Maylasian-American (for a day)

Today we enjoyed life as western tourists in India. At some point, you have to. And you don’t need to feel bad about it either, really. I am upset when I see missionaries starving themselves from enjoyment in a form of spiritual flogging—because they feel indulging the 5 senses in activities that they were meant for is somehow sinful. I will save my soapbox diatribe for another day-- but I feel that it would be an obligation to Christ's body at large to go body surfing in the ocean at least once a month on behalf of those who are brothers and sisters of mine ("in Christ") who cannot enjoy the ocean from Minnesota and Wisconsin and Indiana and... you get the point! I HOPE they would return the favor by enjoying some walleye each week for those of use who can't find them here!

So, we don’t usually eat out at the Malaysian restaurant, or have Domino’s Pizza (mostly for the fact that you can have around 10-15 meals in the village for the price of one pizza). But we enjoyed both today.

The ladies, driven by Suresh Attah, the majority of the morning and and afternoon finishing the shopping lists… So Ed & Charlotte, Dad and “members of the council” you all were on the list today. I think we are done now. And Suresh’s wife, Sangeetha, is on holiday for Saturday and Sunday (and was off of work tonight around 9pm to enjoy the pizza with us)… so, I am happy that we will be able to relax with her and the family and enjoy a couple last days together – to welcome Katie G. to the family in a calm way.

Instead of rattling on and on (as I am prone to do in the last days of a trip… ) I will leave the rest of today to pictures from the last two days.

I will recap Sunday and Monday late Monday afternoon and then post our itinerary as we leave from Chennai with Robert Monday and need to be at airport by 10pm for a 1am departure to "Amrika". Enjoy!

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Heading out for a day of shopping in Chennai:

yep... it is what it is

India: land of sarees and fabrics

beautiful and delicious mangos always available

Katie and Kathryn streetside

flower store

fabric stores, streetside

Cashmere rugs

more Cashmere rugs

wood elephants

Vases

For some reason I thought of Jeremy Schneider here.

Here is the better side.

Lunch at the Malaysian Restaurant

Santhosh with Josh-ana

Robert with shaved ice-cream

Katie G with shaved ice-cream

4 boys in a little rickshaw

Later that night we ordered Dominos:

Santhosh enjoying a Meatzaa Pizza.

The little one taking it all in!

The boys working off the pizza.

our family + 2 cousin's families

Thanks for stopping by and looking into our world today... please be thinking of our health, packing, time and travel over the next 5 days.

Shopping... ugh...

As many of you know, I am certainly not the king of shopping. I actually don't like it much at all. So I am glad to report that I have bought 99% of my gifts, or our gifts, for friends and family this trip.

We left at 10am this morning to hit a leather shop, money exchange, craft center, Spencers (air conditioned mall) and Victoria Tech. Institute (aka 'VTI') to purchase some items that are made from disabled Indians given a trade. Of course we discovered items that we decided to purchase for people. I will say that in India you always end up finding some gems that you just can't pass up. So a $100 shopping budget quickly becomes $140 or more. If you are here for the first time... then you probably will pay $200 if you are not watching your cash-money!

But the items at VTI are cheaper than most, the gifts that is, and the cause is good. And it's India... I mean you gotta buy some things that are hand crafted and could be turned around for 4x-10x what you pay for them here!

We returned around 6pm from our shopping and proceeded to head to 'Sateesh Kumar's' house... this is Sateesh Attah, uncle Sateesh. It was there that I had three servings (plates) of food and then someone had the bright idea of asking his wife to cook me a dosa. 1 dosa + Indian hospitality = 3 dosas! I am still feeling slightly ill and satisfied somehow at the same time. I have found that Sprite is a must (or 7up) in the evenings.

I know that I am old now cause his daughter is going into 12 class this June. School here is June - April. Your 11-12th school years are actually a prep period for college. They are not typical school loads or schedules. It's actually a really good system and way to prepare. But with 1.3 billion people, most of the 'social sector' or 'public good' equations in India are figured out. Maybe the money isn't there, but they sure know how to organize large quantities of people for efficiency. Especially when the average Indian only works 5-6 hours a day, mon-sat. Sometimes I wonder just how prosperous India would be with a 7-5pm schedule mon-fri, or mon-sat. Watch for what you ask for I suppose.

Katie G, from Nebraska originally - but now a study at Emmanuel School of Religion (Seminary) in Tennessee joined us for the day of shopping. I think it was good for her to enjoy the sights, tastes and sounds of India.

And, as if there is a great frustration following us from our home in Yerpedu... the power cut out at the end of my closing prayer (family prayer time) tonight. So am I writing this as quick as I can and sending everyone my apologies for not posting pictures from today.

We should have electricity (the 3rd phase) up and going so that the master bedroom is powered soon today. I hope. The other 2 phases (living room, kitchen -- two guest bedrooms and guest bathroom) are working. So at least we can eat and the fridges are working. I will have to post pictures off of my mother-n-laws computer later tomorrow.

Prayers: That we would be able to enjoy the last 3 days here in Chennai, purchase what we need, pack away what we need and make the memories that we need.

Praises: Usha and Santhosh will be arriving around 8am tomorrow morning. I will look forward to having the whole family together and eating at friends houses this weekend. OH - and pray that our bodies are prepare to fly by Monday at 2:30pm Central Standard Time.

Wednesday RECAP

We said our last minute good-byes this morning to the various staff members up at 5am at the DLRH. It was a melancholic time for me. Time has gone by so fast, and it seems as soon as we found a rhythm to life at the hospital... we only had two weeks left. One of the problems with marking time by the number of 'Sundays' you will be worshiping in India--is they sneak up on you. This trip has snuck up on me. In my heart I am not ready to leave India. But, I am convinced that nothing will change, and the pressing financial needs of the work of BSSI require time and energy on the U.S. side of the world over the next 2-3 years.

I enjoyed most of the trip back to Chennai this morning. I read, the kids slept. It is amazing that they have finally completed the 4 lane interstate highway over the last 3 years since we have been gone. It is not a highway from US standards. It is more like a "boulevard" of two lanes in each side with a large 10 foot island, raised about 5 feet. For those readers from Indianapolis, it is like the road outside of the speedway. No matter a person can travel at 50 mph now, compared to 35-40 last time we were here... and I can appreciate the small things.

We arrived in Chennai at my Inlaws personal flat (apartment) around 9am this morning. After breakfast, Kathryn and Robert began day one of the shopping spree. And were gone till 5pm. Emrys and I sat in an A/C bedroom/office and began the first 7-8 hours of a 20-24 hour conversation before leaving here. Immediate small and large goals for myself, Kathryn the Board of Directors before their arrival this September. There is much on the plate, many ideas, but you know what they say about eating the elephant (... one bite at a time).

Kathryn was excited to show me all the gifts for family, friends, etc. I was excited to see the 7up she brought home. I also was excited today to try Kathryn cousin's (Suresh Attah = Suresh Uncle) mother-n-law's (are you following me?) Indian cooking. She made a pumpkin squash, coconut and bean dish (red beans) tonight that tasted straight out of New Orleans. It was awesome... I could not help but eat two helpings each meal. (moral of the story: Joshie's tummy is yummy today).

Our daily marathon of 8 hours of intense conversation finished and I proceeded to veg out and listen to the iPOD for one hour and then play with "NayaniaPriya" (Suresh Attah's baby girl of 18 months I think?). Since the little one only knows a few words in Tamil and Malayalam (Tamil is the language of Tamil Nadu-- the state we are in now, and Malayalam is the language of Kerela--the lower west coast of Indiad where Usha's family roots are from) and maybe 1-2 english words... there was not much in the way of conversation... but it is amazing how universal a ball rolling on the ground is. So, I enjoyed by evening. I will make sure to get some pictures of her and the rest here to post soon. promise.

Katie G, arrived from "Amrika" tonight (that is the way most Indians pronounce America). I laid down to sleep around 9pm, thinking that I would rise around 10:30 to join the team to pick her up (Emrys, Kathryn and Suresh). I felt like I had just taking a nap and got up and suddenly Katie was in the doorway saying 'hello'. So, I guess I was more tired than I thought -- probably because I had only slept around 3 hours last night. I think Katie is a med student, or a nurse here for the summer. I should know by now, since we have been preparing for her visit for some time... but I am utterly useless sometimes... now is one of those times.

So, long day short... it is around 2:30-3am in the morning as I recap this day. After my 4 hour nap. And I am ready for a bath (how one says, 'shower' in India), and to continue my nap. Maybe some 7up before I retire to the bed?

Prayers: Specifically for RAIN for Andhra Pradesh where the hospital is. And for safety and fun over the next few days here with family and Katie. Finally, for the deeper conversations, philosophical debates and critiques of how the mission needs to change as a whole over the next 24-36 months in order to welcome the next missionaries into the slot that my in-laws currently fulfill... and to prepare the U.S. organization and operations during this time to become a more affective partner and organization to that end. And for the patients of the David and Lois Rees Hospital who suffer with HIV, TB and Leprosy. You know, the REASON why we are here...

Praises: Indian food. Indian stores. Indian chocolates. Indian butterscotch ice cream. Indian 7up.

Maybe some pictures to come tomorrow. They are on our camera, but we are living out of a suitcase again, instead of having everything in a dresser/wardrobe. Thanks for visiting this blog again today... and in the days past. Your interest, prayers and emails are wonderful (even here in the city where we can get up to 50-70 kbs internet connections... hurrah!).

BUSHED!

Well, today is our last day.

Yes we have said goodbye to over 40 people...
Yes we have taking many pictures...
Yes we have been packing all evening...
Yes we have been playing with the puppies...
Yes we are tired.

So, no pics, no words, just up at midnight downloading our computers onto our external hard drive before bed and surfing the net to stay awake.

I will post more later, tomorrow.
We leave for Chennai tomorrow morning and will be there for the next 5 days before we leave.

So, stop by again some time...

Monday = Monthly Meeting

Today the monthly meeting was scheduled one week early due to are departure and the in-laws being gone in Chennai next Monday. It was a good day.

I gave a devotional for the meeting based on the Parable of the Weeds and the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I hope most of the point got through. Basically I was pointing out that in Christ we are like weeds that become wheat, bearing good fruit. And that the token actions of these new sons and daughters of the Kingdom of God is the ability to not put our religious structure ahead of human suffering and the needs of this world. That God never asked us to sit on a mountain and meditate for days on end... though I would probably enjoy deeper meditation on the words of God. But he constantly points us to the hurting, needed and left behind until his return... that his children are the preservation of the world until he comes to 'remove all causes of sin and all law breakers'... so those who are still law breakers oughta recognize, repent and become wheat (children of the Kingdom of God, saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ).

And I pointed out that this little hospital is a earthly outgrowth, fruit, of the life of the Rees family. This is the Kingdom of God come to earth... until the full kingdom is revealed.

Most of today was met with frustration. The power has been on for 1 hour and then off for 30 minutes. It is confusing what is happening around here. No matter, although it has put an hamper on the degree of efficiency today, we are still getting stuff done.

Today Emrys went 3 hours away to Chittoor, the district headquarters. Think of a district like a super-county and the district headquarter like a super-county seat. They made some progress on the immigration front, we think.

I finally got around to filling out the beginning of our new transformation of the US Board of Directors. It will be a two year process, and probably a two month process to figure out what the end game really looks like, but we are getting half way there. I feel good actually having some stuff on paper. It took around 5 hours to get it all done with the power the way it has been, but my current task has been accomplished.

It is late right now, I am just checking e-mail and posting these words. We took a large group photo of the staff today. It is on the other camera and I am using the wrong laptop at the moment. So you will have to do with the large picture below (bottom of the blog) of the staff last winter, until I can edit today’s photos and post them tomorrow, or update this post.

Prayers: that we accomplish all that we can tomorrow, Tuesday, our last day at the Hospital. And for more rain. We have gotten one good storm last Thursday-Friday, but we could use another one here for the farmers and the temperatures.

Praises: Telegu praise music, it just sounds nice. And the fact that we have the chance to be forgiving, fully human, and to have a hope that cannot spoil or fade. (in this I greatly rejoice!)

Thanks for your prayers… and birthday emails, cards, etc. Even though they took 3 minutes to download here… many were worth it, and I thank you all.

PUPPIES!!!

After waiting soooo long. Here you are. About 8-10 weeks ago 5 puppies were born, we arrived around 6 weeks ago… one puppies has been lost (snake bite)… the other four are surviving along fairly well, so far.

So here they are… I have named them as follows:
mamadoggy (the mother),
joshpuppy (the big fat black one of the group),
Kathrynpuppy (brown with eye liner),
santhoshpuppy (who is hyperactive and always barking, the one that is brown and white)
and robertpuppy (who like to spend time far away from the rest of the family in the front yard, that is the skinny tan one).

Happy Sunday... we are just doing church, talking and relaxing...

To Avery and Olivia – enjoy kids!

puppy rollcall!!!

This is "santhoshpuppy" hyperspastic

"robertpuppy" the loner

kathrynpuppy, see the eyeliner

joshpuppy is the fat one on the left.

cute puppies always get birthday cake

Santhosh with the puppies, eating cake

puppies + sugar = fighting for 30 minutes

mamadoggy is a good mommy,
gentle with her puppies and was scared (well, not trusting) of humans, but Kathryn has broken her of that fear after a month.

HEY it’s my “Putina roseu” (Day you were born)

So, I woke today, like any day—I slept in a little since it is my day. The first time I have celebrated my birthday in India. I was thinking that my first trip was from JUNE-AUGUST, my second was JULY-SEPTEMBER, my third (with Kathryn) was OCTOBER – FEBRUARY and now this one is APRIL-JUNE. So I have seen every month except March. I guess we all have to have one goal.

Santhosh was singing Happy Birthday since 6am for an hour before I made it out of the room, luckily our second fan (yes you have to have 2) is very loud!!! So Santhosh was the first to give me my gift, before I washed my face or brushed my teeth!

Kathryn and Usha surprised me during morning meditations. After the morning prayer I lifted my eyes to see a cake with 3 candles on one side and 2 on the other. So that is 32 isn’t it?

And then came the 'special' birthday candles.. that never go out, ha ha ha!!!

first try

second try

third try

After devotions I opened my presents.

some new handkerchiefs

lifebouy soap, 12 pack... dreams do come true

new lungees

Santhosh thought I needed the tags on my face.

This afternoon I spent finishing an outline of a book and having a little conversation with Emrys. Nothing to big.

Tonight we went to eat at an Indian buffet. Really good food. It was an expensive westernized hotel atmosphere. But we had a selection of 12 different hot dishes, several salads and several deserts.

Also they snuck another birthday cake in the mix.

Now it is home, a nice breeze outside, feeding the puppies, mamadoggy and dusty some cake. Bloggin’ shower and bed.

Hope you are having a good day also.

LINK and Prayer Meeting

Well it is Friday. Sorry this post is coming so late, but look at it this way, you will have 3 posts to catch up on!

Friday, we started the day with the usual LINK team of evangelists. They are in charge of follow up for many of the patients and their family members who are interested in knowing more about Jesus or have been baptized recently. It is too bad that many of the local Christians are so uncomfortable with HIV positive Christians (many of them new, sense they have recently thought about dying, or rather life after dying), that they don’t really accept them – or have programs for them.

Anyway, the LINK team, besides my family here, are the closest men in my “Indian” life. Good, good men! We actually had a great time discussing the last 10 years, since the team was established, and where they are at with their goals. Many things have not been met, but a new approach is on the horizon for ministry, family and business in their life. So maybe it is good that I am joining with them now, as their plans change. They will get back to me in July with a new timeline till 2020.

After joking around and talking through ideas and other stuff, not really a time line, but the things a time line should include, we had a prayer time and were dismissed by 4:30pm. That was enough time to say hello to a few people, and relax with Kathryn in the dining room (watching… c’mon you can guess… cricket!).

Prayer meeting for the Yerpedu Church of Christ was at John Basha’s house. He had eye surgery last week and will be wearing eye gear (sunglasses) for the next 30 days. It was good. One of my favorite Telegu (the language here) praise and worship songs was sung last night. It basically says “no matter what problems in life.. Jesus in the answer”. It reminds me of my trip to Haiti in 1997 where “Jesu la unique solution” was painted everywhere.

We had a fun conversation on the way home with Rhamachandria (he is the farmer that became a ward attendant… that became a store room manager… that became a social worker in the last 6 years). He basically went from a $1,500 rupee p/month job to around $5,000 rupees a month (oh.. sorry… $30 USD to $100-120 USD) over the last 6 years through hard work and education. He is a very fun friend to have.

After stuffing myself at John’s house I sat around in the front and played with puppies from 10-11pm before bed… we got home just in time to see Chris win American Idol. I am actually happy. I wasn’t a huge fan of Adams. Yet I think Chris was milking the “girlie-girl” vote. I wasn’t surprised as much when you think about it. I could see Danny’s voters going for Chris’ music much more than Adam’s releases.

And.. that was Friday. The day before my first Indian B-day.

Thanks for your time…

Thursday: Tirupathi, twice in a day!

Today I decided to sleep in to 6am. Really. I usually wake around 4-430am. So, after some study--I gave the devotion for morning meditations (for the staff at DLRH). Hopefully, I showed how grace is different than mercy, and about the difference between Christianity and the Islamic and Hindu views of salvation. We are all pretty much in agreement with how a human should behave... we are a little different on the depth of depravity we see... and we are different in the prescriptions to fix the fallen world. It was my last time to speak to the staff in the mornings.

We spend the middle part of today (10am - 4pm) in Tirupathi. Shopping and various stops, the real reason that we stopped was to meet the president of the agri-college, and to meet the local chief in charge of all the rural agri-business in the area (the southern 3 districts -- Chittoor, Nellore and Kadapa). It was good to meet both men. And considering the 'positions' they both hold, they were very gracious to give us the time of day and more.

After several other stops we finally showed up back home tired and ready for a late late late lunch.

Tonight we went to Bhushanam's house (another trip into the city!) to have dinner with him and his family. His son will not be returning till Saturday (but we already have birthday plans for... mmm.. me!). Bhushanam is always smiling, always. So it is always good to be around him for a while. Tommorrow is the last time I will see the LINK team... that will be sad. We have not even addressed the needs of the LINK team now and future and the plans that they have. And this is the most disapointing part... This will be a need next time we visit... or if I come alone during the winter this next year.

Of course, I forgot to get a picture with everyone! Even after telling Kathryn to bring the camera. Ya... all of this 'documenting' each hour of our life is new... give us a break will ya?

RAIN!!! RAIN!!! RAIN!!! Thanks for all of your prayers... after 4 weeks we finally got another rain. Actually the last one was only about 10-20 minutes of rain in late April. This was the full measure and heaping over. Lighting, Thunder, huge drops, downpours for 1 hour, soaked up by a thirsty thirsty thirsty earth. Kathryn and I will be sleep out under the front roof tonight! It is so nice an cool now.. 75-80 degrees.

I am reminded now everyday that we are getting closer to saying good-bye to all of our 'extended family' of the DLRH. And it is kinda sad. I guess I can look forward to seeing our little doggie-dog back home (Claire-bear).

(I am sure she is enjoying Illinois with "Cocoa" the weiner-dog)

Prayers: Largest thing now is to have a Q3 and Q4 plan for the next 6 months after we return to begin a large transformation of our U.S. operations, board and begin the process of moving Emrys and Usha out of ministry as Administrators of DLRH and begin the task of finding a missionary family that would love to work with the least reached, least helped, least remembered of India... cause we are on their doorstep here!

Praises: After spending the day in Tirupathi (city of 500-700K people and over 150K visitors a day) I am glad to live 6 kilometers north of a village of 10,000 people today! The quiet is good for the soul I think, and also for the patients to heal faster.

Thanks for stopping.

Oh, the drama of Wednesday!

Oh boy…. What a day. As usual I ran in the morning, and enjoyed some time on the internet. I met with Mohandas (the financial head man here) for an hour to go over his view of things and some immediate needs (conversation still continuing next Monday/Tuesday), before breakfast..

I had a good day planned, I thought. Meet with Guvara Reddy again to discuss the leprosy and TB work (now that we have covered the HIV/AIDS work that we do). But then at the end of morning devotions that announcement was made that the main director of all of our state funding for HIV work ($40-50K a year) was coming to worship at the nearby temple and wished to stop and visit.

Mother hates living next to the Thirmala Temple in the city of Tirupathi about 30 miles away. This happens quite often. So then for the next 3-4 hours all the quiet and peaceful bliss and workings of DLRH was interrupted as we had to clean up, and prepare for an officials visit.

Kathryn was not feeling well at all today, and I laid down with her to take a nap after lunch around 2pm. Before I knew it I was a little sweaty and it was 4pm. And I thought, ‘Oh no, I am the Son-n-law and I missed meeting this gov’t official from Hyderabad.’

Only to find out that they called around 3pm and said that they were not coming…

So, as you might expect, this is the 78^th time this has happened… (not sure on the number, they stopped counting after 15 I would guess)… it is quite common. And the frustrating thing is that my Father-n-law and Mohandas were going to run to the Chittoor District headquarters this morning (Chittoor City) to meet with the Collector (basically the regional governor of the district, directly under the state governor). And they had to cancel this trip due to the Hyderabad Official’s surprise visit. And this means paying a partial payment on an air conditioned car rental for the 2 hour trip to Chittoor and the 2 hour trip back. Ahhhhhh!!!!!!

So that was the majority of the day. I finished a book finally. And the family sat around the front yard and talked tonight from 6:30-8pm… and then we had baked potatoes! I read another couple chapters of ‘Atlas Shrugged’… and now to bed. Good night.

Prayers: RAIN. Only a few days left here.. we leave in 5 days from the hospital, ten days from India. Pray for clarity of thought, enjoyment of time, and progress on some core issues for the next 3-6 months.

Praise: For drama, sometimes the most frustrating events in a day can keep everything in perspective and how meaningless much of life is… if you don’t have your priorities in check, or a God who is not bound by our drama to cling to when stress comes like rushing waters! I am thankful for the chance to laugh about today… when I wake tomorrow.

Thanks for many of the recent emails. If you are reading this faithfully please email Kathryn by surprise over the next 1-2 days just to bring some joy to her life here. Please, for me? Rees_Kathryn@juno.com