August
29 2008
Dear friends
and family,
I hope you are all well! I write to you from Montauban Guest House
in India. We have been in Ooty almost two weeks and are slowly beginning
to settle in. Two days after arriving in India Bethany had a temperature
and fast respiratory rate and we were very concerned about her. We
prayed for her and the next morning she woke up completely healed.
Praise the Lord!
Life here takes much longer to do and simple tasks are rather time
consuming. Our day begins with collecting drinking water and often
bathing water too. There is only 1 hot water tap in the flat and more
often than not it is dry, so we spend a lot of time heating water
on the gas cooker, or when there is no gas, in the fire. When there
is power we have a heater to keep us warm, otherwise we have to make
a fire and take turns 'feeding' it as the sticks are small. It is
still monsoon season so most days are cold and rainy. Drying towels
etc. takes forever. Our flat is very basic – cement floor with a Hessian
kind of a cloth as a carpet. The kitchen has the bare essentials (no
kettle, fridge or toaster) so we had to buy a few things in order
to cook.
The roads here are exceptionally busy and noisy, with enough traffic,
pedestrians, beggars, goats, cows, ponies and dogs around to keep
you alert all the time. The busses and cows really frighten Aby so
walking is not a pleasant experience for her (and she doesn't suffer
in silence either). There is a lot of litter and droppings on the
roads which create a variety of smells… air and noise pollution is
terrible (even the birds squawk at top volume all day!) Going to the
market to buy food is an experience entirely in itself. The veggie
market looks lovely but smells terrible, and the meat market looks
terrible and smells terrible. It will certainly take some getting
used to. Despite the challenges we are so happy to be here and consider
them to be 'light and momentary troubles'.
The children are adjusting to school at Hebron - Daniel loves it,
Bethany likes it and Aby is still making up her mind. She has gone
into Standard 11 which is the second year of GCSE and quite difficult
to break into - she has to attend the Standard 10 History class (with
Bethany) which doesn't bless her! She had a sleep over last Friday
night at the girls boarding dorm and was made to feel very welcome
– for which we were very grateful. She will probably go over there
again tonight. Bethany has to learn German, but is 1 year behind the
class so she has a lot of catching up to do. We are very happy with
the school and trust the kids will all settle in soon. Daniel is learning
to play the recorder and the guitar which he is delighted about.
We have started house hunting and trust the Lord we'll find a suitable
home soon. Our container arrives at the end of the month so there
is pressure on to find a home soon. Geoff went to Coimbatore (which
is a 3 hour trip down the mountain) on Thursday to make inquiries
about purchasing a car. We hope that within the next few months we
will have our own transport. He ministered there on the Thursday evening
and Friday morning at the Bible College.
We feel very welcome here and are getting to know some of the locals
and expats. They have been incredibly kind to us and helpful with
things like renting houses, buying cars, finding a doctor etc. Many
locals stare at us, particularly the girls, which is difficult for
them. Daniel is highly favoured by the locals which does his ego good!
Geoff will be attending the Indian Missionary's Association's national
conference in Hyderabad next weekend. He amazingly met Dave Hicks,
former President of Bethany College in the States, who is now a consultant
for the IMA. This is a wonderful opportunity for him to make the right
contacts.
Thank you all for your prayers and support; they mean so much to us.
Thanks too for all the gifts and for all the effort that went into
our farewell parties – they were so special and have created very
special memories for us. Thanks to all of you who were able to see
us off at the airport, we felt very loved by you! Thank you!
Lots of love and the Lord bless you all abundantly,
Karen
