Saint Thomas

Yesterday our team visited the tomb of Saint Thomas. It was pretty inspirational to realize that the disciple who we generally think of as "Doubting Thomas" was the one God used to first bring the Gospel to India. Even 2000 years later southern India (where Thomas came) has far more Christians than the rest of India. Just a reminder that God can use anyone to do his work as long as you're willing to submit yourself to Him.

Third Time in Chennai

We're back in Chennai for a couple of days. The train ride back was kind of miserable. It wasn't a sleeper, which meant there was less space per person on the seats, as well as less space to stash luggage. About half way through the six hour ride a bunch of people got on, far more than there were seats for. I guess they just sell tickets that don't have seats when they run out of seats. The train was really, really packed with people. Even though I was sitting down, I was pressed up against people that were standing in the isles. Then, to make things even better, it started raining outside, so we had to close all of the windows and deal with a stuffy train. Oh well, it was only for a few hours, and we did all make it to Chennai, although we were pretty worn out.

Once we were in Chennai, we checked into a hotel and then went to a nearby restaurant in search of a late dinner. The people at the restaurant didn't speak much English, and we don't speak a word of any south Indian language. Apparently there were a lot of things that they were out of by this time of night. I'm not sure if we were just having major communication blocks, or if we actually found the one restaurant in India that was out of rice. It seemed like whatever we asked for, he would tell us that they had chapattis and parattas (two types of bread). While this was somewhat helpful when we asked about nan (another bread), it was less helpful when I asked for a lassi (sweet yogurt drink). Eventually we managed to order some chicken and parattas. It wasn't exactly what we had originally wanted, but it was really good. Todd and I rated the place as an "A" for taste, but as a "D-" for selection.

We had a similar experience at breakfast this morning. We chose to sit at two tables because the tables were small. At my table, Kristin tried to order grape juice, which the waiter said they didn't have until 11:30am. I tried to order a lassi, which he said they didn't have. We all settled for tea instead. The funny thing was, that they brought me both a tea and a lassi. I'm really not sure how that happened. At the end of the meal, we got a bill that had two grape juices on it. Apparently they were able to come up with grape juice for the other table. I wish I knew how these things happened. It doesn't seem like the waiters would try to prevent us from ordering what we want. They again... this is India.

Tammy's Home

Our team has been at a private orphanage outside of Bangalore since Sunday morning. Today is the first time we left the home, and hence the first time I've had the opportunity to blog. The home is run by an American women named Tammy, and it ranks pretty high among the most amazing places I have ever been to. I can see God's presence is so clearly there. I'll try to summarize some of our experiences from the past three days, but I'm sure that I'll only be giving you the smallest taste of this place.

There are currently 42 kids in the home, 24 boys and 18 girls. The kids range from two up to sixteen. They are divided into four groups for living purposes, and each group has a live in aunt. They live together like one big family. Tammy is the head of the home, and loves each and every one of the kids as sons and daughters.

Sunday afternoon we ate lunch with the kids, and then played an Indian game with them. Sunday dinners are reserved as an optional time of fasting and prayer. Not all of the kids came, but I'd estimate that over 30 of them were there. I gather that many of the kids would choose to fast more if Tammy would let them. This assumption comes from my observed reaction to Tammy's announcement of a three day fast open to the older kids. You could tell that the older kids were excited about it... and that the younger kids were disappointed to be left out. It blows my mind to see all of these kids so on fire and dedicated to Jesus. During the time of fasting and prayer, Tammy opened it up for everyone to pray for each other. While our team sat around not quite sure what to do, the kids quickly went around laying hands on us and on each other and praying without any worry about what anyone else thought. I probably had over half of the kids lay hands on me and pray for me at one point or another.

Right now the kids are on vacation from school, so during the weekdays we all had pretty open time to spend with the kids. We talked, played games, and even watched a movie with them. In the evenings we divided up into groups to lead devotions for the kids and eat dinner with them. Kristin and I were assigned to the second floor boys. Our first devotion (Monday) was about being a hero versus being a servant. Our second devotion (Tuesday) was about thankfulness. We had the kids take some time to just talk about the gifts from Jesus they are thankful for. I certainly don't remember all of what they said, but it was pretty amazing to hear some of their testimonies. The following is an incomplete list of what they are thankful for, including some explanations:

• Food to eat every day.
• Their buildings - Up until last October ago they were living in two apartments that were only barely big enough for them. For 2.5 years they prayed for a new place to live. Without ever asking anyone for them, one day someone just decided to pay to build three buildings to be an amazing new home for them.
• Jesus dying on the cross for their sins.
• Bananas - I had to include this one because it was from an adorable four year old.
• Water - All of the wells in their area have dried up... except for theirs, which shows no signs of running out.
• Family - God brought each of them to this home where they are part of a very loving family. Without this home most of the kids would be completely abandon, and some would probably be dead.

There were a lot more too. Once they started going, it was hard to keep it down to only one kid talking at a time. I hope that I can learn to be so completely thankful to God for each blessing He has places in my life. I guess I'll start right now by being thankful for the opportunity to visit this amazingly loving home. Although it is only a brief part of my trip, I will certainly remember it as one of the highlights.

Official April Update Letter

Here is my official update letter for April. Even if you read every word on my blog, there's some new stuff in here.

Hello everyone,

This is an update on the events of my past month in Asia. About three weeks ago we left Kolkata to spend some time in Sri Lanka. We spent three weeks there working with Habitat for Humanity to help people rebuild homes after the tsunami. We just returned to India today and will spend a week in southern India before returning to Kolkata for another six weeks. I am past the halfway point of this trip, but I am sure that there is still a lot left for God to teach me.

Our time in Sri Lanka was spent in the city of Galle, in the southwest corner of the island. Word Made Flesh rented a house, which our team shared with seemingly ever changing residents. At the peak, there were a total of fourteen people sharing a modest sized house. We really didn't have any personal space. Some people were lucky enough to have beds, but not everyone. I slept on a mat in the living room, and had to put my bed away each morning when I woke up. Although it was crowded, it ended up being a wonderful time for all of us to grow closer together as a team. Nearly everything we did, we did as a team. We lived together, worked together, ate all of our meals together, and regularly prayed together. I wouldn't ever consider those experiences for personal space. The growth of relationship we experienced was just so valuable.

We were scheduled to work five days a week, taking off the weekend. If this had happened, then we would have worked 13 days. Unfortunately, a combination of poor weather, and Buddhist holidays cancelled four of those days. Still, I'm glad for the days that we were able to work. It was a privilege to be a small part of helping people recover from such an incredible disaster. Our team did everything from mixing concrete, to digging toilet holes, to painting walls.

Right now I feel somewhat apprehensive about being back in India, and particularly of returning to Kolkata. These stem from a variety of reasons. First, our community will lose some of the natural togetherness that we had in Sri Lanka. That doesn't mean that we will lose the closeness we gained, but a lot of the structure that helped us grow together so much won't be there. In addition to that, Kolkata is just a really hard city to live in. After getting away for a few weeks, I realize just how much the city had worn me down and how much I needed that break. For this six week stint in Kolkata, we will also be facing May, one of the most miserable months of the year. Our leader told us to expect temperatures consistently at or about 110 F, with high humidity.

Please be praying for us as we return. Pray that God would grow our hearts for the people of the city, and give us the strength to love them. Please pray for our community that we would continue to grow in love for each other and continue to challenge each other in our walk with Christ. Pray that we would not give up or give in to the overwhelming challenges of Kolkata.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers!
In Christ's love,
Philip

Back in Chennai

Our team is back in Chennai for most of today. Our plane arrived at about 9am, and we'll leave by train for Bangalore at about 11pm tonight. In Bangalore we'll be visiting an orphanage. Kristin says it is an absolutely amazing place with kids that love Jesus more than we do. I'm not sure if I'll have opportunities to update this while I'm there, but you can count on hearing about it eventually.

Praise and Prayer Request.

Note: I did not actually observe the following event. Other people on my team did. A lot of my work while in Sri Lanka was at this house, and I've spent time playing with this boy.

This afternoon, a young boy (ten years old maybe) was playing around his family's house. Their house is currently still a work in progress, so we usually have three or four people from our team helping them. Being a boy, he had done something that interfered with the work, and his father was chasing him to stop him and perhaps to punish him. The boy tripped over two cement blocks that were next to a concrete drainage ditch. He fell towards the ditch and split his head open on the edge of the opening. He then fell into the ditch, which is basically full of sewage. His parents rushed him off to the hospital and he was back at home with a large bandage later this afternoon. Other than the bandage, he seems to be ok.

Based on the nature of the accident, I'm amazed that he's already back at home and back to life as usual. I praise God that he is walking. Please pray for his recovery. Pray that there won't be any complications like infections from falling into the sewage with a fresh wound.

Back in Action

Sorry to all of my loyal readers. You probably noticed the complete lack of posts for the past few days. The reason for it is pretty simple. We've actually been working again, and I've been really worn out. It has been so good to get back out there. We've been sifting sand, moving bricks, digging holes, mixing concrete, and probably a few other things.

We'll put in another day of work tomorrow, but then our team is leaving to head back to India. We will take a train up to Colombo on Friday, then leave Sri Lanka on an early morning flight to Chennai. Our team will spend about a week in southern India visiting several Word Made Flesh homes. Then we will catch a train back to Kolkata where we will spend another six weeks before coming back to the states.

Cross Cultural Relationships are Hard

Since our team hasn't been working on building homes the past few days, it's given us more time for other things. I've probably spent a lot more time with natives, just trying to get to know them and hear their stories. I've reached a point where I just feel drained by it emotionally. Overall I've had a lot more good interactions than bad, but I still feel drained and don't really want to deal with it anymore. Please be praying for me, and for the whole team, that God would bless our efforts at cross cultural interactions. Pray that we would experience part of God's plan for reconciliation of race, culture, and class barriers.

Will We Ever Work Again?

The last time our team did any work was Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon they didn't have anything we could work on. Wednesday and Thursday the whole town pretty much shut down to celebrate New Year's Eve/Day. Friday the skilled laborers took off to make a five day weekend. There are also some problems right now with Habitat For Humanity in Galle not having money. I'm not sure exactly what the problem is. I gather that it's a bit of a complex administrative issue, although a simple shortage of funds may be involved too.

The lack of work is getting somewhat frustrating for all of us. While it was nice to have a bunch of days off, this is starting to feel more like a Sri Lankan vacation than anything else. Supposedly there will be work for us again on Monday. Please pray both that there will be stuff for us to do and that whatever problems Habitat is having, they can resolve them and get back to helping people recover from the tsunami.

In Which Philip Purchases Some Pleasure Reading

About a week ago I had a strong desire for some pleasure reading. Unfortunately, all I (or anyone else on the team) had was Bibles and Christian books. Yesterday I wandered into a small book store in downtown Galle. Most of the books weren't in English, or even written with an alphabet I can read. I spotted a section of English books, but it was all books about Sri Lanka (history, language, tourist guides, etc). Fortunately I found another small section of English books, and they were novels! Looking through it nothing much caught my eye. Then I noticed one shelf containing classics. In general I have this idea that classics are old, boring books, but for the most part they were authors I have never read. They were all pretty cheap too, about $2.15 each. I picked out two of them, brought them home, and started reading.

I'm currently reading Around the World in Eighty Days, and I'm really enjoying it. I only started reading it yesterday, and I'm already on page 190. When I get a chance, I definitely want to read some more books by Jules Verne. The other book I picked out was Treasure Island. I figure that a book about pirates should be entertaining, and really that's all I'm looking for. If I finish these two before leaving Sri Lanka on Friday, I'll probably grab a couple more. Any recommendations on old classics that I should read? Chances are that any book you mention won't actually be there, but if you know of a really good classic, it's worth a shot.

Hidden Messages

For the past few weeks Todd and I have been having a little fun with our book discussions. We have come up with a few phrases that we challenged each other to slip into the discussion without drawing any attention. I'm happy to say that after three book discussions I've slipped in two, and Todd hasn't managed any.

In our discussion of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger I managed to slip in the phrase "Benny Hinn says." Really that wasn't too hard, and went in easily when we got talking about some of the problems with the theology of the American Church. Later that day we told the team about our little game and mentioned what I had slipped in. One of the women commented that she had found my comment very insightful.

The second one was a lot harder, partly because it was a much harder phrase, and partly because now the rest of the team would have a suspicion that we would be doing this again. The phrase had to be made in reference to the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, it couldn't be another Lazarus. The words to slip in were "where does Lazarus get off?" Think about that phrase for a little while and try to figure out how in the world you could fit that in without it seeming out of place.

We were discussing part of Where is God?, and were talking about issues of the poor lying, stealing, and oppressing each other and all of the problems that creates in trying to love them, serve them, and treat them as equal human beings. I talked how easy it is for me to look at the poor, at Lazarus, who desires even just what I consider to be crumbs. Yet I'm so hesitant to listen to Lazarus, to give him much of anything. "I just get blocked thinking where does Lazarus get off deceiving and stealing." It really was a totally honest comment that I probably would have said even if I didn't want to fit that phrase in. Granted I probably would have phrased it a little differently. Anyway, I was pretty happy with myself after that. When we were done with the discussion, Todd made a comment about being amazed at my ability to fit it in. Then everyone tried to figure out what it was. No one had any clue, which made me feel any better. We told them the phrase, and most of them remembered me saying it. We all got a pretty good laugh out of it because it was such a bizarre phrase and I pulled it off.

Anyway, Todd and I need to come up with some phrases for next week. If you have any ideas, let me know. I think Todd is the only one on my team that reads this, so you can leave suggestions as comments if you want. On the other hand, we're probably more likely to try to use them if you email them to me.

Economics in Sri Lanka

Most things in Sri Lanka are a bit more expensive than they are in Kolkata. Generally they are still cheap compared to America, although for a few things prices are actually higher here than in America. I was talking to Ben, a Word Made Flesh staff member who has been here for about two months. He has the impression that before the tsunami, prices in Sri Lanka were closer to those in India. Also, prices in areas affected by the tsunami are higher than prices in other parts of Sri Lanka. I starting thinking about why that would be in terms of economics.

First of all, production was hurt by the tsunami. This lowers the supply of goods. This should be somewhat offset by the aid that is being sent in. A drop in demand because of the people killed in the tsunami will also tend to push prices lower. Overall, it is hard to say what overall effect this would have. Then I realized there was a boost to demand I hadn't considered: me! More generally I mean relief workers. There are a lot of relief workers that are coming from the west to help rebuild. I definitely think this is a good thing, and I wish that there were even more. Still, this has an effect on prices demand. Most if not all of the relief workers are used to living in luxury compared to the Sri Lanken natives. We eat more food, we want fancier, more expensive and hard to produce foods, and we have the money to pay for it. This goes beyond food, but it is an easy example to see. I am fairly confident that our team is consuming far more per person than the natives, especially if you think in terms of price (one ice cream bar = one bag of rice).

Here's the conclusion that I'm getting at: When we come into a country in large numbers and keep consuming at the same rate as we do in the west, we drive demand up. This results in higher prices within the country. While this may be good for some people that are able to make additional profits, it makes things even harder on the families that just lost everything and are trying to scrape by. I still think that it's great for so many people to be over here helping, but it would be even better if we could learn to get by as simply as the natives do.

A Little Bit of an Update

The pump isn't here yet, so we've put that hole on hold until the phantom pump arrives. Based on my experience with projects (clinic for example), I pretty much expect there to be unexpected delays. Some of the people on my team think I'm way too pessimistic, but it honestly won't surprise me if we don't get a working pump solution before leaving in a week and a half. Things like this always seem to take way longer than they should.

Yesterday we started a toilet hole at another house. We hit water on that one too, but it wasn't flowing in anywhere close to as fast so we were able to make some pretty good progress. The real purpose for the whole, however, was that they needed dirt for something else nearby and will eventually want a toilet hole. Today Rachel and I learned how to plaster walls.

Tomorrow is the New Year for the Buddhist calendar. The native workers that actually know what they're doing won't be there, so our team gets to take the day off too. We may end up putting in a day of work on Saturday to make up for it.

Community is...

Letting someone wipe the mud out of their eyes using the t-shirt that you are wearing.

This happened to me twice yesterday. The first time was when Rachel was covered in the mud she was digging out of a toilet hole (not the same one as before, we still don't have a pump). My shirt still had a few spots that were clean enough to help her. It was however awkward to let her use my shirt when she was three and a half feet deep in a hole with lots of slippery mud around the edges. Still, we somehow managed. The second time was with Todd, who was actually on the other side of a fence at the time. It was easy enough to get part of my shirt through the fence, but it was also easy for the ants on the fence to start crawling all over my shirt. Still, anything to build community!

Saturday

Yesterday I enjoyed a generally relaxing day off from work. Everyone on our team went to the beach except me. I decided to hang back to get a bit of alone time and do a bunch of nothing. I'm also not all that much of a beach person. That isn't to say that I always hate being at the beach, but I've never been super excited about the beach either.

In the early afternoon a Muslim boy that lives next door came over. His name is Youssef and on most days we get at least one visit from him. Youssef knows a tiny bit of English, but for the most part our language doesn't overlap at all. I tried to use a phrasebook we have in the house, but "Where is the bank?" and "Can I exchange money here?" weren't all that useful. Later in the afternoon he came back a second time and I tried to teach him to play Go Fish. I don't think he really understood the concept though, because he kept showing me his hand when I'd ask him if he had a certain card. Oh well, maybe over the next few weeks I can get the idea across.

I did get some good time alone without Youssef too. I got some laundry done, listened to music, and got in some good one on one time with Jesus. It was really refreshing to have all of that time by myself after a week of never being alone.

In the late afternoon people started coming back from the beach. Some stayed longer than others, so it was a bit of a trickle. Kristin and Angela (both WMF staff) were the first two home. They made the unfortunate discovery that our refrigerator was off, and the inside of it didn't smell too good. We looked for a switch that might have gotten turned off, and even tried a different outlet in the hopes of that being the problem. Nothing fixed it though, so it looks like we're without a fridge for a bit. Kristin and I cleaned everything out of the fridge, throwing anything away that seemed questionable. Then I scrubbed out the inside of it so that it no longer smells too awful. Although inconvenient, going without a refrigerator shouldn't be too much of a problem.

As soon as the next wave of people arrived home, the problem just got a little more complicated. They had a bunch of raw chicken that they were planning to cook for dinner the following night (which is now tonight). We asked the neighbors (Youssef's family) if we could keep it in their refrigerator, or at least tried to by using the phrase book. Their response was "no fridge." We tried a few more people we know in the area, but couldn't find anything. We were about to rearrange plans to cook and eat the chicken immediately when Youssef came running in saying "fridge, fridge." I took the chicken and followed him. Apparently their family does have a fridge and our chicken is now living happily in there until we cook it up tonight.

For dinner, our team met at a restaurant in "downtown" Galle. It was a bit of an expensive (for Sri Lanka), touristy place, but I enjoyed going there. They had a DJ playing music, which at first the music most of our team remembered from Junior High dances. They clearly had the place set up so people could dance, but no one seemed interested in that sort of music. Eventually the DJ started moving towards more rap/hip-hop type dance music. Melissa, one of the women on my team, knows how to swing dance, so I went up and asked the DJ if he had any swing music. He didn't, which was a bit of a disappointment. Melissa also knows a tiny bit of Cha Cha, so instead I convinced the DJ to play Smooth by Santana. Melissa wasn't as hot on the idea of showing off her Cha Cha, but I managed to get her to go for it. She definitely got better over the course of the dance, and was doing pretty well by the end of it. I realized that I only sort of remember my Cha Cha and kept wanting to lead steps that I no longer remember how to start. In any case, I had a lot of fun and I think Melissa did too. After that the DJ just went back to rap and hip-hop for the rest of the night. That isn't really my thing, but a lot of other people took the floor and started trying to dance. I'd like to think that Melissa and I inspired them, although I suspect they would have started dancing anyway.

Well, that was my Saturday. In a lot of ways it hardly felt like I was in a city recovering from the tsunami. It felt more like I was in America. I guess that is easy to do in tourist areas. In any case, it was a nice break that I think our team needed. Hopefully this next week our bodies will be a bit more prepared for the physical labor and the hot Sri Lanka sun.

Freaky

Last night after dinner, our team was just sitting around feeling physically exhausted and just talking about whatever. The house we're staying in isn't exactly airtight, so small animals can pretty much come in and out as they please. A cat ran down the hall, and that kind of freaked Melissa who is very sensitive to animals running around the house. This sparked a conversation about times when people have been really scared/freaked out by something at night. The stories ranged from being afraid of the dark as a kid, to unknown men entering less than secure Indian hotel rooms. I didn't feel like I had many stories to contribute, but could definitely see how some of their experiences would be very freaky. Eventually a few of the women requested that we change the topic of conversation because they were getting pretty freaked out. It didn't really change though and I'm not sure why. I guess some people still really just wanted to get their stories out there before the topic changed. For the record, it was not the men that kept the conversation going.

Around that time we heard a loud racket out in our small, backyard area. There was clearly something going on back there. It was kind of amazing timing seeing as a lot of people were already on edge. Todd and I got up and went to the back door. It was hanging open, which isn't anything unusual. We often leave it open to give us some circulation. It was dark in the backyard, and you have to walk a few meters into the yard just to turn the light on. I don't want to sound too macho, but I really wasn't frightened by this. The loud racket didn't make me think that someone was out there to kill me. If someone was coming to do that, I'd expect them to keep quiet rather than make a racket. Anyway, Todd and I went out there and discovered that basically there had been two cats fighting on the top of a metal overhang we have in the backyard.

After that we locked up the house and all headed for bed. I put on a playlist of happy music: Hakuna Matata, My Favorite Things, etc. I'm not sure that it really made any difference, but it was probably more helpful than the sound track to Jaws would have been (not that I have that anyway). A lot of the women seemed really shaken up by it. I think they all retreated to their rooms and had happy, girl talk until they fell asleep. Todd and I, on the other hand, talked about what things tend to freak us out and how we get a thrill out of that tension and adrenaline rush. Then we just faded and went to sleep like any other night.

Week #1 is Over

Yesterday (Friday) was the end of our first "week" of work in Sri Lanka. Granted we only worked for three days, but it still seemed like a lot. I don't think any of us are used to doing so much physical labor, and the sun is absolutely brutal. I put on SPF 50 sunscreen twice yesterday and still ended up with a bit of a sunburn on the back of my neck. It probably doesn't help that everyone on the team is taking doxycycline to prevent malaria. One of it's side effects is that it makes you more sensitive to sunlight.

We weren't able to get a water pump yesterday, so we just left the hole alone and switched to another job for the day. We quickly discovered that digging a hole in a shaded area was pretty much a cushy job compared to moving rubble in direct sunlight. Supposedly we'll be able to rent a pump starting on Monday for about $12 (US) per day. I don't want to sound too pessimistic, but I don't think we're past all of the complications yet. Whether we get a pump or not, I'm sure they'll have more work for us. Keep praying for us!

Second Day

Just a quick update because I don't have much time and I'm really worn out. Today was really slow going on the hole. The water coming into it makes it almost impossible to get any of the sand and mud out. I think our total progress for the day was a couple of centimeters of depth. It was really exhausting both physically and emotionally. We're trying to get a pump to handle the water so that we can just dig. Thus far we haven't had any luck, but there are a few open doors. Getting the right equipment can be a lot harder when you aren't in America. Until we get a pump, or discover a new, more effective technique, we probably won't spend any more time on that hole. It just doesn't make any sense to put all of that work into not getting anything done.

First Day at Work

Today was a beautiful, sunny day. Granted it was also pretty hot, but I was glad to be out on the work site. Two of the women and I were assigned to dig the hole for a squatty potty. They showed us the cylinders that would go in the hole, so we knew both how deep (about six feet) and how wide (about four feet) they wanted it to be. Our supervisor also told us where to dig the hole. We started digging, and after about an hour of fighting through hard dirt and large rocks, we had something that was starting to look like a hole... or at least the start of one. About that time one of the residents of the home that it was for came to us with an interpreter. I guess it had taken him a while to find one. Apparently they actually wanted the hole somewhere else. We were frustrated, so decided to take a break. After a ten minute break an hour of useless hole digging didn't seem so bad. We tried to think of it as more of a warm up than lost time.

The second hole was actually easier than the first. The ground didn't have as many giant rocks that we had to deal with. After about half an hour on that hole a few native Sri Lankans came and started helping us. They worked like crazy and probably doubled the depth of the hole while we took a five minute break! After that they slowed down and we started working along side with them. After lunch things really got interesting. Right before lunch we had hit the water table. At first this meant that the dirt (mud) and sand was soft and easy to dig out. We quickly discovered that it really just makes it harder because you have to scoop water out in addition to digging the hole deeper. I'm really proud of the two women I was working with. They put me to shame. I have issues with not wanting to get too dirty. They just kept digging and digging and were soon completely covered in mud. I just couldn't bring myself to do that. Fortunately there was still work for me to do hauling of buckets of water and/or mud. At the end of the day today we had probably gotten down to about three feet. That means we're about halfway there in terms of distance. I've gotten the impression that hitting water so soon was unexpected, and for the other holes they have dug they didn't hit water until the last foot or so.

On a side note, we have a women named Catherine working with us. She came with Word Made Flesh just for a six week stint in Sri Lanka. She arrived about a day after us, and ended up getting really sick towards the end of the day today. Please pray for her health to improve. There are so many factors that are working against her: Jet lag, the new bacteria in the environment, working hard in the hot sun all day, etc.

Also be praying for Melissa. She is a very sensitive sleeper and for the most part hasn't been able to sleep for the past two nights. The biggest problem for her is that we get animals coming through our house: rats, cockroaches, stray cats, etc. Temperature issues can also make it hard for her to sleep. She was clearly really worn out today just from lack of sleep. Please pray that she will be start getting plenty of restful sleep every night.

Rained Out

I would have started working on the construction site today, except that I woke up to heavy rain. I don't know a whole lot about construction (yet), but apparently rain makes it hard to do the work at least for certain stages of the building process. They told me not to bother getting ready, because we weren't going.

I really hope this isn't a trend. I am pretty excited to start working, and it will be frustrating if we spend more days at home than we spend working. One native that I talked to said that April is the beginning of Sri Lanka's monsoon season, so this really has potential to be a big problem. Please pray for weather that is closer to "death by heat stroke" than it is to "death by drowning." Although ideally cool and dry would be the best.

Living in a Tsunami Struck Land

Yesterday we drove down from Colombo to Galle. The drive was mostly along the coastline, so I got to see a lot of devastation from the tsunami. Like everyone else, I saw pictures of it right after it happened. For a little while, I made an effort to pray for it. Soon the buzz about it died down in America. My commitment to prayer died with the buzz.

Being here is a whole new experience. For me, pictures and videos just never hit me with the full reality of it. On a screen, things are entirely real. I can watch movies and lose myself in them, but when they are over the reality wears off. I always knew intellectually that it was bad over here, but getting here made it real. I saw house after house that could no longer serve as a home. Some were leveled down to the foundation. Many of them still had one or two walls still standing. There were even a few buildings that had entire ground floor rooms intact, but then had a stairway leading up to a second floor that no longer exists. We saw a section of train tracks that were fully overturned.

All of you have heard about it. All of you have seen the pictures. There's nothing I can say about it that hasn't been said many times before. Still, I doubt that any of you think about it as much as you did three months ago. I just want to remind you that the destruction is still here. To the people living on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, it is still a daily reality. Yes, it is a lot better now than it was three months ago, but there is still so much that needs to be done. Please do not forget the people hit by the tsunami. Please continue to hold these devastated people in your prayers. Please make whatever financial sacrifices it takes to get money into the hands of relief organizations.

I'll close with the words from signs along the road north of Galle. They remind me that although a lot has been done, there are still many areas in Sri Lanka (and Asia) that still have not received any aid.

When will we receive aid?

Cleanliness is Relative

I don't think I realized how much Kolkata has changed my view about what a dirty city really is until seeing Chennai. Walking around Chennai last night and this morning I felt like the city was amazingly clean. I mean, yeah there was still liter pretty much everywhere along the sides of the street, but there wasn't really that much. It wasn't like Kolkata where there are literally huge piles of trash just sitting all over the place on the sides of the street. Chennai would still be quite dirty by American standards, but for our team, it seemed almost clean enough to eat off of the street.

Travel Update

Our team arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka this morning. We will be spending the night here and traveling south to Galle tomorrow. That's where our team will be building houses for tsunami victims for the next three weeks.

I was amazed at how quick and easy customs was. I got from the airport entrance to my gate in less time than it takes for some US airports when I'm only flying domestically. Clearly India isn't as paranoid about security as America is. I realized as I was walking onto the plane that I dodged a major bullet in going through customs... one that I wouldn't have dodged in the US. I had totally forgotten to move my Swiss Army Knife from my backpack (carry on) to my checked luggage. I flew an international flight with a dull, two-inch blade in my possession!

Out of curiosity, does anyone remember what the US laws regarding such things were in the US prior to 9-11? Were knives allowed if they were smaller than a certain size?

There was one other problem our team had. Like all of us, Kristin's Indian visa is a tourist visa, which means she can only stay in the country for 180-days at a time. She had mistakenly thought that it was 6-months, and had been cutting it really close. She was in the couple of day range where she wouldn't have been breaking a 6-month rule, but was breaking the 180-day rule. Fortunately, after questioning her for about half an hour they decided that she was ok and chose not to deport her back to the US. I didn't get the impression that there would be any issues with her getting back into India either.

Haggling and US Foreign Policy

As I've mentioned before, I hate dealing with vendors in Kolkata because I don't like haggling, and even when I do haggle I pretty much know that I'm still paying a steep "white tax." I don't like the idea that the market is usually willing to deal at one price, but they discriminate against me and force me up to a much higher price.

Then I got thinking about US foreign policy with developing nations. In most cases we impose tariffs and/or other trade barriers on them. The result of this is that although the American market is willing to pay a certain price for the goods they are selling to us, we are only paying them a fraction of that price. That's a bit of a simplification, but it is true that if we removed tariffs they would be able to sell us more and get more money per unit from us than they currently do.

So yeah, basically I realized that I'm getting pissed off about getting ripped off when I can easily afford the prices, and those prices are still lower than what I would pay in America. Yet at the same time I am part of a country that does exactly the same thing to huge groups of people that at best are barely scraping by. To sum it up, here are the differences:

• I can afford to be ripped off, they can't.
• I'm getting ripped off face to face, we distance ourselves from those we take advantage of.
• I have some power to haggle if I want to, they don't.
• I'm selfish and care more about myself than multitudes of starving people.

In short, I need a change of heart, and so do the policy makers in America.

Do I Take Jesus Seriously Enough?

I was looking at Mark 10:17-31 this morning on the train. Verse 21 really hit me like a baseball bat to the face:

One thing you lack, go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. (Slightly edited down)

That's a pretty clear, black and white sort of statement. There isn't much gray there. Yet I find myself stopped. Our team has spent a lot of time talking about simplicity and asking questions about what is and isn't ok to have. Jesus seems to say you're better off without anything. Now, I'm sure Jesus is allowing for me to keep some clothes so that I'm not naked, but I certainly don't need enough clothes to go three weeks without doing laundry. I suspect things like a Bible and a journal are ok things to have too. Just about anything else I could probably get along without. Why do I make excuses? Why don't I take Jesus seriously?

Chennai

Our team is in Chennai right now. We thought the train wasn't going to get in until about 10:30pm tonight, but it got in at about 5-something pm instead. I don't think it got in early... that's not the sort of thing trains do. Then again, this is India. Kristin is pretty sure that she just got confused about when the train was supposed to get in. Still, it was a very nice surprise to get in about five hours early.

The train ride was actually really nice. I was uncomfortable for the first little bit of it, but I think it was the unfamiliarity more than anything. We were riding in sleeper class. That doesn't mean individual rooms, just that the space can be converted back and forth from seats to stacks of three lofted beds. The beds were small, and fairly hard, and the train was kind of noisy, but I was still able to sleep pretty well. I guess it really wasn't much different than the level of noise or the stiffness of my bed in Kolkata. It was great getting to see parts of India that aren't gross like Kolkata. The train went through a lot of village and farming areas, as well as just middle of nowhere type areas. The clean air was such an amazing treat after 6 weeks of Kolkata.

One thing I wasn't expecting was beggars. There are a lot of beggars that just come on the train and walk down the isles asking for money. There are also kids that come down the isles sweeping the floor, and then ask for money. Since they know they have a fairly captive audience, they would often just stop and pester you for five minutes or until someone from your area gave them something. It wasn't just a few of them either. Particularly early on in the train ride it seemed like they were coming in almost a constant flow. One would leave and within a minute or two there would be another one. This morning, the same boy came by sweeping the same section of floor three times within about an hour. Every time he would stop and ask for money.

There were several options for food on the train. First, there were a bunch of vendors that would walk by with various foods and drinks. It seemed like there was always one coming by... except of course when you actually wanted something. Then they were nowhere to be found. The other option was that whenever we stopped at a station, you could get off and buy food from vendors at that station. Once Todd and I didn't realize the train was about to leave and had to run and jump on before it had gotten up to speed. They generally go pretty slow until they're out of the stations, so it wasn't that much of a problem.