We arrived in Agra by train at 3:3oam and taken to our hotel. Unfortunately, Aaron was sick the entire trip from Guntur to Agra. We all said however, if there was a day to be sick it would be the travel day. He slept almost the entire 24 hours on the train.
On Tuesday morning at 2:15am we were awakened by what sounded like a party by the neighbors of the BFLC seminary where we had been staying. The loud dance music served as our alarm. We were supposed to be up by 2:3o anyway to take the hour journey to Vijaywadda to catch the train to Agra. Turns out, the music we heard was from the Safari the BFLC folks had rented to take us to the train station. Greeting and seeing us off were Rajesh, Bishop Shalem, and Zakkiah's family. Pastor Zakkiah had never been to Agra or Delhi so he's been our traveling companion on this leg of our journey. I think the music was Rajesh's idea. He's a 22 year old pastor of the BFLC and very fun loving. Many times he greets us with a smile and a hearty laugh. He's one of our favorite guys. Karuna Dasari also got up early to say good-bye as did the ladies who cooked all our meals for us (Nirmala, Neloni, and Susthi) and gave us a big bag of food to take on the train. It's was a nice send off from friends made here in India. Karuna is such a wonderful hostess, genuinely warm and welcoming. When you stay with the BFLC you feel like family with Karuna. We said our good-byes and off we went.
We left Guntur with mixed feelings, satisfied with the work we had done, encouraged by many people, and a bit burdened by the many, many needs facing the BFLC churches and the Moriah Home and School. The list
is long, with needs ranging from general maintenance and upgrades to the school, challenges in paying a competive wage to qualified teachers at the Moriah School, and need for a new worship space in a couple of congregations. The needs are great but the finances aren't always there. For example, when the Moriah School recently needed to replace one of their two school buses, Karuna sold a piece of property she owned to pay for it. It was great sacrifice on her part because she understood that unless another bus was bought, 60-70 kids wouldn't make it to Moriah School at all. Parents just couldn't put them in the car to drop them off. They don't have cars to drop them off. Why did Karuna do it? Her deep belief in the mission of the school and the reality that the current BFLC budget wouldn't cover it. Much prayer is needed for this worthwhile mission that God continue to provide generously to this mission so that poorer kids are educated well and the gospel is preached effectively in rural villages.
Since we arrived so early in Agra today, we took a short two hour nap and jumped in a taxi to see the Taj Mahal. Truly it is one of the seven wonders of the world. Unfortunately, it was a big foggy/smoggy here today so most of our pictures of the Taj are shrouded. Getting there early aloud us to fight the crowds, but we sacrificed good pictures for it.
Mid morning we picked Aaron up from the hotel because thankfully he's feeling better and we were off to the Red
Fort, a gigantic complex built by various Moguls in the 16th century. After lunch we drove an hour outside of town to see a royal palace and religious area built by Akbar in the 15th century. He ruled the area for nearly 50 years. At five foot three, he was a small man in stature, but he made up for it in the size and granduer of his royal palace. The interesting thing about Akbar is that he had three wives, one Hindu, one Muslim and one Christian. Only one of the three gave him a son to carry on the family name, the Hindu. Guess which one got the biggest palace on the grounds?
It's nearly dinner time here and we're all hungry. We looked into celebrating Ash Wednesday in a local Christian congregation, but we didn't return from Akbar's site until late. We'll have a worship together as the six of us in our hotel room marking the beginning of lent for all of us.
Tomorrow off to Delhi. More from there. Thanks for reading.
Mike
On Tuesday morning at 2:15am we were awakened by what sounded like a party by the neighbors of the BFLC seminary where we had been staying. The loud dance music served as our alarm. We were supposed to be up by 2:3o anyway to take the hour journey to Vijaywadda to catch the train to Agra. Turns out, the music we heard was from the Safari the BFLC folks had rented to take us to the train station. Greeting and seeing us off were Rajesh, Bishop Shalem, and Zakkiah's family. Pastor Zakkiah had never been to Agra or Delhi so he's been our traveling companion on this leg of our journey. I think the music was Rajesh's idea. He's a 22 year old pastor of the BFLC and very fun loving. Many times he greets us with a smile and a hearty laugh. He's one of our favorite guys. Karuna Dasari also got up early to say good-bye as did the ladies who cooked all our meals for us (Nirmala, Neloni, and Susthi) and gave us a big bag of food to take on the train. It's was a nice send off from friends made here in India. Karuna is such a wonderful hostess, genuinely warm and welcoming. When you stay with the BFLC you feel like family with Karuna. We said our good-byes and off we went.
We left Guntur with mixed feelings, satisfied with the work we had done, encouraged by many people, and a bit burdened by the many, many needs facing the BFLC churches and the Moriah Home and School. The list
is long, with needs ranging from general maintenance and upgrades to the school, challenges in paying a competive wage to qualified teachers at the Moriah School, and need for a new worship space in a couple of congregations. The needs are great but the finances aren't always there. For example, when the Moriah School recently needed to replace one of their two school buses, Karuna sold a piece of property she owned to pay for it. It was great sacrifice on her part because she understood that unless another bus was bought, 60-70 kids wouldn't make it to Moriah School at all. Parents just couldn't put them in the car to drop them off. They don't have cars to drop them off. Why did Karuna do it? Her deep belief in the mission of the school and the reality that the current BFLC budget wouldn't cover it. Much prayer is needed for this worthwhile mission that God continue to provide generously to this mission so that poorer kids are educated well and the gospel is preached effectively in rural villages.
Since we arrived so early in Agra today, we took a short two hour nap and jumped in a taxi to see the Taj Mahal. Truly it is one of the seven wonders of the world. Unfortunately, it was a big foggy/smoggy here today so most of our pictures of the Taj are shrouded. Getting there early aloud us to fight the crowds, but we sacrificed good pictures for it.
Mid morning we picked Aaron up from the hotel because thankfully he's feeling better and we were off to the Red
Fort, a gigantic complex built by various Moguls in the 16th century. After lunch we drove an hour outside of town to see a royal palace and religious area built by Akbar in the 15th century. He ruled the area for nearly 50 years. At five foot three, he was a small man in stature, but he made up for it in the size and granduer of his royal palace. The interesting thing about Akbar is that he had three wives, one Hindu, one Muslim and one Christian. Only one of the three gave him a son to carry on the family name, the Hindu. Guess which one got the biggest palace on the grounds?It's nearly dinner time here and we're all hungry. We looked into celebrating Ash Wednesday in a local Christian congregation, but we didn't return from Akbar's site until late. We'll have a worship together as the six of us in our hotel room marking the beginning of lent for all of us.
Tomorrow off to Delhi. More from there. Thanks for reading.
Mike
1 comment:
To paraphrase "The Incredibles" :
Get home
Get home fast...
Get home safe...
and DON'T DIE!!
Rock hard, ride free Mike, Eric and Aaron!
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