It’s been two days since we landed in Chennia, India and I’m just starting to get over the jet lag. We are flying out tonight, Thursday, January 18, 2007 to our final destination of Madurai. It’s about a 1 ½ hour flight. We begin our work tomorrow night (Friday). We still don’t know our village or who will be working with each pastor.
India is a cultural experience that will be hard to share with just a blog. The sights, sounds, smells and tastes attack the senses. The clothes that the women wear are very colorful, the billboard signs are everywhere and the number of people is beyond comprehension. India has three times the population of the U.S. with less than half the land area. This makes for little space where there isn’t a person.
It is hard to spend time with these people and not feel a great compassion for their plight. The majority of them are poor. We don’t have a definition of poor in the U. S. that can begin to describe the conditions here. Some in the city speak English as a second language, but even they are difficult to understand due to the heavy accent. It makes communication hard. The exchange rate for the Rupee is 43 Rupees to the dollar. This means carrying lots of money in your pocket when you change $100.00 USD (4,300 rupees). Goods are less expensive here than what we pay back home. A half liter of soda costs less than 20 rupees. International phone calls are less too. They have these little stations called STD’s which are little phone booths, without the booth. Everyone stops and stares and listens to your conversation. There is really no privacy anytime you leave your motel room.
The food is tolerable but seems like the same thing for every meal. Its already getting tedious and its only been three days. Much of the food sold at the road side stands is inedible to us due to the contaminated water they use to cook and rinse things off with. I would love some of the fruit but if you don’t peel it, we can’t eat it. The other day we walked by a stand that was selling fresh pineapple that smelled delicious. Unfortunately, they were cutting it up and washing it in a basin of water at the stand. I’m going to have to buy a knife to and get these things whole so I can pare them myself.
I hope I get this up on Friday before the meetings start, remember us in your prayers, I believe this will be a spiritual battle on the front lines of Satan’s strong hold. He won’t give up easily. I will post as much and as soon as I can.
Pastor Kevin
India is a cultural experience that will be hard to share with just a blog. The sights, sounds, smells and tastes attack the senses. The clothes that the women wear are very colorful, the billboard signs are everywhere and the number of people is beyond comprehension. India has three times the population of the U.S. with less than half the land area. This makes for little space where there isn’t a person.
It is hard to spend time with these people and not feel a great compassion for their plight. The majority of them are poor. We don’t have a definition of poor in the U. S. that can begin to describe the conditions here. Some in the city speak English as a second language, but even they are difficult to understand due to the heavy accent. It makes communication hard. The exchange rate for the Rupee is 43 Rupees to the dollar. This means carrying lots of money in your pocket when you change $100.00 USD (4,300 rupees). Goods are less expensive here than what we pay back home. A half liter of soda costs less than 20 rupees. International phone calls are less too. They have these little stations called STD’s which are little phone booths, without the booth. Everyone stops and stares and listens to your conversation. There is really no privacy anytime you leave your motel room.
The food is tolerable but seems like the same thing for every meal. Its already getting tedious and its only been three days. Much of the food sold at the road side stands is inedible to us due to the contaminated water they use to cook and rinse things off with. I would love some of the fruit but if you don’t peel it, we can’t eat it. The other day we walked by a stand that was selling fresh pineapple that smelled delicious. Unfortunately, they were cutting it up and washing it in a basin of water at the stand. I’m going to have to buy a knife to and get these things whole so I can pare them myself.
I hope I get this up on Friday before the meetings start, remember us in your prayers, I believe this will be a spiritual battle on the front lines of Satan’s strong hold. He won’t give up easily. I will post as much and as soon as I can.
Pastor Kevin
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