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.
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