Home Stretch

We're on the home stretch! YAY! We landed safely in Dehli tonight and we're at the hotel Singh Sans having a late late late dinner at 12:30am. We haven't eaten since lunch was served after the conference today at noon, so we're a tad famished. We have to leave the hotel at 6:00am to get BACK IN A VAN to travel 5 more hours to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. I suppose we'll hop out of the van, take a picture an d hop back in to drive back to make our flight home tomorrow night. The good news is we get to see the Taj Mahal and we have a flight HOME tomorrow night!!! Can you tell I'm excited to come home?

We are officially tourists now, as we left Prati at the Mumbai airport after the leadership training session of the conference. Of the almost 300 women who came to the conference (staying together in the hotel just like we do!), about 40 of the WWM leaders stayed for today's session.

Prati opened today's session with a long charge to her sisters about servant leadership, and again her vulnerability was really touching.

The rest of the session was more speaking and having them write and pray over what gifts/ strengths they have as leaders and what personal weaknesses might hinder their leadership.

The women had time to share and ask questions, and were so appreciative of our time with them.

The rest of the day was travel, travel, and more travel; speeding back down that mountain we chugged up only two days before and hustling airport security lines and fighting (and paying!), to take the extra luggagewe brought back home! Go figure. The Mumbai airport was on high security alert and the morning news papers said they were cracking down on anything more than one carry-on and one checked piece of baggage. Of course we all have more baggage than that! Who doesn't? Ha.

We are spent but still trucking. Really looking forward to a 5 hour van ride tomorrow at 6am! Woo-hoo!

Another Sari day (this time WITH RaeAnn!)

Leadership training

Down the beautiful mountain

GOODBYE, Prati, we will MISS YOU!!

The children sing for us

Last Full Conference Day!

Last full Conference day!

Today was another long conference day, but not as long as last night! At dinner last night, Prati gave us new directives for our sessions, so that what we were saying was closer to the conference theme. To say that put some of the team in a panic at that late hour (9:30pm!), after an already long day, is an understatement.

Most of us got a few hours sleep, but we can sleep on the plane in a few day

s, right? There sure doesn't seem to be any time for sleep until then!

Of course it all worked together for good (of course it did!), because what began as panic produced great results today, and many good lessons were learned. (Those will be made known on the palne as well, I'm sure!) Ha.

I had the first session today and spoke on a plan for living out God's mission here on earth from Jude 20-23. Interesting how that teaching came to be; in my daily cards, my Mom simply sent me the scripture from Jude 2, that says, "Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.". I decided on one of our long van rides to read that scripture and continued on reading the rest of the book, and this teaching jumped

off the pages! So, thanks, Mom, for encouraging me with that beautiful verse. You just brought an awesome message to the women of India! Isn't God amazing?!

There are always tea breaks at the conferences (and in these women's daily lives), so after the tea break, we were blessed with 2 songs from the Children from one of the Children's homes here in Maharashtra. If you know me, you know my hea

rt for children. I've always said one of my favorite sounds in all God's earth is the sound of children singing. My heart completely melted during their little song about the devil having to run away because Jesus lives in their hearts. PRECIOUS! (Janet, didn't we sing a song like that on Miles Rd when we were little? We didn't have bongos.)

After the children sang, RaeAnn touched the women's hearts by meeting them where we all are tender- our relationships with our children. She told how she used to be an angry, bitter mom until God came into her heart and she allowed Him and the Fruit of the spirit (patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), to change her life. The women all related and loved her vulnerability. (She also gave a shout out to Breakthrough, so Paul and Susanna, your ministry has gone international!)

Before lunch, Vicki taught on being an ambassador for God's mission here on earth

by being His hands and feet, meeting the needs around us. Vicki is the Missions director for her church in Casper, Wyoming. It is clear they have the right woman for the job! She has such a gentle strength and huge compassionate heart.

Prati always sprinkles her words between sessions, which she did again today tying everything together for the women, and probably smoothing over our mistakes! We wouldn't know; we haven't a clue what she's saying but it's always powerful.

Lunch was brought in for us at the conference center, and was a typical Indian lunch; "pickled" vegetables, bread, white rice with curry sauce and a banana. We were sooo grateful they brought us spoons. They always eat with their fingers (scooping rice is an art), and usually we do too, but it was nice to have a utensil.

After lunch we heard wonderful stories from several women leaders reporting what God is doing in their villages through WWM. These women are being mobiliz

ed and are reaching other women for Christ, and their lives and families are being transformed. God cares about the welfare of the people of India and He is using the women here to better their lives and redeem their souls.

Dana continued the afternoon sharing with the women the story of how God made it clear she was to go to India. She encouraged the women to trust God and allow Him to do amazing things in their lives.

Belinda spoke with passion about the importance of keeping our relationships intact, about restoration and reconciliation. Women get that no matter where we live. We're all about our relationships! Her words were powerful, but it was quite comical when she actually stopped and waited for the pastor translating for her to translate her words, "Oh Belinda!". So she waited and he finally shrugged his shoulders and

turned around toward us and said, "Oh, Belinda!". The whole place cracked up!

Prati ended the conference with a very moving and thought-provoking message to the women from Acts where Peter has the vision of the sheet being lowered from the four corners of the world with clean and unclean animals on it. The message from God was that nothing that God has created is unclean. She passed out large white handkerchieves and asked the women to write names of people they avoid helping or ministering to because they are a lower cast and are considered undesirable. She is brave to speak out against the wrongs in her own culture, and

openly mentioned the inconsistency between casts and Christianity several times in

these conferences. The women responded with tender hearts toward other women who are marginalized in this society. I can't explain the deep heart probing in me from seeing firsthand the reality of some people being made to feel less than. Of course I was tempted to self-righteously think at least our country doesn't have that problem, but my heart sunk when I admitted, yes... we do. The final blow came when I had to confess that as much as my justice meter goes crazy when someone is counted of less value for any reason, there are times in my life when I avoid

ed or failed to reach out to someone else just because they weren't like me and I couldn't be inconvenienced. My heart was broken at the real life picture of this right in front of me and all the implications and consequences. Humans can truly be base.

After the conference the shopping ministry was needing some attention briefly, and then.... and then.... Yes, we all got Henna tatoos!! One of the pastors wives here (she's totally an Indian Christy Todd (Winsinger- sorry!), offered to do them for us. She is a nurse (BSN) at the mental hospital here in Nashik, and we teased her if her job ever fell through she could always fall back on Henna! Of course none of us realized we couldn't do anything until they were completely dry, so packing to leave early in the morning was a problem. Vicki and I were up til 3:15 last night and it's

2:08 now, so maybe we won't mind that 6 hour van ride back to Mumbai tomorrow afterall. Bite my tongue.

Tomorrow is a half-day leadership training conference for the leaders and directors of the Maharashtra state. The rest of the women have gone home. They were completely precious, and each of us has unbelievable stories about specific women we met.

Off to peel this Henna off and see the finished product!! (No, Mom, it's not permanent.) :)

Sign at Hindu conference center.

Good to know Big Macs are up there with Beer and Alcohol!

I'm first for the day

RaeAnn shares

Vicki's turn

Prati speaks to her sisters

Where the women eat

Our lunch is served

Dana gets the afternoon session

Belinda's heart comes through

The women share their "Unclean" lists

Hennapalooza!! (thanks for the title, Vicki!)

McHappy Day!

McHappy Day!

Today we are in Nashik at the state leaders conference for the state of Maharashtra (which was possibly misspelled on the last posting due to five thousand different spellings of everything here. Ha).

It was a long day of teaching as the conference went until 8:00pm. These women are joyful and sweet and fun to be with. It was especially fun to see all the groups who came from different parts of the state. Each group stood as their area was announced and they were so proud; especially those areas who sent a group for the first time. It is clear WWM is growing! Very cool.

This is the state where Prati was born and raised and it was awesome to see her with the people from her home country. She was nervous to speak, because she wanted to speak her native language (she usually speaks in English with an interpreter), but she has been in the state of Tamil Nadu for over 30 years speaking mostly Tamil. She was afraid she wouldn't remember her own language quickly enough. Sounded good to me! Ha.

When Prati speaks everywhere else, she is respected as a woman of authority and position. She is Mother India to the women and they adore her. Today, however, I saw a side of her I hadn't seen publicly. She was vulnerable and innocent and related more to these women on their own level. She even came off the platform and stayed on their level among them. Very unconsciously symbolic. Truly she was their sister, not Mother. It was beautiful to see her affection for them.

Dana spoke next on the importance and power of prayer, and was awesome. She is definitely gaining experience as a leader for something.

Vicki followed her with a teaching on a specific kind of prayer, Lectio Divino, using scripture to listen to God. It was an amazing teaching and gave the women a tool to take back and grow with.

THEN WE WENT TO MCDONALDS FOR LUNCH!!! What a hoot! We ate food we wouldn't normally eat back home, but we all loved it! Watch out for their SPICEY McChicken Sandwich though! Of course, the whole menu is chicken; no beef- cows are sacred here! So don't try to order a Big Mac. Funny scrolling billboard in the restaurant read:

SHAME. SHAME.

Unpardonable potholes

People could sink!

No lie! I just don't have a way to begin to comprehend that whole thing. (Who is shaming whom? Who is responsible to fix unpardonable potholes and how would they EVER begin that impossible task!!!??). Hilare.

After our calorie fest at Mickey D's, we headed back for an afternoon business session and Belinda closed out the conference after tea break with an incredible message on surrendering those things that stand in the way of our doing ministry. Very powerful. I loved her experiential touches that the women will remember. She brought 250 white flags all the way from home for each woman to write on what they were surrendering. They loved it!

Late dinner at our hotel was quite brave as we all experimented with new things (Way to be brave, Dana with that mac and cheese!). Ha.

Tomorrow is another long day and we were all up late rewriting our talks based on some feedback and requests from Mother India. :)

More tomorrow, I promise! (In the meantime, check out my friend Belinda's blog at: www.belindakendall.typepad.com/)

Warm welcome

Conference Banner

East meets West

Happy McCampers!

Dana and translator

Precious women

Hindu Conference Center (go figure)

She plays mean drums

I'm bringing this little guy home with me!!!

Travel, travel, and more travel!

Travel, travel and more travel!

Today's update will be brief. We flew out of Chennai this morning and landed safely in Mumbai. I will say that rush hour in Chennai (both arriving the night before and leaving this am), is like NOTHING any of us have ever seen. It's bad India traffic on steroids! It took us an hour and 15 minutes to go .6 miles. Totally whacky.

When we got to Mumbai today, we stopped for lunch at a hotel, but the restaurant was full, so they put us up in one of their rooms and ordered room service for us! Hilarious. I couldn't tell if that was five star service or please don't go we want your business. It was actually kind of nice to have lunch by ourselves. (Butter chicken with Naan bread.... our standard order!). We did some hilarious bonding in that room, we did.

After lunch we hopped back in our home on wheels (a different one, yet again), and headed straight north for Nashik. When they say 4 hours, we've gotten wise-- they mean 6. After driving through Mumbai (truly the filthiest place on God's earth, those poor people!), it became a pleasant surprise to actually ENJOY the scenery the farther north we went. At one point it almost looked like a harsher version of Ireland but then we found ourselves heading up a mountain which made RaeAnn come out of her seat. "We're in the clouds! We're in the clouds!" Fog- clouds; same thing, right?

Once we got to our hotel the evening became a complete circus with room swapping and Prati having no part of the "stink" of the halls. After she found out IGL had paid up front for 3 nights and we couldn't leave, we tried MORE rooms on a different floor. We got to the rooms just as the bellmen were frantically spraying this potion that smelled like a mixture of bug spray and Great Grandma's Essence of Rose Parfume. A deadly combo. We were all stressed to the max (especially after staying in super nice hotels the past 2 nights), but Belinda broke the ice and put everyone in uproarious laughter when she stood up to follow the bellman to her room and her punjabi pants fell down!! Total comic relief. Good thing she's short; her top covered most of the action. She must have caught them with her knees because she just got this sick look on her face, let out a simple Kentucky "Oh my!" and stood frozen like a school girl about to pee her pants. The rest of the night went downhill from there.

The only redeeming part of the day is that we get to sleep in tomorrow. We don't have to leave for the conference til 9:30. (Maybe 10:30, depending on "How the women are gathering"). May they be slow to gather!

Pictures tonight will be random.

Enjoy!

Check out the people hanging off the bus

Room service lunch. There's a lot going on in that room!

Mother India reclines

"Indy cars", get it?

Mumbai

Mumbai

Yep, you guessed it, Mumbai

This little guy's toy

Doesn't look like 6 hours, does it?!

Beautiful countryside

Finally about to rest!

Another Conference Day

Another conference day

Before I begin today's update, I really have to give anothe shout out to Jocelyn who has been helping me get this blog updated. There is no making sense of this country. They have technology here; they have to somewhere. We're all familiar with trying to call next door only to be re-routed to someone in India first. (Unless next door happens to BE Indians like mine-- ok bad example.) Anyway, this whole country is a mystery. They really are trying to keep up with the rest of the world; outsourcing and all. But they don't even have trash or sewer systems or decent roads. First things first, people! It's like they're trying to bike a Triathlon on a tricycle.... a rickety one at that. I had a fleeting desire today to champion their cause and head up a huge Clean Up India project. They're so colorful and blingy but it's so dirty!

That was a long way to say we remain frustrated with not ever being able to get on the Internet either for lack of entirely, or intermittent electricity when you do get Internet. Sheesh! I have given up and am completely relying on Jocelyn to get these urgent and electrifying updates out to you. So, thanks, Josh! (I wish I could tell you I got you something neat in the French Region but there was no shopping time. Boo. )

I also want to thank my family for all of the cards, pictures and letters you sent with me. You'll never know how I look forward to opening one everyday. Best family in the world! Thanks!

Now for the update. We left our fabulous hotel this morning and drove about an hour to the Tindivanum conference. It was a small all-day conference, and the women there were sweet and full of appreciation for us to come so far to encourage them.

I spoke about when our own shame and the messages we allow ourselves to believe about ourselves keep us from doing what God has called us to do. The anecdote is two-fold; we plunge in and just start doing ministry however it presents itself while we also do a little Cognitive Therapy on ourselves by renewing our minds. We do that by searching for the truth about ourselves and telling ourselves the truth instead of the lies.

For example, instead of being praalyzed with thoughts of "I'm not smart enough", or "Others will reject me", we begin to tell ourselves "If God has called me, He will equip me", or "I don't have to be liked by everyone to be valuable in God's service". And while we are practicng doing ministry and renewing our minds, God is transforming our hearts and lives.

There were many women nodding their heads relating to the questions asked and the words I said. That's one of the coolest things I'm certain of after coming here several times now; women are really the same everywhere. We all have feelings of inadequacy in some area of our lives. And oddly, life experiences often serve to reinforce the lies we believe about ourselves. We have to fight for the truth if we really want it. Ugh. But it's always worth the effort!

Belinda and Prati also spoke brilliantly, of course, and the women left the conference encouraged and inspired.

We are driving to Chennai to spend the night, and in the morning we fly out somewhere.... Mumbai, I think?

I DO have some monkey pictures for you! I promised, and here they are! I also might throw in a few general pics of what I see here and there. Usually the pictures are taken from the van so they may be blurry or fuzzy, but it's the best I can do. If we asked the driver to stop every time we wanted a picture, we'd never get anywhere!

Finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Savannah! I love you so much and I hope you have a really fun birthday! Wish I could be there! XOXOXOXO

Paula- Out!

PS- RaeAnn was also supposed to speak today, but due to her being ill, we thought she should sit this one out. But she did come, and slowly but surely she's feeling better. Yay!

Our lovely Hotel (or hodle, as Prati says)

Still very Indian, but nice!!

Sheer opulence. Suffering for the Lord!

Tindivanum Conference

Words of wisdom. Ha. Translated by our good friend, Lillian,

who traveled with us to Sri Lanka the first time I came.

Lillian, Paula, and Prati on conference lunch break in the pastor's home.

MONKEYS!!!!

See what I mean? Wanna join Project Clean Up India?

A common sight

Hard working people (in the HEAT!)

There really are no words.....

Indian Princesses!

Sunday morning at Sharon

Praise and Worship

Belinda speaking at Sharon with Sarah translating

New Flip-Flops!

Our thank you note

Heavy lifting!

Cutie boys (I'm bringing them home!)

Silly boys (I'm not bringing them home!) ha.

Happy Sunday!

Today was sort of an easy day. We went to church this morning here at Sharon, which was a treat. We had our first Sari wearing today, which is always fun. It's funny-- wrap 5 yards of silk around you, and immediately you're transformed into a princess! No glass slipper needed!

(You'll notice RaeAnn didn't get to join the fun- she started getting sick last evening and came down with a pretty wicked virus. She was up through the night with all the hateful things viruses do. It wasn't complete without her.

The congregation here at Sharon Gardens is mostly the workers and children from the home with some neighborhood people also in attendance. There used to be more people from the surrounding area, but IGL has planted a couple churches nearby which were actually closer for most of the people to attend.

The service was fairly familiar, even though we couldn't understand the songs. There was worship music, a sermon, offering and communion. Sam was thoughtful to have one of their daughters sit behind us and translate when someone was speaking.

Belinda spoke during the sermon part of the service. Her words were sweet and inspringin from John 17. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." This is the IGL theme for this year, which will be the emphasis for all conferences, teachings, etc. I thought it ironic, in a way, that in our country we send missionaries and workers here, and these people are talking about being sent themselves.

I am always made aware the biggest difference to me between third world countries and the U.S. is the felt need for God. These people are desperate for God, and when they find Him, they are desperate to share the difference He makes in their lives. We simply do not need God in America. We are so self-sufficient and can exist quite well on our own, thank you very much. Not so here.

After church, we packed our things and had lunch before we got back on the van (once again!), for a 6 hr bull ride east to the French-speaking city of Pondicherry. It's supposed to be a beautiful place and obviously quite unusual. We spend the night there and head to Tindivandum for a conference tomorrow. RaeAnn is on the schedule to speak during Session 3 tomorrow, but I don't see how. She is quite ill. The only thing worse than being that sick so far away from home is having to ride 6 hours squished in an uncomfortable van on these roads with this traffic. Poor thing. Please pray she gets well and somehow those of us sharing such close quarters here for 6 hours evade the bug! That WOULD be a miracle!

However... Before we left today, two very special things happened! The first was that I had delivered the flip-flops I brought to Prati, knowing she would know which 50 children most needed them. She certainly must have, because she called me down and asked me to wait for her outside the gate. While I was down there, this adorable yound middle school-age girl in a simple white sari came up to me and in nearly perfect English said, "Excuse me, Auntie, can you please get Mummy?" I knew from previous interactions with the children here that any older woman is always "Auntie" (don't you love it?), and every child at Sharon calls Prati their "Mummy", like the British (don't you love it even more?!).

I ran in to get Prati and the whole thing seemed somewhat of a set-up, because when I returned with her, there were about 8-10 children all wearing their brand-new flip-flops! I almost started crying!

Prati said while she didn't have time yet to decide about all the flip-flops, she did want to choose several children while I was there becuase "Your grandchildren did such a nice thing to send to my "children", and I wanted my children to say thank you."

They had made a card and all signed it for you, Grayson and Berkley. (And Shannah, I know you are crying by now.)

And it's all a matter of where you're born... I have lots of questions for God someday.

The second very exciting thing was that I presented Prati with the checks so many of you sent for the women of India! There just didn't seem to be an appropriate time before today, but it turned out to be just the perfect time! We were ending our time here at Sharon and it just seemed fitting to leave behind your heartfelt, tangible wishes and prayers.

So your very own checks are all the way here in Indai! She was thrilled and touched by your generosity. I told her I had awesome friends, and of course, she wants you all to come and see for yourselves the things your money has helped to accomplish. So, what do you think?!

I told her we would let her decide how best to use the money, and I trust her completely. Just think, someday up in heaven a lady in a sari will come up to you and tell you her story and thank you personally!

Well, I am writing this on the van as we end our day (September 11 came and went without a hitch here, so I am praying the same for you as your day is just beginning there). We have about 30 more minutes of this trip and my butt is NUMB!

Good Night!