What do I want you to know from my travels? – 2/25/15

If everyone could come to India and take away even a little bit of the spirit and love we experienced – I’m sure it would have a profound effect on MPC. Since this isn’t possible, I’ll try to convey a few thoughts that keep going through my mind.

1. Support – MPC’s continued support to these ministries is allowing them to do great things. Most important of those is to show these children unconditional love. They all need it and get it from our mission partners. This love comes physically in the form of a family environment and through prayer. All of these children are taught scripture and actively participate in it.
2. Spirit – God’s presence with these children is apparent. They have all been spared otherwise terrible lives of prostitution and homelessness to come to these homes. If God’s spirit isn’t here with them, I don’t know where it is.
3. Prayer – halfway around the world you have so many people praying for MPC and it’s members. If you didn’t know it before, know it now – people there love and care for you all.
4. Dollars – our mission and pledge dollars are being well spent. They are doing wonderful things with the treasure we have shared. I can only imagine how many more children they could reach with more.
5. Joy – everyone we met at our partner’s locations was filled with joy. Despite the circumstances that brought them there, they were joyful. My prayer for MPC is for this same joy to fill our lives and help us move beyond all that has transpired.

There’s more, but these are the main themes. Come find me after a service or event at church if you would like to discuss more or send me an email at justinkauffman@gmail.com. We will be celebrating our trip at the March 8th services, hope to see you there.

Finally, a thank you to my family and our friends at church who supported them while I was away. Being halfway around the world and knowing everything at home was fine let me get so much more out of my time there.

Best,

Justin

Heading Home – 2/24/15

We made it back to our hotel late on Monday night after our trip to the Taj Mahal. We met for breakfast and got to hear about Gabrielle’s ministries. To be honest, I was a little late coming down. I’ll have to get with Howard to fill in the holes I missed. It does sound like he does some amazing work. Prison ministries, child care, after school programs, and now training pastors to go out into the villages. Another mission partner who sets a very high bar. It was a shame we didn’t get to visit Chatarpur and see his ministries first hand.

Arun, Nikki, Gabrielle, Howard, and Justin in the hotel lobby before heading to the airport.

We headed to the airport to board our flights. 9 and a half hours to London, and then another 8 and a half home. Long flights back, but that’s to be expected when you are traveling halfway around the world. Mindy, Alida, and Howard were kind enough to give me a ride home where I got to see Ian and Danielle waiting for me. A welcome sight after a very long day.

The Taj Mahal – 2/23/15

We made it to Delhi and braved the traffic to get to our hotel. On Monday we piled into a taxi (hired mini van) for our trip down to the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. I’ve mentioned the traffic in previous posts, but Delhi being the nation’s capital also takes the prize for worst traffic. I will never look at a crawl along the blue route in the same way again.

When we got out of the city proper we got onto a very nice and new three lane highway (Yamuna Expressway) for the 100 mile or so journey. Along the way we passed Jaypee Sports City. It was a massive construction project to build housing and a number of sports complexes in the same area. The website tells it all, i just couldn’t believe how many miles we drove and kept passing it. They are basically building a new sports focused city in the middle of the wheat fields.

After we got past the sports city, we drove past miles and miles of wheat fields. I stopped counting miles, but they basically lined the entire journey.

We reached Agra in the early afternoon and navigated the traffic to make it over to the Taj Mahal Area. It was amazing to see this structure in person. I didn’t really research the Taj Mahal before this trip. Primarily because we weren’t going to make it there, plans changed and we got the opportunity. It truly is one of the seven wonders of the world. The building and surroundings is actually a Muslim tomb for the wife of the emperor Shah Jahan. Completed in 1653 after 22 years of construction employing 20,000 people. The wikipedia link will provide you with a detailed history rather than me repeating it.

A view with some of the gardens in the foreground.

View from the south gate.

View from the south with the fountain in the foregroun.

Howard, Arun, and Justin at the Taj Mahal.

A view of the East gate from the south side. We were standing on the large marble elevated area surrounding the building.

Shot of the east gate. There are gates at the east, west, and south. The north is closed in by a river.

After our visit to the Taj Mahal we went to pick up Gabrielle (Arun’s father) from the train station. We had to wait for the train to come in in the parking area. While we were sitting there a man with elephantiasis rode on a tricycle like bike to talk with some other people in the parking lot. Reminded me of the reasons we came and stood in stark contrast to the building I had just toured.

We got Gabrielle and headed back to Delhi. He and Howard catching up along the way.

Posts Coming

At the Delhi airport waiting to board our flight home. Lot of posts coming, just havent had wifi. Thanks for following our trip! We’ve learned a lot over here that we are excited to share with the congregation.

Flying to Delhi – 2/22/15

Today we left Dharwad and the children to head to Delhi via Mumbai. We arrived in Belgaum, a small airport nearby, to catch our flight. We walked out and boarded our plane. Landing in Delhi we were able to see the slums surrounding Mumbai. These were some of the worst looking slums I saw in the country. It’s proximity to the countries financial center is troubling. After a few hours in Mumbai we went for our last leg to Delhi. Long day, but glad to be in Delhi where we take off in a few days.

Sign at the Belgaum airport wishing us “Happy Journey”. Found it ironic it was sponsored by the India Life Insurance Company.

Our ride to Mumbai.

Pictures

I have a ton of pictures to post, but have a very limited internet connection (about ten minutes per picture). Just so you know, I’ll be updating all of my posts with them when I get home or in the New Delhi hotel if it has a high speed connection.

Change of Plans – 2/21/15

Originally we had planned to fly out today to go to Chattapur to visit Gabriele Massey and his ministries. Unfortunately our flight was cancelled. Spice Jet here in India is going through some financial issues according to the news, so cancelled fligths are to be expected. Arun let us know with the cancellation making it to Chattapur was out of the question. Even as planned it was tight – plane right today, Monday daytime with Gabrielle, and then a night train to get back to Delhi Tuesday morning to catch our flight.

Arun worked the computer and managed to get us a new itinerary. Now we’ll be flying to New Delhi today through Bombay. We’ll travel by taxi (rented car and driver) to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal and to pick up Gabrielle. All of the trains into New Delhi were booked, so meeting him in Agra works out. We’ll have an evening and morning with him and Arun to hear about his ministries. I am sad we won’t get to see them first hand, but I am glad Howard will get to see his old friend again.

Thought it would be interesting to show you where we have been and have left to go. The link will take you to an interactive Google map with our stops. Here is our trip in India:

36 hours of flights/layovers to arrive in Coimbatore, India.

Two hour drive to Ooty, Tamil Nadu

Four hour drive to Mysore, Karnataka to catch an overnight train to Dharwad, Karnataka

Flight from airport near Dharwad, Karnataka to New Delhi, Delhi

Three and a half hour taxi ride from New Delhi to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and pick up Gabrielle

Three and a half hour taxi ride back to New Delhi

Short taxi ride to the airport in New Delhi

Flight at 11 AM Tuesday morning (12:30 AM Tuesday back home) and landing in PHL at 8:35 PM.

Our journey in India.

The Market – 2/21/15

Our main plan today involved going to the market and visiting with the children. We had driven past markets when we were Ooty, but didn’t have a chance to stop. We don’t have markets like this in the states, I guess our flea markets or farmers markets are similar but only in name. The market here is like this giant living organism. Street vendors selling produce, spices, and other wares. Everything is so packed together. There is something to see everywhere you look. The pictures do it justice. As you look at them imagine car horns throughout and random cows walking down the street. It was a very loud environment, honestly the loudest I have come across yet here.

Monkey outside our door before we went to the market.

A view from the street of the market area.

A view walking down the street. It was crowded.

Vendor with fruits for sale.

A view of the market.

A super market near the market. About the size of our convenience stores.

Last Night with the Children – 2/21/15

We were going to see the children again in the morning for worship, but this was our last evening with them. In the market I purchased a pack of biscuts (cookies) for each of the children to have with their tea. A sweet tooth is the one thing I’ve discovered every child we’ve met has. Giving each child a pack was a great joy.

After tea time we went with Shobia to visit her sister’s mother-in-law. During our visit they had to take her to the hospital. She was sent home to recover, but prayers are needed. Visiting with the family made me feel like a bit of an intruder. However, they were very welcoming. We visited the patient and Nikki said a very nice prayer with her and the family.

Back at the home, we attended the prayer time with the children. Each night one of us share something with them, tonight it was my turn. For some reason I always get a little nervous when I’m asked to speak about my relationship with Christ. I won’t share it all here, but I think the last part is relevant. I struggle to find tangible connections to faith. Since faith relies on believing without seeing, finding something tangible to connect with is unlikely. Over the past 10 days or so I’ve discovered the tangible, and standing in front of them made me realize it. For me, the sixty smiling faces staring back at me was Jesus revealing himself. I let the children know that and thanked them for the smiles and for smiling in a country where so much of the religious deck is stacked against them.

Then we passed out our gifts. Once again Wawa was a huge hit (thanks again to Bill O’Donnell and Howard’s dentist for the toothbrushes). I wished we could have given them more, it never feels like enough. The one thing I will give them is my prayers. I encourage you to do the same.

Children with their gifts.

Tea time.

Playing with the Children – 2/20/15

After a siesta we went back to visit with the children and play cricket (hitting a tennis ball with the cricket bat – the rules of real cricket are beyond my comprehension). We visited with the Massey’s and then went to prayer with the girls. Each night we have been sharing with them, tonight Nikki opened the floor to questions from them. They were a little timid at first, but then had some good ones about baptism, the gift of speaking in tongues, and experiencing the presence of God. The last one was a pretty deep one. Nikki handled them all and really made them relatable for the children, probably her six years of children’s ministry coming back.

Having Nikki with us has been great for the children here, especially the girls. I think they need to hear from other women. Nikki has done a fantastic job everywhere we have gone with leading prayer, visiting, and playing with the children. She has been a blessing to those we have visited here and has done a great service to our mission partners here on behalf of MPC.

Howard getting taking a turn batting.