February 2nd

Last night we said goodbye to Andy, Janet, and Stacey. As Andy kept saying, "What a trip!" It truly was amazing. I have asked each of them to write up a short description of their time here in India and I will be adding it to the blog as soon as I get them. I am looking forward to sharing their view on the trip with all of you.

We really had a great time together. There were so many awesome things about their visit. Here are some of the things that jumped out at me from the trip:
- Encouragement. Their visit brought such encouragement to us. We have been here for about 3 and 1/2 months so far and we were definitely ready for something new and challenging to fire us up again. This certainly did it. They brought with them a passion for the ministry here and really reminded us of our purpose. The visit was definitely a huge encouragement for us and a great boost for the next 2 months here. They also brought encouragement to the NF workers that they met. We each had the chance to share in a formal setting at least 6 times. That is a lot of sermons in less than a week. It was great. And God's hand was clearly on each of us. It was amazing.
- A touch of home. Many of you lavishly blessed us with food and clothes and candies etc., thank you so much. My mom's chocolate chip cookies...mmmm....good to the last bite!
- Renewed compassion in Andy's heart (For those of you who know Andy and what he does for a living, this will make more sense to you). God was so good to him on this trip. It was wonderful to see.
- The chance to meet even more workers. We met over 25 NF workers (not including the office staff here in Kolkata) while they were here. What a blessing.
- Foot washing. Wow. Two times during this trip we all had our feet washed when we arrived at the church. What an experience. Humbling. Touching. Inspiring. It was amazing. Jesus set the example for us. These people followed His example. It was incredible.

Well, those are some of the highlights of the trip. Here is a rundown of the trip:

1/23 - Andy, Stacey, and Janet arrived. Spent the night in our flat. Andy and Raymond on the floor in the "living room," Breann, Stacey, and Janet in our bedroom with Breann on the floor. Great time for all. The guests were extremely tired from their travels. Slept well that night.
1/24 - Shopping in the city. Purchased solwars for the ladies for our visits to the villages. Also had the chance to purchase the bicycle for Saladin. This was a great time. He is such a neat young man. Next week we will be taking Akter to chat with him about the Word. Please pray that his heart will be softened. Boarded overnight train to ELES in the evening.
1/25 - Arrived at ELES just before noon. Spent time at the school getting to know M & A. That was fun. Raymond shared in evening devotions at ELES.
1/26 - Republic Day in India! Kids put on a school program. Andy, Janet, and Stacey all had a chance to share from God's Word. We also gave the school supplies from our kids at Century to the kids at ELES. The kids were amazed by the generosity. It was wonderful. We also went to Pastor P's church. Had bapti.sm service (9 people). Also went to Pastor M's church. Incredible time of worship. We all shared but Andy did the main sharing. It was very nice.
1/27 - Church at "Dr. William's Church" where Pastor M is in charge but Sofia runs things when he is not around. She was healed years ago through the care of Terry Williams and has been faithfully serving Christ since then. It is a great story. Ask him about it sometime if you get the chance. The Lord really moved in the service this day. It was awesome.
1/28 - Janet led morning assembly for the kids at ELES. Very nice "Clip n Tell" presentation of the entire Bible, but focusing on Creation and the Cross. It was great. One of the teachers at the school is a Hindu and was really impacted by this presentation. Pray for him. After lunch, we boarded the train to Malda and arrived late that night.
1/29 - "Workers Conference" We all shared with the 20ish workers that came from surrounding areas (some as far as 6 hours on the train) to hear from us. It was quite an experience and we pray that is was encouraging and challenging for the NF workers.
1/30 - Traveled about an hour outside of the city where a couple of churches joined together and we shared once again (about 200 people attended). The highlight of this service was when Brother Robin shared at the end. It was a powerful and energetic sermon. We were all impressed and inspired by his passion. We were also able to feed all of the workers and people who came to the service. It was a great meal and a good time. What an experience. We boarded the train that night and headed back to Kolkata.
1/31 & 2/1 - Spent these days in Kolkata. Did some shopping. Mostly hung out and chatted about the experiences. Andy shared at devotions on Thursday morning with all of the NF office staff. We saw them off at 7:30ish on Friday night. What a trip!

It was truly an awesome time. Our God is so good!

Hopefully Janet, Andy, and Stacey will be able to flesh out the trip more for you all when they share. I am looking forward to seeing what they have to say and sharing it with you.

Our upcoming plans include a trip to Delhi (and Agra) and then Bangladesh. That will take up most of February (8th - 27th w/ the 21st back in Kolkata). We are excited, rejuvenated, and ready to go!

Please continue to lift us up in prayer!