Memoirs from India: Day 1

August 30th

I begin this journal with mixed emotion over this endeavor. I've also been awake for nearly a full day (as I only slept for 4 hours the previous night in hopes to sleep on the planes), and now mid-way through our travels to India... Tiredness is the overarching feeling right now! But I'm excited and anticipate some incredible experiences, emotional ebbs and flows from meeting (and leaving) new friends, encountering poverty interwoven with wealth, teaching and living in a vastly different culture, and the thrill of gaining insight from Stuart and Jill Briscoe, Dick Robinson, my team, and the Indian people! A priceless opportunity.

International airports are really sweet - especially European airports - because they're a melting pot of cultures from around the globe. Passing through corridors, one can hear multiple languages being spoken by people of all shapes and sizes, with colorful, exotic dress (no, I don't mean strippers...well, that I know of!), and all wearing the same look of "I need to catch my next flight." - an expression that no cultural or language barrier can hide!

We left Chicago at around 4:00pm and arrived in Frankfurt, Germany at 7:00am - an 8.5 hour flight (Germany is 7 hours ahead of us). I slept all of 30 minutes so far. It's now about 9:30am here; about 2:30am at home. Our connecting flight leaves at 11:00am here, for another 8.5 hour flight into Hyderabad, India. This will put us at a grand total of 17 hours flying time, and we will have crossed over approximately 9,000 miles! We should arrive in India at about 11:00pm their time; 12:30pm at home.

It is a trek, but I don't mind it at all - especially considering the exhilaration of traveling abroad and experiencing new places around the world! Most of all though, being able to see what God's up to away from home...

Our flight arrived at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 11:15pm; 12:45pm at home. Operartion Mobilization (O.M.) representatives were there to pick us up. We found out that the training center was about 1.5 hours outside Hyderabad. We reached the campus at about 1:30am. For this first week, I am roomies with Mike Noel, one of Elmbrook Church's elders/leaders; and Phil Brooks, one of the video/media techs. on the team. Our room is a small dorm with a bathroom inside... with a flushing toilet! (a huge plus in foreign contexts). We also have a "shower"... AKA a bucket and cup to dump water over our heads! It was a humid 80 degrees as we went to bed, but luckily our ceiling fan rules and cools!

On the way to the headquarters, we drove through and around Hyderabad. People were out and about (working mostly), even for as late as it was. It seems like they were busy doing random things - talking with friends, cleaning the streets, hauling various materials on flat-beads, etc. There were a lot of homeless people too. Many were sleeping on sidewalks, under awnings in case of rain. Some had blankets, others didn't.

- It was heartbreaking. -

Dick Robinson, one of the Associate Pastors at Elmbrook and our team's leader, noticed our dismay, turned around from his seat on the bus, and explained that India has experienced political, economic, and social unrest for 1000's of years, (not to mention having more than 1.3 Billion people living in very tight vicinity) and to remember that we are coming to support and serve O.M. - a ministry that is working to alleviate physical and spiritual poverty, provide affordable, high-quality Christian education to the poor and oppressed, and bring civil rights to outcasts of the caste system - the Dalits (Dah-leet) - in India. In other words, our team can't expect to come in and change the plight of these people in 2 weeks time, no matter how hard it is to understand - how ridiculous and (potentially) arrogant anyway! We are coming as learners and supporters of O.M.'s work and ministry.

Looking ahead:
Our team will stay on O.M.'s headquarters just outside Hyderabad, in Secunderabad ("Second City") for one week. We will be a part of a pastor's conference, highlighting Stuart and Jill Briscoe (Ministers at Large - World-traveling Preachers) from Elmbrook, and Dick Robinson, as the keynote speakers. Building relationships with the pastors and leaders here and listening to their stories, doing interviews with some of them, and possibly teaching at the Good Shepherd School and/or Church on the campus, will be our primary focus this week. (The G.S. grade schools and churches have been established through O.M. all over India). I'll explain more about the G.S. schools and churches once I've learned more about them.

One of the keys to remember on trips like these is that we often don't know what will be expected of us entirely in terms of work. (Our hosts decide what the major projects will be for the team as they know the immediate needs that can be met, or at least, given some attention to during the time we are there). Remaining flexible and "ready" is not just appreciated, it's imperative. We're kept on the edge or our seats at all times!

Well, I'm at the edge of exhaustion, and our first full day starts at 7:00am - time to crash...for 4 hours!