Pilgramage

Varanasi is to Hindu what Mecca is to Muslims or Jerusalem is to Jews. Here is a family on their pilgrimage. 

Speaking of Cows (see previous post)

So far the food here has been incredible although you miss the tastes from home. We stopped by McDonalds at the airport today but there is no beef on the menu. The Chicken Big Mac was good. We also had Pizza Hut Pizza. 

Holy Cow

Ken had a run in with a cow on our walk today in a very tight alley way. As you may know cows are holy and wander all over in India.

Monkey Business

Walk Through the City

We had to walk through much of the city to get to the Ganges River - it was quite interesting to see everything up close. 

Gagnes River

This is the main section where they have ceremonies for the dead. Bodies are buried here, people bath and swim here. A dip in the river is considered to have healing and spiritual powers. 

Varinasi

Today was a very long day. We went to the Ganges River in Varanasi. It is considered a holy river where people are taken to be cremated. We left the hotel around 5:30AM. Then we had a bus ride to the airport and a flight to New Delhi and then another flight to Bangalore then another bus ride to our hotel. We got here and had dinner around 9PM. It is the coolest night we've had in India so far. The temperature is in the 70's. It feels amazing. I'm going to post a few things tonight and do the rest in the morning. BTW - my domain stopped working for some reason. I'm working on a fix but for now as you know it is now www.baysideindia.blogspot.com.  

Beautiful Country

This is a picture from our drive to a project yesterday. We just arrived in Varanasi tonight to get ready for our flight to Bangalore tomorrow. We are in a normal hotel tonight and it is like a little slice of heaven. Tomorrow morning we are going to venture to the Ganges River which is a holy river to Hindus. We are leaving at 5:15AM - I will post more tomorrow. 

Three Strands Bracelets in India

Team Photo

Real Ministry

There have been two aspects of the ministry here in India that have been at the forefront of our discussions. The first is the work with the CSW's (Child Sex Workers). The villages that we are concentrating on are the areas where children are raised to be dancers. At the age of 10 and some younger they learn to dance for men and are sold for sex. For many families this is the sole source of income. We are hoping to find a way to sponsor these girls and take them away to a private school to learn a trade and be saved from this lifestyle.

The second aspect is the small number of Christians in this area. Less than 1 percent. GEMS has a great ministry starting new churches. As we head into the Fall and our Multiply theme, is God asking us to help start new churches in India?

Part 2 Begins

Today we will climb into our van and begin our journey back to the city of Varanasi where will fly south to Bangalore tomorrow. It has been a great adventure. Here are some of the themes and stories...
- Ken and Laura have had some back trouble. Ken has been a real trooper as he has been in a lot of pain and we have had long (3 plus) hour rides every day over very bumpy roads.
- The driving is quite an adventure. You have bikes, motorcycles, huge trucks, chickens, cows, water buffalo all trying to share the road. The horn sounds every 30 seconds.
- The heat is hard to describe but as my picture shows its been right at 100 and the relative humidity puts it somewhere 120. It is about as hot as I've experienced it.  Our rooms have some form of air conditioning but we've had to move six of us guys into one room to make it work. The four women share two rooms but their AC is not as good as ours. Ours occasionally goes out. Last night at 3 in the morning I was working on it as the temperature climbed to 95 in the room. The AC in the vehicles struggle to keep up so we sweat a lot.
- The food has been great. Lots of rice and noodles, some fried chicken and fish and tomato/onion salad. Some has been very spicy. Our spiciest meal was served at a church where they didn't have any drinking water. It arrived about 30 minutes into the hot meal. We were eating some Jellie Bellies to quench the heat. Most of us would pay big for a pizza about now.
- The team gets along very well. We've had lots of laughs including laughing at the Indian's answer to the question how much longer. It is always about 30 minutes even though it is really 3 hours.
- This is a praying team. We pray hard and often.
- The people of India are friendly, beautiful and look after your every need. They make you feel special and they go out of there way to serve you.

Final Visit in Bihar

GEMS is working on a new project in this village. We stopped by around 4PM to visit. The men were highly agitated and most of them had been drinking pretty heavily it appeared. I'm praying how we can make an impact on this village. This was our last stop, tomorrow we head to our next destination. 

New Village

We had a chance to visit a village of untouchables. They are considered the lowest of the low in the caste system. For some reason I was captivated by this little girl. A lot of them were intimidated by cameras and especially white people. She had a confidence about her that really shows up in this picture. 

GEMS Students

GEMS School

We visited with the children at the GEMS school today. I was so impressed at how well behaved they all were. 

Augustine Jebakumar

Spent some time today with the founder of GEMS (http://www.gemsbihar.org) Augustine Jebakumar. They provide education for thousands of children in India and start new churches. They currently have over 1000 preaching points. He told me that there are some 120 million people living in the State of Bihar with under 200,000 Christians. I was very impressed with him, his vision and his organization. 

Busy Day Lined Up

We are going to be visiting some villages today where there are no ministry projects. A few of these belong to the untouchables who are outcasts from society and have no value. If they walk on someones property it is believed that they bring a curse. The beauty of the Gospel message is that everyone is valuable in the sight of God. We hope to love us some more children today. 

Worship Time

We have been able to lead times of worship with our group for the children and ministry sites where we visit. 

Pastor Dan - praying with some missionaries

Playing Duck, Duck Goose

Angry Cows

Let the little children come unto me - Jesus

One of my favorite pictures so far

Missionaries

One of the missionaries that care for the children in the project. They often work for years before they receive even one convert that will embrace the Gospel. Many of these children they work with will be sold as child prostitutes. Please pray for their work. 

Bible School For Kids

We had the privilege of leading bible school sessions for the children today. David and Goliath was a big hit (literally). We were very impressed with how well behaved the children are. 

Trouble Posting

I'm having trouble posting pictures due to internet issues. I will update the blog and pictures in about 8-10 hours. 

Small Villages

We had a chance today to visit several small villages. This is a very common scene with a mud hut and a couple of cows. 

Meeting a Village Family

t was a long day yesterday starting with an hour and half flight and then a four hour drive. The temperature has been over 100 plus high humidity. One of my favorite parts of traveling is seeing people live their lives along the highways and byways of the countryside. We saw some funny signs including Highly Inflammable. We arrived at our guest house to discover only three air conditioned rooms We split into three groups. Six guys slept in our room. This morning I ran out of water halfway through my shower. Ah, the exciting times of traveling the world. In spite of it all, we are very excited and look forward to what God has in store for all of us.

Evening Tea

A little meal and tea before heading back to bed.