Compassion project kids playing on the playground
Dancing with the children and staff during the final day's celebrations
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Videos from India!
Compassion project kids playing on the playground
Dancing with the children and staff during the final day's celebrations
Day 12: The End of our Trip; the Beginning of an Amazing Journey
Our final day in India began with the 10 of us worshipping in the courtyard of the BMS center.
We encouraged each other from the Word, sang worship songs, and prayed together. It was a great time of fellowship. We specifically prayed for the change that God has encouraged us toward - change to be bolder, have more faith, pray more, and love more.
Our motto on this trip has been "Just the way we like it." Brian encouraged us from Romans 12 that the Christian life should be
As a final celebration, the Compassion staff took us to Ivory Kitchen restaurant for an amazing Indian buffet lunch. We have seen the poverty of India, now we got a chance to taste the amazing opulence of India.
We ate and ate and ate. And now we get on an airplane to Delhi, and then at 1:30 am, get on our airplane from Delhi to Chicago. We all miss Wisconsin - we miss our families and homes. We miss the snow... er... maybe not.
We thank God for all of you who have been praying for us. Praise God for the 16 decisions that were made for Christ this week, the amazing relationships that have been formed, and the fact that none of our team members got sick at all. God is so good; his mercies are new every morning.
Our trip may be over, but this amazing journey has only begun...
We encouraged each other from the Word, sang worship songs, and prayed together. It was a great time of fellowship. We specifically prayed for the change that God has encouraged us toward - change to be bolder, have more faith, pray more, and love more.
Our motto on this trip has been "Just the way we like it." Brian encouraged us from Romans 12 that the Christian life should be
- Lived on the alter. We should always have a "that's just the way I like it" attitude.
- Lived on assignment. India was/is just a small piece of our assignment, and now we go back to the rest of our day-to-day assignment to live for Jesus.
As a final celebration, the Compassion staff took us to Ivory Kitchen restaurant for an amazing Indian buffet lunch. We have seen the poverty of India, now we got a chance to taste the amazing opulence of India.
We ate and ate and ate. And now we get on an airplane to Delhi, and then at 1:30 am, get on our airplane from Delhi to Chicago. We all miss Wisconsin - we miss our families and homes. We miss the snow... er... maybe not.
We thank God for all of you who have been praying for us. Praise God for the 16 decisions that were made for Christ this week, the amazing relationships that have been formed, and the fact that none of our team members got sick at all. God is so good; his mercies are new every morning.
Our trip may be over, but this amazing journey has only begun...
Day 11: Slow Drive - Long Life
We left early in the morning to begin our drive back to Siliguri. The driving is crazy here compared to the US - kind of like a 4-hour game of "chicken" - but we're used to it now. We love the decorations on the trucks that we pass - here's one of them:
We took a different route this time, and passed the border of Bangladesh, and saw lots of tea gardens.
Then in Siliguri, we took a 1-hour flight to Kolkata, then a 1-hour bus ride back to BMS, where we turned in for the night.
We took a different route this time, and passed the border of Bangladesh, and saw lots of tea gardens.
Then in Siliguri, we took a 1-hour flight to Kolkata, then a 1-hour bus ride back to BMS, where we turned in for the night.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Day 10: "The Dust of India has settled on our hearts"
Our final day with our partner church in Sumuktola, India, was a very emotional one from start to finish. We started by chasing down a flower shop near our hotel in Alipurduar to buy boquets to present to the female staff at the project. Praise the Lord we brough Samata, our Compassion India staff member, with us. A florist in West Bengal is not like a florist in Stevens Point! Samata negotiated and worked out the details of 20 beautiful boquets - for the equivalence of $2 US each.
We then drove to the church, and had a "debriefing" with Pastors Rajiv, Pravir, and three other local pastors. We exchanged blessings and thanks for a week well spent. And then we engaged in an amazingly powerful time of prayer. In the US, we always pray one at a time - but why? Then we worry about if what we are saying will sound good, and the prayers are really for God, not for us. So all the Indians prayed for all the Americans for a time, in Bengali. Despite us not understanding a word they were saying, we understood in our spirits the love and care that they have for us. And then we were able to do the same for them. It was an amazing time, and there wasn't a dry eye in the whole place.
Next, Rajiv treated us to Chicken shish-ka-bob - Indian style! No propane grills here - just charcoal in some bricks. It was amazing!
The children began arriving, and we got a chance to play with them in the playground again, while they cleaned up from lunch.
Then, the children were ushered in and seated, so the farewell program could begin. We were seated as guests of honor, and presented with gifts of beautiful handmade Indian blankets and shawls! We presented their workers with flowers and T-shirts.
And then Brian presented Pastors Rajiv and Pravir with Packers World Champion t-shirts!
And then began the program, prepared by the children. Each group of children sang and danced several traditional dances from their heritages. The children were nervous, but were so proud to be able to perform for us!
We then were pulled into an amazing dance of fellowship and worship to the Lord. Dance is a whole worship experience that our American culture has completely missed out on. The entire day was amazing, but the 15 minutes of ten Americans struggling to keep up with the dance led by our Indian brothers and sisters, and the children, was the absolute height of the day. For those few minutes, it felt like heaven. When people from every race, people, tribe, and nation can worship and praise the Lord Jesus Christ in one voice, one love, and one heart.
It was so difficult to say goodbye, but we had to get back to our hotel. Through many tears, we wished our brothers and sisters a farewell. The tears we shed were bittersweet - sweet because of the new friendships we had made, but sad because we knew that we might never see some of these wonderful people this side of heaven again. We left a little piece of all of us at the Duars center, and a little piece of the Duars center will come home with us. Brian said it best:
We then drove to the church, and had a "debriefing" with Pastors Rajiv, Pravir, and three other local pastors. We exchanged blessings and thanks for a week well spent. And then we engaged in an amazingly powerful time of prayer. In the US, we always pray one at a time - but why? Then we worry about if what we are saying will sound good, and the prayers are really for God, not for us. So all the Indians prayed for all the Americans for a time, in Bengali. Despite us not understanding a word they were saying, we understood in our spirits the love and care that they have for us. And then we were able to do the same for them. It was an amazing time, and there wasn't a dry eye in the whole place.
Next, Rajiv treated us to Chicken shish-ka-bob - Indian style! No propane grills here - just charcoal in some bricks. It was amazing!
The children began arriving, and we got a chance to play with them in the playground again, while they cleaned up from lunch.
Then, the children were ushered in and seated, so the farewell program could begin. We were seated as guests of honor, and presented with gifts of beautiful handmade Indian blankets and shawls! We presented their workers with flowers and T-shirts.
And then Brian presented Pastors Rajiv and Pravir with Packers World Champion t-shirts!
And then began the program, prepared by the children. Each group of children sang and danced several traditional dances from their heritages. The children were nervous, but were so proud to be able to perform for us!
We then were pulled into an amazing dance of fellowship and worship to the Lord. Dance is a whole worship experience that our American culture has completely missed out on. The entire day was amazing, but the 15 minutes of ten Americans struggling to keep up with the dance led by our Indian brothers and sisters, and the children, was the absolute height of the day. For those few minutes, it felt like heaven. When people from every race, people, tribe, and nation can worship and praise the Lord Jesus Christ in one voice, one love, and one heart.
It was so difficult to say goodbye, but we had to get back to our hotel. Through many tears, we wished our brothers and sisters a farewell. The tears we shed were bittersweet - sweet because of the new friendships we had made, but sad because we knew that we might never see some of these wonderful people this side of heaven again. We left a little piece of all of us at the Duars center, and a little piece of the Duars center will come home with us. Brian said it best:
"The dust of India has settled on our hearts."
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