5/23
so life's good. vbs ends, and we talked about who we are in Christ. really good ending to a good week, talking about fruits of the Spirit with the kids, God's heart to heal, comfort, encourage. i feel like i've seen a lot of change in my kids over the week (mike talking, but i'm sure eric would agree with his group). kids are enjoying their last few weeks of summer before heading back to school. we're starting to realize this portion of the trip is nearing an end. a lot of the team is preparing for the return. i think we all want some american food, as T ma said we'd be going to a hard rock cafe (just opened in bangalore) monday night. probably going to see indiana jones as well. i know it sounds like we're really roughing it over here with all these movies and playing.

5/24
we had the official america vs india volleyball game today. it was so close but they beat us, 3 games to 2. it was 10 people vs 6 though, but we were bigger, so it was a really interesting matchup that came right down to the wire. did laundry today. i'm horrible at indian style laundry cleaning. my clothes don't look very clean. but they smell so much better. i'm thinking i should've brought another shirt or two, but we're going to buy some jupas when we get a chance (indian shirt). we had wrestlemania with the boys tonight. it was interesting: we played a game where there were heroes trying to rescue a baby doll being lowered from the ceiling into a fire (stool). apparently the idea is from the movie sky high, if anyone's heard of that. those kids are tough. it was a brawl, and boy was it fun. i expected this trip to be demanding, but not really from that specific physical standpoint. the kids are all really successful at what they do. they pretty much sweep everything academically and athletically for their school and entire area because of the way they're raised. and most of them are just as passionate for the Lord. praise God. you pretty much gotta see it to believe it.

5/25
went to a church in Tamil this morning. they translated the sermon for us, going back and forth between languages. their worship and the message was awesome. we got to lead some songs in english. it was amazing, but this shop is about to close. keep praying for our train tickets, that those work out, as well as for safe travel for everyone else back to the states
much love
grace and peace
<><
mike