The Deam Team home page, or the India main  page.

 

Thursday, August 14—Final Update on Our India Mission Trip

 

Even though we’ve been home for a week, we are just now getting back into the office and have the availability of emailing you. So, we decided to send one last update to let you know about our trip home and give you one last India trip update.

 

The Delhi Airport Adventure

 

We praise the Lord that on Monday evening, August 4 (India time) all four of us and our luggage made it to the airport in Delhi in spite of the heavy traffic, the downpour of rain and the fact that we traveled in two different taxi’s that did not arrive at the airport at the same time. After saying our final good-bye to Jacob and Sheela we headed for our next adventure—making it through the lines and boarding procedures! That night at the airport we all learned a valuable lesson: if traveling “as a team” make sure that each person has his/her own luggage on his/her own individual baggage cart that he/she is personally pushing. When we got to the counter to check in our baggage the airline attendant asked Lynne to place her bags on the scale. Lynne looked around and said, “Well, one of my bags is on the bottom of that cart, (pointing to the cart that Lisa was pushing) another is on the top of this cart (the one she was pushing) and my carry-on is…(looking around) well…oh, Martha is pulling my carry-on and I have my backpack here.” We then proceeded to scurry around unloading bags and pulling them in over to the appropriate person—we were frazzled. It was no wonder the first thing the airline attendant said to Lisa when Lisa handed the woman the ticket information was, “Calm down, I’m going to take care of you.” 

Security was tight in Delhi as a result of the Moslem/Hindu problems that had been occurring in one of the states during the previous week. When we finally got seated on the airplane we were praising the Lord for His protection and that He had gotten us to this point. Finally, a little after midnight our airplane took off and we began the 14½  hour flight back to the USA. Once again we praise the Lord for an uneventful flight. There was very little turbulence and we enjoyed the food (they fed us lots) and had excellent service from the flight attendants. Lisa slept a little on the flight (Tim can sleep almost anywhere) but better than that, she experienced a calmness and peace knowing that the Lord was in control no matter what happened. Thank you for your prayers! 

 

Back in the USA!

 

Tuesday morning, August 5, we landed in Chicago around 4:30. After going through customs and security (one last time) we boarded an airplane for our final 50 minute flight to St Louis. We touched down in St Louis at 8:30 AM and were glad that our “take-off and landings” were finally over—at least for this trip. What a joy it was for us to see three friends from church waiting for us as we neared the baggage claim area. THANKS Pastor Jerry, Martie and Elaine for this special gift of encouragement—you are such a blessing to us! 

It was so nice walking into our house and greeting our cats after being gone for six weeks. We truly enjoyed our training time in India and we really love the CEF workers we trained, but there is something special about sleeping in your own bed and being in your own home again. It’s been an adjustment getting over jet lag—it seems that it’s been harder adjusting to the time change here than it was adjusting to the time change when we arrived in India. We are so thankful that we had several days off to rest, do laundry, unpack and just take it easy. 

 

Lessons Learned

 

We praise the Lord for giving us the opportunity to travel across the world, to live in a different culture and to meet and minister to such wonderful people. Here are just a few things the Lord taught us:

Ø      What a great reminder that even though people speak different languages, the Lord intimately knows, hears and loves each person. It is so awesome to hear people praying or singing in another language and know that the Lord understands what they are saying; it really shouldn’t be a surprise because, after all, He’s the One who created each language.

Ø      People in other parts of the world have the same needs and the Lord chooses to use us (weak and insufficient as we are) to help meet these needs and carry out His will.

Ø      We are spoiled in the USA and have an over-abundance of “things” and conveniences. These “things” and conveniences don’t truly make one happy—true happiness comes from serving the Lord and glorifying Him with our life, attitude and actions.

Ø  Living in a different culture and not having the conveniences we often take for granted has given us a greater understanding and respect for missionaries who live overseas full-time; they are willing to leave their family, culture, conveniences and way of life to minister to others for years at a time. We have a deeper respect and love for missionaries who live abroad. Every Christian should spend some time overseas in a different culture. 

Ø   

Praise the Lord for His Provision!

 

We are thanking the Lord that, through you, He provided enough money to cover our trip! Thank you for your prayers and financial support!

 

The Lord gave us the strength, protection and provision needed to train and minister to over 58 of our CEF workers in India. We could tell that many people were praying for us! It was nice getting emails from some of you. However, because of the internet circumstances we weren’t always able to reply to each of you personally while we were in India—sorry. We were just glad for the times that we could get on the internet to send out an update. We want to express our thanks to Elaine Hollen who forwarded our emails to all of you. It was so much easier sending an update to just one person—thanks, Elaine! Also, we want to express our thanks to Mike Fleetwood for maintaining our web site, posting our pictures and creating the “blog page.” The updates and pictures will stay on our web site for a while and we’ll try to add more pictures in the upcoming days.

 

On to Our Next Adventure

 

The fall class of the Children’s Ministries Institute (CMI) starts on August 21. It’s hard to believe that the summer is almost over. We’ve been told that there’s a large group of students coming in for this fall session. Look for updates, prayer requests and institute happenings in future emails. Thanks again for your prayers and God bless!

 

Friday, August 1, 2008 – Our Last Update From India.

 

 

Tomorrow is the last “official” day of the IOT Course here in Trivandrum in south India. Tonight the students will be practicing the TCE class session that they will be teaching for evaluation tomorrow. All day tomorrow we will be listening to the students teach a 40 minute class session as we evaluate them and then give them a grade. The students are excited about the TCE course and the potential that this program will have for training more teachers to evangelize and disciple children in India.

 

We really enjoy the students. They have been a joy to teach—we have laughed so much in class. We (all four of us) try to make our classes fun as well as informative so we often include a game or activity to help further explain a concept or method. The students here love these games and are very competitive. It’s been so much fun teaching them.

 

 

On Saturday, July 26, we all went to a beach on the Arabian Sea

 

Because of the number of required hours in this course we had to have classes on Saturday. To give the students a break the local CEF worker, Tankachan, lined up two buses to transport us all (students and instructors) to a nearby beach last Saturday evening. We were taken to a different beach than what we went to the first week-end we were here. It was fun watching the tide come in and then seeing the students squeal and run for dryer ground.

 

Check out our web site for pictures of the students and our Saturday evening (July 26) Arabian Sea beach adventure. There’s one picture of us standing under a stone column structure. One of the students informed us that this is a very ancient structure that was built by an Indian king. We were also told that “Bollywood,” India’s version of Hollywood, often does movie shoots at this beach because this ancient structure often shows up in the background of movie scenes.

 

 

Sunday morning service

 

Once again, Tim had the privilege of bringing the Sunday morning message. Actually, Tim has given the Sunday morning message four out of the five Sundays we have been here in India. It was a joy to hear special music from several of the students. We heard songs in English as well as in two of the many languages that are spoken here in India. Listening to these songs of praise was a reminder to us of the many various people, cultures, tribes and nations of the world and the many languages they speak. When these people offer praise to our God He understands each language—He knows each person intimately. What a wonderful, all-knowing, awesome God we serve!

 

Our trip home

 

We (Lynne, Martha, Jacob, Sheela and the two of us) were supposed to fly from Trivandrum to Delhi on Sunday afternoon, August 3. However, our flight was canceled so we rescheduled to fly back to Delhi on Sunday morning around 6:00 AM. We will go back to the Traci House to re-pack and spend the night. Then on Monday we plan on doing some errands and seeing some sights of Delhi and then will be then taken to the airport on Monday evening. Our flight from Delhi to Chicago leaves after midnight (early morning Tuesday). However, since India is 10 ½ hours ahead of Missouri, we arrive in USA on Tuesday morning. The flight will be about 15 hours.

 

Up-to-date prayer requests and praises:

 

Praises     

  • Praise the Lord for giving the students strength to do their assignments and complete this course.
  • Praise the Lord for the strength that He has given us while we’ve been here in India.
  • Praise the Lord for the joy we have received by meeting and teaching the wonderful CEF people of India.

 

Prayer Requests 

  • Pray for the students as they finish their final practicum on Saturday (this will be Friday night for you).
  • Pray that the students will be able to apply what they have learned.
  • Pray for all the details to be worked out to implement this TCE program here in India.
  • Pray for our travel safety as we fly to Delhi Sunday morning (Saturday evening for you) and when we fly from Delhi to Chicago early Tuesday morning (Monday afternoon/evening for you).
  • Pray that the Lord will continue to work in our heart and we will apply the truths He has shown us as we have gone through this experience.
  • Pray that we will get over jet lag and have some quality time of rest and relaxation when we arrive home.

 

Thanks again for your prayers and support! God bless,

Tim & Lisa

 

Monday, July 28 

 

The students have completed the first week of this two-week Instructor of Teachers course. We had hoped to get an update sent earlier this week since we have access to the internet—or so we thought. However, our teaching schedule has not allowed this to happen and the few times we did get on the internet the electricity went off. It has been a regular occurrence that every evening the electricity goes off for about an hour or so.   

Update on the IOT Course

We just love the students that we have the privilege of teaching. After a few days of practice we’re finally able to remember each student’s name even though we don’t always pronounce it correctly. We’re glad the students are forgiving and very gracious. The students are also very teachable and have often told us how much they appreciate the four of us coming from the United States to teach them and update them on CEF’s training program. Just tonight Lynne shared with us that one of the students told her he thinks that the CEF workers here really needed this training and it has renewed their vision and burden for the over 450 million children in India.  

Last Saturday we got to go to a beach on the Arabian Sea!

The first full day we had here in Trivandrum was last Saturday, July 21. The local CEF worker, Tankachan, took us to his home/CEF office where his wife Lylu had a tasty breakfast waiting or us. Tankachan and Lylu are two of the 37 students we’re teaching. After breakfast we got a tour of the four-floor building that the Lord provided for the local CEF ministry. The first floor is the CEF office with a guest room and two bathrooms; the second floor is the residence for the Tankachan, Lylu and their two children; the third floor had two dorm rooms, a guest room and bathrooms; and the fourth floor is actually a covered terrace that has seating and desks for training sessions or meetings. It’s neat to see how the Lord has provided for this ministry! The office has been used by the CEF workers in southern India for two-day conferences and over night meetings.  

After lunch Tankachan took us to a beach that was about 10 kilometers from Trivandrum. No, we didn’t go swimming but we got a chance to look out on the sea and watch the mighty waves crash up on the shore. The sand was almost black, which really surprised us. Tankachan said that the sand changed color after the tsunami hit this part of India several years ago.  

On the way back to the CEF office for lunch, we saw several Hindu temples and government buildings as we drove through the city. Something that really touched our heart was seeing the Hindu bath house beside one of the oldest Hindu temples in the city. The bath house is just a big pool of water (the size of a small pond) that is enclosed by a stone pillar fence. It was sad seeing a man come out of the water and then walk toward the temple. We thought to ourselves that this pool doesn’t wash away his sin. This man needs to hear that only through belief in Jesus, God the Son, his sins can be washed away.  

We have sent some new pictures to be placed on our web site of the beach and the CEF office so check them out:! 

Only one week left until we fly home

We have loved training the people here in India but we are looking forward to sleeping in our own bed, eating food that we prepare, seeing our cats, worshipping in our own church and seeing family and friends. We will try to get one more update sent before we leave for home on Monday, August 5.  

Up-to-date prayer requests and praises:

Praises     

  • Praise the Lord for the warm welcome we’ve received from the CEF workers and their positige response to the TCE program and IOT course.
  • Praise the Lord that we have learned each student’s name and can almost pronounce them correctly.
  • Praise the Lord that the students have been able to communicate well enough in English to complete, thus far, two of their four practicum assignments.
  • Praise the Lord that, for the most part, the students have been able to understand our American accent and have been grasping the methods and concepts that we are teaching.
  • Praise the Lord that Lynne has gotten over her stomach sickness and all of us are feeling well.
  • Praise the Lord that we have gotten to meet Christopher’s wife, Usha. She is a wonderful lady and has really made us feel welcome—she is also a student in this course.

 

Prayer Requests 

  • Pray that we all will remain healthy and safe.
  • We have had some interesting meals and have encountered some challenging situations with the accommodations and conference center staff. Pray that we will continue to have a godly attitude and will always have a servant’s heart.
  • Pray that the Lord will give us grace to handle the “stretching opportunities” He is bringing our way.

 

Monday, July 21

 

We were not able to get on the internet the past several days so that’s why you haven’t heard from us in a week. We praise the Lord that we have access again so here’s a quick update. We have sent some new pictures to be placed on our web site so check them out. 

We’ve arrived in Triivandrum!

On Friday afternoon, July 18, we boarded an Air India airplane in Delhi and flew to the south western tip of India. We encountered several differences from what we are used to experiencing when flying on a USA airline: we listened to the flight instructions in Hindi and then repeated in English; we were served a meal of chicken curry and rice; each flight attendant looked beautiful wearing her sari; we boarded a bus to be taken to the airplane and then climbed the steps to board; they opened the back door for people to exit the airplane. It was a neat experience! 

We arrived at the Mariarani Catholic Retreat Center around 11:00 in the evening. The temperature was much cooler here in southern India than it was in Delhi—we are soooooooo thankful! J The center is beautiful. The rooms are arranged in a two-story square with a center courtyard filled with lovely flowering plants. One of the courtyards has a garden pool shaped like a butterfly. Our room is comfortable with our own private bathroom and it has a ceiling fan and an air conditioner. The classroom is on the 2nd floor of the center and has ceiling fans with open windows so the breeze helps keep the students cool. The retreat center is really beautiful.  

Sunday morning service

Even though the IOT course did not officially start until Sunday evening, about half of the students had already arrived by Sunday morning so Christopher and Jacob planned a Sunday morning worship service. Tim had the opportunity of preaching again. Check out the pictures of the Sunday morning service on our wet site. It is a custom here in India to take off your shoes when entering a sanctuary or worship center. So, if you look closely at the picture of Tim sharing from the Word, you will notice that he is preaching in his socks. Lisa and Lynne sang a duet for the service and they each took their turn playing the piano for the worship songs. 

The IOT Course has started!

This morning was the first day of the Instructor of Teachers course. We’ve ended up having 37 students. All these students are CEF of India national workers with at least 4 years of experience and several have over 20 years of CEF experience. We feel so honored to be among this experienced group of children’s workers and look forward to training them how to conduct TCE courses so they will be able to train many children’s workers throughout India.  

Both Jacob and Christopher are here and are being trained as Leadership Training Instructors. They are working through the credentialing process with the goal of planning and carrying out future IOT courses. It’s exciting to be in this multiplication process! 

We had a busy day of sight-seeing on Saturday and in our next update will give you information about this. 

Up-to-date prayer requests and praises:

Praises     

  • Praise the Lord for safe travel to southern India.
  • Praise the Lord that the temperature is cooler and the retreat center is quiet and comfortable. (Delhi is a busy and noisy city.)
  • Praise the Lord that on Friday (July 18) Simi as well as a couple other IOT students in Delhi, made it through their practicum! Simi struggled speaking in English and we are so proud of her—she didn’t give up but trusted in the Lord to accomplish her goal. 

Prayer Requests 

  • Many of the students are not comfortable speaking English. Pray that we will speak slowly and clearly. Pray that the students will understand what we are teaching. Pray that the students who struggle with English will have God’s strength to do their assignments and practicums in English.
  • Pray that we can quickly learn the name of each student and that we can effectively minister to them as their instructors.
  • Lynne has had some stomach issues and has been sick off and on. Pray that she will feel better and that God will give her strength to teach. (The two of us and Martha had to teach a couple of Lynne’s classes on Thursday of last week. We praise the Lord that we are a team and can help each other.)
  • Pray that both of us will stay healthy and will not get sick. We praise the Lord that we have been feeling good and resting well each night. Lisa has not experienced any back problems—keep praying.
  • Pray that the Lord will give us grace to handle the “stretching opportunities” He will be bringing our way.
  • Pray that we will have a servant heart in all situations (just like we see in the life of each student J).

 

Thanks again for your prayers and support! God bless,

Tim & Lisa

 

Monday, July 14

 

The last week of training for the north course

Only four more days are left for the students in this north India training course. The students are doing well at making the adjustment from being a children’s worker (teacher) to being an instructor of teachers. Today the students had a practicum of a Bible lesson demonstration. They pretended to be an instructor demonstrating a Bible lesson but also had to incorporate specific teaching as if they were an instructor. We truly love the students and enjoy the class time as well as the free time that we get to spend with them. 

Our excursion to the Taj Mahal

Saturday was a free day so we planned a trip to Agra, the city where the Taj Mahal is located. We all pulled our funds (Lynne, Martha and the two of us) and rented a van (actually a taxi) for the day. Early that morning we started out on the 200 kilometer (about 125 mile) trip that took us almost four hours to accomplish. The landscape sort of reminded us of Indiana (minus the wheat and bean fields) because of the flat land with trees scattered in the fields and grassy sections and occasional small towns. However, we saw round stick homes in the middle of a field or a person standing in the middle of a field (no fence) with a herd of cows (which did not remind of us Indiana or Missouri). Also, the four-lane highway was quite busy which accounted for the long trip. Often our two-lane side turned into three lanes and frequently we had to slow down as we came upon an auto rickshaw that was traveling slowly or we had to come to a complete stop as people, bicycles or oxen crossed the road. We constantly saw people walking by the side of the road. Often we would pass a cart being pulled by a bicycle, or oxen or a camel.  

Once while we were stopped we saw a man with a monkey on a leash. The monkey was doing back flips then jumped up on the top of the man’s walking stick. We snapped a picture of this then the knocked on the window and extended his hand for some Rupees. If a car or truck broke down it was just left in the middle of the road or even repaired right there. We also saw many auto rickshaws, busses, trucks with people standing in the truck bed or sitting on top and there were lots of motor scooters. There were several other interesting sites that we saw which would be best explained in person. When we entered a town there was lots of people lining the street or crossing the street or we would just have to stop so a vehicle could make a u-turn. Along the way we saw many Hindu temples of varying sizes. One temple was patterned after the Taj Mahal.  

After arriving in Agra we went to see the Red Fort which is a palace where the emperor, who had the Taj Mahal, built was imprisoned for eight years by his son who wanted to dethrone him. The Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is a tomb which the emperor had built to burry his second wife after she died giving birth to their 14th child. It was amazing seeing the Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist people as well as people of varying nationalities milling around the grounds. Before starting back for Delhi, we took a bicycle rickshaw ride and stopped by a local restaurant for Chinese food. (Chow Mien sounded good and tasted good, too)  

On the way home we encountered the worst rain storm since arriving in India. Fortunately we were able to take refuge in an Indian McDonalds. Literally the slogan “Where’s the beef?” fits here in India. The burgers at McDonalds are either chicken or veggie. Tim enjoyed a filet of fish sandwich and shared fries with Lisa who also had a hot fudge sundae—which tasted just like home. We opted not to get the “veggie-burger surprise” or the “chicken surprise” that were both listed on the menu—the “surprise” part scared us.  

Sunday afternoon social activity

Yesterday we planned another fun social activity with the students. This week we made banana splits—well we had banana and ice cream with strawberry jam on top. Then we divided the students into two teams and played “Pictionary.” This was a new game for them which they thoroughly enjoyed.   

What’s happening this week

This week the students will learn more about how to teach and implement the TCE course that they will be teaching in the near future. Then on Friday morning (July 18) the students finish their final practicum where they actually teach a 40 minute TCE class session. On Friday afternoon we (Lynne, Martha and the two of us) fly down to the southern tip of India where we will start the 2nd Instructor of Teacher’s Course with 39 CEF workers who are presently enrolled. Many of these workers have been with CEF for many years but will be learning how to implement the TCE course here in India.  

Up-to-date prayer requests and praises:

Praises     

  • Praise the Lord for the 11 students we have taking this IOT course (Jacob’s wife, Sheela is sitting in on classes but will officially take the IOT course next week).
  • Praise the Lord that we both are feeling well with no stomach problems at present. 

Prayer Requests 

  • Pray for the students as they will be diligently preparing for their final practicum on Friday morning.
  • Pray for Simi, one of the students who struggles speaking English. At this present time she needs to re-do her Bible lesson practicum and always has an upset stomach the day of her practicum which we think this is due to nerves. We think she wants to quite and Lynne is presently talking with her trying to encourage her. She did well on her paper work but struggles verbally giving her practicum.
  • Pray for travel safety as we fly to Trivandrum on Friday.
  • Pray that the CEF workers in southern India will have a teachable heart and will see the impact that the TCE program can have in their city or state.
  • Pray that the Lord will give us grace to handle the “stretching opportunities” He will be bringing our way.
  • Pray that we will have a servant heart in all situations (just like we see in the life of each student J). 

Thanks again for your prayers and support! God bless,

Tim & Lisa

 

Sunday, July 6

 

Our first week of training children’s workers has come to an end.

We trust you had a nice 4th of July celebration! July 4, Friday, was the last day of our Teaching Children Effectively (TCE) course. We’ve been teaching the students how to simply and clearly present the message of salvation using the Wordless Book and a Bible lesson. The students have diligently been preparing and practicing their Bible lesson assignment and on Friday they presented their lesson for evaluation. Each staff member listened to and evaluated 5 students as they presented their lesson.

 

Besides helping the students learn methods of evangelism, we are also helping Christopher and Jacob, our CEF Indian brothers, as they go through the process of being credentialed as leadership training instructors so they can oversee future TCE and Instructor of Teachers courses here in India.

 

Tomorrow (Monday) we start a new phase of training.

For someone to teach the TCE course he/she has to be trained as an instructor of teachers. On Monday morning we will begin the process of training the students how to teach the TCE course they just finished. We will have 12 students taking the Instructor of Teacher Course (IOT). On Friday afternoon we said goodbye to several students who are not taking the IOT course. We praise the Lord that we had the privilege of meeting and getting to know these 8 students. They will be going back to their home state as a better equipped children’s worker. We pray that they will get experience and will come back to CEF of India institute to take the IOT course next year.

 

We got to plan a social activity for the students just like we do in the USA.

Part of our responsibility at CMI in the USA is to plan activities and social events for the students. Since the students did not have classes on Saturday, we decided (along with Lynne & Martha) to plan a special activity for Saturday afternoon. Tim brought some DVD’s with us so we planned a movie and snack fellowship. On Saturday morning Martha and Lisa went shopping and bought some “American” treats—Oreo cookies, Coke, Fanta orange pop (soda for you from MO) and potato chips. Right before the activity started, Martha and Lisa walked to a small grocery store and purchased some ice cream. (We found out that ice cream and potato chips were two treats that the students like but don’t often get because of the cost.) Lisa and Martha were laughing as they quickly walked the several blocks back to the Traci house in the over 100 degree temperature. Martha laughed as Lisa said, “We need to hurry! We don’t want to give the students ice cream soup.” We made the students ice cream floats which they ate while watching the Billy Graham movie Road to Redemption. The students enjoyed the evening and even liked the ice cream floats. J

 

A typical “school” day for us and the students:

7:00-7:45         Morning prayer led by Tim and devotions led by one of the staff

7:45-8:30         Breakfast (usually some type of curry and rice cake or similar)

8:30-12:30       Four class sessions with a 20 minute tea break mid-morning

12:30-1:30       Lunch (rice and some type of curry and curd)

1:30-3:20         Two class sessions

3:30-4:30         Staff meeting

4:30-5:00         Afternoon tea which is called “Chi” in Hindi (I think I’m spelling this right)

5:00-7:00         Free time for the students

7:00-7:30         Evening meal (rice and some type of curry)

 

We are very thankful that Sheela, Jacob’s wife, often makes special “un-spicy” food for us so we don’t have digestive problems. Sheela has made us chicken & veggie pizza, chicken fajitas and “Indian fried” chicken. It has been quite different getting used to eating so late in the evening but the afternoon tea helps tie us over.

 

Here are some up-to-date prayer requests and praises:

Praises     

  • Praise the Lord for 19 students we had for TCE 1.
  • Praise the Lord that we have adjusted well to the time change and are sleeping well.
  • Praise the Lord for Sheela and Jacob’s care for our needs.
  • Praise the Lord that Lisa and Martha are feeling better. They both had a mild upset stomach the first few days after we arrived.

 

Prayer Requests 

  • Pray that the students who returned home at the end of TCE 1 will put into practice what they learned so many children will hear the gospel and have a changed life.
  • Pray for the 12 students who will be starting the IOT course tomorrow. Pray that they will understand the concept of being trained as an instructor so they can teach TCE courses in India.
  • Pray we will always have a godly attitude and will glorify God as we train these wonderful students.
  • Pray that we will continue to have the unity we presently have as a teaching team.
  • Pray for G. Christopher who will be leaving this evening for southern India. He will be traveling by train and will then be getting things ready for the course we will be teaching there in 2 weeks.
  • Pray for Tim and Lynne as today they are both experiencing a mild upset stomach. Pray that we will all stay healthy.
  • Pray that the Lord will give us grace to handle the “stretching opportunities” He will be bringing our way.
  • Pray that we will have a servant heart in all situations (just like we see in the life of each student J).

 

Thanks again for your prayers and support! God bless,

Tim & Lisa (The Deam Team)

 

Pictures are in the slideshow.

 

 

Thursday, July 3

 

Pictures are in the slideshow.

 

 

Tuesday, July 1

 

Greetings from the hot city of Delhi! J On Thursday June 26, the day after we arrived in India, we went to an internet café to send an email to all of you. The next few days were quite busy with the start of institute so we didn’t have opportunity to check our emails until Monday. Well to our disappointment we saw that the June 26th email was returned to us—so sorry. Lisa typed an extra letter in the email address. We did manage to re-send this same letter to Elaine and we think she has already passed it on to you. Here is some more information we just want to pass on so you know a little of what we are experiencing. (Thanks for being understanding and gracious in regard to spelling and grammar errors. We are trying to get this to you quickly in the little free time we have today.)

 

India Children’s Ministries Institute

Our institute (CMI) officially started on Saturday. We have 20 wonderful, kind, courteous and eager-to-learn students from all over India in the class. All the girls (eleven of them) sleep in the same large room on the second floor and share 2 bathrooms. All the guys share one large room on the first floor. We never hear any of them complaining about the heat and sleeping arrangement and they are very respectful to us (their teachers).

 

We are very grateful to the Lord that we, as well as Lynne and Martha, have a window air conditioner in our sleeping room. Also, there are 2 window air conditioners in the classroom which really helps the students stay alert while we teach. (Oh, naturally our teaching keeps them awake, too!) The Lord has been very gracious to us as we have slept well and have been comfortable enough to prepare for teaching.

 

The CMI students

Since the students come from several different states in India they have their own tribal languages. However, English is their 2nd language and they are required to speak and write English. There are times that we can tell they don’t quite get what we are saying. We are so thankful to the Lord for His help while teaching and communicating with them; we are trying hard to speak slowly and clearly. We do know that a few of the students are struggling with speaking English and we know they would appreciate your prayers for them.

 

Our first worship service

On Sunday morning (June 29) we had our own worship service here at the institute. Several students provided special music and Lynne and Lisa sang a duet. Tim had the privilege of preaching the message. You can also see pictures of this on our web site J J!

 

India traffic

Check out the other pictures on our web site. One of them is titled “a Delhi street.” Actually, we should change the title to “light traffic in India.” If you look at this picture you will notice a small green vehicle. It is called an “auto rickshaw.” Lisa had the opportunity of riding in one of these “taxi-type vehicles” a couple of times thus far and she found out that the streets are much busier than the picture. Most of the time a two-lane one way street becomes a three-lane street as cars, motorcycles, auto rickshaws, bicycles, trucks and other vehicles “beep, beep” and quickly pass one another. Oh, the vehicles also have to dodge the cows that are just standing on the side of the city streets and highway.

 

Items for prayer:

  • Pray that we will be able to correctly learn and pronounce the student’s names. (Here are a few names: Dziizie, Yokshingsani, Kevi, Simi, Alem, Kihoshi (a girl), Kihoshe (a guy).
  • Pray that we will stay healthy and that the food will not upset our stomach. We have curry (spicy hot) available for most meals. Praise the Lord that our hostess is very understanding and has been making the teaching staff special “mild” food.
  • Pray that we will be able to communicate clearly to the students.
  • Pray that the students will be able to correctly understand our English and will be able to teach their assignments in English with little struggle.

 

 

Monday, June 30

Pictures are in the slideshow.

 

 

Thursday, June 26

 

 

Hello from India! We landed in Delhi last evening (6/25) at 8:15 PM. We praise the Lord that the trip went well and we both got some sleep during the flight. Presently, we are sitting in a little internet cafe a few blocks from the Traci House where we are staying and where the Teaching Children Effectively Level 1 course will be held. The course starts on Friday evening when we meet the 18 students who will be taking this training. The number enrolled in the course may change as people tend to sign up for things at the last minute. When we go to for the training in southern India we anticipate that there will be 39 nationals we will be training.

 

Last evening when our host Jacob was driving us from the airport to the Traci house, the first thing we noticed was the "beep, beep" that came from all the cars as they quickly passed by. Delhi was busy last evening even though it was after 10 PM; we're finding out that it's a busy city at all times of the day. We hear "beep, beep" right now. :)

 

It is very hot here today--the hottest they have had in several days. The heat index is probably about 110 degrees. We are very thankful that our sleeping room has an air conditioner and ceiling fan. Our co-workers, Lynne and Martha have an air conditioner in their room also, but just before walking to this internet cafe Lynne told us that their air conditioner stopped working. Jacob is going to try to get a repair man to come and work on it. You can pray that Lynne and Martha will get a good night's rest this evening.

 

The Traci house is an acronymn for a training center owned by a mission group here in India. The house is nice with a large room that will be the men's quarters;another large room for the women's dorm; three other bedrooms with a private bath for each; a small kitchen; a small dining room and a nice size classroom. Another praise is the classroom has an air conditioner which will help us while we teach and work with the students. We haven't gotten any pictures to show yet, but we'll try to work on that and send them as soon as possible.

 

Today we unpacked our training materials and personal items and got our living quarters ready. We also enjoyed a lunch of Pizza Hut pizza. We joked about coming to India and having pizza for our first meal. Actually, Lynne found a Pizza Hut the other day and was craving pizza.

 

This is all for now. We will keep you updated. Here are a few prayer requests:

  • Praise -- we slept well last night and are feeling well today.
  • Pray that we won't suffer much from jet lag.
  • Pray that we will stay healthy.
  • Pray that the Lord will bring just the right individuals of His choice to take the TCE 1 course.
  • Pray that we will be able to communicate clearly to the students we will be teaching.

God bless and THANKS for your prayers as we traveled. We could feel God's peace.

Tim & Lisa "The Deam Team"

 

Monday, June 23

 

We’re Inching toward India!

 

Tomorrow we leave for India! Thank you for your prayers and financial gifts for this mission trip! We are praising the Lord that at present, a little over $5,000 has come in to cover the cost! We have also received word from three churches and one supporter who plan on giving, so with the money that has been promised and with what we presently have we should reach our goal of $6,000!

 

Our co-workers have arrived in India!

On June 9 we took Lynne Herlein and Martha Olango to the airport to catch their flight to Delhi, India. They have been in New Delhi for two weeks now making preparations for the training. Lynne emailed us that their flight from Chicago to Delhi was only 13 ½ hours instead of the 14-15 she anticipated—she said they had a strong tail wind. J She also said that in New Delhi, where they are now, it is 10 ½ hours ahead of Missouri time (central time) and that it was very, very hot when they arrived; one day the heat index was 115. She and Martha have been having trouble getting over jet lag and resting comfortably at night. They would appreciate your prayers. Today we checked the internet for the weather in India and the temperature has dropped to the mid 90’s with a low in the high 80’s.

 

Lynne and Martha have been busy printing the training manual notes, preparing visual aids and working with Jacob and his wife Sheela. Jacob is the newly appointed CEF of India CMI (Children’s Ministries Institute) Director. The team is working hard to make final arrangements for the first training course that starts on Friday evening, June 27. We really praise the Lord for Lynne, a former CEF missionary to Kenya and a seasoned traveler. Several times during the past two weeks she has emailed us information about what to expect as well as things we need to pack.

 

Lynne also reported that the national CEF workers are such a joy and blessing to get to know and to work with. These national workers have been helping Lynne, Martha, Jacob and Sheela with preparations. Our goal is to train the national CEF leaders so they will be able to train other nationals to reach the children of India.

 

Keeping You Updated While in India

Lynne informed us that we probably will not have access to the internet on site at the conference center (called the Traci House) where the training will take place. We will probably have to go to an internet café to receive and send emails. To save us time and because of the common electric power outs, we’re planning on sending email updates to Elaine Hollen, a good friend from church, who will then send them to you. We also will be sending updates, prayer requests and pictures to our friend who maintains our web site.

 

Praises     

  • Praise the Lord for the $5,000 that has already come in for this trip!
  • Praise the Lord for the additional money that will be coming.
  • Praise the Lord for Lynne and Martha’s safe arrival in India.
  • Praise the Lord for the Indian CEF national workers.

 

How You Can Pray For Us: 

  • Pray for safe travel as we fly to New Delhi on June 24. We leave St. Louis for Chicago at 4:30 PM; leave Chicago at 7:10 PM on a direct flight to Delhi. We should arrive in Delhi at 8:30 PM (however, our bodies will think that it is morning.)
  • Pray that we will sleep on the airplane. (Lisa does not enjoy flying nor does she sleep well while traveling.)
  • Pray that we will adjust to the heat.
  • Pray that we quickly get over jet lag as we will begin teaching two days after arriving.
  • Pray that we will stay healthy and safe. (If one of us gets sick the other team members need to take his/her place.)
  • Pray that we will have unity as a training team.
  • Pray that we will have godly attitudes and will glorify God as we experience a different culture.
  • Pray that the Lord will give us grace to handle the “stretching opportunities” He will be bringing our way.
  • Pray that we will always be Christ-like with a servant’s heart in all situations.

 

Thanks again for your prayers and support! God bless,