14 Days

Well, it's just 14 days until three of us jump into a metal tube hurtling hundreds of miles per hour thousands of feet off the ground and go half way around the world. I've got most of my things ready to go, the luggage, the supplies, the medications, the tools. Now it's just my mind and heart that I'm working on finishing up with.

We had a our third and final training meeting this last Saturday night. I say it's our final one but it's really just our final one before we head over. We have a few layovers and those are often spent with the team doing additional training. Then once we get to our final destination we'll have more training with our Indian partners. Those are always a lot of fun as we start to really get to know our team.

This is my fourth trip and I'm noticing something different about myself this time around. It seems like I'm savoring little things that I know I'll miss while I'm gone. When Shannon and I laugh at a shared joke, which is often, thankfully,......I pay a closer attention to the way her eyes laugh with her voice and I try to burn both into my memory. The smell of good, strong coffee seems to linger a little longer on the nose. The crispness of the clean and cold winter air of Nebraska fills my lungs more deeply. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder but I think that maybe the anticipation of absence is just as powerful.

Onward........

I have a nice little prayer calendar you can print out and put up on the fridge, put in your bible, or whatever. Drop me a line and I'll get it to you via email or messenger. Some of you will be getting a print version in the mail and if you'd rather get that via mail, drop me a line and let me know. Your prayer support is greatly appreciated and an incredibly important component to the success of the mission.

If you'd like to contribute financially, you can still do that as well. As of this writing I'm still about $990.00 short of my goal. Until December 28th you can give online at: https://www.purecharity.com/robert-e-josjors-fundraiser-for-north-india-india Now and after December 28th you can also mail a check to made out to New Hope Church with the memo "Bob Josjor - India" to 118 East B Street, Ogallala, NE 69153.

I might get one more post in before we hit the skies. If not, you'll hear from me on the way or when I get there. Thanks again for all your support in prayer and finances.

 

 

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Minus 35

I've been busy making little crosses with rupee coins as prayer reminders for my supporters. Want one? Let me know.

Leave India to God. If that is too much, leave India to anarchy.

m. ghandi

That quote doesn't have anything to do with this post. It just made me smile as I read it so I hurried and wrote it down here before I would forget it. Although, now that I think on it a little bit more, perhaps it does have to do with my trip. After all, God is the whole reason for my going and a huge part of my attraction to India is the organized anarchy of it all. Anyway.......

It's just a little more than a month away, my trip. We've had one training meeting and I'm looking forward to working with some of my old team members from the Bihar trip of last year, as well as meeting a few new folks who have decided to join us on this trip to Assam. The biggest thing I'm looking forward to is getting back to Uttam and the people of Assam and my old stomping grounds around Tezpur. The mission in Bihar last year was and is important, but I have to admit that my heart is truly in Assam. As you may recall, it was our original plan to go to Assam last year but political unrest made us change our plans at the last minute. Fortunately, at least at this point, it looks as if calm has been restored in Assam and this trip will go on as planned.

In the two years since we were at Assam there has been a little progress with the church movement there. Uttam and his team have been as diligent as they can be in following up with the house churches we started on my last visit. There have been a few that have disbanded due to pressure due to persecution, but there have also been a few more crop up from the continuing work that Uttam has carried on in our absence. Probably the biggest change since my visit two years ago is in the amount of training that Uttam and Charles have put into the local volunteers.

As for myself, I'm pretty well prepared. I'm up on all my vaccinations and my visa is good for another six years. Our team has had one conference call training meeting and we will have our second this coming Saturday night. I've got my kit pretty well prepared and, as this is my fourth trip to India and my third to Assam, I think I've got it down fairly well. I've been praciticing up on my Hindi and we'll see how much good that will do me. The main language in Assam is, naturally enough, Assamese. Unfortunately there are very few resources for learning Assamese. Fortunately, many also speak Hindi and the two languages are fairly similar so hopefully my work isn't in vain.

Financially, I'm a little more than half way to my goal. A huge "Thank You" to all of you that have given support to this mission. I can't do it without you. For those of you that would like to give, you can do so at this link: https://www.purecharity.com/robert-e-josjors-fundraiser-for-north-india-india?aff=nb9am You can also mail a check made out to New Hope Church and with the memo "Bob Josjor - India" to New Hope Church, 118 East B Street, Ogallala, NE 69153. All donations are, of course, tax deductable.

In the next few weeks I'll be publishing a prayer calendar and more details of the trip. Until then please pray for myself and my team members, for the volunteers we'll be working with, and for the people we will be in contact with. With the new strategies e3 Partners has put in place and the training investment they have made in our native team, I believe we'll be able to do amazing things in Assam on this trip.

 

 

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Investing Wisely

This weekend I attended the retirement celebrations of one of my closest friends. I guess it's just sort of a retirement. Mark is retiring from being a full-time pastor though he will remain in the church as a teacher and preach every once in awhile. He's also a professor at the local community college and he'll continue there, a position he hopes will become full-time in the next year or so.

Mark and I are not the most likely of friends. It's probably been about twenty years ago that he saw me sitting at a local diner, waiting for my breakfast, and he approached my table and asked if he could join me. It started as simple as that: two passing acquantances, one an evangelical pastor and the other a confirmed agnostic, sitting and having coffee together. The friendship grew to include the pastor sitting in the hospital for six hours praying as the agnostic went through a life-threatening surgery, the pastor officiating at the agnostics wedding, the pastor hearing the now former agnostic proclaiming Christ as his savior, the pastor and the former agnostic traveling half way around the world together to tell others about Christ.

Mark was instrumental in my coming to know and accept the gospel but he did it in the most benign and simple way: he became my friend. He invested his time, his friendship, and his prayer in me. To put it at it's most basic level, he just simply loved me.

Mark (second from the right) taking a break during our trip together.

A few days ago I found out that another person had signed up to be on our team that is going to India this next January. As I've done in the past when someone who has never been to India or the mission field signs up, I sent him my primer for India missions. It includes a lot of practical information about the culture, what to pack, what to expect, and it finishes with some information about the actual ministry. The final paragraph is the most important, in my mind. It reads:

"Love the people you are sharing with. It's really that simple. The lives they live are hard. They work long hours to provide for their families. Most of them are dalits, the lowest social class in India. You are considered the highest of social class. To show them love is something they have never experienced from anyone but their own people. Not even their Hindu gods show them love. Love them and show them that love and do it without ceasing and without reservation. It's as effective as any gospel presentation could ever be."

I wrote that long before I started thinking about Mark retiring and our friendship and God's use of Mark in my becoming saved. The more I reflect on it, the more I think it's true. The most effective thing that believers can do for one another, for non-believers, and for ourselves, is to simply love. It sounds so simple and yet in practice can be so hard.

I'm looking forward to getting back to the people in which I've invested a big chunk of my heart. When I get there I'm sure I'll spend a fair amount of time reflecting on my friend Mark and the investment of love he made in me and the time we spent in India together simply investing our love into the people there.

 

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Miscellany

As promised, here are some little tidbits, many of them not related to the actual mission itself.  For instance, how about the traffic?  It's organized mayhem.  My friend Mark likes to say that Indian traffic disproves the physics rule that two objects cannot occupy the same space.  As an added bonus, I've found a translation of the official India Drivers Manual.  It's quite short.

1. Stay left.  Mostly.
2. When in doubt, honk your horn.
3. Try not to die.

Not sure if I'm helping, or just getting in the way.

It was rice processing time while we were there.  The harvest was complete.  Now most of the residents were busy getting the rice ready for storage and use.  Getting the rice off the stalk involves whacking it on a board.  Then it has to be spread out to dry.  I jumped in to see what kind of work it is to do the whacking.  It isn't hard at all, but I can't imagine doing it from sun up to sun down.

Spreading the rice to dry on a rooftop patio.

If you can see this picture and not smile yourself,
consult a physician.  You may be dead.

This is the poorest state in India.  Each time I'm in India, it's a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me.  I spend half my time being extremely happy to be there and to be doing what I'm doing.  The other half of my time I spend fighting back tears as I watch the hardships these people face.  God is good, however, and it seems that whenever I'm at my lowest, he sends some kids to me and their infectious smiles bring me back to my joy.

I learned a little more Hindi on this trip, thanks to my coaches, a troop of young ladies that are the daughters of some of our national team members.  They loved teaching all of us Americans simple phrases and words and laughed when we would screw them up.  They also love to have their pictures taken.  I think they are the prettiest blooms in this garden.

I Am Second Follow Up

One of the impressive things that e3 Partners does is the way it partners with local native churches and pastors to provide follow up with people who have accepted Christ as their savior while the American team is there for their mission. In many areas, including our trips to India, this is done using the I Am Second method of bible study to create small groups that will eventually, with God's grace, become house churches.

The I Am Second method is brilliant in it's simplicity. As a study method it offers a lot of advantages, including:

1. Nearly anyone can lead a group, whether they're a new believer or quite seasoned.
2. The format is conversational in nature, building bonds between the participants.
3. Since it relies only on the scripture passage at hand, you don't need a vast amount of scriptural knowledge to participate.
4. Accountability is built into the study, as is sharing with others outside the group.

The basic outline of an I Am Second study is very simple and is as follows:

1. Read the scripture.
2. Ask the following two questions: What do you like about this scripture? What do you find confusing about this scripture?
3. Read the scripture a second time.
4. Ask the following two questions: What does this scripture tell us about people? What does this scripture tell us about God?
5. Read the scripture a third time.
6. Ask the following two questions: What will you apply from this scripture in your life? Who will you tell about this and when?

This is the basic outline of the follow up sessions that the Indian pastors and volunteers will do with the new believers that started groups during our trip. If you will take note of the questions in step six, those become the first two questions for the following weeks study. This makes for great accountability and also lends iteself to the group spreading as the participants share the stories with others.

For more information about I Am Second studies, free downloads and information, and whole slew of resources, visit www.iamsecond.com

 

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The Final Days

Our final evening at the location was spent as a time of celebration with our nationals.  There was plenty to celebrate.  Over the course of four days we had shared the gospel with 1,937 people.  581 of those people had professed faith in Jesus Christ.  16 I Am Second bible study groups were formed and it is a hope that these study groups, given time and nurturing, will become house churches.  Due to the structure of the bible studies, and I'll go into that in depth in a later post, there is a great possibility that those study groups will spread to make many more.

As you can tell from the video, Indian style worship is pretty dynamic and a real joyful thing!

We spent the next morning in more training with the nationals, making sure they were 100% in their understanding of the method of their follow up studies with the home study groups, call "satsangs" in India.  Satsang, translated literally, means "discussion."

This was the team that I hit the field with everyday.

We spent some time saying our goodbyes.  Over the course of four days you spend a lot of time with your team, at least eight hours a day, driving to and from the field, in the field, and at meals.  There is a fairly good chance that I'll never see any of them again and I will miss them all.

We loaded up our bus and started the four hour drive to the airport for our first short flight back to Delhi.  Unlike our bus drive here, this one is in the daytime and the traffic is incredible so the trip takes longer.

We finally arrive in Delhi and it's bedtime so we crash for the night.  The following morning is a bit of free time.  It's election day in Delhi so many of the shops are closed.  Five of us decide to take a hike to the ruins of a sultan's tomb that is about a mile from the hotel.  We walked through some pretty interesting and perhaps dicey neighborhoods and attract plenty of attention, but there aren't any problems.  The ruins are pretty cool, but even here there is trash everywhere.  I'll never understand the practice of just throwing all your trash onto the ground.

Inside the actual tomb.  While we were there someone came to worship.
I really wanted to tell them that our tomb is better because it's empty.

The shops were allowed to open after 5:00 on election day so the bus loaded up and we went to a shopping area to buy souvenirs for our loved ones at home.  Then it was off to a final dinner together.  There happened to be a real Baskin Robins ice cream store next to the restaurant and we all loaded up on some great ice cream and then posed for a shot of the American team, minus Leotta and Lyle.  They had a friend in Delhi they had left to spend a day or two with before heading back.

We had our rooms for the evening so we were all faced with a choice: try and grab some shuteye before our bus to the airport at 1:00am or simply tough it out and spend the next several hours with little sleep.  Maybe it was unwise, but I opted for the latter.  Little did I know that, due to cramped flights and bad timing, I wouldn't be sleeping again in any real meaningful way for a total of about 40 hours.

The American team, minus Leotta and Lyle, along with Charles
and his wife Rohini.

It was with great relief that I finally walked in the door of my home to hold my wonderful wife in my arms.  I'm still struggling a bit with jet lag and both Matt and I caught some sort of bug on the way home so we're a bit miserable, but it's all worth it.  I can't wait to get back.

In the following week or so I'll have a couple more posts for you.  One with some miscellaneous info and fun stuff, another with some details on I Am Second studies and the method the e3 Partners has put into place for helping the satsangs thrive and hopefully grow.

Final Field Days

(NOTE: I'm actually back in the States again after some grueling hours in airplanes and airports. I didn't get around to posting while more while I was there because of scheduling and the lack of good internet access. There'll be a few more posts to follow concerning this trip so stay tuned.)
It's been a couple of really good days in the field here and today we will wrap things up.
Yesterday took us to three different villages and we shared with about 200 people. The first home was a second visit for us and our first chance to start an I Am Second bible study. For a large part of this and all of our visits today, we Americans don't play much of a role. That's just fine with me as the whole purpose of these visits is to equip these new believers and the local pastors with the tools and knowledge to learn and study about God on their own. After all, the commandment is "Go and make disciples", not to simply make believers. The Americans make their introductions, sharing about our country, participating in small talk with the people, and then sharing the gospel or our testimony with them.

The nationals then take over and lead the group in an I Am Second bible study. When properly done, these studies really do a great job of doing what most every teacher would agree is about the toughest thing to get a student to do: actually think about the topic at hand. The format encourages discussion and participation and for the most part, there are really no wrong answers that a participant can give.
At the end of our study time we asked for another appointment to study again. A young lady, mother of four, quickly volunteered her home for the next day. What was great about this was that you could tell from her enthusiasm and the way that she participated in the study that she wasn't volunteering her home simply for the honor of having Americans visit, but because she was eager to learn more.

Charles leading a group of interested young men in an I Am Second study.

Today we as Americans will do the last of our visits. The nationals will continue the studies in the homes that we've started them in. We will also be installing water filtration systems in six villages, a pretty desperate need here. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the level of poverty here is unimagineable to most Americans. Last night Matt, Jeff, and I were in the hotel room and the TV was on in the background. A commercial for one of the aid groups like Feed The Children came on. Jeff said "I never would have thought that I would be seeing one of these kids." referring to the haunting images on the screen.
I replied "You haven't seen one of them. You've seen thousands of them."

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That lucky old sun

One thing about the celestial design of our Creator: Each day is a new day.

Within minutes we had quite a following. Mainly children with the few adults coming along to see what the fuss was about. I visited with the men digging a new connection line from the well to their village. I got to help just a little with seperating rice kernels from their grassy stalks. Alicia learned how to properly tie her scarf into a headcovering from a young girl, one who would not let go of her hand for our entire stay.Today was a much better one. We took off this morning and the plan was for three of the nationals to go the village where the man had died yesterday to see how things stood. Kajul (pronounced Ka-jewel), Alicia, and I were to be dropped off at a village we had also visited that day, just to walk around, see the village, and pray a bit.

We ended our tour in front of a home and chairs were put out for us. Alicia and I wondered what to do next. Looking at all the young ones around, we decided to pick one of them and act out the story of David and Goliath. Being a giant here among the Indians, I was the natural choice for the part of Goliath. We picked a somewhat shy David from the crowd and Alicia started telling the story. Yes, I hammed it up quite a bit. The kids laughed as the young David was coerced into throwing a pebble at me and I took a dive on the courtyard ground.

A few adults had gathered by now so we decided to share the malaria and HIV prevention information we had. We had previously been told to only share the gospel in a more enclosed setting, but an adult from the crowd must've heard about our previous visit and asked us to tell about Jesus. So how could we refuse? I gave a presentation and ten adults accepted Christ. We were telling them that we would be back on Thursday so they could learn more when a stranger showed up in a rather new red car. We got just a bit worried because with the BJP government, anti-christian sentiment is a little bit high and there are certain provisions concerning proselytizing in India.

As it turned out, he was a businessman-cum-politician and was curious what we were doing. I told him we were sharing information with the people about malaria and HIV prevention and other health issues. (Christianity is a health of the soul issue, is it not?) He then went on to tell about a factory he was opening that would make fertilizer and soap and how he would provide health services to his employees, etc., etc., etc. He invited us to tour his office whenever we were in Delhi yada, yada, yada. One can only hope that he was at least half telling the truth.

My two companions are blessing. Kajul really is a jewel, intensely quiet until she laughs and smiles and then the world around her explodes in lightness and joy. Alicia's love for the children here is intense and it shows in every breath she takes in their presence.We had two more presentations today and they both went well. The second one had a lot of children so we again did our David and Goliath routine. We'll be back to these two villages tomorrow and Thursday to do I Am Second bible studies, distribute reading glasses, and install water filtration systems.

Sorry there's no pics today. The internet is being a pain and pics are clogging it up.

 

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Mobius

There is poor, and then there is Bihar. None of us can imagine the struggle it is to simply survive here. There is no thriving, simply surviving. I'm not really sure that there is anything I could write that would explain it. I remember my first time, three years ago, witnessing the poverty in Assam. At times it was almost crushing to ones spirit. The second year I was able to keep that steam from coming to a boil. I hadn't gotten hardened to it. I had just learned to accept it as something that simply is. And now, seeing an even deeper poverty, something I couldn't have fathomed even existed............. well, it's just hard. At the end of the day you are emotionally drained from the strain of not breaking down in front of the people you are here to serve.

Today Alicia and I were on a team that visited the home of a man that was suffering badly from tuberculosis. We shared with his family in the humble courtyard of their home. There were about 20 present from the extended family and neighbors and even though we were the big attraction, so to speak, you could feel that the concern for their father was really the only thing on their mind. We prayed over him before we left.

Indian believers have a way of praying that can seem odd to us Americans. It's often their habit for everyone to pray their own individual prayers out loud, everyone at the same time. This is what we did at this mans bedside today. I don't have much Hindi so I can't be sure what my brothers were praying. Besides, I was concentrating on my own prayers.

For whatever reason, I'm always hesitant to pray for a healing. My prayer today was, if it was in God's will, this man be healed, but whatever the outcome, that God would be glorified. I prayed for his family as I know that having the man out of commission, whether due to sickness or due to death, would make life even more of a struggle for this family, as hard as that is to imagine.

By the time we got back to our hotel about three hours later, we found out he had passed away shortly after we left them.

I can't say that I have a lot of spiritual gifts but the one my friend Mark has accused me of is empathy. That has proved helpful a lot of times when I'm trying to negotiate a situation as it helps me to see things from other peoples points of view. Other times, like tonight as I sit late at night in a dark hotel lobby, typing through tears and feeling the pain of a desperately poor and struggling family who has just lost their father, husband, brother, and breadwinner, this gift to feel others pain really sucks.

 

 

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Sunday

Today was Sunday here and we broke up into five teams to visit and teach at five churches in our area. As with almost everything here, things started out immediately behind schedule. The official designation of the time zone in India is IST. We swear it stands for "India Stretchable Time." Anyway, after a 23 kilometer ride on bonecrushing roads, we finally arrived at our destination almost 90 minutes later than planned. It didn't matter. The humble house church, which usually numbers about 15-20, swelled to about 40 and they were waiting anxiously for us.

We assembled in a room that was about 15 x 15 feet. The congregants were spread out on the floor and the Americans, our native pastor, and our translator were all seated in plastic stacking chairs, the ubiquitous furniture of rural India. The pastor led us in an opening prayer and then a couple of acapella hymns, sung with great enthusiasm and rythmic clapping. Alicia then led off with a reading from Psalms and Marilyn followed up with her testimony using the evangicube. I finished off with a brief message focused on Isaiah 1:18-20. By the time we had finished our time together there were perhaps 60 people surrounding the little house. Word that Americans had arrived in this little village had evidently spread.

We were escorted back to our vehicles and I was disappointed that we didn't have more time, expecially when a sweet village elder asked us to stay for tea. My experience with the rural Indian people is that, no matter how poor they may be, they are incredibly hospitable and will share anything they have, no matter how little it is.

This afternoon and evening we spent about four hours in training with our nationals. Charles Golla, pictured here with Matt, is an amazing teacher of both the word and in how to share it. He has a contagious enthusiasm and a smile that makes you immediately take him into your confidence. The training was indepth and I think we all feel well prepared for our time in the field starting tomorrow.

Training was followed by dinner with our national volunteers. This is one of my favorite things, not just because of the food, but because of the fellowship with these people. Most of them have amazing testimonies and all of them have sacrificed to be on this mission with us. By the way, if you are ever at a table with rural Indians, do yourself a favor: skip using silverware and eat with your hands as they do. It's a liberating experience.

Tomorrow we hit the field and we're all excited to do the work we came here for.

 

 

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Destination

Another long day, much of it with travel. The Ogallala boys (Three Musketeers or Three Stooges, take your pick) all woke up at about 3:30 this morning. That's about usual for me at home, but I think it's safe to say that my companions biological clocks are pretty screwed up at this point. We visited for a while and had really bad instant coffee in the room. Then I went out to see if the chai-walla was yet open.

I was rewarded with wonderfully seasoned, hot, milky, and sweet chai served in an impossibly thin paper cup for only 10 rupees. For some reason, however, the proprietor, pictured here, insisted that I put on a BJP party political hat and he and his friends laughed with me. I'm calling this my ironic picture of the day, considering the BJP is very anti-missionary. The cap is most likely a souvenir I won't keep.

We finally got together for a special lunch. I spotted a cafe that featured American and Chinese food. We also had a special surprise for Lyle who celebrated his 80th birthday today. He's a blessing to be around and during this mornings team meeting we got to know more about him. All of us hope that we can have his enthusiasm and joyful heart when we're 80. I have to apologize to him in that I accidently bought joke re-lighting candles for his cake. What can I say? The package was written in Urdu and all I saw were candles. He was a trooper and even though it took a few minutes, he got them all out.

We had a short flight to Patna and then onto a bus for three hours to our final destination. Some of the team was excited when Charles told them he had KFC delivered to the bus for us to eat on the way. I tried to fool them by telling them that it stood for "Kashmeeri Fried Cat" but the picture of Colonel Sanders on the bucket was a giveaway.

The drive through the poorest state in India was tough for a couple of team members. This area is the poorest in India, even poorer than my Assamese friends. There were some tears and maybe even a few shed by yours truly. It's difficult to see such suffering. Our only consolation is that we get to share what might be the only truly loving and kind bit of hope they may ever have in this life through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

 

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Assembly

We've spent most of Friday trying to recuperate from way too many hours on planes and in airports. Most of us crashed the minute we hit the hotel, about 5:30am. Not the Ogallala boys, however. We were up and ready to go so we stayed up until breakfast was being served. A couple real breakthroughs yesterday as we finally found some Indian food that Matt likes. :-) There's a better than average chance that he won't have to survive on just the granola bars and beef jerky he packed.

Matt and Jeff, whiling away the airport hours.

We met with the rest of the team for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and it's always great to really get to know them. Our youngest is in his mid 20's and this is his first trip. Our oldest veteran has been on dozens of trips all over the world with e3 and today we have a little celebration for his 80th birthday. Can you think of a better way to celebrate your 80th year? I can't and I can only hope that when I'm 80 I have half the drive and enthusiasm he has.

We spent some more time with Charles Golla, learning about the approach we'll be using in Bihar. I'm excited that this time we will be able to really spend some time in peoples homes, building relationships and actually getting to know them on a real, personal level. We will have three appointments each day and each day will be at the same three locations. The first appointment will be sharing the gospel and the subsequent days will be spent sharing in the same homes and doing I Am Second bible studies with them, the end goal being that they will learn how to lead these studies themselves and this will be the start of a house church.

Our home in Delhi.

 

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Travel

It's the biggest drawback to doing these trips. No matter where you go, there is a wait. Waiting in line for your ticket, waiting in line at security, waiting for the next plane. Waiting for that plane to actually take off. A plane taking off, by the way, is still a miracle to me. Even after my four years in the USAF and working on the B1 bomber, I'm still amazed everytime a tube of metal filled with fuel and people leaves the grasp of earth's gravity and propels us skyward. No matter how many times I see a demonstration of how an airfoil works, I still can't believe it's true.

Yep. Pretty sure that's how it went. It's 2015, folks. I want my teleportation devices and my flying cars.Matt, Jeff, and I headed to Denver in the morning, spirits high and ready to go. A short hop to Chicago, and we met up with Dan and a couple others. After almost 15 hours on a plane, we meet the rest of the team in Dubai. Now we wait for one last hop to get to Delhi and a much needed night in an actual bed. Not to whine too much, but getting comfortable on a plane with a 6'4" frame. Don't get me wrong, Emarites is THE best airline for comfort and service. Still, whoever designed the airline seat needs shot. At close range. I think the idea behind it went something like this: "Let's make the seats just firm enough to cause thrombosis and let's make the back tilt back just enough to annoy the person behind you, but not far enough that the person in the seat can actually lean their head back and rest."

More later.........Anyway, then we land in Delhi, wait an interminable long time for a taxi. Three of them, actually, because there seems to be a lot more luggage than a crew our size should need. A fun time riding with Jeff and his first experience with Indian roadways, and then we end at our home for the next two nights. A row of hotels that look like they're in an alley.

I'd love to post a picture or two, but it seems the internet just isn't up to it right now.

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D-Day -7

So here we are, just seven days to go. Not really much to report here except we've got a new, updated prayer calendar. I also wanted to make sure that the update to Blogsy that I installed yesterday didn't screw anything up.

I think I've pretty much got everything together. I'll spend the next six days making sure everything is squared away at the shop and at home. Speaking of home, make sure and add Shannon to your prayers. Having me gone not only means extra work for her at home and the music store, but she worries about me and my safety, as she should. Pray for her strength and that God would give her comfort.

Well, that's it. Most likely you won't see a post here until I'm actually in a foriegn land. Until then, thank you for your support in prayer and financially. Talk to you soon!

 

 

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On December 23rd Bodo seperatists attacked two Adavasi villages in norther Assam. In the attacks and the police actions that followed, 78 people lost their lives and dozens more were injured. This type of violence and the dispute behind it go back over 40 years. In short, the Bodo want to create their own state north of the Brahmaputra river.

I'm a fairly nerdy guy when it comes to India and I read the Times Of India at least four or five times a week so I was aware of these incidents. I also did some pretty deep research and they appeared to be isolated incidents, well away from the areas we go to in Assam. The BJP led federal government of India was promising a tough crackdown on the militants. It was with this in mind that I was confident we wouldn't have any problems in Assam. I also didn't mention any of this in my fundraising letters or in my last blog post as I didn't want people to worry about something that I was sure would blow over by the time we got there.

Then this last Friday we got an email from Uttam, the pastor we work with in Assam, asking us not to come. It is simply too dangerous, not only for us, but also for his team of volunteers and the churches we would be working with. Twelve Americans traveling around and working with believers would simply draw too much attention. Not only that, but a "bandh" had been called for. This is basically a work stoppage, the type of protest made famous by Gandhi. No buses, no hotels, no restaurants, no services. None of the things that a bunch of Westerners would need for a ten day visit in Assam.

Not to be discouraged, I floated the idea of the rest of the team doing something else in India and just the three of us from Ogallala going to Assam. Nope. Not going to happen. Even a lower profile visit of three Americans is just too much. Like Paul in Acts 16, we are being redirected.

It's fortunate to get the news that Assam is not going to happen this early. e3 has a great network in India and Charles Golla, the India coordinator for e3, is incredibly resourceful and works tirelessly. He had previously been training a team of local believers and volunteers in the state of Bihar and while it is earlier than they expected, we'll be joining them.

To be honest, I don't have as much of the ease of acceptance that Paul showed when his way to Asia was blocked. I'm bummed that I don't get to see the friends that I've made in Assam. From a more official standpoint, I'm disappointed that no one from Uttam's sole supporting church, New Hope, is going to be able to be on the ground in Assam. Now, if I let the more spiritual side of me take control, and I should, I realize that there are about 1.19 billion non-believers in India and not all of them are in Assam. I'm glad to still be going to India and even if it isn't in the district where I've invested a huge part of my heart, I will serve with 100% of my heart wherever God sends me. This time He is sending me to Bihar.

 

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