Mornings

Mornings are a special time for me here. My wife will tell you that I have the habit of waking up several hours before there is a need to actually do so. Sometimes that is a blessing, sometimes that is a curse. Here it is a blessing.

I actually woke up this morning at about 3:00am and immediately started thinking about my presentation of the evangicube and the gospel story and how I could make it more effective for the people we are trying to reach. I looked at the clock and thought "Oh geeze, Bob. Get a little more sleep. Our morning gathering isn't until 7:00." Then I proceeded to roll around in bed, my mind hard at work while my body tried to rest. Finally, at 4:45, I gave up. I crept around the room and tried not to wake Jay as I took my shower and made a cup of coffee. I then headed to the rooftop where I'm typing this.

It's still dark and there is just the slightest of lightening at the horizon from the approaching sun. Still, vendors are busy setting up their stalls and rickshaw drivers are gathering together, waiting for their first fares of the day. Many of them have collected trash from the streets and started small, smokey fires and gather around for the warmth. The traffic is still light and has not yet chased off the curs and they too cling close to the fires, looking for any scrap that the dim light may reveal.

Everyone is sweeping the patch of dirt that defines their space on the side of the road. They toss water from a bucket to try and settle the dust. A quick look at the trees surrounding the streets reveals a thin layer of dust that coats everything within minutes of the traffic beginning to roar down the street. It is definitely the dry season in Assam and I wonder what the city looks like when it is green and not the dull brown of dust.

Right now there is just the faintest of pink glow in the sky to the east. Soon a haze will settle above the city, much the same as it does in cities like Houston or New Orleans. This haze is a mix of moisture in the air and all of the small cooking fires that are busy warming up chai and dhal for the morning meal.

As for me, my mind is still working on the gospel presentation that rattled my sleep just hours ago. I've finished the last cup of bad instant coffee that is in our room and will now switch to hot, sweet tea as I wait what seems like an eternity for this post to load to the web. I'll again use my "hunt-n-peck" method of bible reading this morning to see what it holds for me and then head to morning devotions and breakfast with the rest of the team. Just as men are gathering on the street, waiting for their bus to their work, we'll gather and see what work God has for us today.

 

 

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Untitled

Today was our first official day in the field. We traveled quite a ways out into the country today. At this time I can't give the exact locations of the villages and you may note that I haven't mentioned the city in which we are headquartered out of. This is due to security reasons as the last team came under threat. We're in a much safer area of India, but still, there isn't any use taking chances.

This is very typical of the village areas we visited.

The local churches and believers arranged meetings for us in different areas. We met with groups ranging in size anywhere from 12 to nearly 70 people. Usually, once we started talking, news of our arrival would spread around the village and people would dwindle in as we talked. We presented information about HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment and answered questions concerning the virus. We would then share the gospel using the evangicube. My partner Jay Ashcraft and I would take turns on who did which presentation. Jay is a good man and an associate pastor at his church in California. He has been my room mate and we get along well. We both have the bad habit of waking up several hours before we need to and it's been good to get to know him. He has a quick but gentle wit and shares some great insights into scripture and life in general. One of the many things I admire about Jay is his ability to cat-nap just about anywhere. Even on the drive back to town, with ten of us in a vehicle designed for six and bouncing across rice fields and broken roads, Jay snuck a little sleep in. Amazing.

Amazing skill........

Our first stop was at a village leaders house. Nearly 70 people showed up, including his extended family. They are actually Nepalese, but farm a large property in Assam. They were very gracious hosts and even though none of them accepted Christ at this visit, they said they would like to hear more. The local believers and volunteers will set up meetings with them and use the I Am Second bible studies to help them learn more about God. They were very curious about farming in the States and after a long conversation they treated us to tea and a tasty noodle soup dish. Jay and I took our chances with the soup, knowing that there was always the chance of a bug in the broth. We figured it was well cooked and that God would look out for us.

We made three more stops at pre-arranged locations and shared health information and the gospel at each stop. All in all, 14 people we shared with put their trust in Jesus Christ. Any soul saved makes it a good day. On the drive back to town Jay and I talked quite a bit about how it is simply our job to sew the seeds. It's God's job to make them grow. With the partnership that e3 has set in place with the local churches, those seeds have the advantage of care and feeding along the way.

Jay sharing the gospel with a group of 40 Assamese.

And just a short side note: At each stop we were treated like honored guests. Tea is a great custom in Assam, being their state product. Having hot, sweet, and milky tea with cookies in an Assamese home will ruin the drab Lipton's tea from home forever. In addition to having a lot to teach us about tea, the Assamese could teach all Americans a lot about hospitality.

 

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Sunday

Last year we had quite a bit of Sunday free. We went to service in the morning and then had a study in the evening after dinner. The rest of the day was spent recuperating from the long days of travel, exploring the area around the hotel, or just relaxing a bit in preparation for the weeks ministry.

None of that lazing about this year!

Immediately after breakfast our team broke into four groups and headed out to the field to join local churches in their worship service. I requested to go to Uttam's church. Uttam is a pastor that New Hope has sponsored for a year so that he can coordinate all of the workers in this area that are doing follow-up work with the people we led to Christ last year and, hopefully, the people that well be led to Christ this year. Uttam is a very likable man and, even though he has very little English, you can tell that he has the respect of his team and that they love him like a brother.

Uttam (center) is a good man and the leader of the follow up team.

The church is located in the middle of a gathering of loosely spaced houses. We walked about a quarter of a mile from Uttam's house to the church and the route was a mix of dirt road, pathways behind houses, and earth dykes set up in between rice or tea fields. The church itself is a humble but beautiful place and it soon filled up with about 90 men, women, and children. They suffered through my message with ease and each and every one of them came to me after service to say a blessing of "peace" and shake my hand. They were lovely people and it is a great reminder to me that regardless of the fact that I'm a tall, white guy from half a world away, we worship the same God and the same God loves each of us.

After tea at the former pastors house we headed back into town. I've really got to figure out how to post video to this blog as I have footage of all twelve (YES 12!) of us packed into a vehicle about the size of a Ford Escape. Good thing most Indians are small in stature!

We sped back to town, wolfed down some food, and then headed to a four hour session with our translators and follow-up team. We covered many things including how to present the HIV/AIDS and malaria information and how to lead I Am Second studies. Seeing Charles lead this training reminded me of why I have such high regard for Charles. He is contagiously enthusiastic in his love for God and the unsaved. He seems to be able to juggle a million projects successfully and I have never so much as seen him frown, let alone be upset or angry. Truly a man of peace.

A good dinner, and a few words to you, and I'm ready to hit the hay. It's taken another 24 hours for the lack of sleep to catch up with me, but I think it's here in full force tonight. Tomorrow we'll take to the field to start the work we've come here to do.

 

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Finally

I'm going to say that it's a toss up between KLM and Indigo for service. The fun thing about Indigo is the throwback to the 50's-60's. The stewardess.........yes, they're still called that.......are dressed in the traditional outfits with skirts, blazers, a beret. Even their make-up is all pretty much identical and all of them have their hair up in a bun that is just off center enough to clear the headwear. I tried to get a picture of them, but it was too difficult to do so without seeming like a perv, so no luck. It's a kick, really. Regardless, it's just a means to an end. That end is to get us to our final destination.

Three of my team mates did manage to catch a bit of sleep on the Indigo flight

The other means to the end is the famous sonar navigated bus system. You can read my full description of echolocation system here: http://bobjosjor.blogspot.in/2012/02/echolocation.html?m=1

To get the full effect I'm going to have to figure out how to post video. It's also unlikely that I have the bandwidth here to do video posting. The internet doesn't seem to be quite as good this year as last. To give you an idea of the traffic, it took us about four hours to travel 120 miles. Horns blaring, bus swerving, Indian pop music bursting out of the radio. Bliss??!?!

The funny thing about all of this was having the two new guys on the trip with us. You see, with the layovers and lengthy flights and the time of the whole works, we spent almost 48 straight traveling, all without a proper break that would let us get rest. Of course, Tom and I, being a bit ornery, told our new guys "Don't worry about the lack of sleep. The bus is really relaxing and you sleep on the drive."

I'm not sure they found the humor. Oddly enough, although it wasn't the most restful, I was able to catch about 20 minutes of nap on the drive. At this point I'll take all I can get. I just did the math and I've had maybe four or five 30 minute catnaps in the last 56 hours. Once we finally arrived at our final stop, I zonked out for about an hour before showering and getting ready for dinner.

At dinner we met some of our local pastors, including Uttam, the man New Hope has sponsored as the regional coordinator for this area. We had a great meal and sorry, Matt, but everyone on this team is very agreeable to Indian food. We spent some time talking about our schedules for tomorrow when we'll be splitting up and attending services at four area churches. Look for a report tomorrow on that. As for now, it's time for me to think about hitting the sack.........after a bit of bible study. It's pretty common for them to ask visitors to give a message so I better prepare a bit.

 

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Monotony

As you can tell from the pic, the day started out alright enough. I mean, any day that starts with Jesus behind the wheel can't be too bad, right? Unfortunately, and no offense to my traveling companions, but that was the high point. There just isn't much fun to be had in airports or hurtling through space in a metal tube.

Due to the oddities of time changes and traveling in an eastbound direction, there really isn't an ideal time to sleep. For instance, we left Minneapolis for Amsterdam and about the time we're landing in Amsterdam it would be about time to turn in back home. But it's 6:00am in Amsterdam and we have a five hour layover.

The good news is if you ever have to have a five hour layover, I highly recommend the Amsterdam airport. It's a sprawling airport with a lot of shops, eateries, and seating areas. There is even a museum that features Dutch masterpiece paintings spanning about 600 years. And there is a casino if you really want to donate money to the local economy. I didn't partake of the gambling. I own a small business and Obama is President. That's gamble enough for me.

On the second floor of the airport there is a micro-hotel available. It rents in four-hour increments and I have to say, it's pretty tempting. I barely dozed on the plane and it's been a long 21 hours since I was last in bed. Our flight leaves Amsterdam at noon local time and arrives in Delhi at midnight local time. Still, no time for rest as we leave Delhi airport at about 5:00am. Too short of a stop to get a hotel. Delhi to Guwahati is only a two and a half hour flight, but then it's a fairly exciting four hours by bus to our final destination. I have a feeling that the humble hotel at the end of that ride is going to turn out to be one of the most inviting sights my life.

 

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One week........

Well, it's just one week until I head out to India. I think I've got everything ready to go. Bags are packed, meds are in place, all the paperwork is done. Now it's a matter of surviving hour upon hour of boredom in five airports and a bus on the way to our final destination. It's hard telling, but if I have internet access at the airports, I may be able to post an update during the travel.

I did want to take this chance to thank all of you for your financial and prayer support. Please take just a bit of time to download the prayer calendar that I've included here. Print it out and stick it to your fridge. Prayer support is a vital key to any ministry. I'm pretty lousy at ever asking anyone for personal prayer, but in addition to the things listed on the calendar, please pray for my health. I've had a bit of a Crohn's flare-up this last week and while that's always manageable, it's certainly something I don't want to experience on the other side of the world. In addition, my church also has a team that is leaving for a short term mission in Poland on the same day. Please pray for their ministry and travels.

 

In the last week I've also found out that in addition to the evangelism, home bible studies, and HIV and malaria prevention education activities, we will also be distributing water filtration systems. The units we will be distributing are ideally suited to use in the areas we will be in. They work with no electricity and the replacement filters will be made readily available. Many of the diseases that plague the children of this are are water-born so it's a real privelage to be able to help them find relief.

Thank you again for your prayers and financial support. I might not post again before I leave, but make sure and check back often from the 17th on as I'll try to post updates and photos daily.

 

 

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D-Day -20

Well, just twenty days until I hit the skyways and bi-ways on the way to India. Speaking of which, this years route is a bit more circuitous than last years with more stops on the way there and a few layovers. The good news about this is that the dreadfully long non-stop flight monotony is broken up a bit with some shorter (though still long) flights. The bad news is that with time changes and layovers, I will be spending all of my time between Thursday at 9:00am and Saturday at 2:00pm in airport waiting areas, aboard planes, or on a bus. That's a lot of travel time without a bed.

Most of my personal stuff is taken care off. I have a couple immunizations to take care of and a few final things to track down, but with this being my second trip most of the things like a passport and visa are in place already. Now it's just a matter of getting my personal stuff together and packing it all up.

Thanks to support from friends and the sale of my motorcycle, at the time of this writing I'm only about $900.00 short of my total goal of $3750.00. There are still a couple weeks left so there is hope that additional funds will come in. If you'd still like to contribute support you can either drop an old fashioned check in the mail or give online by following the GIVE link at www.e3partners.org. Any support, no matter how small, is appreciated.

I've been participating in the training with the rest of the team. Some of the information is "old hat" to me, but still, it's good to get a feel for the rest of the team. George Cheek, Tom Parr, and I are the only ones on the team from last years group and the only ones that have traveled to India before. We will be working with many of the same Indian volunteers and pastors that we worked with last year, including Charles Golla, one of e3's India directors. I'm really looking forward to seeing Charles again. In addition to being an extremely dedicated man of God, he is also one of those infectious people that, within minutes of meeting him, you feel like you're an old friend.

That's about it for now. In the next week or so I'll be posting a prayer calendar here that you can download and stick on the fridge. It will include our itinerary and activities and prayer requests. Stay tuned and keep in touch!

 

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