Team News!!

(Here is a run-down of the Team's experiences since Saturday the 30th--keep in mind they arrived on Thursday the 26th. These were wrote by Rick and Billy.)

Saturday - June 30

There was still no luggage for the second team as of 7:00 a.m. They were starting to smell bad and complain a little bit. Some of them were able to borrow clothes from others, but two of them simply smelled bad. The luggage for the three girls arrived at 7:30, and the looks on their faces were priceless. Some of them actually embraced their luggage. It is funny how tied we are to material things. I think a great lesson was learned from this separation from our things. Poor Jeff still doesn't have his luggage. He has to go pick it up from the airport because it had to go through customs for some reason.

Today we also visited a local market and learned how to bargain. The team that has already been here taught those of us who haven't how to talk the sellers down on their prices. It was a great deal of fun. Many of us were able to buy some beautiful things for ourselves and for some of you reading this right now. We can't wait to show you.

At the markets we were able to talk to many people and just develop some friendships. This is such a new place and the interaction is just so much fun! We are having a wonderful time!

We went and visited a really popular temple today as well. This was the first time that many of us have ever been in a temple. It was heart wrenching. The architecture of this building was incredible, but once you stepped inside it was a cold, dark place. Psalms calls God’s dwelling place lovely, and this was far from it. It was just ugly and empty and not warm or inviting at all. When we stepped outside the temple, we could see in a distance a very poverty stricken slum of this city. It was not even a mile from this temple. So much money and time and energy has been put into building this temple and maintaining the beautifully landscaped lawns that could have been spent on ministering to these poor, orphans and widows that live so near. The uselessness of this faith began sinking in at that time. What is the point to this? Do they live a different life because of what they believe? Do they feel compelled to minister to other people and help them? Do we?

We also went to a major monument of this country today too. It is just like any other stone structure or monument in America, so don’t be too jealous of this. The structure itself wasn’t that great, but the people there impacted all of us a lot. There were so many beggars everywhere. Children no older than 3 would come up to us and ask us for money. Little girls carrying babies would come and ask for money so she could feed this baby. When we offered them food or water, they said no and asked for money again. Small naked children played in a fountain to escape the heat of the day. Women walked around begging us to let them give us henna or buy sunglasses or pin a flag of India on us to support a “school”. It was heartbreaking to see all these people making their living by begging. Not only that, they were teaching their children to do the same. We want so badly to rescue these people.

Sunday, July 1

We were extremely blessed to be a part of a local fellowship here that Rick knew about and connected us with. We showed up and were greeted by the precious sound of familiar praise songs being sung to Jesus. It was a congregation of about 100 that was predominantly native people. It was incredible to see these wonderful people worshipping our Lord in the same way that we do using the same songs. We were very blessed to get to talk to many people from the congregation afterwards and hear about what great things God is doing here and how we can be a part of that.

After a lovely lunch of tasty native food, we got connected with our friend who studied in America again. She took us to another market where the girls got suits made and shopped a little bit. She is such a blessing to our whole team. Be praying for her and especially her father. He has stomach cancer and is having tests done. It is very hard on our friend and the rest of her family. Missy also got to spend time with a new friend that she met at McDonalds when the first team came to this city. It was really cool how God placed Missy in this girl’s life. She got to share a lot with her, and we were all very encouraged by it.

Monday, July 2

Today is a travel day. We left this city for a 12 -hour (hopefully!) bus ride to our first city that we are researching. It was a very fun day! We managed to get to the city with only two flat tires and a few rough roads. One of the towns was basically like driving through a swampy area full of potholes the size of small houses that were filled with water. Then we hit some very rough roads that made us jump off our seats for about 15 minutes. It was good times. We finally made it to our city and it didn’t even take the 12 hours! Praise Jesus for bringing us here and giving us a place to stay tonight.

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This will probably be one of their last posts for a few days as they travel around to different villages. It is good to hear that they are enjoying themselves but also busy with the Lord's work. And I'm sure their stories will all be different depending on who's telling them at the time!!