It’s Friday morning and the excitement and anxiety grows. We had our first orientation meeting this morning and I’m finding out more things that I didn’t know I had to do. I found out this morning I will be responsible for health talks along with children’s stories. They also handed out a packet of children’s coloring pages that I’m supposed to make copies of and hand out. I feel very overwhelmed and under prepared for what they are expecting of me. I also found out that I’m expected to preach a morning service on Sabbath as well as the evening one.

The good thing I found out was the assignment. The village I will be working at is called Varichiyoor and is located 17 Kilometers from Madurai. The Indian pastor who will be working with me is Prince (Raj in Tamil) and the lay Bible worker is Ammani. The village has 400 homes and about 2000 in population.

This afternoon I will meet the team and my taxi driver that will be taking us to and from the village every day. I have a full day today with orientation at 1:00 p.m., meet taxi driver at 3:00 p.m. and leave for the village at 5:00 p.m. We are 10 ½ hours ahead of EST time back home if that helps you with your orientation. I’ll be working while most of you are sleeping.

There is more information that I want to share. Indian Bibles in the Tamil language cost 100 Rupees each; that’s about $2.50 in USD. Also we are being asked if we can find sponsors for two kids from the village to be sent to the local Adventist school at a cost of $300.00 USD per year, per student. I was wondering if an announcement could be made to find out if anyone is interested in helping in this area. You can email me or respond to the blog so I can make the necessary arraignments while I’m here.

God bless and have a great Sabbath.

Pastor Kevin