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.