hey guys, we're back! jasmine, autumn, and our families met us at the airport (minus my mom who had to leave for a convention in atl), and then we ate at longhorns

thank you all again so much for your prayers and support.

coming home

hey guys, thank you all so much for sticking with us all this time and praying for us. we're back in chennai now, our flight leaves just before 2 in the morning tonight, so then we'll begin our 24 hr journey back home. we're getting back at about 4 in the afternoon from frankfurt on lufthansa tomorrow, so please be praying for safe travel, or meet us there (parents, please feel free to meet us there?).

the last few days have been way intense. we traveled 8 hrs by bus one day way out to another district, and held a "street good news (i would use another word, but security)" meeting late into the night. that was awesome. after journeying back, we walked a few km to another village near chirala, even farther out from where we were staying in the heat of day with little water. it was intense ministering there, the heat is ridiculous here. traveling to chennai was cool, we shared some good spiritual conversation with a guy named vishnu, who helped us get around chennai to our hotel. he was really cool. it was really sad though, because he told us all about how pretty much all indians think americans are like euro trip and american from age 14 onward, and that everyone in the country is Christian, and they're synonymous. its interesting how the media works.

we took it easy today, bought some stuff, ate some stuff, saw a movie (the happening... wouldn't recommend it, we didn't have any choice). and now we're coming home. looking forward to seeing you all, sooner or later. love you all,
mike and eric

back in hyderabad

okay, so that wasn't the last post, but this probably will be until we get back to chennai on the 26th. we're back in hyderabad today, got back last night. this is the capital city in the state, so to head to another district/region, we had to come back here. we'll be heading to the coast tonight, and moving from a city over there, we'll be going out to villages for the next 4 days. heres a little recap of whats been going on

we've been to a few of the biggest churches in asia minor, which has been really cool. some of them seem like different ministries are going really well, while other seem to have fallen almost into another form worshipping idols.

6/11 - traveled from hyderabad to dornakal, a small town in the warangal region. very nice peaceful place. saw site of future school (both grade school and ministry school). met many pastors. spent a day or two just going to different villages to spread the Word, visiting families and encouraging, and such. one day we took an autorikshaw, and the two drivers were gypsies, and they wanted us to come visit their village up north. we ran out of time, so anand and kiran will visit them after we leave. we also met some guys on the train ride up, with some interest, especially after J healed one of their really bad back pains right there on the train.
we had a monkey run into the house and steal a bonda (breakfast food) one morning
got to stand on the tailgate of the autorickshaw when we went from village to village, very windy ride. saw a cobra cross the road

6/14 - went to a small town called atkur, 30 min outside of a small city vijayawada. most buildings are huts, this is a small village like many that we visited, but this time we stayed there 2 nights. taught the kids, sang songs with them. eric gave the message Sunday morning when we dedicated (ribbon cutting etc) the new church building (which was 15 ft by 8 ft or so, a metal roof, and walls made of sewn together rice sacks and palm branches). one family took the door off their own house so that it could have one. a lot of the village turned out for the opening, so we got to share.

6/17 - dedicated a new kindergarten in a village with no schools, set up by anand's ministry. lots of kids from village came. its crazy how many people flock when they see white people and esp when we play a little guitar. brian, the reese's pb you gave me before you left was a huge blessing to pastor kiran, he absolutely loves the stuff, though he hates grant's tuna. eric and i made pb &j sandwiches for lunch for everybody that day with mixed fruit jelly (delicious). they were not the biggest fans, so they made some rice and curry like an hr later. everyone tries to feed us so much.

lots going on, i haven't even tried to cover all of it, especially my thoughts and all the Lord is teaching me, and i think eric would agree. just be praying for us though, this is going to be the most extreme part of the trip as we look to be sleeping outside, monsoon season is about to start, and these villages are going to be just like the ones we've been going to except we'll be going to a lot more random people. to whom much is given much is also expected. we're very blessed to be here, and we look forward to seeing you all very soon. but we're also having a blast here, and doing what we came to do. so life is good
peace

mike and eric

village time

last post for real. we head to the villages tomorrow. we bought a guitar and so i've been leading a little worship, which has been a nice reminder of home. pray that we don't look too far ahead/get homesick. we have a team of 6. and we'll be going around on 2 motorcycles. pray about that. and that the Lord will lead us
much love in J,
mike and eric

hyderabad and onward

hey guys, been a while since the last update, and this will probably be the last update before maybe one on the 25th or 26th before we head back on the 27th. we're about to head to villages pretty soon here. we made it safely to hyderabad after our 30 hr train ride on 6/4 and 6/5. we stayed in a pretty nice hotel (relative standards) that first night and the 6th as well. we've been going around visiting families, encouraging and praying, and it has been really good.

there was a strike organized by one party of the government the 6th and so we were limited in what we could do then. the strike was against inflation and raising gas prices, so we were not in any danger, though the political climate is definitely far more unstable here, so be praying for that

6/7 we got to go to baptist church hyderabad, one of the biggest in asia, and met with the pastor there. we prayed for each other. they were very encouraging and have an awesome thing going on. last night we slept on the roof of this apartment building. it was awesome, and so breezy (first time i've felt cold here)

6/8 we went to a really small service this morning; we met in about a 12 x 15 foot shop room rented out, and there was about 20 people there. it was really cool to see them just making it how they could. we got to share our story and give the message. we're leaving soon, and won't have internet, so if this is the last post until we get back on the 27th (4pm from frankfurt on lufthansa, if you want to be there - reminder to parents, but we'd love to see anyone else famliar), continue to pray for our protection and mission
much love,
mike and eric

vacation? when did this become a vacation? i guess we could use some rest

6/1

Happy belated birthday to Dad and Patrick (you're a teenager now!). I’ve been meaning to write that, our time has been pretty short with communication though (as always). Madhu uncle (traditional in india to call people you know with family distinctions in their names - kids actually called us eric uncle, mike anna (anna = big brother) etc) has planned a bunch of sightseeing type stuff for us so far. Today we went up to the mountains. It was very beautiful, and we got to be in a cloud. We also met a crazy group of Indian guys who basically treated us almost like we were celebrities. wanted to take lots of pictures with us, exchange emails, all of that. It was pretty funny. Except we should’ve used to opportunity as a better witness. Its interesting how curious everyone is, especially in areas where I’m betting they don’t see a lot of westerners

5/31

Went on this tour down to the tip of India today. We saw this historical palace, which was pretty interesting, and got to learn a lot more history and culture. The second place we went to was the suchindram temple. it was full of idols and people going around worshipping them and pray to them. It broke our hearts, and made for a really intense half hour. It really gave us a grasp for the spiritual state of this country, and opened our eyes to a lot of stuff. In many ways, I thought of it as a wake up call.

We’ve seen a lot of interesting things. There’s actually a bunch of Christian stuff around here, but its hard to tell how genuine. I’d hate to be pessimistic, but my eyes also tell me to be realistic, so we just pray that people know the truth and (if not the case) then it does become real to them. A lot of people seem to put His name on their rickshaws and vehicles, and there are statues and pictures set up in a lot of places, but those seem to be treated more like mere additions to a pantheon of all the idols and temples that line the streets, or sales gimmicks

Pray for:

Boldness – though we don’t want to cause any trouble here, we’ve had our chances

The people – openness to hear combined with a hunger for truth, a hunger for something more

Rest – despite plenty of time, I (mike) have not had the best sleep the past few nights

Preparation – we’ve been listening to some good teachings, and have been reading some good books (incl. the good book), and He is preparing us more and more daily

i love you all (i'm sure eric does too, he's going to write on this one of these days)

mike