Back in the USA and reflections of my trip!

It's now January 6 and we got back on the morning of Jan. 2 at about 9:30 am. After the long long flight home, it was good to touch the ground and be back in my home in San Francisco again.

We got to the Delhi airport about 12:45am and waited until 4am to take off on the flight to Hong Kong...as soon as we were all on the plane, I think we three fell asleep and tried to sleep the majority of the flight...in Hong Kong we had a 3 hour layover, but not too much to do there...so got some bottled water and candy and sat/relaxed at the airport. The flight from HK to SFO was about 11 hours and I realized about 3/4 of the way through the flight that one of the owners of my favorite neighborhood Chinese Restaurant (Jasmine Tea House) was sitting across from me with his wife and son...I said Harry, is that you? And he also wondered if I was me! small world, right? They had been to China
for 3 weeks.

As soon as we landed and went through customs, we had to wait forever for our bags...but finally got out of the airport about 11am. My friend, Yboné picked me up and took me home. The cats were happy to see me and I was equally happy to see them. I stayed up until about 1pm and then took a shower and a nap for about 3.5 hours...was able to go to sleep that night at 10:30 and then just stayed in and unpacked/read e-mail/regular mail and spoke to a good friend on the phone on Saturday...had a good night's rest again and felt I didn't go through any 'jet lag'....then this morning now Tuesday, I woke up and couldn't remember where I was and if I needed to go with Daizy and Greg as well as do some work...wow! Is that what jet lag is? if so, then I guess I did finally experience it! ;-)

We have a lunch with Cindy tomorrow at the church to debrief and reflect on our trip. I am mostly grateful that I was able to go and to have been supported by many people and especially God! I learned about more humility and patience. I will always remember the kids and their new sweaters and shoes and how grateful they were. Also that they are eager to learn about the Bible and the stories that are in there. I will continue praying for them as well as the women and the problems they have in their married lives. It's sad they have to put up with what they do, but they are faithful women and strong at that! I know one day they will be truly rewarded by God.

Greg and Daizy were wonderful hosts and leaders. Thank you again! I will also keep Kheem and his wife and daughter in my prayers.

Here are photos of Kheem and his daughter, then I got to hold his daugher and a favorite photo of the 3 of us at the Taj Mahal...as well as the final photo of us with Daizy and Greg right before we left for the airport...all for now...perhaps I'll start another blog some day.

Happy New Year 2009 and may God bless all of us in this year and in our lives.

More photos and stories

Before I forget, you can click/double click on a photo to see it larger.

Here are photos of our last day with the children at the school. They were so thrilled to get the new shoes and as you can see, here are some of those happy faces! Then a group photo of the teachers and kids with Greg, Daizy, Michelle, Ana and myself. Here is a photo of the women with the grinder...then photos of the home we were in last night. The man is a guard at the US Embassy and their daughter had been possessed by demons as a young 5-6 yr old...she would often walk away from the home and be gone for days. She was prayed for by many and eventually the demons were gone from her. Today she is 10 yrs old and goes to the same school Daizy went to as a child. She is doing very well. As we walked away from that home, we saw tandori bread being made in a very hot oven as you see in these photos.

Here are photos from today and the sign of Daizy's church...then the women and children we saw this afternoon. We prayed over the individual women...one woman needed prayers for her family as her husband of 22 yrs has had a mistress for 20 yrs and this is, of course, very troubling. Another woman wanted prayers for her 5th child to be a boy, as she has 4 girls already. Another woman needed prayers for their family business building to be sold so they can repay that debt. Another is trying to find a home for her family and everyone hopes they will be able to stay close to this location. These women are all followers of Jesus, but their husbands are not. They then gave us Chai Tea and samosa (a pastry filled with potato and veges, very good and spicy!).

We women are all packed and will be leaving in a few hours for the airport. Ana took a nap, but Michelle and I couldn't seem to take one! oh well...I can sleep in a chair if needed, at the airport.
I'll write more when I get back to San Francisco. It has been a wonderful experience and I thank you again for your support and prayers. Happy New Year 2009 once again!

Happy New Year 2009

It's now New Year's Day and we kept busy the past few days...whew! On Tuesday Michelle told her story of The Good Samaritan to the children, they then acted it out a few times and were very good. The boys especially liked being the robbers, I believe and one boy was the donkey! ;-) We then went to a woman's group where Daizy has led these women to also know the Lord and now share the Gospel with other women in their neighborhoods. As we traveled there, we ate good tunafish sandwiches that Kheem had fixed for us that morning. Afterwards we came back to the apt and cut up paper dolls for the craft for Wed.'s lesson. We also sorted through shoes that would be given out to the kids the next morning...these shoes came from the USA and another organization. It was fun to see the various sizes and shoes. Daizy was great at picking out the right ones for each child. We then had dinner and visited...later to bed for a busy Wed.

Wed. morning we went to the school for the last time and Ana told the story of the Ten Lepers. The kids enjoyed coloring once again and then were given the shoes! They were soooo happy and very appreciative. Some sizes were not quite right, so those children will get their shoes next week. We left there and went to the business where there are mostly women learning to sew and to grind up spices to sell. The grinder was a new machine given to them only 2 months ago. We prayed for them and stayed only a short while. Afterwards we went to the market and ate at a food court where Ana, Michelle and myself ate McDonald's while Daizy and Greg had Indian to go food! We went shopping some more and I even got a good deal on some sandals for about $8.48. Michelle got a good deal on some 'unmentionables' and Daizy got a new top to wear since she is pregnant and getting larger by the day! ;-) We came home and rested only about an hour and then went to a family's home to be with them and a group of children from their neighborhood where they sang songs and Daizy told them the Christmas story of Jesus' birth. The kids then were given socks and candy from us. The couple fixed some fried fish which was very delicious...and filling! We got home about 10pm and then had dinner, however, Daizy was tired and full from the fish, so she didn't eat with us. Kheem had prepared a roasted chicken (by the way there is no oven here, cooking is only done on the top of the stove)...mashed potatoes and green beans. Greg went back to his apt and Ana, Michelle and I started our packing and then heard lots of drums and loud noises outside, so we stayed up until midnight to see the New Year come in! To sleep and now it's New Year's Day and we are off to Daizy's church this morning. I will close for now and hope to write more before we leave for the airport at midnight tonight!

I will upload more photos later.

Days are going fast now...

I haven't had too much time to write as we are on the go and then tired at night and to bed most nights by 10pm! The day after Christmas we did some souvenier shopping and saw two different markets to buy items. Daizy is very good at bargaining and helped us on our purchases. On Saturday morning we got up at 6am to leave by 7am to make the 4 hour trip to Agra where the Taj Mahal is....on the way there we stopped at a McDonald's for pit stop and to get a coke and fries. Then once we got into Agra we did have a nice Indian lunch and then met up with our tour guide, Robin...a 23 yr old young man who has gone to tourisim school and gave an excellent tour. There were hundreds/thousands of people there and because we are from out of the country and pay more to see the Taj, he got us into the front of lines and we didn't have to wait 1.5 hours like others! I wanted a good photo of myself with the Taj, but I think the Taj is sooo awesome that I don't do the photo justice! ;-) You will see it here. After all day we got home that night at midnight and were totally wiped out! Michelle's allergies were bothering her and she had a big headache, so she and Ana slept in on Sunday morning and I went to Daizy's church with her and Greg....nice service held in English and in Hindi. We came back to the apt and got the girls and went to have lunch, did some exchange at the market and bought more items...then got ready to go to the English church that Greg attends each Sunday afternoon. There were about 50 people there, mostly students and Greg said normally it is over packed...we then went to Daizy's mom's again and had dinner with her. Came home and I was asleep by 9:30pm!

Monday I was the one to give my story to the children, so I acted out the story of Zacchaeus, the wee little man was he! And we taught the children the song in English. They are good learners and eager to learn, not only of the Word, but of songs and of us. We helped them with a coloring project as well where it is also a game to find Zacchaeus in the tree...afterwards we came back to the house and rested and then walked to a market (high end!) close to their home and ate at a Subway some sandwiches! ;-) After that, Daizy helped Michelle and me with getting started on getting henna put onto our hands. I decided to do both sides as that is the custom...costs more, but total cost was about $8 for both hands/sides. You see photos as well. Daizy and Greg treated us to dinner at the restaurant where Greg proposed to Daizy on Dec. 7, 2007...good place and great food. We came home and to bed again by 10/11pm....today Michelle will tell the story of the Good Samaritan and then we will also visit another area where Daizy works/helps women. More later on that.

I got an e-mail from Julie, who is watching my business for me and found out that my car was broken into Sunday night! The passanger window got broken and the glove box was open, nothing was in it of importance, maybe a portable radio with tape cassette...hope they didn't take the cassette attachment that I use for my iPod and the iPod charger...but, if they did, I will know when I get back. Julie and Andrew worked together on getting my insurance man involved and getting it to a glass place to get fixed! Satin loves to attack, doesn't He?

Thank you all for your prayers...

and more photos!

Here are photos from the children and the school....

Traveling/Arrival in Delhi

We had good flights to Delhi and did have to make one stop in Taipai for fuel before flying into Hong Kong's airport where we only had about 1.5 hours to change planes. Cathay Pacific had great service and lots of food! We each tried to sleep and I think that Michelle was fortunate to have the window to lean on. My hair got so messed up that I put it up in a pony tail! In the Hong Kong airport I was able to call and say hello to Alice Moy who was visiting her mom in HK. We spoke very briefly, but happy to have a friendly voice to say hi to. We landed in Delhi about 35 min. ahead of schedule and going through customs was a breeze. Got our bags and in about 10 min from that point met up with Greg. We then got into the taxi he had and traveled to our new living arrangements which is a nice apt that Dr. Thom & Linda live in, but since they are stateside, we are able to stay at their place. Greg and Daizy live below. We got unpacked and then had some Chai Tea and waited for Daizy to get home. We ate an Italian meal of spaghetti the first night...then went to the market to buy some garments for us 3 so we can dress more like the Indian women. Since I'm "a little" larger than the other 2 women, we had to buy some fabric and get a seamstress to make my 3 garments...one will be ready tomorrow night and the other two on Friday. Total costs for my 3 is $32 US!!! such a deal! We came home and went to bed.

On day 2, Christmas Eve, we got up and ate breakfast and then went to the school to meet the children and enjoy helping them with Christmas stockings. Daizy told them the story of Jesus' birth and we listened. After helping the kids with the stockings, they were given sweaters to wear and little gift bags of a banana, candy cane, pencil and other small items. After they left, we adults enjoyed some Indian treats and tea. We left the school and came back home and rested for a few hours. Got up and went in the little 'autos' to Daizy's parents home for dinner and to celebrate her father's birthday which is the 24th of Dec. Her mom prepared a nice meal of good Indian food and we had cake to celebrate her dad's birthday. Her adopted son went to get my one new outfit and brought it back to me. I tried it on and it was perfect! Cannot wait to wear it. We got home and to bed about 11ish.

Then at about 2:30 in the morning I started to get sick...and again at about 4:30...not good! It woke up Michelle and Ana and they tried to help by fixing me toast and tea...I only took 2 bites of the toast and did drink the tea, but went back to bed and wound up staying in bed ALL of Christmas Day!! not fun! I slept and slept and slept...the others went to Daizy's church and then to Daizy's parents home again. They got back about 5:30pm and stayed in the rest of the evening. They all rested first and then ate dinner about 9 and I had a banana, rice and toast. But I was on the mend to feeling better again! We opened up gifts and we 3 women got beautiful scarves from Greg & Daizy. We 5 then played UNO until 11:30 pm. So tomorrow will be a new day and I hope to feel much better...all for now.