Greetings from Chiluvuru. We have found a shop in Chiluvuru with one computer with a dial up connection!
We have had a wonderful but very busy last two days. Sunday morning pastor Gopala Rao took us to another church across town. We expected it to last about 1 and a half to 2 hours. 3 and a half hours later we got up and left before it was over.
Sunday afternoon Troy observed 4 cataract surgeries. By observed, I mean that he was in the operating room with a front row seat. The doctor even invited him to look through the microscope to see what the procedure looked like from his perspective. We all think that he should become an eye surgeon now.
Sunday evening we had church at the clinic Gopala Rao invited me to preach. Immanale, Nagesh and another visitor all took turns trying to translate. Troy and I both commented later about the times that I would say a lot and the translation would be very short and sometimes I would say only a couple of words and the translation would take a couple of minutes. I am not sure exactly what I told everyone!
Today we have been doing a lot of home visits. We started at Sweathie's house... Jessica and Christy had sent some things for her in remembrance of their visit here last year. Then we went to see Mary and Hepsiba who used to work at the clinic. We visited with Mary but Hepsiba was out of town getting treatment for TB. Please pray for her. Then we met Lakshmi and Revithi and went to the RCM (Roman Catholic Mission) as they were having a festival today. Went to mass with about 1000 other people from Chiluvuru (not exaggerating!) and witnessed some very high up leaders in the Catholic church performing mass. It is their local celebration of three kings day.
After a rest we visited a number of homes of people from the church. Revithi and Nagesh went with us. Revithi said that we only went to see the new people. The one exception was Venkayama who is older and in very poor health. She was not able to come to church yesterday. She was one of the first members of the church.
The RCM church finished their day with a big procession through town. Ox carts carried a statue of Mary and the infant Jesus. Horns were blaring. Fireworks exploding. People shouting. Quite a spectacle.
Enough for one day. Thanks for your interest in our journey and your prayers.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Pictures
I did find a way to upload a few pictures... enjoy.
With one of the professors at the Bible College.
With one of the professors at the Bible College.
Girls at the orphanage in Shamshabad.
On the train from Hyderabad to Guntur.
In Vijayawada
Greetings all from Vijayawada. We have had very limited interenet access since arriving in India.
We were met at the airport by Menno Joel from the Mennonite Brethren Bible College in Shamshabad and hosted wonderfully on the campus of the college. We arrived in Hyderabad at 1:45 a.m. on Thursday morning. The computers at immigration were down, but even though it took a long time to get through we still had to wait on our luggage to arrive at the baggage claim area. Arrive at the Bible College at 3:30 am. Slept for a few hours. Thursday we walked around the Bible college and then went to Sanathnagar to the orphanage where we received Meghana. Enjoyed playing with the 28 girls who are still at the orphanage. They sang for us and showed us their school work. Ended up staying there for about 3 hours because our taxi went to get fuel and there is a truckers strike currently here and fuel is very limited with long lines at the gas pumps.
Took the train on Friday to Guntur where we were met by Nagesh and Koti from the clinic. The train was very crowded as there is a festival right now in India. It was fun interacting with some of the people on the train. A hightlight for me was a little boy, less than 1 year old, with a mile wide who wanted me to hold him which is grandma allowed me to do.
Last night after supper Troy and I walked around the village. It was after dark so it was hard to see, but met several people who I knew from before. Srinu and Moni and thier son Avi Nash, Ajhu, and others.
Troy spent some time observing and working with Bhaskar in the clinic lab this morning before we came to Vijayawada to do some clinic banking and buy some groceries.
My favorite driver, Krishna, was bringing us, but his car broke down on the way... an electrical short. We waited for about 30 minutes on the side of the road before his brother came with another car to pick us up and take us the rest of the way to Vijayawada. I hope that the repair for Krishna is not to difficult or expensive.
I have some pictures that I was going to inlcude in this post, but the comptuer doesn't have a USB port for my flash drive so I will have to save them for later.
Weather is perfect. 65 degree lows with highs in the 80's.
More when we can.
We were met at the airport by Menno Joel from the Mennonite Brethren Bible College in Shamshabad and hosted wonderfully on the campus of the college. We arrived in Hyderabad at 1:45 a.m. on Thursday morning. The computers at immigration were down, but even though it took a long time to get through we still had to wait on our luggage to arrive at the baggage claim area. Arrive at the Bible College at 3:30 am. Slept for a few hours. Thursday we walked around the Bible college and then went to Sanathnagar to the orphanage where we received Meghana. Enjoyed playing with the 28 girls who are still at the orphanage. They sang for us and showed us their school work. Ended up staying there for about 3 hours because our taxi went to get fuel and there is a truckers strike currently here and fuel is very limited with long lines at the gas pumps.
Took the train on Friday to Guntur where we were met by Nagesh and Koti from the clinic. The train was very crowded as there is a festival right now in India. It was fun interacting with some of the people on the train. A hightlight for me was a little boy, less than 1 year old, with a mile wide who wanted me to hold him which is grandma allowed me to do.
Last night after supper Troy and I walked around the village. It was after dark so it was hard to see, but met several people who I knew from before. Srinu and Moni and thier son Avi Nash, Ajhu, and others.
Troy spent some time observing and working with Bhaskar in the clinic lab this morning before we came to Vijayawada to do some clinic banking and buy some groceries.
My favorite driver, Krishna, was bringing us, but his car broke down on the way... an electrical short. We waited for about 30 minutes on the side of the road before his brother came with another car to pick us up and take us the rest of the way to Vijayawada. I hope that the repair for Krishna is not to difficult or expensive.
I have some pictures that I was going to inlcude in this post, but the comptuer doesn't have a USB port for my flash drive so I will have to save them for later.
Weather is perfect. 65 degree lows with highs in the 80's.
More when we can.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Greetings from Amsterdam. 7 a.m. here. Midnight back home. One long flight down and one to go. Our flight is showing "on time" for Hyderabad, but we have about 4 and a half hours to walk, stretch, and do whatever else we can to get our bodies ready to sit on a plane for another 8 or 9 hours.
The flight was late leaving Detroit because of de-icing (always a good thing to do this time of year) but we had a good tail wind and only ended up a few minutes late. I got a couple of hours sleep on this flight. Troy said he got about 20 minutes.
Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Next post will be in India, although not sure when as internet access will become more infrequent there.
The flight was late leaving Detroit because of de-icing (always a good thing to do this time of year) but we had a good tail wind and only ended up a few minutes late. I got a couple of hours sleep on this flight. Troy said he got about 20 minutes.
Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Next post will be in India, although not sure when as internet access will become more infrequent there.
Left Wichita on time and arrived in Detroit a few minutes ahead of schedule. Ate lunch at the airport, rode the train inside the terminal for no reason other than to pass the time and got a little exercise.
Snowing here in Detroit, but nothing serious to effect the flight, just enough to make it pretty. We figure that we have about 600 miles down and about 10,000 to go. 
Next flight will take us to Amsterdam. We will arrive there early morning their time and have a few hours to relax in the airport there before taking the next flight to Hyderabad.
Thought I would take advantage of the opportunity to have internet here in Detroit. Blessings to all.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Final preparations are under way for the next journey to Chiluvuru, AP, India. I am looking forward to traveling with Troy Frick, a sophomore at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas.
The time of our travel will be from January 6 to 20, 2009. We will fly from Wichita to Hyderabad via Detroit and Amsterdam. Upon arrival in India we plan to spend two nights and one day with Menno Joel Pandirla at the Mennonite Brethren Bible College in Shamshabad. We will then travel by train to Chiluvuru where we will spend the next 11 days working at Menno Clinic India before returning to Hyderabad to begin the series of flights back to the US.
I will try to update this blog when we have interent access during our travels. Please share this blog address with others who may be interested.
The time of our travel will be from January 6 to 20, 2009. We will fly from Wichita to Hyderabad via Detroit and Amsterdam. Upon arrival in India we plan to spend two nights and one day with Menno Joel Pandirla at the Mennonite Brethren Bible College in Shamshabad. We will then travel by train to Chiluvuru where we will spend the next 11 days working at Menno Clinic India before returning to Hyderabad to begin the series of flights back to the US.
I will try to update this blog when we have interent access during our travels. Please share this blog address with others who may be interested.
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