayed for everyone who wanted to be prayed for. It was a great blessing for everyone.

The next day we took an auto to the Ganges River. It was pretty neat standing by something so famous. We took a ferry across the Ganges from Bihar to the state of Jarkhand. The ride made me feel a little qweezy. Not because I was sea-sick or anything but because people on the other boat were DRINKING THE WATER FROM THE RIVER!!!






Quite Sickening.

After we reached Jarkhand, we rested for a bit. That evening around 3:30 we left to go to another village.

Normally the missionaries in Jarkhand would take a train and then walk the remaining 4KM to the village. To eliminate the walking, they decided to hire a taxi (a big auto rickshaw =P ). So we left around 3:30... got there like 6. Yes 2 and a half hours in a little rickshaw. Cramped together and bounced up and down every which way possible. Oh and we also had to give money to the mafia controlling that area so that we could pass through... go figure...

Anyways we got there, but there was not the village. We had to walk about another Kilometer to reach the village. The villagers hadn't known that we were coming and so the entire time we were there, they were worried about how they would give us food and treat us well. They have a special welcoming greeting where they come before you and you have to either lift your hand to bless them or bow your head to receive blessing from them.

Ofcourse I didn't know that and looked a little dumbfounded when the first guy came in front of me and stood there. I was like: 8-O... "what now...." But the people with me told me what to do and everything worked out well.

The people there didn't even speak Hindi so we translated the message into their language, Santhali. It was the first time they were hearing the gospel and about Jesus Christ. Just goes to show that there are still people in touch with the civilized world that haven't heard about Jesus. The meeting was a blessing and a few people brought their sick to be prayed for as well as some mothers who brought their children to be prayed for.

Then was the worst part of the entire trip. The ride back from the village. The auto driver was in some rush to get home so he was going pretty fast. Mind you, the roads are nothing like America. In fact a better comparison would to the roads you see in the World War movies after the area has been ravaged by bombs. Just holes and ruts. And the driver going like 40 miles an hr did not help. All 9 of us adults + 1 baby were subjected to this horrendous treatment. It was so bad that one of the missionaries who came with us could barely get up because this whole body hurt. I gave him a few Aleeve pills. =) Hopefully he is okay by now.

Then our train from Jarkhand back to Delhi was at 6 in the morning. When we checked the status of our tickets the night before, the site showed that we were still on the wait list for our seats. In fact we were #1 and #2. Anyway, the day of we went there and the station told us we were still not confirmed. We got on the train and figured we would do something after we got on it. And that was what we did. They didn't have any seats in the 3tier coach we had reserved our tickets for, so we had to pay some extra money to upgrade to the 2 tier coach. By God's grace things worked out and we got good seats.

The ride to Delhi was pretty uneventful, and that is probably a good thing.


So whats next?

Tomorrow morning (its 6:30pm October 16, 2008) at 7 I'm taking a train to Chandigarh. I will be there till next Thursday, I'm anticipating. Will be visiting my old church and pastor and friends.

I'll arrive back in Delhi on Thursday hopefully, then Friday and Saturday are days of rest because on Sunday... WE ARE LEAVING FOR NEPAL!! =]

This trip is really coming together to be one awesome trip all over India!


Thanks for all your prayer. I know it is your prayers and God's grace on me that has kept me safe and secure so far for all bad things.


Keep praying and God Bless!

ps: Just to show that I am doing well:

Post Agra, Pre Bihar Post

So its been about six days since I've arrived and things are going great.

The meetings in Agra went well and the suicide/murder issue was taken care off. Turns out the guy was in the Air Force, so they took his body to do post-mortem and stuff and they indeed found poison. Please keep that family and the church in your prayers.

Anyway, like I said in the previous post, we visited the Taj Mahal, so here are some pictures from there:





=] I can believe horses and donkeys... and even cows... but camels in Agra? lol




On the way there, we had also stopped at a McDonalds... would you believe the sign I saw there...


And our sleeping arrangements there... this is in the church hall, by the way:





Last two days we had gone to Samalkha in the state of Haryana. The church there was celebrating their 4th anniversary. By God's grace and the tireless work of the pastors in this ministry, in just 4 years the church has grown to over 250 members. All the believers and even the pastor of the church are converts. Please keep that church in your prayers.

Here are some pictures taken around the time of these meetings:


People at the meeting:



I also have a picture of an oil-changer's dream vehicle...



Look at the position of that filter!!

... anyways on with the blog...


There was another suicide/murder incident yesterday (Oct 5) this time involving a bible school student. He had joined the school recently even without the permission of his father and step-mother (who, it turns out, aren't very interested in him anyways). Apparently on Sunday morning when the rest of the students went to church, he said he wasn't feeling well and stayed in bed. When everyone returned they found him hanging from the ceiling fan. Fortunately for the bible school, the police found a suicide note claiming that no one was responsible for his death except himself. Unfortunately, however, the police are apparently making up stories saying the school had not been feeding the kid for the past few days which forced him to commit suicide. It is, obviously, just a ploy to get some money from the school. The school is located in Nagpur near Delhi (or so I hear...). Please PLEASE keep that school and the rest of the students and faculty in your prayers.

As you probably already know, the tension is still high here in India. Many cities are imposing curfews and "shoot on sight" orders. The violence is getting out of hand and doesn't seem to be any sign of relief. The national government is worried about the international opinion and is trying to work to fix its image. This just means that the protests and wide... well somewhat-wide coverage of these issues is working.

There will be some meetings here in Delhi the next few days. On the 9th we will leave for Bihar by train. The ride is almost 24-26hrs. :) Sounds like a long trip? Well the return trip to Delhi will be about 36 hours!!

So far my stay here has been great. I thought the food on the plane was pretty good, I had no idea what was in store for me here. From the roti and subzi the family in Agra mass produced (yes mass produced, there were 7 of us hungry hungry people =P, plus some of the guys from there also) to the meals from the different places we visit... its just amazingly tasty. Also, I don't know if this is a overall thing, but after the Samalkha church anniversary, I thought it was interesting that they were going around with the kheer first! And I don't think its because the rest of the food wasn't ready either... but anyways, dessert first is like a dream come true hahha.

I've met a lot of the guys from the training center and stuff here. It was a good thing that I went straight to Agra with some of these guys, I got a chance to really get to know them so there isn't that awkwardness anymore. One of the guys speaks English well and another can get by. The second one, Samuel, is really quiet and my uncle was surprised when I told him that he could speak English. But forget English... this kid Samuel is a musical genius. He learned guitar and piano ON HIS OWN and when he plays... its just mesmerizing to hear him play... I'll definitely be hanging around him, hopefully I can pick up a thing or two.

The only bit that still annoys me a little are the wet and not-so-pleasant bathrooms. I don't think I need to go into detail about that, but I'm getting used to it... The other thing is the dust everywhere. I've been getting asthma attacks frequently and I'm pretty sure its because of the dust.

Other than those two things, everything is A-OKAY thanks to God's grace and mercy. By this I know that people have been praying for me. Thanks!! and God Bless you=]



Please keep praying for me and the ministry here, the people I'm traveling with and the whole bit.

Thanks and God Bless You!

First days + Agra trip

So I'm finally here. Its the second day already...I can't believe.

We are in Agra right now... I arrived in Delhi around 11:30 pm... and we left for Agra around 3:30 am. We will be in Agra for today and tomorrow and then return to Delhi. Everything here has been behath acha :)

There is/was a problem with one of the members of this church committing suicide yesterday but there hasn't been any major problems directly attached to that. Also yesterday as we were returning from Agra we were stopped by the police two times. Thankfully there was not much problem.

So there are definetly a lot of forces working against us so please remember to keep us in your prayers

I will update in more detail once I have access to a regular screen and a fullsized keyboard... unlike this iPhone that I'm on

God bless you :)

Ps: I'll add pictures when I get back to Delhi