Much smaller...but beautiful also!

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I wanted to show you some of the beautiful flowers we saw while in India.

Beautiful Mountains

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I wanted to show you some of the beautiful scenery we witnessed as we were hiking and from our balconies.

Why Go?

1. God tells us to go. Matt. 28:19 says, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” and is just one example from the Bible. Although that in and of itself should be enough reason/motivation, it often is not. Here are some other reasons:
2. You better understand the work, struggles, and prayer needs of our missionaries.
3. You get a broader view and understanding of the Church, which is Christ’s bride and not limited to us Americans. We have brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.
4. You get a better understanding of how rich and blessed we are as Americans. We often forget that clean water is a gift. Having the Bible in our language is a gift. Having religious freedoms is a gift. Having churches and Christian fellowship are gifts. I could go on and on and on.
5. You are removed from your daily life distractions and taken out of your comfort zones, which tend to help you more clearly see God at work and depend on Him more fully.
6. We are extra hands, and feet, and mouths with gifts and life experiences to reach more than the missionaries can reach alone.
7. As Christians, God dwells in us, so as we go, we take the presence and light of God into places of spiritual darkness.
8. You provide much needed fellowship and encouragement to missionaries and national believers.
9. You have precious bonding experiences with your team members and often see in new ways how God equips and uses His children.
10. Jesus can’t return until all have heard. See Matt. 24:14

First steps in getting ready for a mission trip:
1. Fill out an application (this is for Living Hopers). This is a one-time step no matter how many trips you take. It is general information about you and your spiritual journey.
2. Begin saving money. There are costs that go along with a trip…start budgeting money to save for participation in a trip.
3. Choose an area of the world or a missionary family to adopt in prayer. Most missionaries have newsletters and/or blogs that let you know about their ministry and how you can pray.
4. Get a passport. Passports are valid for ten years. Apply months before you actually plan to take a trip.

Bonfire and BBQ

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We were treated to a bonfire and a BBQ one night. It happened to be the coldest night we were there, so it was nice to sit around a fire. We had some great food and some fun fellowship! Here are some pictures from the evening.

Team Extreme

The name of our team was Team Extreme. Before I went on the trip, I thought it was named that because of the hiking we would be doing...now that I've been, I'm not so sure that the travelling is not much more extreme than the hiking! The travel was definitely more difficult for me than the hiking (and I'm not even considering the plane and train travel in this!).

In India, there were not lines painted down the center of the road to determine lanes. The one time I remembering seeing lines, they were not regarded anyway. I think the general rules of thumb are pick where you want to drive and blow your horn to warn others to get out of your way.

The larger cities are sooo congested with traffic. There are more cars in a row than lanes and it's crazy. Most Indians probably have hearing damage from all the loud horns that are constantly blowing.

On the mountain roads, it was no less scary though, and because I get car sick, I always had a front of the bus view to the craziness. Thank goodness for horns though because you at least would know most the time if there was another vehicle around that S-curve. Thankfully we survived the trip accident free!

In country training

Here are some highlights that are applicable no matter where you are living and serving:

* We are not salesmen, we are treasure hunters looking for the treasure of faith. We often have to dig around in the soil of lives to find it.
* We must obey God and His Word and encourage other people to obey.
* How you feel is not relevant in how God can use you. He has prepared you.
* Put your life in the right place to be blessed by God. (An example was shared that if you have a dirty foot, you must place it under the running water for it to get cleaned.) Align yourself with God's plan for you, and you will be blessed beyond measure.
* We are to make disciples that are disciple makers.

The in-country servants use eleven discipleship lessons with those who are open. They then encourage the student to teach these lessons to others. Each element has a simple picture and sometimes a hand gesture, which allows these lessons to be taught, learned, and shared by even those who are unable to read. The lessons begin with Christ's death and resurrection and progress to five healthy habits of a believer and conclude with lessons on how to have a house church.

I am so excited that they have such a thorough plan of follow-up for those we visited. Pray for safety, endurance, and discernment as they share.

Creative Ways to Dispose of Chai

You are offered chai (tea with milk and sugar and sometimes spices) at nearly every house you visit in India. The easiest and most logical way to empty your cup is to just drink it...but when you dislike it as much as I do, you search for alternate ways to dispose of this steaming hot drink. Here are some of the ways I discovered:

1) Take small sips and/or pretend you are drinking it and then either switch cups with or pour it into the cup of a VERY kind team member. This was my most common way to drain my cup.

2) Pour it off the side of the porch when the host steps inside or looks away. There are already flies swarming everywhere anyway, so fear of attracting them is lessened. This only works if you happen to be visiting outside.

3) Have a little kid kick it over. This actually happened, and I was elated...until the man of the house thumped the little kid for knocking it over and then proceeded to fill my empty cup with chai from the cup he had been drinking from. I quickly found myself claiming Phil. 4:13... "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me."

While I was visiting a house one evening, I was actually the only team member in the house because there wasn't room for everyone to watch the Jesus film. I was served chai and I was so excited because I actually drank the whole cup by myself. It was the tastiest of all I had been served thankfully. Unfortunately Round 2 came out at 10 p.m., so I actually doubled my top "score." Even more unfortunately, I wasn't able to sleep that night because of all the caffeine!

Unfortunately, not all homes strain the tea like the man in the above picture!

Blazing the trails

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During the trip, we had 4 days of hiking. Each day, our team was divided into four teams, each of which had a translator. Google earth had been used to mark out various locations we were to visit. A map and a communication device was given to each team to help us locate the different homes in that area.

Although the trails were divided into easy, medium, and hard...those terms didn't necessarily reflect what the trail actually looked or felt like! The fourth team was a prayer team that would usually stay on the main road and pray as they walked the area being hiked. They would also stop at shops that may be on the path and buy chai and snacks to help build goodwill with those working in the area.

Each day, the teams were made up of different members. This allowed us to work with different team members and translators throughout the week. It was cool to watch how the different gifts and abilities would join together to help make each team more effective.

Information was recorded about what happened during the different visits. Our translators were all nationals who are in the ministry. The exciting thing is that they will be participating in follow-up with those who made decisions and those who were seeking more information.

Monday's Devotional

Each morning, we would begin the day singing worship songs. On Monday, our in-country leader shared a study on the Ark of the Covenant. We discussed that three of the elements in the ark were the 10 Commandments (God's agreement with them), Aaron's budding rod (God chose the high priest), and manna (God will provide).

The mercy seat was where God's presence would come dwell with the ark of the covenant when a blood sacrifice was offered. In Hebrews (9:7-11, 23-24), it talks about that as great as the Ark was, it was only a copy, not the real thing.

In I Sam. 5, this copy Ark was stolen by the Philistines and placed in their temple. The Ark was so powerful, it had power against God's enemies, and their idol gods fell down and their hands and head fell off in its presence. The people also broke out in boils and cancer.

He told us that WE are the Ark of the New Covenant. Ezek. 36:26-27 talks about God giving us new hearts (of flesh not stone) and that He will give us the Spirit to dwell in us. God writes His law on our hearts. Eph. 2:4-5 talks of how we are chosen by God, even while we were dead in sin, and our rod is made to come alive. John 6:48-51 talks of Jesus being the real Bread of Life that allows us to live forever.

Col. 1:21, 22, 27 says that even though we were once enemies of God, believers have Christ in them...this means the mercy seat is in us...this means Christ dwells in us!

Why does this matter today? Because we must realize that as Arks, we are to bring access to God to those villages we are to visit. We are to remember that because God dwells in us, we bring God with us when we enter those villages. Like priests, we are to be channels to God. Where God is present, there is holy ground...how amazing to think we can turn the enemy's turf into holy ground just by being there!

Here was the summary statement we repeated each day: Because of Jesus, I am the Ark of the New Covenant. Therefore, I have access to God and power against Satan.

New Hairstyles for the Carlisle girls!

While I was gone, Annye and Maddie got their hair cut. Annye got 12 inches cut and donated it to Locks for Love (they make wigs for cancer patients). Maddie chose a picture of rock star hair. If you don't style it sticking out (which we haven't)... then she just has bangs.

I had grown my hair out a bit for the trip, and I was READY to get it chopped. Thankfully Jamie had an appointment on Monday morning!

Jeff has promised Maddie's team that he will shave his head if they win all their games (even though they don't officially keep score!) He's performing a wedding this weekend, so he told them they would have to wait until after that!

An uphill battle

Travel for our trip was progressing smoothly until we got closer to our final destination. After our train ride, we had to wait 1 1/2 hours for our bus. One of the drivers was in the hospital and another was finally secured five minutes before we got there, and a road was temporarily closed by a gov't official. While we were touring some temples in the holy city, the bus was leaking gas. When we were done, the bus wouldn't start. After having people push it and getting it started, it was taken to the mechanic, where it was determined a new alternator was needed. This would take two hours, which would make us miss a check point on the mountain that closes at 8 p.m. Two new vehicles were secured. While we were moving luggage to those vehicles, two team members fell off the sidewalk into a 4 foot drainage canal (with sewage in it). Thankfully the injuries were fairly minor. Even though the drivers had originally been hurrying us, they then had to stop and get gas as soon as we were loaded up. Thankfully we made it through the check point. On the way up the mountain (3 hours on S-curves that actually took 4 1/2 hours this night), one of the vehicles got a punctured tire and we had to stop. One of our team members got extremely sick on the ride and then we encountered an unexpected check point, where the army officer wouldn't let us through. Finally, after our leader had to give more information than he desired to give, we were allowed through. We finally arrived at our hotel at 11 p.m. We were greeted warmly with horns and drums, flower leis, and flower petals thrown in the air. It felt like we were movie stars, not a team from Kentucky! There was a big buffet dinner awaiting us. It really helped all the miles we had travelled melt away!

It felt apparent that Satan does not want to give up this mountain, but we were not going to let the obstacles keep us from our hike the next day. We went forth with our hikes, and the name of Christ was proclaimed throughout the villages.

India Team Update

Satan did not want the team to make it to the mountains. Traveling from the train station the bus broke down. They had to wait for another bus. Then after traveling for a while a bus tire blew out. They put the new tire on and traveled some more and then the almost didn’t get through a police checkpoint. But after a day and a half of ministry in the mountains, it is evident why Satan didn’t want them in the mountains. They have shared Christ to around 50 people. It has been amazing how God is opening up doors that once were closed. The group went to a grocery store that has always been negative toward hearing the gospel from teams in the past. They talked with the owner and gave him a gospel tape to listen to. He put it in the player immediately and started listening to it with many people in the store. Part of the group was trying to share with some ladies tending some animals. They were very closed to what the team was sharing. Later, our group saw these ladies with more ladies from the village and they shared with them again. This time they were very open and asked the group to share more. Tonight a team of four people are hiking down to show the Jesus film to a group that were very open to the message of the gospel.
They have a day and a half left in the mountains to share. Pray that many are sensitive to the gospel. It is exciting because the translators are also the master teachers for this area. That means if people are open to the gospel then these master teachers can follow up with them and disciple them. It is amazing to think that a small group from south central Kentucky is being used by God to start churches in the mountains of Northern India.
All the team is healthy and regrets not being able to email friends and family. Being in the mountains is truly a blessing, but technology is limited. Please continue to pray for their health and safety as they hike.

The team pulled out Friday morning at 9:30 am. They arrived in India around 11 AM our time Saturday. That my friends is some serious travel. There is more to go. Today they have a nice long train ride and a bus ride before they get to the hotel. Everyone got there healthy and to my knowledge they got all their luggage. I know it will be a great trip for them. Be praying for them to have a good level of energy as they travel. If I hear anything new...I will blog it. Thank you for lifting the team up in prayer.
- Jeff

A day of learning

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I was glad to be back working with the Burmese this week after being sick last week. I had my camera again and wanted to share some pictures. On Tuesday, we sorted more clothes and made a delivery. We had a great visit. Jeff talked with the Burmese who are getting baptized this Sunday (5 of them...I'm so sad to miss it...thankfully it will be videotaped), the girls played, and I got involved in another English lesson. One of the new moms is VERY eager to learn the language and is working so hard.

Tomorrow our team begins our journey to South Asia. I'm so excited! Check back here soon and hopefully there will be an update!

Thanks for all of you who are praying and who have and are doing so much to help our efforts.