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.
Posted with Blogsy
I've read and watched a couple of reports done on this part of India and can't imagine what it is like to experience it in person. Why? Is it their cast system that allows such suffering? I will add India to my prayer list.
ReplyDeleteEnjoying reading your posts, Bob. Quite an experience ... mission. May God bless your journey.