Hey everyone! I am sad to say that this will be the last post that is made from India. :( We are at a hotel in Bangalore, just resting a bit before we hop on to our 2 am flight, which is the first leg of our long trip home. We stop over in Frankfurt, Germany again, and then fly into Portland at 1130am PST Saturday morning


A quick photo recap of the last week:

Our tearful goodbye at Happy Home, last Friday morning....






Train travel pics....







Roshan is crazy!


While we sat in the Bangalore train station, before we hopped our train to Kolkata, the boys went on a mission to find Mcdonalds (Roshan said he thought that maybe there was a rumour one time that their might be a McD's in Bangalore....somewhere. Needless to say, that was enough for them, and 4 hours later they returned triumphant)





Our cockroach friend enjoys french frys and ketchup...


More train travel pics.....






Kolkata! This is sugercane juice....and it is AMAZING! Melis and Ryan take the first sip...




Rickshaws are everywhere. Men like this poor guy carry people around in their rickshaw, oftentimes barefoot, for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week to make a living. It's a hard life....and very evident of the poverty we saw absolutely everywhere in Kolkata. It was sobering to all of us.


This cross was a welcome sight to see for us all! Crosses, or Christian symbols of any kind are extremely rare in this country. It makes seeing one a memorable event. This church is where one of the Faith Comes By Hearing meetings we went to was held. The tape player is their "pastor"




Kaitlynn prays for a Hindu woman and her child...


I had to include a photo of the Kolkata Police. I just think they are AWESOME looking :)


The day we went to visit Mother Theresa's Home for the Dying and Destitute happened to coincide with a Hindu holiday of some kind, so we had to fight out way through a crowd of people selling idols, worshipping them, and making and selling religious articles. It was intense! But then we stepped up to the door of the Home and a peace just washed over us. It truly is a beacon of light and a haven of peace in a dark place. We were asked not take pictures, so I can show you none....but we will not soon forget that place.





Mother Theresa's...


John and Reema and Theresa, in front of Victoria Palace, the old capital building of Kolkata, when the Brits ruled here.



Tiff making friends with a begger kid in the market near our hotel.


More train travel !! Are you getting the idea that we spent a LOT of time on these things? Ha ha ha....we love them :)




When we arrived in Ongole, we went to visit the school and Mt Beulah Orphanage, both of which Simpson (our guide for this portion of the trip) manages. Our reception there was warm and friendly, but our time much too brief. We could have spent weeks playing with the children and learning about the students. God is doing a great work in Ongole. We can share more when we get home...
























Ongole is only 8km from the sea, so we spent a few hours of the afternoon playing around in the Bay of Bengal. Wow! It was a welcome relief from the heat and humidity of the last few weeks.



















It's been a life-changing trip for each and every one of us. We will come home different people...but with a renewed vision of the need this world has for a God who loves them, and with a passion for how we can be His hands and feet to bring love, help, and truth to those around us...whether that be our next door neighbor, or a villager in the middle of India.

Thank you again and again for your prayers and encouraging messages and comments. It has been so amazing to have that kind of love and support while we are here.

We can't wait to see you all, and share our individual stories and pictures....

Until then, love to you all...


.rebekah

We are alive!!!

hey guys!! Wow...I know it's been FOREVER since I have posted last, and I am so sorry if you have been worried at all. I have been unable to connect my computer to internet of any kind since we got here. Even now, I can't upload my photos because I am having to use the hotel manager's computer. ha ha ha, gotta roll with it! Anyway, I just want to sum up our last 5 days for you and share a bit about what is next for us.

We arrived in Calcutta (known by the locals as Kolkota) safely and on time at 630am Sunday morning after a 40 hour travel experience (7hrs from Shimoga to Bangalore, 5hrs wait at the train station there, then a 29hr train ride from Bangalore to Calcutta). The train was.....welll......lets just saya few things: 1.Close quarters! 64 people per car, which meant 8 people per "compartment" (no actual curtains or doors, just bunks on the side of the car,in tiers of three). 2.I don't think our neighbors liked some of us very much....but we tried to just love on them and not compare to the wonderful reception that we had in Shimoga. 3. "Bathrooms"...on a moving train...with no actual toilet....it took a LOT of skill. Those of you who have ridden a train in Asia know what I am talking about :)
But all in all, we got to catch up on some reading, make some friends, learned abit more about the country, and sleep as much as we wanted. It was a good trip.

When we arrived we then cruised to our hotel and showered for the first time since Friday. It was SO GOOD to be clean :)

Sunday afternoon we visited a little girl that Ben knows who is handicapped, but has been tought a trade (making sarees) so that she can support herself. Then we went to our first Faith Comes By Hearing listening session. It was rad! There was a woman who asked for prayer from Kaitlynn afterwards, and when we started praying for her, we all felt a demonic presence of some kind. It shook us up, but we continued praying and the woman said she felt she had been freed. She glowed with happiness :)

Monday we spent visiting two different ministries to the women of the Red Light District here. I have been asked not to write about them here, so you will have to wait for our own stories when we get back. Let me just say that I was inspired, encouraged, and sobered. One of the leaders said to us "We all spend our lives on something. We cannot save it up. What are you spending yours on?"

Monday evening we went to another listening session at a church on the other side of Calcutta. It was rad! The people there were happy, filled with joy, and just loved us all and made us feel so welcome. Ben was asked by the pastor to give an impromptu sermon (gulp!), and he just jumped right up there and spoke for about 20 min through an interpreter. He did great! Then we all got up and sang a few Solid Rock worship songs for them, which they just loved. .....and laughed at our funny Western songs too :)

All in all, its been a very full and interesting two days in Calcutta. Today we leave the hotel in a few minutes to visit Mother Theresa's Home for the Dying and Destitute. Then we will view Victoria's Palace and a few other sights. Then at 1130tonight we hope a train for Ongole to see a different children's orphanage that is run by our friend here in Calcutta, Simpson.

Hopefully I will be able to hope into an internet cafe tonight or on thursday when we arrive in Ongole. And hopefully I can use my computer so I can upload some pictures for you guys.

But no promises (as I have learned) ha ha hha


We all love and miss you guys back home. And we are ready to eat some American food and sleep in our own beds. And to tell you all our stories about this beautiful, tragic, inspiring, and sobering place.

Please please please continue to pray for spiritual protection for us. We all agree that when we arrived in Calcutta we saw the bold face of Evil in a new and shocking way. It is not disguised here....it stares you in the face and laughs. We must remember that the battle is already won, and that this is not the world we were made for, and it is not where we will end. And we must, with ever greater fervency, draw others to the Truth that will set them free from their chains.

Pray for us, pray for India.

Love to you all,

.Rebekah

our time here is almost up...

Hey guys! Welll....we spent our second-to-last day here in Shimoga doing some more shopping for the kids, and for Reema, Esther, and Stella (Irene's sister who works here at Happy Home). Then we spend the afternoon and evening with the kids.

Melis in the rickshaw that we took to Ghandi Bazaar (the shopping area). These things are absolutely crazy! They are all two-stroke engines, with a hand lever starter on the floor and 2 gears. Awesome :)



Danielle and Tiff


Shopping....



I just have to share this: this guy's singular dreadlock was just blowing our minds :) ha ha ha. He was RAD!


Here are a few pictures of the streets, just to give you all an idea of the amazing colors we saw, and also of the juxtoposition between seeing such beaty amidst the trash heaps and poverty.










Yes, yes...that is indeed an animal trap of some kind. I've got admit, I was a bit taken aback seeing that for sale right next kitchen supplies, like bowls, spoons, rolling pins, etc.



Jeanne, checking her email. I just thought she was so cute, so I had to share it with you all :)



Irene, bargaining with the salesperson (who we all think looks kinda like Prince) over underwear prices. Some of these kids get dropped off here at the orphanage with no underwear! And as you can guess, it is expensive to keep more than 70 children supplied with underclothes. Especially when many of them are not capable of being potty trained, due to their handicaps. So thank you to all who financially supported us on this trip because we were able to buy more than 400 pairs of underthings!! Through this experience especially I learned how wealthy we really are in the western world. These reminders are helping me to grow in my appreciation of how God cares for me so well, and blesses me so much.


And now some more pics of the kids :) We are so heartbroken to be leaving these beautiful children on Friday! Tears are already being shed, and hearts hurting in anticipation of the pain of not seeing them every day.

















Ok, cool story of the day: This woman and child below...


They live next door to Irene, and asked a few of us to come and pray for them yesterday afternoon. So John, Theresa, Danielle, Reema, Allison and I all went over. She shared a bit of her story (Reema translated for us). She and her husband have a daughter (the child's mother) who was married to a man for a few years, got pregnant with this beautiful little girl and then ran away from her husband because she was being mistreated. So she lives with her parents now, and works nearby. They specifically wanted prayer for the husband to reconcile with the daughter, and care for them, and be a part of his daughter's life. They also asked for prayer for some health problems that they are each having. They cannot afford a doctor, so they said that we should ask God to heal them. It was such a beautiful time of worship and prayer! John played "Sanctuary" on the guitar and we sang, and then a few of us got on our knees, put our hands on them and prayed. Seeing their simple faith brought tears to my eyes! I so desire to be that way! They see their need, know that they cannot meet it themselves, and so bring it to their Lord. I must say it again, this experience in India is teaching me so much......we all feel like we are growing and learning in new ways every day.

Thank you again for your prayers! They are felt and appreciated...

I will try to post again tomorrow, but might not be able to. We hop a train to Bangalore in the morning, spend the afternoon there, and then board a sleeper train for Kolkata (Calcutta) at 8pm (that's 8am Friday for you Oregon people). We will be on the train until sometime Sunday morning.

We will get to catch up on reading and sleeping while on the train, which will be nice....but we would give anything to be spending more time with the kids. The time has flown by so quickly....

Oh man, I am tearing up again.

So.....this might be the last post for a few days. But you will hear from me again soon!

Love to you all!

.Rebekah