Random Update

Things have been busy around here as always. Ellen pointed out to me this evening that in exactly four weeks from today we will be arriving in Canada. Ray asked me how I felt about that and all I could say was that the thought brings mixed emotions. In some ways I am more than ready to go home and in other ways I don't want to leave this place. *sigh* Where has the time gone?

I thought I would take a few minutes and catch you up on what's been going on around here lately. The last of our guests have already made their exits. Jordan left on May 13 and was headed to some place near Kashmir I believe. Bonnie, Eric, Nic and Tyler left on May 21. They were first headed to Siliguri for a wedding and then on to Delhi and from there they were going to Oman. It's feels a bit strange not having anyone staying with us right now. Pretty quiet these days.

Raja is now back at home and doing well. He was released from the hospital on May 19. We saw him today when we were at Kalapani to teach. He was very glad to be home and is diligently doing his exercises for his hand and arm.

Earlier this week we had an exterminator come to our house and spray for the ants. There are still ants, just not as many. I think they will return with time but for now, I like less ants. :)

My Brazilian friends, Fabiano, Ducy and Karen, have returned from their furlough in Brazil. They arrived back in Guwahati on Saturday. They stopped by the house twice this week but I wasn't at home either time. Today I spent the afternoon and evening with them at their house. It was nice catching up with them and of course great to have someone to speak with in Portuguese again.

Everyone in our house seems to be taking turns at being sick. None of us have really been ourselves over the last week or so. Ellen had been feeling under the weather for a few days. She had a fever and then on Monday she noticed that her right leg was becoming red, very similar to what it had looked like a year and half ago when she was admitted to the hospital with cellulitis. Since Ray was traveling I went with Ellen to the hospital where they checked her out and did a few tests. In the end we came home with some oral antibiotics and instructions for her to rest as much as possible and keep her leg elevated. She is going back to see the doctor today to see what he says about the prospect of her traveling with us over the next two weeks. Please keep Ellen's health in your prayers.

We are planning to visit the states of Manipur and Mizoram over the next two weeks. We are leaving on Saturday for Imphal. We will be in that area until the 29th and then we will head to Aizawl where we will stay until June 3 when we will return to Guwahati. That leaves us only 10 days in Guwahati before we begin our journey home. The next four weeks are going to be so full that I know they are going to fly by.

The blog will be quiet while I am away but stay tuned for news from our travels when I return to Guwahati.

Roots Festival Tour

On Saturday night Samuel was good enough to take Raysha and I to see our new friends, Too Late Lucy, perform at the Roots Festival Tour. There was not nearly as many people as I was expecting at the venue. I think maybe 200 and that is being generous. I met up with a couple of the guys in the band and they introduced me to some members of one of the other bands, DUB L.F.O, that is touring with them. DUB L.F.O is a rock/reggae group from Israel.

The first performance was an Assamese Bihu group and then there were a couple more tribal Indian performers, Rewben Mashangva and Warklung. DUB L.F.O was up next. I really enjoyed their performance. Their songs are inspired from their lives in Israel. I had a chance to talk to them again after the show and they all seemed like pretty cool guys.

Too Late Lucy was up last. They were pretty concerned about playing to such a small crowd since all their performances in NE India up until this point had been to audiences of around 20,000, give or take. The Assamese people are more into Indian music than foreign groups. Even though it was a small and not so enthusiastic crowd the Too Late Lucy guys gave a great show. They did a pretty good job of getting the crowd excited and they even dedicated their second song to their new Canadian friends. :) Later on in the show Dan dedicated his bass solo to me...it wasn't much of a solo but pretty funny none-the-less. I had a really good time. I hope that the rest of the tour goes well for these guys and that they find success when they head back home to the UK where they will begin recording their first cd.

DUB L.F.O - Guy Cohavi on guitar, Eviatar Gutman on keyboard and electronics, Adi Ben Tsur on bass and vocals, Dudu Vazana on drums and Roi Avital on guitar and vocals.

Too Late Lucy - Jimmy Isaacs on trombone, Graham Howes on trumpet, Will Hoult on guitar, Ben Chapniss on guitar and vocals, Alex Bisset behind the smoke on drums and Dan Saunders on bass and vocals.

Ben and Graham trying to liven up the crowd.

Ben.

Me with the DUB L.F.O boys, minus bass player Adi. From left to right Roi, Dudu, Guy and Eviatar. Friendly bunch of guys.

Too Late Lucy drummer Alex and I. I caught one of his drumsticks. Nice guy!

Alex, Dan, Ben and Will. Cute smiles and great accents!

Graham, Jimmy, Raysha, Me, Dan, Alex, Will and Ben. Talented group of guys!

Update on Raja

I just got back from visiting Raja in the hospital with Andrew, Autumn and Raysha. Raja had his surgery yesterday at around noon. According to the doctor everything went well. We didn't go to see him yesterday but Ray did see him briefly and he appeared to be in a lot of pain. He'll be staying in the hospital until sometime on Monday. When we saw him this afternoon he seemed to be ok but still complaining of some discomfort. We played some games of UNO and had a nice visit. The doctor came in while we were there and told Raja that he needs to be doing some exercises with his arm. He wasn't too excited about that which I can understand but I did make a point of encouraging him to follow the doctors orders. Please keep praying for Raja and a full recovery.

Too Late Lucy

This afternoon Raysha and I went shopping. It was a pretty successful shopping excursion, I bought some maps, a Mekhla Chadar, the traditional Assamese outfit and another Salwar. Love those salwars! We decided a little North American grub was in order so we headed off to Pizza Hut. While we were eating I noticed some white guys come in. That might not seem significant to you but we're pretty much the only white people we know around here. By their reaction when they saw us I'd say that they were pretty excited to see other white people too. We chatted for a bit, typical white people conversation, "where are you from?" and "what are you doing in NE India?" Turns out that they are a pretty new (as in they formed in January of this year) band from the UK and are playing in the 2008 Roots Festival Tour. Too Late Lucy is their name and they seemed like pretty nice guys. They invited us to their show tomorrow night and I'm pretty stoked about going. Check out their myspace page here.

Here we are with Too Late Lucy in Pizza Hut.

A Typical Week In My Indian Life

Maybe some of you wonder what I actually do here in India, maybe you don't. Either way I thought I'd tell you. :) This is a rough schedule of what my weeks look like here. Please remember that I am in India and so this tends to be pretty flexible

Sunday:
7am - Breakfast
9am - Worship and Sunday School at Kalapani.
12pm - Home for lunch.
4pm - Worship at the Bread of Life Centre in Guwahati.
6pm - Home for supper.

Monday & Friday:
7am -Breakfast
9am - English class with Autumn
10am - English class with Andrew
11am - Social Studies class with Autumn
12pm - Lunch
1:30pm - Social Studies class with Andrew
2:50 - Communication Skills class with Autumn
6pm - Supper.
(Friday evening usually involves a DVD projected on the living room wall and popcorn.)

Tuesday:
7am - Breakfast
8am - Leave for Kalapani where we spend the morning teaching Bible to the kids at the Bread of Life Academy.
On Tuesdays I eat lunch at Kalapani.
1:30pm - LST follow up with two small groups of readers at Kalapani.
3:30pm - Home to Guwahati.

Wednesday:
7am -Breakfast
9am - English with Autumn
10am - English with Andrew
11am - Social Studies with Autumn
12pm - Lunch
1:30pm - Social Studies with Andrew
2:10pm- Bible class with both Autumn and Andrew
2:50 Communication Skills with Autumn

Thursday:
7am - Breakfast
8am - Leave for Kalapani for a morning of teaching Bible to the kids.
12pm - Home for lunch.
1:30pm - To the Bread of Life Centre for one-on-one follow up LST sessions with readers.
5:30pm - Head home for supper.

Saturday:
DAY OFF!!!!

Add to this lots of lesson prep in the evenings both for A&A's classes as well as classes out at Kalapani , some blogging, facebooking and other normal life activities and that's pretty much my week in a nutshell. Consider yourself informed. :)

One And 21

So in exactly one month from today I will be leaving Guwahati. That reality brings a mix of emotions. I know that I am going to miss this place when I'm gone but if I'm honest I am ready to go home. I am really looking forward to hanging out with my family, I've missed them. Hopefully they're looking forward to hanging out with me too. :) There's some other people I'm looking forward to seeing too, if they haven't forgotten who I am by now. I admitted to Ellen today that the hotter it gets the more I think about going home.

I am leaving India as a different person than when I came. If you want to change your life, go hang out in a foreign country for half a year or better yet make it a full one or even two. You can't help but be changed. I've learned a lot during my time here in India. Maybe someday I'll feel like sharing with the blogging community, right now I don't. I thank God for not allowing me to stay in my comfort zone.

And as for the 21 part of the title of this post. Today Tyler Butel is celebrating his 21st birthday with us here in Guwahati. In the photo below he is sporting his Birthday gifts, an Indian outfit that we all pitched in for and a mustache given to him by Andrew, since even at 21 he can't grow a decent one. Happy Birthday Tyler.

Introducing Raja

This is my buddy Raja Das. Raja lives very close to the Bread of Life Academy at Kalapani. His father is employed by the Bread of Life Centre. Raja is ten years old and is in grade 5. I've had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time with Raja. He has great English skills and has recently taken over translating for us during Sunday school out at Kalapani. He is always willing to help in anyway that he can. Having Raja around has been especially great for Andrew as they have become close friends.

Two months ago while Raja was playing ball he fell and broke both of the bones in his right forearm. Unfortunately the doctor that he originally saw did not set the bones properly. His arm was x-rayed after 4 weeks and the doctor said he needed to wear the cast for another 2 weeks. When the cast was removed it was obvious to everyone that the arm had not healed properly. There is an obvious bump that you can actually see in the above picture if you're looking for it. We thought that it was important that Raja get a second opinion on his arm. The new doctor that looked at Raja said that he would be fine for now but would run into definite problems in the future if his arm is left in the state that it is in. Tonight Raja is in the hospital awaiting surgery at 6am tomorrow morning. The doctors will be re-breaking Raja's arm and putting in plates and screws.

The surgery is going to cost about $25,000 Rupees, about $600. To give you an idea, the original plaster cast that was put on Raja's arm cost $1500 Rupees. That's only about $35 Canadian but when you take into consideration that Raja's father's monthly salary is $1000 Rupees you can see that there is no way that this family can afford the care needed. If you would be interested in helping with the cost of Raja's surgery get in touch with me and I'll pass along the needed info.

After school today Raysha and I took the kids to go see Raja in the hospital. We played some UNO and had a good visit. He confided in us that he is pretty nervous about the surgery. Please pray that he would experience God's peace and a full recovery.

Happy Mother's Day

Mom. What a wonderful name. My mom is amazing. She and I go way back. Further back than I go with anyone else in this world. :) She is one of my favorite people ever. I miss her a lot right now. No matter how hard anyone could try they would never be able to take the place of my mom. That said I have been blessed with some special women in my life who have mentored me and have acted as mother's to me in the absence of my own. I think about LaVonne Roberts and Mary Gurel who worked tirelessly as dorm mothers during my time at WCC. I also think about a very special Brazilian woman, Zezé who adopted me as her daughter while I was living in Brazil. Que saudades da minha mãe brazileira! Of course I think too of my mom's mom, grandma Parry, another one of my favorite people ever. And even right now I am blessed to be living with Ellen, an excellent substitute mom. :) I love all of these women very much and I just want to take this moment to tell them all, Happy Mother's Day from me.

Changsari

Let's look at a simple equation. one large Sumo + heavy rain + narrow dirt road going up steep hill with significant drop off = lots of slippery mud and a terrified Pamela. I have a fear of heights. If there is a wall or some kind of barrier between me and a significant drop than I'm ok with it but when there is nothing I'm not so ok. This fear has come up a lot since being in India. Mostly when we are driving up the side of a mountain on super narrow roads with huge drop offs only inches from the edge of the tires. My prayer life has increased significantly since being in India.

This morning on our way to visit the village of Changsari we stopped at Kalapani to pick up team "get BENT". The sky was very angry looking as we neared the village. If we had made it to the top of the hill 5 minutes earlier there would have been no problem. If we had made it to the top of the hill 5 minutes later it would have been impossible to descend. The way it was, I nearly peed my pants as Kuldip somehow managed to turn the Sumo around and slide down the hill to where there is pavement. He laughed at me and I punched him in the arm. Team "get BENT" made it down to the Sumo soaked to the bone and covered in red mud but at least they didn't slide off the edge.

When we first started out driving up and down the hills I called my fear irrational. I don't consider my fear so irrational anymore. Since being here I have seen a three wheeler that had gone off the edge of the very road I was terrified of, I have seen the remains of a bus that fell off the side of the road in the Khasi hills, and I was riding in a vehicle while it was raining and we slid off the dirt road and nearly hit a bamboo hut. Had it been the Sumo that day I think we would have hit the hut. I can't even imagine what would have happened if more than just the one tire had gone over the edge...My heart pounds just thinking about it.

Thankfully the rest of the road is paved and so there was no worries of sliding off the edge in a Sumo mudslide. The storm let up as we made our way out to the village. We had visited Changsari once before during Bihu. Sarbananda invited us to come and hold a small worship service there in one of his relatives homes. Three of his relatives are LST readers and participated in the Discovery Youth Camp. I can see how God is making His way into this family and this village. We sang and Ray shared a message on how prayer is common to many religions. His message was very appropriate for addressing Indian people of Hindu faith. It is exciting to me to see the young men who have been reading and who came to camp so eager to sing with us. I think that there is great potential among this family and village.

The Canadians were all seated in chairs and the rest of them sat on the floor.

Everyone was eager to sing and very attentive to the lesson which was translated into Assamese. They even sang us an Assamese song.

After the service they took us for a walk. We ended up wading through some mud and water and finding our final destination to be a huge mango tree.

Here is Eric climbing the giant mango tree.

Even though the mangoes were totally green they collected a big bunch of them.

They washed, peeled and sliced the mango and then added salt. It was a green mango salad to be shared by all. Sour and salty but good.


I really like goats...I think I want one as a pet!

Tyler hitching a ride on the way back.

Eric taking a little cruise.

This little girl's name is Coquita (sp?). She was the most carefree child I have ever met. She didn't care who carried her.

Washing off the mud from our little trek.

Sarbananda requested that I take a "snap" with the newcomers...how did Raysha make it in there?

Creepy Crawlies

The death toll rises. This morning after breakfast I fumigated my bed. I'm sure the dust buster is nearly bursting with ant carcasses now. They are seriously everywhere and get into everything. Every time I get dressed I have to thoroughly check my clothing to eliminate any of the flesh eating monsters. I'm not exaggerating when I call them flesh eating. If you kill a bug and leave it on the floor in a very short time there will be hundreds of ants there eating it. One evening there was a dead lizard on our veranda and by morning all that was left of it was a skeleton. I am becoming convinced that these ants are a mutation of God's good creation.

I've been taking pictures of the interesting bugs I've seen since arriving in India and since I just posted about my least favorite insect I thought it would be a good time to share some of the other creepy crawlies that are a part of life here in India. Most of them don't bother me too much unless they have 8 legs. I hate spiders!

I saw this beetle crawling on the ground at the Baptist Guest house one night. He was a good 4 inches long.

I've seen spiders like this one all over the place. The shot below demonstrates their size. Both of these shots were taken at Kalapani.

He's as big as Ghandi's face! ;)

A really big caterpillar out at Kalapani...Jiten was yelling at me to take the picture quickly because it was crawling toward his hand.

This spider was in out hotel bathroom in Shillong. We got one of the hotel employees to kill it for us. So gross!

This one was taken during youth camp out at Kalapani. Shyam bravely put his hand next to it for a size reference. There were two of them in the dining area that night. Earlier there had been one in the room where we slept. The next night we killed one, whether it was the same one or not I'm not sure. To quote Shyam, "They are very poisonous, but only if they bite."


This was also taken at the youth camp. A praying mantis. Apparently those pinchers hurt, I didn't get close enough to find out!

I stole this photo from team "get BENT" A Rhinoceros Beetle. It was also taken at Kalapani.

I know, this is not an insect. I actually think the little geckos are cute but Raysha despises them. This photo is in honor of Raysha. In the category of Creepy Crawly Animals I've also seen numerous toads, both large and tiny, as well as a couple of snakes. Good times!

ANTS...MADDENING!!!!!!!!!!!

It is 3:15 am while I am writing this. At 2:30 I awoke to the sensation of being eaten alive by ants. This is not the first time that I have found them in my bed but it is the first time that I have been covered with them from head to toe. At first I thought that perhaps I was only imagining the biting sensations on my legs and I tried to ignore them. I often feel phantom bug bites here especially when I've recently seen ants. Finally I could take it no longer and started searching by the light of my i-pod (I tell you those things have more uses than you could imagine!). After finding at least a dozen ants hanging on to my legs with death grip bites and another half dozen crawling around at the foot of the mattress I decided I couldn't spare Raysha and I needed to turn on a light. Thankfully the power is actually on right now and so that option even existed. Shortly I discovered about a million ants on my bed and on me. I promptly headed to the shower, with towel in hand, praying that there would be water to take a shower with. By the grace of God the flow of water lasted long enough to get me semi-rinsed off with only a thin layer of soap residue. Being that it's stupid early in the morning I don't want to pull out the deadly spray to fumigate my mattress when Raysha is sleeping in the same room, so since she de-antified the extra bed only yesterday afternoon and Bonnie is staying out at Kalapani tonight I will simply lay my head on that bed and allow the evil creatures run of my own until later this morning when, unbeknown to them, they have a blind date with the SuperDuperAntKillingSpray... I HATE ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comparison Shots

These shots illustrate the changes that have happened at the Bread of Life Academy over the last two months. The first picture was taken on February 24 and the second was taken on May 3. The second half of the permanent structure is finished. The second half of the Bamboo structure is finished. There is now a cow shed and even bathrooms (although you can't see them)! And obviously the rain has done a lot of good! Later on I'll post some other pictures that show closer up some of the changes that have been happening.

February 24, 2008

May 3, 2008

Four Months

Here we are again. Four months since we left Canada. It is crazy to me how time has flown by since January 9th. In just 5 short weeks I am going to be packing my bags in preparation to head back to Canada. *sigh*

Since my Three Month post I've continued to reflect on the reasons God had in bringing me here to India. One reason that has become more and more obvious to me over the last four months is so that I could have the opportunity to learn from Ellen and Ray. They are both truly amazing people with servant hearts. I've learned so much just watching them live out their daily lives and how they interact with people. I have been fortunate enough to hear Ray teach on numerous occasions. He has a way of speaking to the Indian people that I really admire. In Ray I see a man who seeks to be like Christ in every way. I really appreciate that. I have a ton of respect for both Ellen and Ray and I thank God for the opportunity that He has given me to be here with them.

Discovery Camp Part II

So now that I've told you about my sickie story and you're all done feeling sorry for me ;) I'll go on to the goodness that was camp. The theme of camp was Moments With The Master. So each lesson we focused on a different scene from the life of Christ. The classes, taught by Ray and Shyam, were top quality. I had the opportunity to participate in some great discussions with new friends. I really came away from camp feeling spiritually fed. It's been a while since I've had those kinds of conversations and it did me good. Camp wasn't all serious though. I had a blast just hanging out and playing volleyball, badminton, frizbee and even a little hacky sack. Some of my favorite moments were when the Indians would start singing and dancing. They sure know how to have a good time. Autumn, Raysha and I stayed out at camp from Friday until Sunday. It was good to have more time to just hang out with everyone.

On Saturday morning team "get BENT" arrived out at camp and were welcomed warmly. The afternoon activity for the day was to climb the Kalapani mountain. This was time number two for me and I was kind of glad that we took a much easier route this time around. The mountain is much greener now than when we first arrived in India. This can bee seen from the Bread of Life school yard but I was really struck by the difference as we climbed. If you check out my pictures from our first climb you'll see what a difference there is.

A much more pleasant incline than where we ascended the first time.

Rosalin, Rael, and Paua.

I love that Jiten, Timothy and Rubika are all posing for this one.

Jiten and a couple of the girls from Nagaland.

Jiten getting a little boost.

Nic has brought Rider pride to India.

The boy truly has no fear.

Autumn, Raysha and Timothy

This was the same boulder that Jiten got a boost for. Timothy is amazing, he got up all by himself!


It is a really BIG boulder!

A breathtaking view.

I'm pretty sure he was contemplating whether or not he could make the jump.

On Sunday we said goodbye to all of our new friends. It was especially sad because Sanglalray and Timothy, who have been here for the last 3 months taking Bible classes with Ray, also left. We sure will miss having them around.

Here is the group shot of everyone who participated in camp.

Sickness Round 3

So before I go on to tell you about the end of camp I'll tell you about the experience I had today. Sunday night kicked off my third bout with nasty-india-sickness as I have come to call it. I was up all night long, every hour on the hour, praying to the porcelain god. I taught A&A class as usual on Monday but was laying down with every chance I got. I slept most of the afternoon/evening and then was up once again all through the night. I decided this morning that it would be a bad idea to head out to Kalapani with the way I was feeling. At around 10am Ellen said she thought I should go and see a doctor. Ellen's been good at making useful connections since we arrived here. She met a young doctor on one of her visits to the hospital and so Ray called him up. He told him to take me to the hospital so that's just what he and Ellen did. I was pretty impressed when the Dr. met us at the E.R. door and took us right in. He examined me and within the next 20 minutes four other doctors had also examined me. I don't think I've ever gotten to see one doctor let alone five in that short of a period of time in Canada. The diagnosis came quick enough, severe dehydration and low blood sugar. So they hooked me up to an IV, which is definitely not my favorite thing in the world. It took them two tries before they got it in but luckily Ellen was there to hold my hand. Over the next 6 hours they pumped me full of dextrose, saline, pain killers and what I assumed was antibiotics. There was a lot of talk going on about admitting me for observation over night but I really wasn't too keen on that idea, so instead they sent me home with some oral medication (antibiotic, anti-parasitic, and something else that I'm not 100% sure about) and plenty of electrolytes to drink. The electrolytes alone are enough to make a person never want to be sick again. It was quite the day. I'm pooped out tired but very thankful for access to health care. Today's little visit to the hospital set me back about $1500 Rupees, that works out to about $35 Canadian. Not bad if you ask me. As good of a deal as it was I don't plan on being a repeat customer.