accounting

The project ran about $1000 over the budget. The motorbike was figured at 1500, but ended up costing 1800 dollars. We had not figured in about 200 dollars to rent vehicles for evangelism and village visits. We needed to help provide food for 70 people rather than the 30 we had budgeted for, which cost about 200 dollars. Then there were the "normal" extra expenses, largely because you can't come in contact with the poverty we saw without opening up your wallet.

We were generous with the interpreters and others who helped to serve the students.

It was no surprise (I'm getting to where it never is!) that there were extra expenses. We paid all our bills while we were there, and we will pay the credit cards now when we are home.

Thank you to those who contributed!

Praying

We prayed for each student individually on Friday afternoon. We felt like God guided our prayers, and that some of them had the call of God confirmed in their lives.

We may need to go back and teach them some more, but have not made that decision as yet. We find it better to make decisions at home rather than when we are in the middle of a project.

Poor Kids

We visited some people that our friends in Chennai are trying to help. These children live in extreme poverty. Their parents (and they themselves as they get older) pick through garbage at the dump.

They live right on the Bay of Bengal in Chennai, and there is an outlet that dumps raw sewage into the bay right by where they live. The stench is awful. You can see that some of them don't have any clothes at all. A man swept the trash away from the place where they are sitting just before I took the picture.

Emanuel asked us to pray for these children, so that they will be able to help change their future.

Home

I'm home after a very effective 2 weeks in India. Both Ron and I felt quite satisfied. Of course, the trip home is very tiresome--2 flights of 10 hours each, and then another flight for me to get to Minneapolis, and a 2 hour bus ride for Ron to get to Hyannis. But that's the cost of doing this kind of business.

I'm still amazed at the receptivity, not only of the young people, but also of the older pastors. God is moving, and we want to move with Him

Thanks for your prayers, especially the team from Cape Cod Covenant Church!

End of the trip

Today I taught 50 pastors, but traffic delays and other things robbed 2 hours of the time. Still, it went well, and there was enthusiasm. When I finished, a man came up immediately and said they wanted 2 more days. They are very hungry for the kind of expository teaching that I do. We discussed the possibility of an activity in November/December.
Ron and Vijay came to Chennai from Nellore, and stayed in my room until time to go the the airport at night. Our flight leaves at 1:30 in the morning for the 9-10 hour trip to Frankfurt. Then Ron and I split up and he goes to Boston while I go to Chicago and on to Minneapolis.
It is a great relief to be going home.

This morning (it's Sunday) I preached in 4 different villages, back to back. The churches were simple with grass roofs. Emanuel interpreted me into Tamil.
Ron was preaching in Villages near Nellore. I am in the Chennai area.
It's nice to see the end of the trip coming. We will leave India at 1:30 on Tuesday morning, flying with the sun so we will both arrive home in the afternoon.

Finishing up in Nellore.

Ron finished the teaching in Nellore today with all the young people.

Here he is pictured with Vijay interpreting. There was great joy.

I was here in Chennai teaching a group of 30 pastors. We were in a village that was about 1 1/2 hours away by "auto", the little yellow motorized rickshaws that serve as taxis. We had rain during the night, so there was a respite in the weather, only about 92 degrees instead of 102.

The students were quite serious, and we were glad to find some tables to help them in their note taking. Several indicated a sense of calling to the ministry, and all of them were interested in reaching new villages.

This teaching has been revolutionary for them. It has also been an eye opener for me, realizing that Jesus called the disciples when many of them were quite young. He formed them, and they turned the world upside down.

When I was preaching on Moses it occurred to me that he (symbolically) baptized an entire nation when they passed through the Red Sea. I said to the people that God could baptize an entire nation through them. May it be so!