The Whole Clan

Last night at the Birthday Party we had all of O.'s family together in one place so, of course we took a picture.
A nephew and a niece are missing but I've only ever met them once. They're somewhere in the village...

New Shirt

Mostly I posted this picture for mom who sent this shirt to O. He looked so good in it the first day he put it on I took his picture. I just wish his hair would grow back...

Don't be too hard on him, I posed him.

Marathi Me

Family members, close relations and good friends get gifts from the bride and groom at weddings. Our friend/brother, Dinesh, gave us all clothes before the wedding and that's what we wore to the wedding. See next post for gift giving picture.

Dinesh asked me beforehand if I would wear the traditional Maharashtrian dress at his wedding and I said sure. This consists of a 9 meter saree instead of a 5 meter saree and the saree is passed through the legs and tucked up in the back. I've never worn it like this but he had his auntie put it on me and so here I am. I was highly amusing to everyone who saw me (possibly because only old ladies wear their sarees this way anymore, possibly because I am American, or quite possibly because you could see my underwear through the thin material of the saree), but Dinesh was happy and it was his day.
O. also agreed to wear the traditional "dhoti" and he looks great in it.

O.'s Birthday - Last Week

Poor jetlagged O. got woken up at midnight on his birthday. (March 8th)

He was a good sport.

O. & Praveen

O. with his good buddy and the President of our ministry, Praveen.
O. and Praveen will be leaving late Monday night on their flight to Philadelphia. This will be Praveen's first time out of India. He is very excited. He's been taking notes from me about what to do and say and eat and wear and everything, for a month now.

O. and Praveen will be in the USA from Jan 29 to March 3rd. Please pray for their journeys as well as the time spent there.

Here is a general schedule of their whereabouts in case you would like an opportunity to meet with them in person (they would love that...)

January 29 - February 4: New Jersey

February 5 - 9: Dallas, Texas

February 10 - 15: Indianapolis

February 16 - March 3: New Jersey

You can email me if you want to set up any appointments to talk with O. or Praveen or invite them to your church or fellowship or whatever.

Their free dates are booking up quickly, so don't delay.

And Pray!

New Church For A Pastor

A pastor who works with us in the state of Andhra Pradesh built a church building in the village where he ministers and O. went last week for the opening.
Asleep on the train, it was a wearisome week.
Where the church previously met.

The new building. (Sorry the picture is so light...)

O. In The USA

At the end of this month O. and another of our Indian co-workers,Praveen,are going to the USA for five weeks. They'll be attending a number of conferences from February 11th - 15th but after that they will be free to meet with friends new and old.

If you want to invite them to speak or just get together, let me know. Email is the best way to contact and we'll get that set up. Contact me soon because time is short and there is really only a two-week window to meet them.

O. says while he is away- I'm Queen. :)

Gave The Bibles

The Bible College Principal and I gave the English and Hindi Bibles to the Bible Students today. I even took a picture of them with their new Bibles with E.'s Spiderman camera but the camera deleted the pictures before I had a chance to load them here. It does that. Oh well.

O. is in Calcutta and he has our real camera with him, so I'll wait to get a group picture of them til he gets back on Saturday.

O. is in Calcutta for the Pan India Summit* and he just called. It's his first time there and he says it is a nasty dirty city, the dirtiest in India that he's ever seen - and that's saying something.

* It's organized by the Evangelical Fellowship of India and some other Christian organizations. I got this off the EFI website:
Issues to be addressed:
1. Missions 2. Persecution of the Church/Religious Freedom/Advocacy 3. Development/Empowering the Poor 4. Research/ Developing India Christian Handbook 5. Leadership Development 6. Media 7. Theology of Church 8. Inter-Church/Ecumenical Relationships 9. Financial Management- For Church leaders and Organization leaders.

You Were Always On My Mind

Still are.

I do think about posting. I wish I were posting. I just haven't been here. I mean, I've been around, but not around in the sense that I can sit and post.

Even now I just had to jump up to check on my fried okra* that we're having with dinner. It's just non-stop around here nowadays.

Not to mention that when I do have the time to post is when my electricity is out or my Internet is down due to the rain. sigh.

We're good to go now. O. left late last night for a Management Seminar put on by the Christian Institute of Management. It's being held from the 11th to the 13th. I plan to get loads done while he's gone. It always slows way down when O.'s not here.

But the seminar looks cool. According to the website promoting it they'll be discussing:

Biblical Leadership
Finance Management
Income Tax Act as applicable to Churches, Missions & NGOs
Laws relating to Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA)
FCRA Bill 2006 detailed discussion
Project Management & Proposal Writing

I'm sure he's gonna have a blast, this is so up his alley. However, I better get all my posting in before the 14th because he's surely going to lay the workload on thick when he gets back.

*I just ate fried okra for the first time last month and I 'm hooked.

The Man Can't Preach...

...Without the finger.

I take it as a good sign that after 7+ years of marriage I still find O.'s idiosyncrasies highly amusing.

O.'s Birthday Cake

O.'s small birthday celebration.
Notice the little critters in the background who came for the party.
Blowing out the candles.