Read the story from the beginning

If you are new to this blog, please scroll to the very bottom and read about this journey to India from the beginning. Thank you and God bless! Rick and Karen Chenoweth

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Our 33+ hour trip home was good. We had one close connection in Mumbai and had to hire a local (non-English speaking) taxi driver to get us from the domestic airport, through crazy Indian traffic jams, noise and smells to the INTERNATIONAL airport. It was our last experience of India on the ground - complete with all the night time sights. We both cried at the thought of leaving our Indian friends, the children in all the children's homes we visited and, of course, the delicious food!

The colds that Karen and Rick had completely recovered from seemed to return for Karen during the one 15 hour segment from India to Newark NJ. We were picked up in Pittsburgh by Donna K and made it home safely to the delight of our aging cat. However, during the evening and all night, Rick was sick with the runs and throwing up. Blame it on the food he ate at Newark airport! We may have to miss Resurrection Sunday services at our church :-( We are praising God for his goodness to us and for sending His son Jesus to die for our sins. But He did not stay in that borrowed tomb! "He is not here - He is risen!" Hallelujah!

If you have been praying for us during this trip - THANK YOU! You have no idea how much that means to us. Also, please continue to pray, not only for recovery from the jet lag, Rick being sick last night, but also that we can effectively communicate what we experienced. It was not a vacation; it WAS hard work and many times, uncomfortable. However, the joy that we experienced cannot be replaced by "things" in this world. We in American have no idea how good we have it here - especially in regard to our religious freedoms.

We pray this blog made you feel as though you were there; caused you to feel the hopeless emptiness of the Hindu's never-ending cycle of reincarnation contrasted with the light and hope that the Christian ministries offer through Jesus Christ, and lastly, helped you catch the burdens & the joys of our Christian brothers and sisters in India.

VBS A SUCCESS!

VBS finished up today with great success. We bought little gifts for each child: small nail polish, crayon box or watercolor paint tubes for the older girls, and small talcum powder. Thank you to New Life Baptist Church and to our Growth Group for contributing.They thanked us (and New Life Baptist Church) for the crafts, songs, games and Bible stories. A number of girls spoke during evening devotions of how they were blessed and encouraged in their walk with the Lord. It made us cry. Some of THEM cried! Tomorrow about half of the girls will return for the summer holiday to their home villages - perhaps to a mother or other relative. They want to be strong in Jesus. Pray for them. They did several skits for us - some hilarious in their actions, accents and costumes. They speak in Kannada language, but even WE could tell when they were imitating some country dialect or grouchy tone of an old cranky person! But one skit, while funny in that respect, made us weep because one girl was a Christian trying to share Christ with Hindus. They all rejected her initially, even to the point of beating up on her. This happens all too often for real to Christians in India. But she continued to pray and in the skit, each person was healed and came to know Jesus as the one true living God. Karen, properly dressed in a saree, shared one last song, their favorite for this trip - "Sing Alleluia to the Lord".

Seated next to Karen, is Shobha Massey, & her two dashounds, Dizzy and Rufus!

Here is a picture of half the group holding up today's craft: a bookmark that declares "He is Alive"!

Each child has a trunk that holds all their earthly possessions, as pictured here. They may have 5 or 6 changes of clothing (church clothes, school uniform and play clothes) but it all fits in the trunk. You will see in this girls' trunk, she is displaying the photo frame that was Wednesday's VBS craft. We had Arun Massey's file photos of each girl printed & sized to fit the foam frames which they decorated. Double click on any picture to enlarge.

Thank you for joining hearts and hands with us in this journey to India. Your support and prayers have meant SO MUCH. It is your hand reaching out to touch that little brown hand with attention and with God's love. Continue to pray for us as we leaving in about 12 hours. We will be in transit for probably 30 hours - 4 flights, layovers & such. Pray for smooth flights and good connections. Thank you!

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

A children's home full of LITTLE GIRLS learns that they can be instruments of God's truth and healing as they hear the story about a little girl from the land of Israel told her mistress about the prophet Elisha. Naaman went there, was told to dip in the muddy waters of the river Jordan and was healed of his leprosy.
Craft time included coloring pictures that went with Naaman's story and scratching off the black from a cross bookmark to reveal rainbow colors underneath.

Let the games begin! The water balloon toss went on and on in the hot sun. The balloons were tough to break, but oh the screams when they did!

Karen's birthday was also celebrated, with a small cake and candle. Additional treats and cake were given to all the girls too. Rick took off in the afternoon to go shopping in Hubli. Had a dusty, crowded bus ride with Mr. Dinakar and didn't get home until late! He was able to purchase some treats for the girls - nailpolish, talcum powder, crayons or paint and a brush for each of the 67 young ladies. They each came forward to receive these items, shaking our hands and saying thank you.

We are doing well at the Joyful Children's Home. Enjoying ministry with the girls every day and also with the Staff and Bible College students. We are staying healthy. It's still very HOT!!!

Yesterday, there was a bit of excitement as Arun, Rick and another man scurried to their relative's house where a COBRA had taken up residence in an area of clay flower pots and stacked bricks. There was a flurry of cutting sticks at the children's home for them to take and use at this house. Within a short time, they were back with the almost-dead snake in a bag. All 67 of the little girls came running with a few shrieks and exclamations (some with sticks of their own) to see before it was finally killed and disposed of. In spite of the worship of the cobra, Indians are REALLY afraid of them. As you can see from the picture, Karen is REALLY scared too!!! Ha!

We saw monkeys in the nearby mango trees; they're annoying to the locals, but it was interesting seeing a few young babies with their mothers.

We did a little shopping yesterday in Dharwad, a shady, noisy, smoke spewing bus town. Rode one of those buses home with Lisby, the other American that's here.

It is Palm Sunday already here and we will be spending some time with the girls in a worship service, listening to them sing their lively and haunting songs in Kannada language and also sharing some of our own. Rick will do a short sermon, translated by Shobha.

Keep us in your prayers, please. We appreciate it so much as we start into our last week here and put on a Vacation Bible School for these precious children. Please view the website (on the right column of this Blog site) to find out the lifestyle that these girls have been saved from.

IN THE STATE OF KARNATAKA

Thanks for your prayers for traveling. The 15 hour [overnight] train ride went fine. We were in a berth with 2 other Indian men. Both spoke English and one was slightly intoxicated. He kept leaving the curtained compartment to have a smoke and probably a nip or two. He engaged Rick in a slightly confrontational manner, wanting to know why we were in India, declared that there is no poverty in India, and insisting that American money that comes here for orphans goes into other pockets. Rick was very diplomatic but avoided the confrontational aspects. It was good that Rick did not try to share Christ - the other man was an officer in the Indian army. He sat quietly and listened to Rick's answers. Both knew that we were Christians. We plainly told them this. The one who was drinking asked why we did not drink. Rick said that he would not do something that caused so much pain in families. Drinking destroys families. It is bad. There was silence. The subject was changed. They ended up doing some number puzzles together and eventually, the inebriated one went off to sleep in another berth!

Now remember, we were on this train from 7 pm Monday evening through Tuesday morning at 10 am. 15 hours. In the morning, a gregregarious 11 year old boy adopted us. He wanted to "collect" some American coins and repeatedly asked us for more than the quarter and penny we gave him. I won't even get into what it's like to "go" in an Indian bathroom on a moving train! Balance is the key.
We arrived at our destination, a children's home called Joyful Children's Home. There is a LINK on the side of this Blog if you want to see their website. This home has 67 girls of all ages. They are precious. Many know enough English for us to be able to communicate somewhat. They LOVE music and are ready, willing and able to learn any action song I can teach them. They are absolutely adorable! They are well taken care of here by Arun & Shobha, but they thrive on any attention given to them.

There is also a Bible college here with about 11 or 12 students and today is the second day that we are monitoring them as they take finals. They sit on the floor on plastic patterned mats and write out the answers to their essay questions in longhand (in the Kannada language - which is scripty and curly like Arabian or Hindu).

Each morning, through a translater, we have been sharing a devotional time with a staff conference that is also happening. In the evening, we do something similar with the children.

Again, thank you all for your continued prayers for health and safety. You can respond by clicking on "comments" or e-mailing rickychen777@aol.com. God bless! Rick & Karen

ON THE MOVE

We have packed our bags in preparation of going on a LOOOOONG train ride across the country to western India. It is about 10:30 am Monday here. We will go into the city of Vijayawada where the train station is, but will do a little shopping first. Then we will catch the train this evening. Just think of a classic old black and white movie where there are sleeper berths on a train - it's something like that. Gentle swaying with the rhythm of the train all night long. Sounds of screeching whistles as trains pass by in the opposite direction. Venders calling their wares at each stop. Maybe having an opportunity to share Christ with a fellow passenger. The Indian people are tremendously friendly and open to talking about any topic.

Gave Dr. Chatla some Bill Rudge material which he would like to have translated and reprint on presses that he has here on site.

Please pray for safe travel, both by auto into the city (about an hours drive) & then the train ride.