2014 Mission Trip Begins.+

The time is here. Tomorrow January 31, 2014 we travel to Koraput, India. We will be begin the trip on Friday Jan 31 departing from Atlanta, GA to Mumbai via Amsterdam.  Once we get to Mumbai (Bombay) we will change to Jet Airways and fly from Mumbai to Vizag (short for Visakhapatnam). We will be in Vizag on the eastern coast of India on the Bay of Bengal for 2 days to let our bodies catch up then to Koraput for our medical clinics, pastors conference and dedication of the well.

I'll add to this as time permits along with pictures.

Until tomorrow....

Children’s Home – Saturday February 25

Saturday afternoon we visit the Seminary to meet Dr Kunjamon Chacko. We visit the classrooms where Team 1 taught the classes and met daily. Remember the little blurb about a week ago stating we made it, we’re here, talk later. It was sent from my iPad sitting on the steps in the hallway just before we left for the Children’s home. (Didn’t know that would be the last Internet until I got back to JFK Airport) At the Seminary we were treated to home grown pineapple, and banana nut bread. We then headed over to the Children’s Home to meet the wonderful children and have an evening with them. We arrived and the children gathered to meet us. They sang a song to us as we prepared to give them gifts we brought.

The courtyard

Meeting and greeting all the precious Children

Evening worship at the school. Songs were sung, roll was called and MANY were blessed.

Saturday February 25, 2012 – Travel to Kottayam

Our flight was delayed from Dubai to Kochi, India by an hour. It seems there was a little “unrest” in the country of Oman so we had to wait for an hour to get clearance to overfly Oman. We got to Kochi around 4:00am. We were hoping to be able to see the departing members of our 1st team but it wasn’t to be. They were at a departure gate not in sight of the arrival/customs area. We hit a little snag coming through customs. The customs officials didn’t look pleased to see a suitcase full of eyeglasses. He thought they were being brought in to sell. Penny tried to explain they were going to be given away. After a little while customs finally cleared the glasses after a small duty was paid on them.

As we exit the airport we are met by one of gracious hosts Sabu along with two buses to take us to Kottayam. After all the luggage is loaded we load up and head to Pearl Regency Hotel – Kottayam. The trip to the hotel is an adventure by itself. Saw many sights and got to see our first Indian sunrise (through a bus window but still beautiful).

Here are a few of the sites along the way.

Internet - How Much we miss thee

Team 2 made it back safely. I will be updating the blog with the activities in the next couple of days. We left Kochi, IN at 5:30 AM Saturday Morning (7:00 PM Friday night EST) and arrived in Atlanta at approx. 10:00 PM Saturday evening. As was said earlier. Once we left the Seminary on Saturday there was no more internet. At times there was no power.

Almost home

Eleven of us from group 1 started our trip home Friday night India time after a busy day and moving graduation service. We are currently awaiting our flight in JFK with just the short flight to Atlanta remaining. We are very tired since we are approaching 48 hours since any bed based sleep. We could see group 2 deplane in India but they could not see us. We pray the team in India has a safe and productive week.

Team 2 quickly

I will post this as best I can. As this will be it for Internet till we return. We made it safely to Kochi. We rested for the morning. All is well. I must go.

See you when we return.

Thursday Schedule

As I write this it is Thursday Morning.  The conference is continuing and our schedule for today is as follows:

Morning Worship: Led by Bill Ross, Devotion by Laura Smith and Singing by Melissa Fox

Morning Session:

Group 1: Led by Harris Travis on By Who and When was Leadership Instituted

Group 2: Led by Lauren Waggoner on Teaching Children

Afternoon Session:

Group 1: Led by Harris Travis on What Happens Without a Leader

Group 2: Led by Laura Smith on Spiritual Parenting

The afternoon session will be followed by the Baccalaureate Service for the Graduates.  Most of our group is involved in this service in one way or another, speaking, singing, praying or distributing awards to the graduates.

The Graduation dinner follows the Baccalaureate Service. 

  

This will be a very long, busy and hot day for our group.  Please pray for us.