March 28, 2008
I woke up this morning at 2 and couldn’t get back to sleep, jetlag has really messed up my body clock, but it’s ok b/c I’m supposed to be up at 3:00. Dev and Sam arrived at 3:15 and we drove to the train station. The streets were dead, no one was moving, except for the occasional dog running across the road, and lonely cows wondering around the streets. We got to the train station and found out our train was running late. I used the time to write an email to my parents. The train finally arrived at 4:22 and we boarded the sleeper car. We booked the tickets to late to get an AC car so we made do with bunk beds in the open car. If you want an experience take the open-air sleeper car. I met a lot of people on the train and everyone was really friendly. I met a 24 yr old army grunt that has been in the service for 5 years and he is waiting to see if he made it into officer training. (Insert picture) He taught himself English, which is really broken and bad, but his writing was perfect. The train journey took roughly 7 hours. We started in Nagpur and went to Warangal (due south). I tried to get some sleep on the top bunk but its too hard with all the noises, there are people serving coffee and chai tea and shouting like a hotdog salesmen at a baseball game! Traveling on the train was a great experience; I got to see a ton of the countryside and beautiful scenery. Sam and I talked a lot on this trip about Indian customs and the British rule 50 years ago. Sam informs me that we are entering the dry season and there is so much dust in the air. I wonder how much dust is in my lungs right now! I have a really dry throat. When we arrived at Warangal we were picked up by a Mission India car and driven through town to the Mission campus. At the campus they have a church, a mercy home, classrooms for bible college student, apartments for staff and a small medical clinic. The pastors’ conference was already underway when we arrived so we were shown to our room and freshened up as best we could. I find bathing with a bucket and pail a little weird but I’ll get used to it. I met some of the mercy home kids, who are cute as can be and very interested in cameras. After some playtime with the kids I went to take some pictures of the pastors conference. Rev. Michael Allen from Uptown Baptist church in Chicago was speaking and had some powerful things to say. Rev. Mike is a very well spoken man. He is an extremely nice person and very passionate about the mission work here in India. He is from Jamaica and is used to spicy food and a hot climate! When Rev. Mike finished we sat down for lunch. Rice, Dal, and really really spicy chicken! I ate it but with some help from lots of yogurt and limejuice, which cuts down the spice. Rev. Mike had some advice about eating food, he said that I should only eat food that is peeled or cooked. That way you can avoid an upset stomach. For the rest of the day I took pictures of the crowd and speakers at the conference, as well as a lot of pictures of children, they can’t get enough of having their photo taken. After a little while I was introduced to the crowd, and received a garland of flowers to honor my visit. It was a very nice gesture. In the field next to the conference was a group of people harvesting watermelons, when they were done they brought a few dozen over for us at the mission. It is hot hot hot out here and I’m drinking so much water to stay hydrated. Tomorrow is a graduation ceremony for the bible college. I hope I can get some sleep tonight and get used to the time zone.

Today I met Rev. Dr. Jesroon Levi who is another man who has visited Asbury UMC in Huntsville.
Later on at night Rev. Mike spoke again, and was followed by traditional dances by the mercy home kids. The little underprivileged kids have a great facility here in Warangel. They performed dances (guys and gals) to music about Jesus but in traditional Indian song. The little kids cant get enough of having their picture taken! I cant get any other pictures for all the little blitters running around in front of me. 10 o’clock time for bed I hope to get a really good night sleep. Probably up really early again.



Saturday March 29, 2008
Another really busy day. When I went to bed I slept like a rock, we had the fans going flat out and the windows open. I slept until about 4 in the morning when I guess my jet lag kicked in and I couldn’t get back to sleep. When the sun rose I got out of bed and showered? Bathed out of a bucket with cold water? After a breakfast of cereal and Indian donuts, we began the graduation ceremony. It lasted a really long time and I took a lot of pictures. They even honored me with a shoal, garland and a memento. The ceremony ran right into the hottest part of the day and the tent we were in got extremely hot. When the service closed, we ate a delicious meal and then I took my ease and tried to relax and drink a lot of water. In the late afternoon I spent more time with the mercy home kids taking their picture and letting them take pictures with my camera. We talked and played and enjoyed each other’s company. Some of these children don’t have parents and most of them don’t have fathers. One young boy was found at a railway station, abandoned. He now lives at the mercy home and goes to school and is cared for by loving people. At night we moved to an air-conditioned room and turned in. AC is ammmmazing.

Sunday March 30, 2008
Woke up this morning really refreshed, AC is a marvelous thing. Today being Sunday we were planning on going to a church in the city centre, but before we went we spent some time at the Mercy home children’s service. After some singing and a little bit of preaching we left for the city church. The church had a huge congregation and only a small room. There must have been close to 600 people packed in like sardines with no AC. It was a long hot service with some good preaching, I couldn’t understand the preaching b/c it was in a different language but that’s ok I got the jist of it. When it came time to give I was asked to speak some words of encouragement to the congregation in hopes that they would give more. I started out with a joke about AC but no one laughed, I don’t think it translated well but my comment apparently inspired the people to pledge 5 AC units for the church. After I spoke the offering was collected and many people couldn’t afford to give money so they would bring rice, as much as they could spare. It was quiet remarkable. After the service the preacher invited us to his home to join him for lunch. Lunch consisted of two types of rice and many different types of curry, some way to spicy for me. For dessert we had a homemade yogurt and fruit, homegrown watermelon and pomegranate seeds.

On our way home we stopped at one of India’s historical landmarks. It turns out that the city of Warangel is a historical city; it was once called Orugallu and ruled over by the Kakatiyas clan. They built a mighty fort city in the 13th century. We drove into the city and to get there you have to drive through the original winding streets and huge archways to slow down any attackers. The Indian government is still excavating the Kings palace and discovering new national treasures. The palace has these four 30 ft tall monstrous gates that have been carved out of a single piece of stone each, and they are identical and super ornate. The fort city was named after a huge rock that dominates the landscape. We walked up to the top and looked down upon the city, from the top you can see the huge earth walls that surround the city. It’s a truly impressive sight. When we were done walking around we went back to the campus and I talked with the kids again during their night service and then we went to Jesroons house to eat dinner. Jesroon is a wonderful man who stayed with my parents once when he visited Huntsville. Dinner was delicious and I was really ready for my bed.

Monday March 31, 2008
Up early to catch the train back to Nagpur. Sam and I stayed in an AC coach this time and I pretty much slept the whole way. I put some ear plugs in and passed out for the 6 hour journey home.