Denver, CO
Feb 7, 2013
5:30 am
We are home! I have been wide awake since 3am and Mike has been up and down all night. I didn't even to go sleep til after midnight. Trying to work my way through Anna Karenina! Why did I start this book? I think it was to help pass time while we were away and I thought it would be interesting. Well, may in some places and extremely boring in others but I am persevering. At least it puts me to sleep now and then.
We had an uneventful trip home. I do recommend Economy Comfort status when flying! We paid about $100 extra per person on the leg from Delhi to Amsterdam and it was so worth it! We did that going over, also.
Both of us are not feeling super good right now. I'm a little concerned about Mike as he is running a slight fever and chills...seem to come and go. We wonder about possible malaria symptoms. We took our pills while there, but only had them for 2 weeks and probably should have taken them for at least 3 weeks. In a couple areas there were huge numbers of mosquitoes!
To reflect back on the past month will indeed take some time. We saw God's hand at work in so many ways...his protection over us while traveling; his face in the lives of the Indian people; encouragement at times we needed it most!
Someone asked me if I kept up my list of God's goodness to us after I posted two weeks ago...well, no, but I am going to try and go back and see them again.
Saturday, January 26...went to Hyderabad and got some good sleep and some American food. Chili's restaurant became our favorite haunt while in Hyderabad...they served the most refreshing lemonade (just don't ask for it salty)...yes, you could get it sweet or salty.
Sunday, January 27...Rest, sweet rest! A little shopping and another bus ride that evening to Karimnegard! I always will wonder what we missed along the way as we always traveled in the dark!
Monday, January 28...But Karimnegard was a delight as far as the people...we had great meetings and a wonderful translator! It was always a blessing to have a translator we could really talk with and this was a woman!
Tuesday, January 29...I did not forget my routes...Kansas Day! Memories of growing up and learning and celebrating Kansas history came to me! In 5th grade we celebrated the 100th birthday of our state and had a special program...learned to square dance...I remember mom made us long, ruffled pink print skirts and white blouses. It was so fun! But back to Karimnegard...driving through the streets of yet another town teeming with people, animals, smells, pigs! Yes, pigs! and they were the ugliest pigs we had ever seen! God is working in this city...
Wednesday, January 30...We went back to Hyderabad last night! Now we are riding on regular buses...there are so many different kinds. Sleeper buses, air conditioned buses, buses without air conditioning, buses that look like they have been through a war. And the bus stations are kind of creepy...the homeless and the beggars tend to hang out in them especially at night. Of course, they think we are rich and come up to us begging all the time. We had been strictly warned not to give them anything but to give through India Christian Mission! Sometimes you just have to walk (or run) away! Being in Hyderabad again even for a few short hours did help...always good to spend some time with Doug Kelly who heads up The Covenant School of Worship! We would kind of unload on him, but he was most encouraging to us.
Thursday, January 31...I was really counting down the days by now! But this day had to be a highlight! We got to ride a camel! I was so excited...you are really up in the air when on a camel. I could not help but think about the story of Rebecca coming to meet Jacob...I had just read that a few days earlier in my read through the Bible plan! India is probably not that much different today in many ways than it was 4000 years ago! Yes, there are new things, but so many people live the same way they did then...actually the people who had the camels looked like nomadic people...living in tents, cooking outside on the ground! They did want to take advantage of the fact we were Americans but our hosts wouldn't let them. They told us it would be 200 rupees to ride but it ended up costing just 50 (that is actually less than $1). The next day we were told by a visiting pastor that they are indeed Christians and had attended his church.
Friday, Feb 1...again we had such a great interpreter. This young man has had many problems in his life, but the joy of the Lord was so evident in him. He always had a huge smile for us and showered me with Oreo cookies when he learned that I like them! The people were so nice and I was always blessed by their enthusiasm and colorful styles!
Saturday, Feb 2...We had traveled back to Hyderabad during the night on the worst bus of our trip! I did not sleep at all and actually spent much of the time texting with my dear friend, Deb, who lives here in Denver! I shared some of the things we were experiencing and it was so encouraging to have a friend help me through the night! We ended up getting off the bus in a weird area of Hyderabad...literally in the middle of nowhere. But I never felt scared! In fact, for all the stuff that could have happened the whole trip with CRAZY traffic and such, I rarely felt any fear at all! It had to have been all the prayers of our faithful friends! We slept til noon and spent the afternoon shopping, visiting with a volunteer from Sarah's Covenant Home and resting! God gave rest when we needed it, but he gave us supernatural amounts of energy when we needed it, too!
Sunday, Feb 3...we attended church at Pearl City. It is a large English speaking church in Hyderabad and was such an encouragement to us.! The worship was awesome! Much like churches in the US! and we needed that! To sing the songs we know and love and can understand was a gift from God! And the message was encouraging to our souls!
Sunday afternoon we left Hyderabad and flew back to Delhi! Mike admitted he was excited to be going home and this came as a shock to me. Not that he wanted to go home but that he was excited! He rarely gets very excited! Well, maybe when his Wildcats are playing!
Monday, Feb 4...our last day in India! Mike told me to call home as I had minutes left on my international phone plan. What a joy to talk to all the kids while they were watching the Superbowl game. Just to hear their voices was awesome. We spent the day shopping once again and had a great taxi driver who spoke English and spent the whole day driving us around the city. I think it cost 1500 rupees (about $30) for the whole day! He was very careful and warned us about being careful and even went into some of the shops with us. He would tell us if we were getting a good deal or not!
Tuesday, Feb 5...Our flight left Delhi at 2:30 am. By the time we arrived in Denver at 4pm MST, we had been up for nearly 36 hours. I did sleep on the planes...actually quite a bit but...
That sums up the last month...I do still plan on posting pics soon. Probably have to enlist the help of one of my kids to get it done! We love each of you and I pray this blog has given you a little of the flavor of India!
Feb 7, 2013
5:30 am
We are home! I have been wide awake since 3am and Mike has been up and down all night. I didn't even to go sleep til after midnight. Trying to work my way through Anna Karenina! Why did I start this book? I think it was to help pass time while we were away and I thought it would be interesting. Well, may in some places and extremely boring in others but I am persevering. At least it puts me to sleep now and then.
We had an uneventful trip home. I do recommend Economy Comfort status when flying! We paid about $100 extra per person on the leg from Delhi to Amsterdam and it was so worth it! We did that going over, also.
Both of us are not feeling super good right now. I'm a little concerned about Mike as he is running a slight fever and chills...seem to come and go. We wonder about possible malaria symptoms. We took our pills while there, but only had them for 2 weeks and probably should have taken them for at least 3 weeks. In a couple areas there were huge numbers of mosquitoes!
To reflect back on the past month will indeed take some time. We saw God's hand at work in so many ways...his protection over us while traveling; his face in the lives of the Indian people; encouragement at times we needed it most!
Someone asked me if I kept up my list of God's goodness to us after I posted two weeks ago...well, no, but I am going to try and go back and see them again.
Saturday, January 26...went to Hyderabad and got some good sleep and some American food. Chili's restaurant became our favorite haunt while in Hyderabad...they served the most refreshing lemonade (just don't ask for it salty)...yes, you could get it sweet or salty.
Sunday, January 27...Rest, sweet rest! A little shopping and another bus ride that evening to Karimnegard! I always will wonder what we missed along the way as we always traveled in the dark!
Monday, January 28...But Karimnegard was a delight as far as the people...we had great meetings and a wonderful translator! It was always a blessing to have a translator we could really talk with and this was a woman!
Tuesday, January 29...I did not forget my routes...Kansas Day! Memories of growing up and learning and celebrating Kansas history came to me! In 5th grade we celebrated the 100th birthday of our state and had a special program...learned to square dance...I remember mom made us long, ruffled pink print skirts and white blouses. It was so fun! But back to Karimnegard...driving through the streets of yet another town teeming with people, animals, smells, pigs! Yes, pigs! and they were the ugliest pigs we had ever seen! God is working in this city...
Wednesday, January 30...We went back to Hyderabad last night! Now we are riding on regular buses...there are so many different kinds. Sleeper buses, air conditioned buses, buses without air conditioning, buses that look like they have been through a war. And the bus stations are kind of creepy...the homeless and the beggars tend to hang out in them especially at night. Of course, they think we are rich and come up to us begging all the time. We had been strictly warned not to give them anything but to give through India Christian Mission! Sometimes you just have to walk (or run) away! Being in Hyderabad again even for a few short hours did help...always good to spend some time with Doug Kelly who heads up The Covenant School of Worship! We would kind of unload on him, but he was most encouraging to us.
Thursday, January 31...I was really counting down the days by now! But this day had to be a highlight! We got to ride a camel! I was so excited...you are really up in the air when on a camel. I could not help but think about the story of Rebecca coming to meet Jacob...I had just read that a few days earlier in my read through the Bible plan! India is probably not that much different today in many ways than it was 4000 years ago! Yes, there are new things, but so many people live the same way they did then...actually the people who had the camels looked like nomadic people...living in tents, cooking outside on the ground! They did want to take advantage of the fact we were Americans but our hosts wouldn't let them. They told us it would be 200 rupees to ride but it ended up costing just 50 (that is actually less than $1). The next day we were told by a visiting pastor that they are indeed Christians and had attended his church.
Friday, Feb 1...again we had such a great interpreter. This young man has had many problems in his life, but the joy of the Lord was so evident in him. He always had a huge smile for us and showered me with Oreo cookies when he learned that I like them! The people were so nice and I was always blessed by their enthusiasm and colorful styles!
Saturday, Feb 2...We had traveled back to Hyderabad during the night on the worst bus of our trip! I did not sleep at all and actually spent much of the time texting with my dear friend, Deb, who lives here in Denver! I shared some of the things we were experiencing and it was so encouraging to have a friend help me through the night! We ended up getting off the bus in a weird area of Hyderabad...literally in the middle of nowhere. But I never felt scared! In fact, for all the stuff that could have happened the whole trip with CRAZY traffic and such, I rarely felt any fear at all! It had to have been all the prayers of our faithful friends! We slept til noon and spent the afternoon shopping, visiting with a volunteer from Sarah's Covenant Home and resting! God gave rest when we needed it, but he gave us supernatural amounts of energy when we needed it, too!
Sunday, Feb 3...we attended church at Pearl City. It is a large English speaking church in Hyderabad and was such an encouragement to us.! The worship was awesome! Much like churches in the US! and we needed that! To sing the songs we know and love and can understand was a gift from God! And the message was encouraging to our souls!
Sunday afternoon we left Hyderabad and flew back to Delhi! Mike admitted he was excited to be going home and this came as a shock to me. Not that he wanted to go home but that he was excited! He rarely gets very excited! Well, maybe when his Wildcats are playing!
Monday, Feb 4...our last day in India! Mike told me to call home as I had minutes left on my international phone plan. What a joy to talk to all the kids while they were watching the Superbowl game. Just to hear their voices was awesome. We spent the day shopping once again and had a great taxi driver who spoke English and spent the whole day driving us around the city. I think it cost 1500 rupees (about $30) for the whole day! He was very careful and warned us about being careful and even went into some of the shops with us. He would tell us if we were getting a good deal or not!
Tuesday, Feb 5...Our flight left Delhi at 2:30 am. By the time we arrived in Denver at 4pm MST, we had been up for nearly 36 hours. I did sleep on the planes...actually quite a bit but...
That sums up the last month...I do still plan on posting pics soon. Probably have to enlist the help of one of my kids to get it done! We love each of you and I pray this blog has given you a little of the flavor of India!
Hmmm! I don't know if anyone caught it but there is a big mistake in this blog...Rebecca married Isaac, not Jacob! Sorry!
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