The National Prison Ministers Certification Seminar starts on Sunday. I will be helping with the teaching there and need to write out the notes for my classes. Since it is already Friday and I will be busy all of next week I asked Pat to write about our trip to India.

 It really IS possible to apply for passports in May, make perfect arrangements to leave five children behind, obtain visas and spend 11 days inside India, and be back in time for your daughter's birthday on July 8th! We knew without a doubt that we were to make the trip to the other side of Earth, and God was so very faithful every step of the way. We learned on the international flight that we could be made to pay 230% of the value in duty on a laptop computer that we were carrying over for the McManus family. We prayed that somehow God would intervene. We believed that one of the reasons we were going was to help the McManuses obtain a quicker link in communication with people here in the United States. When we arrived in Bombay, a gentleman in a white uniform waved us through customs with out even looking at anything. We were stopped immediately by another man carrying a rifle, saying "No, you must go back!" The man in white corrected him, and we were motioned on through! An angel in the white uniform, perhaps?  From there we flew on a smaller aircraft to the city of Bangalore, where the McManus family met us and drove us in their 4- wheel drive jeep 6 hours up the mountains to their home in Ooty. We were exhausted by this time, but so excited to be in India with the McManus family, that the thought of sleep didn't even occur at this time. Of course the fact that people drive on the left over there and continually honk their horns as they pass, barely making it back onto their side before a head on collision, may have had something to do with that, too! There were oxen drawn wagons, auto-rickshaws, bicycles, motorcycles, buses with people hanging out of them (or riding on top!), taxis and private vehicles on the roads. (The roads were without painted lines, and we rarely saw a traffic light.) There were also cows wandering around the streets unattended. Since the Hindus consider the cow a sacred animal, you best not run into one! Anybody care for a nap? Once we were out of the city, it was better, and we began to realize that God didn't bring us this far only to have us die in a traffic accident! We began to see all kinds of wild life along the road amidst thatched roof homes and coconut trees. We saw deer, monkeys, wild boars, and even elephants wandering about!
 There is so much that we could tell about India, simply because everything we did was an adventure, from riding the public transportation, drinking tea in the village homes, shopping in the market, meeting lepers on the street, and visiting a hospital. What we do want to say, however, is that there are many millions of people in India that are lost. They worship many gods, but have no shepherd. The only true and living God has set eternity in their hearts also, but they need someone to tell them. There is so little regard for human life, because many believe they will have several lives. We spent most of our time in Tamil Nadu, which is the state that has the highest incidence of infanticide in India. Many unwanted babies are killed at birth, and a lot of them are female. We heard of doctors that will bring the babies to an orphanage and say, "If you don't take this baby, I'll have to get rid of it. Can you take it?" Of course, many of the doctors don't even bother... There are orphanages with as many as 500 children, with no one to run them. We visited one orphanage that was run by a precious Christian Indian couple. They are doing a great work with the boys and girls in that place, and we were really touched by their love and discipleship of the children. Mohan and Jennifer are their names. Please, remember to pray for them.
 The first Sunday that we were there, Jim had the opportunity to preach in a church where C.T. Studd had once been the pastor for four years! Pastor Fernandez, who now pastors the church, had original documents hand written by C.T. Studd and George Muller! On that Sunday we met an Indian Pastor from a Badaga Tribe who had planned a conference for July 1-4 called "Catch the Fire!" He said there were many Christian leaders and Pastors in the surrounding area that were so hungry for a move of God, and they decided now was the time to hold a conference. He asked where we were from, and when he found out that we were from Pensacola, he got so excited, and said, "Brother, God sent you here!" He immediately planned for us to share testimonies and for Jim to minister in two services at the conference. Later in the week, when we arrived at the conference, the worship service was all in the Badaga language, but the Spirit of the Lord is the same in any language! It was so powerful. We felt such a unity with the people, and experienced such a joy in the Lord as we worshiped together. As we shared, with the Pastor translating, we could sense such an expectancy among the people. They were indeed hungry for the Lord, and we knew God would be faithful to feed them and fill them. We rejoiced with them at the next service, when some of them shared testimonies of what God had done in their lives! One gentleman shared how he had a vision of riding very fast with the Lord on a white horse!
 We met several Indian Pastors from other areas that had traveled to attend the conference, and Jim received several invitations to minister in their villages. Time just did not permit the slow travel to get to their remote areas. One man did try to get clearance for Jim to visit a prison about three hours away, but was unable to obtain permission from the authorities. We were told, however, that the conditions are horrible, and that journalists who have visited to report of the conditions have been murdered. Another Christian man told us he had visited a prison once, but he could not handle the hopelessness there, and had never been back. 

 Years ago before Jim and I were married, I was reading a book in preparation for our life together. In this book, a daughter had commented to her Dad that although other men bored her,  the gentleman she was about to marry was so intriguing that it would take a lifetime trying to get to know everything she wanted to know about him. As we were boarding the plane at JFK airport to begin our journey to India, I thought of that book. I turned to Jim and said, "It sure is exciting being married to you!"
 Because we knew we were to make the trip to India, we also knew that God would give us the grace to be separated from our children for two weeks. The three older boys had a busy schedule planned with the Kerrs, who pastor a church in Arlington, Texas. The two younger ones stayed with Jim's parents, and although they were in the best place, I was still a little concerned because of their ages. (Jimmy is 3, and Rachel would turn 5 the day after we returned.) We tried to call once from India, but were unable to talk with Jim's folks. Even though we really did have peace about everything, it was odd to not know anything about our children until we returned to the states. Upon arriving in New York, we called the Kerrs and Jim's parents. Jim's mother said, "We've been shocked at how well the little ones have done! Only once did one of them ask for you, and that was two days ago. Jimmy woke up his "PawPaw" who was asleep in his chair, and said, "I want my Daddy." Jim's mother kept a diary of all that they did, complete with daily pictures. Only another mother would think of such a precious gift!
 We are all back in our home in Pensacola, now, and glad to have our family together. Jim is getting ready to teach at a conference next week in Alabama, and the work of the ministry here is a bit "piled up", and so is our laundry. Our surroundings look the same, and even physically we look the same as before our trip to India. We can assure you, though, that we will never be the same. We can see faces that are hungry for God and even some faces that are hungry physically. We see the tearful face of an orphan girl saying, "Please, don't forget me, Aunty!" as she hands me a hand-wrapped gift. We see the lepers begging on the streets. We see the Hindu woman serving us her best meal in a little two room hut. We see the faces of Christian Indian Pastors saying "Please, come and minister to our village!"  We see the tired faces of the McManuses that are longing for a team and for fellowship. (They see what we saw...and much more..every day, and they do not consider coming back to America an option.) Already, people are asking us, "Are you going back?" We have to honestly say that we do not know what our future holds, but we do know who holds our future. I suppose the same answer could be given for any number of questions. Would the Lord want you to go back and share His love with your neighbors? Would the Lord want someone to continue the work in the prisons here in America? Would the Lord want someone to share His love with someone with AIDS? Would the Lord want you to pray for the sick? Would the Lord want you to take in an unwanted child and raise him as your own? The ONLY answer that is appropriate would be the answer our twelve year old son has.. "Why would God NOT want you to go?"

 We want to especially thank the four people who gave us enough money to pay for our trip.