Back to India

After the Philippines and a quick 12 hour stop in Thailand, I--along with John, Jada, and Julie--flew to India. Here is the four of us in Bangkok. We managed a whirlwind five-hour tour of the city before our connecting flight. (The other seven hours were spent sleeping!) Once we got to India we met the rest of the team: Phil Wilson, Lana Wilson, Bethany Helmes and Matthew Impola. Dennis Hilman met us a week later.

We started our trip in Rajahmundry with the doctor and his wife. During our time there, the pastors on the trip were invovlved in pastors' training and the youth were teaching in a small slum school. In the evenings we all attended big services. Teaching in the slum school was fun--but really quite chaotic! One day we told the story of Jonah and them made origami whales with the kids. It was really great to hear them retell the story with all the details at the end of the day!

The big services were, well, big! The smallest was about 800 people and the largest about 12oo! That's not including the people that could hear from their houses due to the loud speakers! On the last night everyone came forward for personal prayer and we spent almost an hour praying for people. I struggled a bit with this because a few days previously I lost my voice and it hadn't quite come back.

During the last few days with the doctor, we had a myriad of activities: visits to the A.H. Mission Hospital, A.H. clinic, Little Lambs orphanage, and the site of several wells donated for poor Christians. We also had baptisms, food distribution to lepers, and even some time for a bit of shopping!

After our week in Rajahmundry, we were off to Kapileswarapuram to stay with Pastor K and Ruth. It was so great to be back there again and to see all the kids that live there! Our time was busy as usual with kids' programs, pastors' training, women's Bible studies, evening services and lots of visiting at the ALC Home or throughout the village. I especially liked hanging out with the kids--some of them I've gotten to know fairly well as this is my thrid trip to the ALC Home!

One of the highlights of the trip for everyone concerned is the trip to the river. The kids' are allowed to have the day off school and we all head out to play at the river. This year the kids had a cricket set, hula hoops, frisbees, a homemade kite...and that doesn't count the readymade "toys" of sand and water! Instead of taking the boat back across the river, John, Bethany and I decided to swim! It was great fun!

There are more photos and stories of Kapileswarapuram from my point of view at the foreign mission blog (see link below picture) so I'm going to move on. Our next stop was the Vizag area where there was a church dedication, several baptisms, more pastors' training and more services. Unfortunately, much of the team ended up sick while we were there, so only John, Dennis and I went to our next stop at Pastor M.P.'s. We only stayed for a weekend, but in that time there were services, kids' programs and church visits. A very busy final weekend. (F.M. blog: http://www.foreignmissionnewsblog.blogspot.com/)

We ended our trip with one more night at Pastor K's before heading off in different directions. I'm off to Bangkok for a few days with friends--more about that soon. :)

Flying through the Philippines!

A week anywhere is just not long enough! And that's doubly true for a mission trip! However I suppose it's also better than no time at all. I met up with John Ruotsala, Julie Matson and Jada Questad in Manila and we flew together to Cagayan de Oro. An hour later we were also met by Dennis Hilman, Colin Kinnunen, Fratt Aho, Randy Kinnunen, and Karl Somero. All of us fro overseas et with the team frm Philippines that consisted of many people. I worked mainly with Daisy and Sandy-Lyn Senonis.

Here are a few stories and pictures from our whirlwind week!

The main reason for my trip to the Philippines was to join a team from my church who would be conducting Pastors' training seminars. During the seminars, however, Julie, Jada and I had other tasks. One day we went with Daisy and Sandy-Lyn to make house visits. We visited several families and shared the story of Noah with the kids and adults. Julie and Jada told the story and I added an addition for the adults connecting the story of Noahbeing saved with Jesus coming to save us all. In the picture, the kids are making paper boats to remind them of the story of Noah.

The next day during the training we ran a kids' club so that the kids weren't running madly through the hall where the training was taking place. That was lots of fun--we did two stories: Noah and Jonah. In the afternoon we all split into teams and went to a small seaside village to visit homes and pray for people. We split into teams and my team is shown in the picture. After the house visits, I hung out with the kids and made frogs! Always a good time. :) Afterwards there was a service and a lovely lunch.

The next day we were off to Kitcharo. In Kitcharo we had big services where many different churches came together to worship God jointly. After lunch, we had a program for the kids and another for the youth. Here is Jada with the kids. We were making boats to go with the story of Jesus calming the storm. Julie, meanwhile, was talking to the youth about letting your light shine!

On the road again

In the middle of January I left the snow behind and flew to Bangkok. As I was sitting in the back of the taxi riding from the airport to my friend's place it felt like I was home! (Anyone reading this i the hopes that I'll move back here shouldn't get to excited...I feel that way about a lot of places!)

It was great to be back here though--even for just a few days. I spent most of my time wandering around "my" neighbourhood or visiting friends. The time went quickly too! Before I knew it, it was time to head back to the airport and fly to the Philippines to meet up with a mission team from my church. I got to the airport on the new high speed train--it's great! Much cheaper than a taxi.

More soon from the Philippines.