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.