Update from India

Greetings Friends and Family!!!
We are so sorry that this is our first update to our blog from India, but there hasn't been a lot of time or internet use. I don't have a way to upload any pictures right now, so once we return to Salem after outreach, I will  do a big post and show you a bunch of pictures from our time here in India.

We are currently ending the 5th week of our 8 week outreach. It's hard to believe we are in the home-stretch now. It's been an interesting outreach... I think that's the best way to describe it.  :-)  The first two weeks were spent in Trichy where it was unbelievably hot and humid. It was so hot it was miserable. One morning the leader in Trichy received a call with a warning for our team to leave within 24 hours or face persecution by a radical Hindu extremist group. At the time we were not sure how "real" the threat was, but we went into a time of prayer and seeking the Lord's guidance. Several calls were made to individuals higher up in our organization and word came that we must leave. We contacted all of the various ministries we were working at and let them know that we would no longer be able to serve them and then we packed all of our belongings up and boarded a bus at 11pm. We rode the bus through the night to a new location and have been at this new location for the past several weeks. Thankfully this new location has been much  cooler and much more acceptable of our white skin. We are planning to move again on Tuesday morning - not because of any problems, but simply because we are a good 6 hours away from the airport we need to fly out of when we return to Salem and we are able to work directly with our organization in the new city. I guess we're getting a good look at India!  ;-)

We have had some health issues with our team, a few hospital visits for various team members and stitches for our littlest team member. We have also been struggling with lice. Apparently this is a very common problem in India. Not fun.

We have worked in the slums, taught English to college students, worked at a few orphanages, worked at an HIV/AIDS home, cleaned at an nursing home type facility, etc. We are excited for the experiences and the opportunities that we have had so far and are thrilled about some of the opportunities that are coming up in our move. Please keep our team and our family in your prayers. God is doing some awesome things with our team and we know that the "attacks" we have felt from the enemy are simply because he is unhappy with what we are doing. So for that, we praise the Lord.

I must go for now, but will update when I can. We love you all!!!