Incredible India!

I really feel like I'm continually playing catch-up with this blog, which I suppose I am! :) I can't believe how fast time passes—it seems quite insane that we were in India over a month ago. Crazy!

It was a good trip though—but too short. I must admit that we didn't necessarily utilize the time as best we could. We flew into Kolkata and immediately jumped on a train for Delhi. We spent about a day and a half on that train. We stayed in Delhi one night and day—just long enough to drop off our passports at the Thailand embassy. Then we jumped on another train and headed to Rajamundry; that train ride was almost two days. We stayed just out of Rajamundry, with Pastor K's family, for just under four days. Then we caught a train to Agra—another two days! Due to not booking soon enough, we ended up hiring a car for the four hour trip back to Delhi...where we spent another four days and then we hopped back on another train for a day and a half trip back to Kolkata where we caught our flight back to Thailand. Now, Amanda and I happen to really enjoy train travel in India—but even we were getting a bit sick of it by the time we left!

I think the highlight of the trip for Amanda and I was seeing Pastor K, Ruth and the ALC Home kids again! The kids remembered us and were excited to meet Milo. (He ended up with "delhi belly" when we first arrived, so he wasn't out and about much. Pastor K said the kids were all asking about him because they wanted to see what a young man from Canada looked like. We're a bit scared that they're judging all of Canada on Milo, but what can we do! ) We were also able to meet with Dennis Hilman and John Ruotsala at Pastor K's and spend some time with them. I really wish we could have stayed longer there in Rajamundry...but there's always next time, I suppose.

I can't believe how big the kids have gotten—but I suppose that happens after three years. They were as much fun as ever though. Whether it was singing, playing games in the yard, or walking through the village, they were always full of joy! Like our last trip, we took some of them to the river to go swimming. And when I say swimming I mean crawling and splashing around in water about a foot deep. :) John took up the challenge to race some of the kids—and immediately sprained his leg. Dennis spent his time in a chair under a little bamboo roof—and was mistaken for the ferry ticket man! Amazing, isn't it, that a Finn can be mistaken for an Indian! The rest of us (except Pastor K) went “swimming,” had races, built sand castles, searched for crabs, and generally acted like the kids we are. :)

Let me say this, though, those kids know how to put the dramatic into drama! On Sunday evening—our last evening there—they put on some skits for us. The girls acted out the wise and foolish virgins, and the boys acted out the fiery furnace—complete with an actual fiery “furnace.” It was absolutely brilliant! There's a small video clip which doesn't do it justice, but still gives you a bit of a flavour of the show. Intermissions were filled with song and dance routines which were equally as well presented. Ruth even managed to get Amanda and I—very much against our wills—to get up and perform the Indian dance the kids had tried teaching us the night before.

Sunday (during the day) and Monday (before we went back to Delhi that evening) were spent at various churches for services or prayer. Sunday was special because we visited two congregations that Mom, Amanda, and I visited three years ago—one of them being the church that Mom helped dedicate. The churches we visited on Monday were mostly ones Amanda visited last time, so she really enjoyed revisiting them. (She saw more since she came over a month before Mom and I.) I wish we' have had more time to visit during this trip—it would have been nice to spend more time there with the people in the small villages.

After leaving Pastor K's, we took a quick stop in Agra—the home of the Taj Mahal. It really is a beautiful building. While in Agra, we also visited the Agra Fort—also well worth the visit. Check out facebook for more pictures. The Taj Mahal, of course, is a tomb. It was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahalf, after she died giving birth tho their fourteenth child. Sadly (or ironically), their oldest son, Shah Jahan, usurped the throne shortly after his father finished the Taj and imprisoned him in the Agra Fort until his death several years later. The son was nice enough to give his father rooms with a view of the Taj though.... thoughtful of him, isn't it?

We spent the rest of our time in Delhi—hanging out, shopping, eating, and drinking chai (lots of chai)! We had to stay to get our Thai visas sorted—and after that we were too lazy to go anywhere for the last few days. :) The picture shows Milo with the guy who worked at the restaurant that we frequented the most often.

Stay tuned for our next set of adventures back in Thailand!