Prayers Needed

Sorry for the lack of communication. Things have been busy around here and the 110 degree weather is wearing us all out. Please pray for us as everyone is passing around a sickness again. Rob was sick last week. I was sick this week and now Moriah and Ernie are sick. Pray that Moriah can stay hydrated and get better quickly. She is sleeping it off right now. Also pray for our team here in general. Things have been difficult lately and we are all struggling in some way or another. Pray that God would win the spiritual battle and that we would have His wisdom.

No More Teachers, No More Books

Yeah for Rob finishing his first year at the University of Madras. Today he turned in his last paper and took his last exam. We are grateful for getting through this first year. I am grateful to have more help and time with him. Rob has done very well in his classes. The professor acctually wants to publish one of his papers in a Hindu Journal. We are not to sure about that because we really do not want to be propagating Hinduism of all things... Either way, it is exciting to see Rob excell at his school work in such a different academic setting. Now Rob is officially on leave until mid July. Probably more like August... Anyways, he still is going to teach an intensive English class in May and meet another American student coming in May to work on a doctoral project so these things are neat opportunities.

Tonight we went to eat at an actual American style restraunt!!! I had driven by it a couple of weeks ago and noticed it was named "Sparky's"... This stuck out because it is my nickname for my sissy. I told Rob we should go there. So as a special treat we went there tonight in honor of my sister Sparky. Let me tell you... the food was awesome. They happened to have a buffet tonight too which can be dangerous for a white lady that hasn't seen American food in 9 months! I realized quickly that I don't have near the appetite that I used to have. If you are ever in Chennai, please please please EAT AT SPARKY'S!!!! It is very tasty :)

On another note, keep praying for the court issues I have mentioned. The court gave a verdict favoring the bad guys. We are sure that a bribe must have been paid to get that verdict. So we just need to trust that the Lord will be the true judge.

Jesus is my Guru

Rob has started riding the bus to the university. He enjoys the people on the bus and seeing India from this point of view. The buses in India can be a little wild. They really can crowd on. I have seen busses with people standing in every possible spot. I have also seen people hanging from the open windows on the outside of the bus. Remember there is no AC, it is 100 degrees outside, and there are 40 too many people crowded on a bus... nice. Rob enjoys the experience though and he tries to find the least crowded buss. This also gives him a chance to get a little exercise while he walks from the buss stand. Anyway, today he sat by a man who said he is a Brahmin (highest caste) who follows Jesus. He said he does not go to church but that Jesus was his guru (teacher). He says that churches only preach prosperity gospel and that they are corrupt so he prays to Jesus but does not participate in religious organization. This makes me sad that the churches tend to be so corrupt but it also gives me a reason to continue to share the true Jesus with all I meet. I feel that even many of the Christians in India lack an understanding of the incredible love and grace that is found in Jesus. We heard today that 300,000 people reportedly converted back to Hinduism from Christianity in the southern part of the state. They said that Christianity did little too help them out of their poverty. By converting back to Hinduism they are rewarded by the government with tax breaks and things. All of this helps me realize that as we do missions it is important that we not solely emphasize the blessings of being Christian. We should not lure people to Christianity with money or promises of a better life. However, we do need to share who Christ is. We need to share that He suffered for us and that He is the giver of true life. We need to share that as a Christian we are not promised wealth, health, or status but we are promised true life. I believe revival will only come when we authentically live the life Christ called us to. Like I said, not a life of health and wealth but a life of true devotion and thanksgiving. I have included a picture of a roadside Hindu shrine which are scattered all over town. This one is out side the store we shop at.

100 degrees and Rising

Yeah. It is hot. I cannot describe the heat. Rob says it is even too hot for the devil in this place:) Yesterday was over 100 degrees and we had an all day training event for all the pastors and leaders of their churches in order to prepare for VBS. Even the Chennai people were complaining about the heat. It was good to see so many of the leaders yesterday and know that they are preparing for VBS. This is a major outreach that the mission puts together and prepares each of the churches for. Children all over Chennai will be hearing the good news about Jesus Christ during the first week of May. Please pray that these children are drawn to the Lord and that their families are also saved! It is also neat because this is the first year that everything for VBS was put together by an Indian committee instead of by Western folk. We were just the support behind them. We hope that the material will be even more relevant because of the indidenous project.

We also went to a wedding Friday night. Ernie was the speaker for this event. I am still torn about how to feel about these events here. I feel that the dowry thing is extremely evil and the cause of great pain. I also fear for the bride in many of the marriages. I pray that the marriages of our leaders and pastors families will be better but I know that the cultural struggles are still there. I am hoping still and praying that God will open a door for me to help guide the Christian families into the freedom of Christ and to free them from this evil practice. I have included a picture of the dowry that was on display at this wedding. Along with these gifts I am sure there was a gift of money and gold. Pictured are a motor bike, Refrigerator, Washer, chairs, cupboard, and more.

Moriah is still being a stinker at night time so I have been sleeping when I can during the day and not getting much actual work done. I am thankful though that the Lord has been faithful to get us through these tiring days.

When your daughter offers you her pacifier...

I have had a rough week with Moriah teething and things. This morning I was laying in bed next to her and she took her binki out of her mouth and tried to put it in my mouth. I thought this was extremely humorous and thought she was kind of telling me that she is handling things a little better than I am at this point.
Anyways, this week has been pretty quiet. The pastors of the conference are still scheming and fighting but we just continue to submit them to the Lord and pray that God will change their hearts. I have spent a lot of time praying and playing with little Moriah. I am dedicating this next month to prayer about our ministry here. I really want the Lord to reveal our roles here. I do not want to just start doing things that I think would be helpful. I hope that the month I spend in America will continue to reveal things about our roles here and that I am prepared to really work when I get back from the states.
Rob has been in the midst of exams this week and that has kept him very busy. Pray that he gets throught that okay. On the bright side, his rash seems to be clearing up so that is good. We are gearing up for summer here. It has been in the mid 90s all week and they say that it only gets hotter. When people told me it was hot here I never thought about the fact that so many people live in the heat 24/7. AC is a luxury few people have and when they do it is only in one room of the house. None of the churches have AC. It is so hot that some of our staff people prefer to sleep outside rather than in their homes. Yeah... I am still scared of bugs and snakes and things.

Warning: TMI

Yeah Rob has a rash which is taking over his body... I decided to blog about this because it is in fact a part of our life in India... and this way I can find out if Rob ever really checks what I write on here:) It is extremely hot here now and it seems that this is causing Rob to get rashes that are spreading everywhere. He went to the doctor today which was an interesting experience. The doctor decided that he sould need gloves when examining Rob so he locked Rob in the room while he went to look for gloves (yeah, not used as much here I guess and did he think Rob was going to try and escape). Once he found some gloves he came back. After checking out the rash he wrote Rob 10 prescriptions for pills and lotions. Rob was like... ummmm I had this when I came back from India last time and I was given one pill, why do I need 10. The doctor also asked if Rob would like to have some blood work done... Rob graciously declined and left hopeful that at least one of the ten precriptions would relieve his pain and discomfort. So the moral of the story is you never really know what your getting into when you go to India:)
In all seriousness, we heard today that one of our graduates from the Bible College died suddenly in a motorbike wreck. He was 20 years old. Rob went to the hospital where he had died and the man was just laying on the floor on a blanket. Rob said it was a mess. The mans name was Ezekial. Please pray for his family as they recover from this tragedy.

The Gift of Discernment

We are learning more and more how necessary the gift of discernment is necessary in this field of ministry. As we seek to do more ministry and share the love of Christ it is becoming difficult to know what the real needs are. We were told when we got here that poverty makes even good people do bad things. We find that people will lie and cheat in order to get the support of the missionaries. This is difficult when we already have the problem of not fully understanding the culture or language yet. As I have mentioned we have been having some difficulties with leaders in the Conference. Our prayer is that God would shine His light on the situation and reveal who is working for the Lord and who is working against Him. We trust that God will take care of all these things in His time.

Yesterday Rob shared God's Word at a prayer meeting for a pastor we didnt know very well. Rob tried to decline speaking because he told them that he didnt know the pastor. They said thats okay you tell us about God. So Rob shared to gospel message and at the end asked the pastors in attendance to stand up so that those who wanted to accept Jesus as Savior could go and speak to one of the pastors. He made it clear in English that the Pastors were available to pray for anyone who wanted to become a Christian. The only problem occured at the end of the service when we were eating. The translator asked Rob again what the Pastors were supposed to do:( Oh well. Thats what he gets for not knowing Tamil yet. We frequently have translation problems. We just need to work harder at understanding the language so we do not have to rely on translators!

Today we went to a service near the airport. It was a nice service with lots of people. Rob and Ernie helped dedicate two beautiful little girls. They were all dressed up in white gowns and hates and jewelry... No wonder they always think Moriah is a boy baby. I barely get a dress on her in the morning better yet jewelry and things! Anyways, we enjoyed sharing the service with the believers and praying with them.

Blogging Problems:)

I have had a hard time logging in the last couple of days so that is why there has been a delay in the blog. Sorry about that. We have been pretty busy and sweaty:) Yeah it is really getting hot around here. It is about 95 degrees and humid everyday. The scary thing is "summer" has not even started yet. Last Sunday we went to a village church which was very nice but it was a little difficult with Moriah. It was extremely hot and the fans were not working very well. Moriah needed to eat and everywhere I went to feed her people were trying to play with her. I even got in the jeep to feed her and kids were climbing in the windows and pulling on her legs. I just about went crazy. Sometimes I just wish that I didnt stick out like a sore thumb here. Moriah is constantly being bombarded by people wanting to hold her and pinch her cheeks. The poor child rarely gets a break from all the attention. Anyways, there are days that I realize what a blessing Moriah is to the people here and I am thankful to be able to share her and there are other days that I just want to blend in for a change. I guess that is all pretty normal.

There have been some issues with the conference leadership and they are going to court. This all could get really ugly but we are just praying that those who are out of line will be convicted by the Holy Spirit. Please pray that we will have wisdom on how to handle these issues.

We have also spent a lot of time getting ready for VBS this week. We put together packets for all 95 churches that we work with. It was a ton of work to get it all organized but it was worth it. This is the major evangelistic outreach we take care of every year. The real victory is that this year it was competely written by our pastors! Usually the American missionaries do most of the work but that makes it less releavent. We have several meetings coming up to train the leaders and pastors on the material.

More Warfare

We are experiencing even more spiritual warfare here in Chennai. Paul Sunder Raj, missionary to Bihar, was in a rickshaw accident today as he returned from Bihar. He was coming home to see his family which he has not seen since November and to take a break. He has been doing incredible ministry in the North and I think that Satan is doing all he can to snatch this worker for the kingdom away. Paul survived the wreck with a broken foot and he will need to be in the hospital for awhile. Hopefully, he can get some rest and then spend some time with his family. His wife and two children are thrilled to have him home and cannot wait for him to fully recover. They are hoping to travel to Bihar with Paul eventually. I have included a pic of my mom and I when we met with Paul Sunder the day before Moriah was born!

We also need to continue to pray for the conference and their leaders as they prepare for a big meeting on Saturday. We are currently in a spot where several people are lying to us and it is virtually impossible to discern who to trust. We need the Lord's guidance to show us how to handle the situation and even more we need the Lord to move and convict the hearts of those doing wrong. I have been praying the verse from Chronicles over our leaders, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their land." I have asked the Lord to do what ever it takes to make this a reality. Only the power of God is able to truly handle some of the situations we face.

Easter Fireworks

There are fireworks for every occasion in India and Easter is no exception. We went to yet another building dedication in the evening and they had firecrakers going off all over the place. I thought we were in a war zone it was so loud:)
In all seriousness, we went to a morning service at 5am. It was nice to celebrate the ressurection in a new setting but I honestly missed home very much today. We are used to Rob preaching the sunrise service and the morning service and then spending the rest of the day with our close friends and family. It was hard to celebrate without knowing the language here and without any close family or friends. Rob and I spent a lot of the weekend kind of bored and staring at each other. I am realizing that prayer is my main tool here and that I must take advantage of the down times to pour out my heart to God about my family at home and also my co workers here. I cannot do much physically to help but prayers are vital. I am able to really focus on prayer where if I was in the States I would have many things to distract me.

Oh and the picture on the left is why Rob is now a vegetarian:) These baskets are full of the chickens they cooked for our meal after the celebration. They don't quite have the same food safety concerns that we are used to in America... yummy.

Sweating to the Oldies

Yeah, it is definately "hotting up" over here. It is soooooo hot. I just take Moriah down to the mission office for about half the day and spend the rest of the day recuperating in the AC room in our apartment. Rob came home from the University and his clothes were sopping wet with sweat. Okay maybe now I am giving a little too much info but I just want you all to know that if you need a break from the cold whether at home, India is a good spring break choice:)

Tonight we went to a Maundy Thursday service at an English speaking church. It was nice to have a break from our typical services. Moriah enjoyed trying to get everyone to look at her like usual:)

Rob has had lots of school work this week and I am plugging away at Tamil. I am learning to read childrens books now. It is kinda fun to go back and read stories about mean trees and lizards missing their tails... Tamil seems very impossible somedays and other days I feel like I am right on the verge of getting it. I can say some simple phrases but overall the pronounciation is difficult and overwhelming. I just know that I must learn the language if I am going to ever understand this country and culture.

I have included a picture of the leaders of our conference churches. This is the board that makes the major decisions effecting all the churches. The leaders are preparing for a meeting in a couple of weeks and there will be new officers soon so they are trying to get as much business done as possible. Unfortnately, church politics are as ugly in India as they are in the States and there has been a lot of bickering and things with the leaders. Some of the leaders are not very honest people so it is difficult to know who to trust. This has lead me to believe that the best thing I can do is pray. I just know that I need to spend as much time as I can submitting these men to the Lord in prayer and trusting that He will fight the necessary battles for us. I hate to always be pointing out things that are "not Christian," so I just try to display Christ in my life and pray like crazy. Ultimately, a heart change can only be brought about through a radical move by the Lord.

Death in the Camp...

On Saturday we learned that Kumari's dad died in the hospital he was receiving treatment at. Kumari is one of the ladies that works and lives at the mission. Kumari had mentioned that her dad was sick a couple of times. Rob kept asking how he was and she kept telling us that he was better and then suddenly he died. This is a common pattern around here and I have not been able to pinpoint the problem. Just a couple of weeks ago Danny's brother died after being sick for a week. It seems like as soon as people tell us that their loved one is "better" we find out that they have passed away. The people we work with have very little medical knowledge so things that are big always seem small to them and things that are small they always think are major... So I am trying to learn what questions I can ask so that I truly understand the situation. I am tired of asking how people are and finding out way too late that they died of something treatable. Right now we are praying for the principle of the school in Bihar. His wife needs a hysterectomy but he cannot come home to help her (nurses do not take care of the patient) until May. He insists that she will be okay until May and that she can just receive blood transfusions and outpatient treatment until he gets home and can help her in the hospital. I am just so worried that I will hear bad news about this situation as well and that I should have pushed harder for him to come home now... I cannot force people though. At some point if they tell me that it is okay I have to believe them.

On the brighter side, we had a busy weekend. We went to a drama Saturday night at Stanly Foljers church. They had put signs all over the town announcing the drama but they also put our names in big letters all over the place. This is a big no no since we are supposed to be students and only students. We asked the pastor about it and he just laughed. They just love to celebrate people who support them. They love to have the "missionaries" at their churches. I also struggle with this a little because I want them to fall in love with the Lord and not us. We must continue to point to Him and only Him!

On Sunday we celebrated a 25th anniversary of one of the local churches. The fact that this church still exists is a miracle. A developer had come into the area and bought all of the surrounding buildings and they wanted the church property as well in order to complete his project. The people refused to sell because there was no other church in the area and to relocate would mean no Christian presence in that area. The developer threatened to knock down the building with a crane. The Christians did not back down though. They stayed in the church night and day fasting and praying for their building to be saved. God heard them and answered their prayers. This Hindu developed was impressed and decided to build them a new church in the same area but on the edge of the property he needed instead of the middle of it. So the church ended up being able to stay in the area and received a new building for free! If this does not prove the power of God then I do not know what does:) I have included a picture of the celebration we attended. It was so packed that there was not one free inch of space on the floor. I was sitting on the stage and when Moriah got hungry I had no where to take her to eat. I went outside and almost started feeding her on the side of the road but the pastors wife took me to a shed that I could use... Yeah. It is always an adventure!

10 hours in the kitchen....

I have been struggling to try and reach the ladies that are a part of the ministries in Chennai. I want to learn more about their lives and their struggles. I am amazed at all they do and all they put up with but I cannot figure out how to help their situations. The women we work with are typically full time homemakers. They work tirelessly at preparing food and taking care of their familes. I learned that even a few years ago many of our mission workers were still cooking by fire because they could not afford a gas stove! Imagine 100 degree weather in Chennai and cooking all day over a fire. Indian cooking is very time consuming so ladies spend most of the day doing this. Either way, the women here have little time for relaxing and talking to the missionary... It seems I am going to need to be more creative in my approach:)

Jingles and Baldness

Rani brought Moriah a gift of jingles last night. The baby girls here wear anklets with little bells on them and they make a pretty sound. Rani insisted that Moriah is an "Indian Baby" and therefore she must have jingles also. Moriah loves them. She kicks her feet and laughs when they make sounds. All the people that saw Moriah today were so excited to see the jingles. I also learned that all Indian babies get their heads shaved around 7 months old and again at a year old... I told everyone that Moriahs grandparents would be very angry if we allowed her head to be shaved. (Although she truly would be a little Rob if she was bald) They say that babies get colds when their hair gets wet... (Remember that oranges also cause head colds:)
Anyways, Rob was able to go with Neil Armstrong to visit some possible Muslim ministry sites in Chennai. Neil has struggled for months with health problems and his families health. Everyone is finally better so we are trying to find a place for him to minister to the Muslims in Chennai while he waits for proper documents to go back to Malaysia.

Apologies

I must give an apology to all of my faithful blog readers for not posting lately. Time has gotten away from me this past week. I want to update everyone that the family with major problems I discussed in the last post is doing a little better. The leaders of the Fellowship got together with the family and they were able to work out some of the problems. They have all agreed to move home to the village for awhile and try to work things out. It is a huge blessing and step forward that the missionaries were able to stay out of it. I say this because we are working hard right now to help the Indian church look more Indian. We want the Indian leaders to make these big decisions and handle the big problems.

We are also grateful for the opportunities to worship with several churches over the weekend. We went to a service at Kottur in Chennai and enjoyed meeting the believers there. They were very interactive during Robs sermon and they were very nice to us. Rob also went to a parsonage dedication. This was neat because a man in the church saved money for years to help contribute to the addition of a parsonage and vestibule for the church. He was so happy to give what he had saved. I was blessed to see those with so little give so much. I hope that his spirit of giving is passed to all of those we serve.

Please pray for us this week that we always look to the Lord. I have been a little frustrated lately and I need to remember that we do this for the Lord and the Lord alone.

Marriage Troubles

Today we had a meeting with the leaders of the Fellowship churches. At the end of the meeting we heard from one of our pastors wives about a serious situation. Her and her husband are having horrid problems and today he took her baby from her and has left. The cultural implications are difficult to understand but I will try to explain.
The marriage was arranged as is the custom here. Apparently the families had agreed on a dowry and on the terms of the marriage and then later the husbands family demanded a higher dowry. They wanted more gold. So the girls family rushed to come up with this so that the girls family did not lose any standing in the community. The families have always had disagreements about the alliance and the dowry. Soon after marriage the wife became pregnant. It is also custom for the wife to go and stay with her parents for the end of the pregnancy. Coincidentaly, the baby was born on the same day as Moriah. Since the baby has been born the wife has refused to go back to live with her husband. He is in ministry in a difficult village area and she wants to live in the city. Also she claims that her husband is irrational and will beat her. So the husband came and took her baby back to the village where his ministry is located. Currently the leaders of the denomination are going down to meet with the pastor and to take the baby back to the mother. The police will not be of much help so we need to pray that the leaders are successful in safely retreiving the child. We also must pray that God would intervene in the marriage and make an impossible situation better. Only He is able to bring redemption to this family and peace.
I am very much at a loss as to how to help in these situations. I want desperately to help these wives but the culture is so different that I have a hard time comprehending all the implications. I am praying that God would reveal a way for us to provide counsel to the families and support for wives who are horribly mistreated. It seems like an impossible task but we know that all things are possible with the Lord and we must put our faith in that.

When the Lizard hits the Fan:)

We were meeting the other day as a group when a large lizard climbed onto the fan and was launched into Ernies lap... We love our friendly lizards that are all over our home but when the lizard hits the fan it can scare you silly:)
Lately it seems like more than a lizard is hitting the fan. We have had some struggles with knowing who to trust and who is just abusing the system. All of us at the mission seem to be getting easily agitated and annoyed. This morning Ernie mentioned that he really felt that we are coming in contact with serious spiritual warfare. We are doing many new things and trying to really move in the direction that God leads so it only makes sense that Satan would try to thwart our efforts. It is important at times like this for us to keep things in perspective. It is crucial that we take all things to the Lord in prayer and to avoid taking them into our own hands. We must not allow our anger or frustration to interfere with the wonderful works that God has for us.

Fellowship Day

Friday we had our monthly fellowship meeting with the pastors. We always look forward to spending time with the pastors and hearing about their work. Neil Armstong gave a message about Jesus coming in on the donkey. It was interesting to hear what he had to say. It was somewhat of an allegorical sermon on winning souls for Christ. It seemed very good to me:)
We also had a meeting with one of the pastors from the south in the afternoon. He said he wants to plant a new church in another nearby area. He said he had been pastoring his present church for 22 years and that they need someone new to bring new life to the church. He said he has been evangelizing people in a nearby town and would like to put one of the first churches there. We are always excited about helping churches get started in areas where there are few to no churches so that was good too.

Ernie's Back

Our good friend Ernie arrived back the other day from New Zealand. It is always nice to have another person from the western world here to experience India with. He is a great friend and we are excited about the ministry we will have over the next weeks.
This week has seemed pretty quiet. I have been praying about the sermon for Sunday's service and also trying to practice Tamil as much as possible. I am almost through learning all 247 letters so now I am trying to practice reading a first grade book. I am learning words daily and trying to pick up on conversations. This is taking a lot of time. It is not an easy language. I have taken many language classes: Spansih, Greek, Hebrew... and this language definately takes the cake! I hope that I can learn to communicate clearly eventually but it seems very far away. My teacher assure me that in a year I should be able to speak nicely but I am still praying for God to make that happen because it seems so far away.
Today I went to a government hospital to visit a pastors wife who just had a hysterectomy. She was in a room of many patients and the hospital was a little scary looking for me. I delivered Moriah in a small hospital which was very clean. This hospital was good for a government hospital but still lacked. Of course the family was there to help administer medications and to bring food since nurses do not do that. I brought Moriah with me so as I walked down the halls I got many stares. People just love to look at the white baby. They get such a kick out of it. Either way, I prayed with the family and let Moriah play a little. I truly believe that Moriah's work here is greater than anything I have done so far. She brings joy to everyone. They just love her. I can pray and encourage but Moriah brings smiles and joy. I believe God is using her already to make a difference here!

Bartering with Nuns...

Saturday Rob went with Immanuel to a facility on St. Thomas Mount. We are trying to find a place to hold our pastors conference in May and have had some difficulty because May is such a busy month. Well we finally got a lead on this place that was run by the Catholic Church and we thought it would be easy to arrange our conference there. Not so much... Rob and Immanuel spent an hour negotiating the prices with the nuns. They kept insisting on a higher rate becuase Rob is American and Immanuel kept insisting on a lower rate because it is a mission function. Either way it goes to prove that everything is negotiable in India. It is never easy to just find the price of something and for Rob and I it is pretty impossible. They see white skin and think that we should have to pay and arm and a leg because we are American and in their eyes all Americans are rich.

On a more positive note:) We had the graduation for the Conference Bible College tonight and it was very fun to spend time with the Bible women and pastors as they celebrated their hard work. Rob had to wear a fancy robe and he gave the address to the students. I handed out the diplomas and tried to keep Moriah happy most of the night. It is great to see the students trying ro learn and grow in Christ. I pray that they continue to seek the Lord and serve Him alone!

The Struggles

It has been a very quiet week this week and we have had lots of time to reflect on our work here and the future as well. We are overwhelmed at many times by all the needs. When you work in a culture that is so impoverished it is hard to focus in and find specific ways to help. It is hard to drive by the fisherman village and see hundreds of people living on the beach because their huts were recently demolished by the government. It is hard to take Moriah to the nice hospital for her doctors appointments when you pass children begging on the streets. It is heart wrenching to hear about the unecessary deaths due to lack of education, clean water, and health care. Just last week a man died of a simple illness but he was waiting to get the money for the bus fare to get to the hospital. He died the day before he had arranged to get there. It is also hard to handle the fact that a lot of times we are tempted to just throw money at the situation. The problems are deeper than the lack of money. The lack of money is just a symptom of the major spiritual warfare occuring in India. We must learn to address the major heart issues and attitudes and use our money to help those who are ultimately dependant on the Lord and not on American missionaries. Anyways, I am rambling like I do sometimes. Just please pray that we would know how to best serve the people here and how we can continue to glorify God with our lives and work in India.

Betrothal... you better not smile...

Sunday was a fun filled time. We went to a service nearby and really enjoyed our time there. We have known the pastor quite well since coming here but have never been in his service. In person he is a very quiet person but as a pastor he is extremely dynamic. He was a good leader during the service. His church was very full and the people were very sweet. I was very encouraged to see such a great group of people.
In the evening we went to a betrothal. Since weddings are arranged they usually have several meetings between the families to decide on the marriage and what the bride will bring in the way of dowry. Once the terms of the arrangement are agreed upon they plan a formal ceremony to seal the agreement. This is the ceremony we attended. The prosepective bride and groom sit in throne like chairs and the family brings a ton of fruit, jewels, sweets, and sari's to the couples feet. It looked to me like an offering to a god or something... kind of like in Star Wars with the ewoks and Princess Leia... I digress.
Either way the prospective bride is not supposed to smile or hold her head. She is literally being sold in this process so I would think it would not be a happy experience. Also it is likely that she does not know her future groom very well so it could be scary. I have very mixed feelings about the marriage process here. I think that there could be advantages to arranged marriages but I despise the custom of dowry and how it ruins many lives. I am seeking God intensely to see how a Christian should handle this seemingly necessary custom in this culture.
I was assured that she was happy about the arrangement and that they will have a good marriage but I always worry. Plus there were over 600 people at this ceremony to celebrate! It was huge. We had some Briyani at the end of it and then waited for a good while to be able to get our jeep out of the parking lot... kind of like trying to get anywhere on campus during gameday for OSU:)

Kodaikannal Trip and Recovery!

We packed our bags and went to Kodaikannal this week. Our family went with Rani and Immanuel to check on the church and ministries up the mountain. The train ride was an over night trip on a sleeper train. I was not sure how this would work with little Mo but she seemed to do just fine. She slept pretty good both ways. After getting off the train at 6 am we got in a jeep and drove 2.5 hours more up a mountain. Rob knocked himself out with Dramamine and Moriah slept most of the way as well. I enjoyed seeing the beautiful waterfalls and flowers on the way up. There are also a lot of monkeys on the mountain. They were entertaining. I particularly enjoyed the monkey that chased Rob for his snack.

We spent our time there meeting the workers in the area and also making final plans for the building that we are putting up there. It is difficult to get approval for building a church because this town does not want anymore churches so will only allow homes and businesses to be built... therefore the building looks a lot like a home with an extra large family room:) The engineer was excited to get started and seemed like a very good man. The pastor of this church also met with us. He is struggling with ministry up in the hills and would like to move. There seems to be many people called to his sort of ministry and we do not want him in a place he does not want to be so we are going to pray about trying to switch his placement a little. His wife is 5 months pregnant and a very sweet woman.

We also met with Thomas' family. There used to be missionaries acctually placed in Kodai and Thomas' family helped with everything there. His older brother was the driver for many years but he died suddenly at the age of 30. HIs wife was pregnant with their first baby when he died. He had gone to the hospital with a stomach ache. He received an injection and died from a bad reation to the injection... Another example of unnecessary death due to bad health care. Anyways, Thomas has taken over his brothers work on helping the missionaries in this area. He is also planning on marrying his deceased brothers wife and raising the little boy that was born after Sam died. This family was incredible. They loved us so much during our short time there and did everything they could to make us comfortable. They loved Moriah as well. She never cried for them:)

Overall we enjoyed our trip. It is always a blessing to meet people dedicated to serving the Lord. It was acctually cold in Kodai. Rob was not impressed with that but he survived. The thing is that the temp gets down to the 30s and 40s but there are no heaters there. The people just use lots of blankets. The people who have lots of money can afford fire wood and make a fire but most people can only use blankets and sweaters to keep warm. In the hotel I was shivering and complaining and then Rob reminded me that I can acctually afford blankets and that I was staying at a nice hotel so I should think about the people who live there all the time and cannot stay warm. He is right. Moriah was wrapped up pretty warmly so she didnt suffer. Plus everyone liked to snuggle with her.

Since we have been back Moriah is getting back into the routine here and Rob is trying to catch up on studies.

House Church Dedication

On Sunday Rob tried to go to a church out in the village areas but it wasn't meant to be. First the translator got stuck in traffic and was not able to come with us so Immanuel changed his plans and tried to come. Rob had to leave late because of that. Then on the way there the jeep broke down so Rob and Immanuel got on the bus but it was the wrong bus so finally they decided that it just wasnt meant to be and found their way back to our home in Guindy. Sometimes things just dont work out like we want them to.

Once Rob recovered from his morning travels we got ready to go to a house church dedication. One of the members of the large Jacobs family that I talk about was dedicating a new building for their ministry. This ministry focuses on helping children and widows. The building looked very nice and I am excited to hear the reports of the ministry out of this group. They are not interested in status or money. They just want to help those in need around them. It is always a blessing to see this.

I shared "The God's Word" (as the call preaching here) out of Acts 9 about Dorcas being raised to life. Moriah sis very well hanging out with dad while I preached. The children loved playing with Moriah and keeping her entertained.

Monday we are going to spend resting and preparing for our trip to Kodaikanal. This is a mission station in the hills. We are working on building a church up there and some other projects. We will be meeting with some pastors. We also are going to rest a little on this trip. So just pray that Moriah sleeps well on the train rides! She did last time so all should work out:)

Baby's need love

We are hearing more and more about the needs of the baby's in the villages and hills. There are so many orphans and so few with the ability and resources to care for them. We have received donations in the last couple of months and are excited about doing what we can to better equip these vital ministries. I know that the heart of God is deeply concerned for these babies and that He is calling us to change their lives. Magimadoss is one of the pastors who travels to the hills and supports these ministries. He said that they have also been successful lately finding homes for some of the babies and this is a huge plus. I even read on the front page of the paper today that the government is arresting those who kill their newborn daughters. Hopefully this will help more children to be given a chance instead of being murdered right out of the womb. At times I feel very inadequate to meet the needs of the people here but I also know that the Lord will provide and make it clear how we can best reprent Him in this land.

The Jelly Worked!!!!

Today the ladies that work at the mission were showing me the food things in the pantry that the former missionaries left. They had Jello packets they brought from the states. The ladies said they tried several times to make it as a surprise for us but that is was always liquid. They couldn't get it to work right. I went through the packets and threw away the ones that were 15 years old... Scary... and showed them how to make it with a newer pack. Tonight as I was eating dinner one of the ladies called. She said, "The Jelly worked!!!" She was so happy. So tommorow they will have their first chance at eating Jello so that should be fun! The ladies have been so helpful to me in being my cultural trainers. They help me understand everything from the Indian food I am eating, to the Indian clothes, and language. Also Immanuel told them they should try and make food for us that we like so that we don't get homesick and leave. I thought that was funny. I appreciate the way they care so much for us. They also love to play with Moriah so that gives me a good break!

Mo Sickness

Well we are all recovering from the flu here in Chennai. Rob was sick for a couple of days and he shared his germs with Moriah so she was sick as well. I have not been able to write because those two have kept me busy. All my Indian friends here are sure that Moriah got sick because of the "chill" which is 85 degrees and because I drink cold water... Some things I have learned just to grin and nod at. They do not understand the concept of germs and though I have tried tirelessly they just can't believe that germs cause illness so I just need to listen and love:) Most importantly, everyone seems to be getting better now and for that we are very thankful. Moriah is sleeping a little more than usual still but she is definetely back to her happy and bright personality.
We did have a visitor from the states this week which was very nice. Steve Brown is the President of Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies. He planned to come to Chennai for a class he was taking and wanted to visit the mission as well. We took him to church with us at Immanuel Ragu's church and he was able to experience a baptism in the lake by the church. It was encouraging to have a visit and to meet with Ragu's church. The people continue to be very sweet and loving.

First Aid...

I have mentioned a couple of times that there is little understanding of basic first aid rules and things here. I was confronted head on with this the other day. Rob and I were in the jeep coming home from the university. On the other side of the road we saw a man lying in the middle of the road and his motorbike accross on our side. He muct have been in a wreck. Well about four people walked over and stopped traffic long enough for them to pick him up by his shoulder and legs and carry him accross to the sidewalk. They just plopped him along the side of the wall! He was unconscious when they first picked him up but he woke up when they set him down. Rob was yelling at our driver telling them that they should never move an injured person like that. They should block traffic until an ambulance comes and puts the man on a stretcher properly. Well we found out that even if an ambulance comes they most likely would pick up the person the same way and just plop them in the vehicle. Most times people just load the person in a car and drive them to the hospital. Immanuel said that when he was in a wreck a long time ago people picked him up like that and carried him to the hospital. (Side note: Immanuel has reoccuring back pain which he attributes to eating potatoes... we think it has more to do with back strain...) So the point is sometimes I just want to go crazy and make it clear how to properly care for a sick or injured person. I am not very patient on this subject because these people are very intelligent but they continue to do very unintelligent things. Ultimately I need to realize that this is a completely different culture and that small steps in health education will help this area. I also try to remember some of the crazy things about health care in our culture.

Another long Sunday

We went on a long journey to a village church today. The church took almost two hours to get to and it was way out of town. We were told we should visit this church to give them encouragment. When we arrived they were not quite ready for church so we went to a home next to the church to visit some of the believers. The one young mother that we visited was anxious to tell us her story. I included a picture of her, her children, and friend. She introduced us to her two children. One was a boy of about 7 years and the other was a 1.5 year old girl. She said that she lost her two middle children in childbirth. I am learning that many of the village people lose children in childbirth becuase they do not go to the hospital and have very poor care. The woman was so thankful for the little girl who had been born healthy and stayed healthy. She said that she is struggling very much because her husband has left her and moved in with another woman. He is still married to her though and he comes by once a week to give her 50 rupees (1.25$) and to check on her. The mother in law still lives with the woman and the mother in law is very mean to her. It is common for the mother in law to be harsh towards the daughter in law here. This woman will live a very difficult life because of her husband. She will not be free from his family but will be somewhat of a slve to them. Eventually the mother in law came in and the woman was not allowed to talk to us any longer. The mother in law wanted to take Moriah to the church and care for her during the service. I decided that was not best. I kept Moriah on my lap. Moriah was a little fussy today during the service so I spent most of it out on the "porch" of the church, sitting on the ground rocking her. She was very tired today. She fell asleep nice outside in the shade but then all the village people wanted to come see the white baby. I was drawing quite a crowd and Indian people do not believe in letting a baby sleep. They always pinch their cheeks and try to wake them up... I dont know why... So I decided I should go back into the church building so Moriah would not get woken up. She did okay in there. Dad yelled loud once during his sermon and that scared her but other than that she recovered nicely:)
A lady in the church provided a meal for us afterwards. It is very nice of them to feed us but it is such a struggle for me in paticular. They serve so much rice and they put spicy gravy on it with chicken and vegetables. I have been eating Indian food for 5 months and I still have watery eyes and a runny nose every time. They always think I am getting a cold because I have to keep my nose from running the whole time. It is pretty amusing. Plus I am still learning to eat with my right hand... I am not as skilled at this as Rob:) The portions are huge and they are very offended if you do not eat it ravenously like it is the best thing ever. Rani helps arrange the meals during the week at the mission and she tries hard to make things that I would like. She has made me french fries a couple of times by cutting potatoes and frying them... She adds hot pepper and curry but it is still a nice treat. She also makes an interesting version of spaghetti for me which I appreciate. So all of this is to say that we are not wasting away by any means but we are definately still adjusting:)
It was 3 by the time we got home. Rob left for a memorial service for Marion Damon at 4. Moriah and mom were just too tired. Moriah and I napped and snacked the rest of the day away:)

Orphans and Prayer

Kirubakkaran (he is the "baby saver")came to visit today. We wanted to talk to him about supporting his ministry in the hills more than we currently have been doing. He is currently taking care of the children he saves in a small rented building. He spends a lot of time each month just raising money for the rent and also to feed the children and other necessary things. In the past month we have had several donations specifically for orphans or general use. We realized that if we put the money together we almost have enough to purchase some land for him to build and adequate orphanage! Than we can raise money to buld the building. This would be a huge relief for him and free him up to do major things there. When he came he reported that they had Gospel meetings the previous week and that many people showed an interest in knowing God. However the local radical Hindu party also showed interest and is threatening his wife and family. We need to pray that God would protect him and the work he is doing in this least reached area of India. I believe that purchasing this land a little oout of the village would help to protect his family and the babies. God is doing some incredible things so please keep praying for this vital ministry.
We also went to a prayer meeting in the evening. Several days after a funeral the family usually holds a prayer meeting to celebrate the life of the loved one. We went to the meeting for Sarah Jacobs and it was a neat celebration. All the children were dressed so nice and a couple of the grandchildren sang to her. They asked the missionaries to sing a song in English along with their family because they view us as a part of their family. (Rob acctually has had contact with this family for a couple of years.) Moriah slept for most of the 4 hour meeting but also brought joy when she did wake up. We are learning a lot by spending time with the Indian people and seeing how they handle every situation.

Sarah Jacobs

This has been a heard month for the mission as we are grieving the loss of several people close to us. Sarah Jacobs passed away yesterday morning and left beind 12 children who are grieving. Sarah was a Bible woman for 48 years and worked hard to raise her children in a manner honoring to the Lord. All of her children are in some sort of ministry. Michael is one of the younger sons and he is the pastor of the church in the slums we visited in November. Michael and Malachi have really helped Rob and I feel at home in India. We went to visit the famliy yeasterday after we heard of their mother passing away and there were hundreds of people at the home to view Sarah. This morning was the funeral and again it was very well attended. We pray for her family now that they remember all she taught them and can continue to bring glory to God through their lives. I included a picture of Michael when he came to meet Moriah.

Weekend Activities

We had a restful and quiet weekend. We spent a lot of time reading and relaxing. Saturday we had Ernie over so we could play games. Rob lost twice in Yahtzee:) This was a good time for us to fellowship together without focusing on the work that needs done.
Sunday we went to worship at Manivakkam. Pastor Lawrence has been there for a little over a year. The pastor who had been at this church previously left after major sin in his life and Lawrence is struggling to help the church recover. He has had major issues with the church board and with the finances of the church. We are going to have him meet with our mission manager and national missionary in hopes that they can assist him with his current struggles. We will also continue to pray that god will provide for them.
We also heard a report from Pastor Stephen. He is a new pastor and doing an incredible job. He called to tell us that they had a twelve hour continuous prayer service in which they had seventy attend. He is very filled with joy when he talks of the ministry he is involved in at Periakulum. There have been several new families join and he is planning a baptism service for this upcoming weekend.

School Starts up Again

Well Rob had his first day back at the University today. He is taking a class on Islam in the West. The only other student is the girl from Iran that Rob has been praying for. Isn't God amazing. Rob was asking for away to have contact with her and her husband this semester and God put them in a class together. Rob had bought her a Bible in her language and she came back today and said it was in the worng dialect. The good news is that she is still interested in a Bible in her language. She could have just shoved it under the bed and forgotten about it. Rob will order the correct language this week.

Moriah has been going through a growth spurt or something this week so she has needed a lot of attention. I have spent a lot of time with her. I am so thankful that God gave her to us and that she can experience India with us. On days where I cannot do much ministry because I have to be home with her I am happy to intercede for the many needs we see around us. I know that God is in the midst.

Sick and Tired...

Yeah, I am just complaining now...:) I was sick over the weekend and I am still a little worn out over the whole thing. It is hard to be at home alone with a three month old when you are sick as a dog. Rob had to go to church though because he was the speaker... It is just that days like that I wish church services in India were not four hours long... Anyways, enough complaining for now.

I am feeling better today and glad that this is a new year with new beginnings. We are making our plans for this year at the mission and it is very exciting to go over the incredible possibilities. We just pray that God would ultimately be the one making the decisions on how we proceed from here. We are also encouraged to see some of our Indian brothers and sisters respond in faith to God's call on their lives. We heard of one pastor having 26 baptisms at his church this month. Absolutely amazing. We also have one of our friends living at the mission named Joseph and though he makes a very meager salary he is going to provide a meal in a couple of weeks for the mission families and all of the hundred children at the orphanage next door. He is responding to God's call to give and I believe God will continue to provide for his needs. This man in particular is a true blessing to our family. As he works around the mission I can see that he is constantly interceding. He is a prayerful man and one who celebrates the Lord's goodness. I have included a picture of Joseph when he came to see Moriah at the hospital. I feel completely surrounded by God's presence when Joseph is around.

Visits and more rain

Today we vebtured out in the pouring rain to see some friends. We had been contacted by this family that is visiting Chennai from our hometown in America. They are friends with my sisters in laws and they wanted to bring us a gift from them. It was nice to meet them and hear about the states and things going on there. It is always nice to talk to Indian families who also understand western culture.
It is still raining in Chennai. The monsoon was supposed to be over by now. They say it never rains in January here and yet it is pouring... I am not sure what to think about that. I just hate to see what such heavy rains do to people here. You do not hear of rain being a cause of death in America but here it is a huge problem. Drainage systems are not very good and rain easily floods the homes of even middle class families. The water shuts down the city in many ways.

Happy New Year

Well it was a long night on new years eve as promised. Rob went to a service which lasted from 10 pm until 3 am. It was a lot of fun he said. Rob preached and they had a lot of songs and dances. They even got Rob and Ernie to dance a little with the kids. Each of the pastors spends three days fasting and praying for their congregation. They pray specifically that God would give them a Scripture for the upcoming year. They call this the promise word. It has been neat to ask each pastor what the promise word is that they have been given and to hear their vision for the upcoming year. Today was the monthly fellowship celebration for the pastors and they shared some incredible stories. I am so happy to hear how God is moving through them. One pastor spoke of his church and said that one Sunday he noticed that 5 teenage girls who usually come to the service together, did not show up. The next week when they came he asked why they could not come the previous week. They all live in an orphanage together and they said that on of the girls who lives with them was fighting an evil spirit and that this girl kept them up all night screaming and running around the orphanage. The pastor (Stanly Foljer) asked the girls to bring the girl fighting the evil spirit to him. They did and the pastor had several people pray for the girl. After a long prayer the girl was delivered of this evil spirit and became saved. Now 20 more girls from the orphanage are coming every week to church. Once they saw the change in this girl they knew that God was real. I am just amazed at the faith and the answers to prayer that we see weekly. It is much easier for me to understand some of the scriptures in the new testament because this culture seems very similar at times. God is so Good.