This is a picture of the young Muslim men pushing the little Ambassador car out of the sand when we stopped at the beach on the way to an evening meeting.


This is what we do a lot on our trips. The picture of this outdoor meeting is very typical – a village area that takes 1-3 hours of extremely hazardous (bumpy and the unbelieveable India driving style) driving to get to. These are Christian believers in a Hindu nation. We go to encourage them, teach them further about the Bible. Many of them have Bibles and can read; of course, it’s in their Telagu language.

This is our room here at Dr. Chatla’s compound. We are very thankful for comfortable nights due to the air conditioning. Things get very quiet at night, but during the daylight hours in this country setting, there are many sounds, the children’s voices from the kids’ home, crows cawing, roosters crowing very early (thank God for earplugs!), water being pumped from well, pots banging around as they are being washed.

We were invited to drive a ways to be part of an engagement party, pictured below. Although the spot was only about an hour away, it turned into an 8 hour trip, with our car going ka-THUNK a couple times before they put us in an auto rickshaw (Dr. Chatla, Karen, Rick and a guitar) to finish the journey. There was much pomp and circumstance, with some vows recited, gifts of sarees, clothing, bananas and sprinkling of flower petals on the young couples' heads by each of the 50 people in attendance on the rooftop. Rick shared a brief message from Ephesians 5 and Genesis 1 and 2 about the roles of husband and wives in marriage. Karen sang a couple songs and then the food was served - lots of rice, flatbread and saucy toppings that they refer to as curry in the same manner as we refer to "sauce". It's hot and sunny every day and we are eating well. Too well! Yum! God bless you all. Keep us in your prayers as Rick now seems to be catching Karen's head cold. Otherwise, we are doing find. God is good.