Day 1 Visit Two

Dark clouds and thunder rolled in . I remember thinking how interesting it was going to be navigating these steep trails if they were wet.

He happened to come upon this house just as the skies were ready to open up. As you can see, this family owned an incredible amount of farming land...this is just a portion of it.

We were visiting outside the home, and then the man invited us to go in for chai and cookies.

The stairs we used were right behind the water buffalo. It started raining on us as we were removing our shoes to go in. It poured while we were in there, but we had a nice long visit and it had stopped by the time we left!

I think she was the daughter-in-law...she was so sweet and beautiful. She served us the chai and cookies, but was too busy working to sit and visit with us. I was sad she wasn't able to hear our conversation.

This man was 80, which is quite old for mountain living. He was very strong and his mind still very sharp. It was a very interesting visit. He did lots of talking. He also did quite a bit of debating with our translator. He kept talking about how Brahim made the uppercaste (his family) from his head, the middle class from his hands, and the lower caste from his feet. He talked about days of British rule and war. He also talked about the upper class killing the lower class because they were converting to Christianity and buying into the concept that all men are created equal.

It was sad to hear him so resistant to the truths we were sharing, but despite that, he was very kind and hospitable and allowed someone to read from Romans and teach. Most surprising was as we left, he pointed out where his neighbors were so that we could go and visit and share with them.

His grandchildren were in the room during much of the conversation...hopefully God's Word will stay in their minds and penetrate their hearts and help them know that we were all made by a loving God that wants a relationship with us.

We were able to pray with the family and speak heartfelt words of praise for him being such a man of peace who welcomed us heartily into his home (not all will do this).

Day 1 Visit One

After getting our assignments for the day, each team headed out to hike. The mountains were beautiful, and I was so excited to be done with all the planes and trains for a few days and be in the mountains among the beautiful people.

Not far into our hike, we passed a home where several women were home and on the porch. The original intent was not to stop yet...we usually head in first and visit on the way out...but my heart was longing to stop. Thankfully our translator, felt we should stop, so we did.

It is common for multi-generations and multi-families to be living in a house. We passed out candy to the children and began to visit. As we were visiting, one of our team members noticed one of the ladies wearing a cross necklace. When he asked if she knew what the cross symbolized, she said no...she just bought it at the market. He asked if we could tell them what the cross symbolizes, and they were fine with it, so I had the amazing opportunity to tell them about Jesus and what He has done for all of us.

There is a place in the story where it is natural to stop and see what they understand and how they are feeling about the message and ask them if it's OK if we share more. It was at this point, that the eldest female talked about her confusion and how she could not understand, and how she was not ready to hear more because of her confusion.

I was reminded of 1 Corin. 2:14, "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are follishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

I felt like you could visibly see the spiritual battle within her and the fear and the confusion Satan was throwing at her to keep her from understand the most beautiful truth of love, and hope and freedom that is available to her. It was so heartbreaking.

When we left, we gave the lady with the necklace the pictures drawn to help them understand the message. We told her to keep it and remember the meaning of the cross. Hopefully she will remember it and be able to share it with others and that one day their hearts will be penetrated by the message.

It was so difficult to see all the flies hovering all over the children.

A visit to a temple

I need to back up a bit...I left out visiting the temple before we headed into the mountains. This was a good reminder of some of the mindsets we would encounter as we shared. We saw people ringing bells to waken their sleeping gods...I am so thankful that I worship a God that never sleeps and can hear me, no matter when I cry out to Him.

The person who built this temple believes that all four of these religions are equal.

People waiting to approach the guru.

Bowing down and worshipping an idol.

So many of the Indians are very religious, but they have yet to discover the One true God.

A Colorful Welcome

I was so relieved to get off that curvy road and be in the mountains! We received a very warm welcome from the hotel staff.

The guys enjoying their juice...or is it the flower necklaces putting that big smile on their faces?!

The team with our translators and in-country leaders.

First Pit Stop

We spent the night in a hotel before heading to the train station to get us one step closer to the mountains.

JJ was my roommate. We had lots of laughs as we worked around the fact that our bathroom light wouldn't work. It was pitch black in there. Thankfully she had a head lantern, which we put to full use!
It was quite a stretch to reach the toilet paper.
But we definitely fit in the bed better than Abe and Matt!

Getting there was NOT half the fun...thankfully!

I am the kind of person that loves visiting places, but dislikes the actual travel it takes to get there....Praise God that I do not live in a time that took months to cross the ocean by boat or the country by covered wagon!

Thankfully along the way, I had some things to keep me going...

...like my sweet friend Melanie, who came to church at 6 a.m. to pray with me (and give me candy) before I left.

Even though our morning started so early, we were still only in Chicago over 12 hours later because of a humongous layover...as you can see...some passed the time reading, some sleeping...we also ate, played cards, etc. etc. etc. Thankfully the team was fun to be around!

Once we were in India, we still had 6 hours of train ride...the train station was quite crowded! Then we had a 3 hour bus ride up very curvy roads (my least favorite leg of the journey!)

But once we get there...it is SO worth it!

Fall Fun

The girls had a fun Halloween with the school parties, visiting neigbhors, eating out, and going to Trunks of Treats at church. Annye wore an outfit from India. Maddie was a Jedi. Jeff made her costume! Maddie has been telling us for two weeks now what she wants to be for Halloween NEXT year! Of course, the ideas are constantly changing, but are still all things Star Wars. Maddie's class went to the Kentucky Museum and BRIMS Science Museum. We had a really fun day. We had a little dress up session while we were at the KY Museum.

We decided to head to Mammoth Cave to enjoy the beautiful weather and changing leaves while we hiked. The weather was beautiful and although the sites were beautiful...there was not much color there. We had a great afternoon together!

I have been out of the country the last two times my brother has been passing through, so it had been over a year since I'd seen him. Thankfully I got home from India the day before he passed through this time, so we were able to visit.

I have lots of pictures of these events posted on Facebook if you're interested in seeing more! Hope you've had a great fall as well!