Day Two

Day 2 Well it is now 10:30pm and my day began at 5:30am. I am exhausted today. The best part of the day was that I was able to speak to Debbie for the first time since leaving on Sunday night, it is now Thursday night here in Bombay, India. We began with breakfast. It was some flat bread that looked like pancakes but tasted much different. It was to be have some spicy gravy on it. We all passed and had peanut butter and jelly on bread. Just before we were finished, we were offered a fried egg so we ate it. My dad, Jerry, myself, Matthew (EID Director of India) and Wilma (EID women and children’s coordinator for India) left to teach in the “Attic”. The four of us piled into a taxi about the size of a Mini Cooper and took off for a 25 minute ride. Traffic was bad and we maneuvered our say through it, inches (or less) from each car around us. It is quite thrilling. It is said here that if you can drive in Bombay, you can drive anywhere in the world. I believe and I will not be driving in Bombay! The scenery to the “Attic” was shocking. We would be traveling by hundreds of stores selling many items including food and then there was a dairy farm right there in the middle of the city with all of smells and things that go with it. We also traveled by some slums and it was awful, there is not way for me to explain it without being plain. The houses they lived in were at best, shacks and they were walking on mud about 2 inches deep. They work and I assume somhow slept tin these conditions. Some men had on some whitish colored shirts but because they were worn everyday for who knows how long, they are now yellow and dingy. It is all they had. My heart was broken. We arrived at the “Attic” and had a short walk to the access point which is a ladder leading to the “Attic”. Below the attic, the pastor and his wife have a bakery and their church is literally an upper room. In When I’m able, I’ll post pictures of the Attic on the photo page. It is hot and humid in Bombay so being in an upper room with a corrugated fiberglass roof, it is a hot and sweaty experience. We taught EID principles from 9am until 5am with a short break. There were about 45 people in attendance and the room was full. There was a Muslim lady in the home next door (about 5 feet away) who sat at her open air window and listened to what we were teaching for most of the day…pray for her. The people in the seminar were full of joy and I think that they will made a huge impact on their region of the country and then it can spill over to their state and country. I met a young man named Adam. He is 15 years old and as I prayed for him, I saw him as a pastor and prayed to that end. If you have time, pray for Adam now, would you? On our way back to the retreat center, we stopped by one of the churches orphanages. We had to walk back to a section in the rear of an industrial area. The walk way was at times 3 feet and wide and at other times it was 15 feet wide. As we made our way, we had to walk over open sewer drainage ditches. Children were playing all around, dogs meandered here and there (I haven’t seen a cat). Almost all of the children were barefoot and the doors of the homes we passed were made of curtains. As we entered the orphanage, we saw 12 children. One of them was found on the street when she was about 10 days old. She was abandoned by her mother and left to die. She is now two years old and does not speak or crawl or walk. There were also three siblings under the age of 7 years old. They had witnessed their parents fighting and eventually killing each other. These stories and others are repeated over and over again all around the country. India is about 60-70% full of poverty. These families survive on $40.00 - $50.00 dollars per month and that is with both parents working and many times their children too. We left the orphanage to travel back to the retreat center to go to dinner. The traffic was horrific. You just could not understand without experiencing it. Once back to the retreat center, we went to Pizza Hut for dinner…what a treat. We ended the evening having some Indian ice cream which is much richer, almost like a frozen cake batter. I enjoyed it, the others really didn’t. We are all doing well and feeling well. The days are long, the time zone change still affects us (I woke up at 3:30am this morning). The spices do not always agree with us and the humidity tears us up. Please keep praying. We are all teaching today and tomorrow morning and then we will be flying to Delhi Saturday afternoon to teach all day Sunday there. I love you all and your prayers are being effective. This country needs much prayer. The EID Indian team is FANTASTIC. They are true servants of God and bond is being made between us. They have much work ahead of them. Pray for unity, love and a single mind for the will of the Lord to be accomplished. Also pray for ValleyLife. I long to be with you, my family in Christ. I long to love you, pray with you, encourage you, be encouraged by you. We too have much to accomplish in Phoenix. Our city, state and country is in desperate need of Jesus Christ. Please, please take him to the world you engage this weekend. As you come together on Sunday afternoon, pray for us (it will be early 6:00am Monday morning here as you gather) and pray that God will move POWERFULLY through us. May our obedience to the Lord of the Universe grow and be powerful for His kingdom building pleasure. I love you and appreciate you more than I have ever been able to tell you.