Christmas in Northeast India

A belated Merry Christmas to all!

Before I tell you about our Christmas celebration here in Northeast India, let me back up a few days and give you an update from where I left off in the last post.

On Monday of this week, we started off the morning by taking some of the kids to Fat James, a local restaurant (and one of the only ones) here in Churachandpur. They serve some western food like cheeseburgers and pizza. It is pretty expensive by local standards, so most of the kids never go there on their own, so it was a real treat for them to be able to go with us.

We have been quite busy ever since we got here with invitations to kids houses for meals. We ran out of days long before we ran out of invitations.

Now, I don't mean to bore you with all the details, but this blog is kind of my personal journal, too, so I am going to tell you whose house we went to on each day. It's mostly for my benefit... and if the names and places mean anything to you, great.

On Monday for lunch, we went to the next village over from Seilmat, called Hmarveng. It was Denish's (ICC 2008) birthday, so he invited us to celebrate it with him.

We came back to TCS, where we are staying, for an hour or so and then went to Elva's (ICC 2006) house for dinner. Her family lives here in Seilmat.

Tuesday, we went back up to Fat James for an early lunch, and then spent the morning and into the early afternoon here at TCS. We kept the morning open because there were some kids who had not seen us yet that wanted to come for a visit.

In the afternoon, we went to Esther's (ICC 2008) house for tea. She also had some sibling in previous choirs... Kevin in 2006 and Daisy in 2002. Then we stopped at Joseph's (ICC 2007) house for another round of tea. Joseph's sister, Abigail, will be a part of the 2009 ICC.

Dinner was served at Rohny's house. Rohny is the superintendent of education for all of Bibles For The World's schools. He spent three years in the states getting his master's degree from Denver Seminary, and as always, we had a great time with him and his family. He even cooked dog meat for us, a delicacy over in this part of the world. Believe it or not, it was really good.

On Wednesday, we left bright and early in the morning, and went about an hour from here to a little tiny village called Tingcham. Immanuel Lalsanhim from the 2007 choir lives there. The village is a very poor village, and one of the more needy in this area. We spent some time visiting there and then came back to the village of Molnom where we ate lunch at Priscilla's (ICC 2006) house. Priscilla is the one whose father died while she was here in the States, if any of you remember that. After the lunch, we went to the next village over, Khawmawii, to visit some of the former ICC members from there. We stopped at Canaan's (ICC 2004) and Mesak's (ICC 2008) houses.

We came back to TCS and spent an hour or so and then walked over to the village of Rengkai and at dinner at Margaret's (ICC 2006) house. After dinner, we attended the Christmas eve service at the Rengkai church.

Christmas is a big deal around here, and part of that big deal is a big community feast at the church. On Christmas morning, we were awakened nice and early (around 5:00 AM) by the sounds of banging pots and people's voices just behind the place we are staying. They were beginning to prepare the feast which would be served later in the afternoon. They had killed the cow the day before. They dug a long ditch and built a fire the whole way along it. Then they placed all the pots... probably at least 20 of them on top of the fire. There was pork and beef and fish... some spicy and some mild.

For breakfast that morning, we went to Jasper's (ICC 2007) house. The morning service was at 10:30. Right after that, we went to Elva's house for tea, and then back to TCS to rest for a little.

The feast started around 2:30. Along with the stuff they were preparing earlier, everyone brought enough rice for their family. The put all the rice in a big drum... think 50 gallon drum... and it was full to the top! The food was very good.

Right after the feast, we went to Esther's (ICC 2005) house for a visit. I sponsor both Esther and her older sister, Mary.

The evening service at the church started around 5:30, so we attended that, and then they have a special time of singing right after the service, so we attended that for a little while.

It was an interesting time... the first Christmas I have ever spent wearing short sleeves! But that is not the only interesting thing. It was very special to experience the Christmas celebration in a different culture. Even though we don't celebrate it the same way, we are celebrating the same event... an event that changed the world... forever!

Christmas celebrations last for two days around here... mostly the same on the second day as the first. Today, we ate breakfast at Paul and Joyful's house, and then attended the church service. After resting for a little, we walked to Rengkai and joined the feast there. It was pretty much the same deal as Seilmat, except for the fact that the kids and the adults eat separately because they are a larger congregation and do not have room for everyone together. We ate with the kids, and then went to Celia's (ICC 2006) house for a rest and guess what... more tea.

We attended the evening service and singing time at Rengkai and then came back to Seilmat where the singing was, and still is for that matter, going on (it's 11:30 PM).

Having The Time Of My Life

That is exactly what I am doing... hanging out with some of my best friends in the world all day, every day... and loving every minute of it.

Yesterday (Saturday) we had lunch at Jenny's (ICC 2008) house. Unlike most of the ICC kids her family is Meitei, a tribe here in Northeast India that is predominantly Hindu. A lot of her relatives are not Christians. My brother Marv and I sponsor Jenny through the Bibles For The World sponsorship program, so it was a very special time for us to be able to spend time with her and her family.

After having lunch and spending some time there, we came back to Trinity College and Seminary (TCS) for a few hours. Almost every minute we are here, there are kids her hanging out with us. In fact, when we leave, they are often waiting for us when we come back.

In the evening, we attended a dinner event for all the doctors and staff at Seilmat Christian Hospital, which is run by Bibles For The World, and then immediately after, we attended the church service at Seilmat EFCI church, and I had the opportunity to preach the sermon. They asked me to preach something about Christmas, so I spoke about "Missing The Messiah"... about all the people in Jesus day who missed the King of Kings, and then spoke about how many people even today miss Jesus Christ and what He wants to do in their lives.

Right after the service, we went to Edwin's (ICC 2006) house for yet another meal. It was his birthday, so he invited us to come and celebrate it with him and his friends.

This morning, we met Rohny (superintendent of education) and Isaac (principle of Seilmat School), and they shared with us some of the visions and dreams they have for the local school as well as some of the other school under their umbrella. We ate breakfast at Rohny's house, and then attended the morning service at Seilmat Church, but we went to the kid's Sunday School instead of the adult service. There are many, many former ICC kids that live here in Seilmat, so it was good to see a lot of them today.

We spent a few hours back here at TCS this afternoon and then went to Romila's (ICC 2006) house in the neighboring village of Rengkai for dinner. Sylvia (ICC 2008) is Romila's niece and was there too. We had a wonderful time with them.

Here is NE India, church choir's are a big part of the local churches. The EFCI Central Choir is a choir made up of some of the best singers from EFCI churches all over NE India. This evening, they were doing a taping for a new video they are releasing, and they invited us to come over and be with them for awhile. There are a few previous ICC leaders and a few young people the will be ICC leaders in 2009 that are a part of the Central Choir. We spent a few hours listening to them... they are very good.

Churachandpur!

I am writing this report from Trinity College and Seminary in Seilmat, Manipur.

To some of you that means nothing... for others you know that it means I am in Churachandpur, the area where a huge majority of the India Children's Choir kids come from.

We were supposed to arrive here yesterday, but if you have been reading this blog, you should know by now that not nearly everything goes according to plan.

I posted the update from the "hills" while sitting at the Silchar Airport in Assam, a neighboring state to Manipur. We were expecting to fly out, but no airplane showed up. Our flight time came and went... and still no plane (in the entire airport!) The finally announced that our flight was cancelled due to fog in the city the plain was supposed to come from.

So back to Hmarkawlien and Goa's house we went. We spent the day just chilling out... visited one of the local pineapple gardens (NE India pineapples are BY FAR the best pineapples I've ever put in my mouth), and just took it easy.

This morning, we again made the forty-five minute trip from Hmarkawlien to the Silchar airport for our 7:35 AM flight. Soon after arriving there, a plane landed... and it was our plane! But then the announced that the visibility where we were GOING was bad and there would be another delay. Fortunately, it did not last long, and we were on our way.

We landed at the Imphal airport around 10:00 AM. We started driving away from the airport, and I got the feeling that I was coming home! I am not gonna lie... I was so excited, I had butterflies. This is my "family" that lives here!

We arrived at TCS (the seminary run by Bibles For The World) around 12:00. This is where we will be staying for the next two and a half weeks. The 2009 India Children's Choir is training here, and so we went and hung out with them for a while.

And then the kids started coming... and more came, and more came. I was having the time of my life. There must have been twenty or thirty of the kids from former ICCs that came along with some other kids that I knew from here.

We spent the afternoon hanging out with them and then went to the home of Roland Chonzik (Ella's family, for those of you who got to know the 2007 choir) for dinner.

After the dinner, the Seilmat youth group was putting on a big Christmas play, so we attended that and then hung out with the kids some more.

It's gonna be a good two weeks! We have been here for half of a day and already have five or six meal invitations. I have a feeling that the next two and a half weeks is not gonna be long enough!

Our Trip To The "Hills"

Hey everyone,
Here is the report from our trip the the "Hills". It is quite long, but I could find no fewer words to describe our experiences there.


Monday, December 15, 2008

Well, it’s Monday morning… three days since we left for our trip to the “hills”, and this is the first time I’ve had a chance to sit down and write about it.

We left Aizawl on Saturday morning around 7:30 after a breakfast at Paul and Joyful’s house. The first few hours were relatively smooth. Besides getting stuck in a traffic jam leaving Aizawl and having a flat tire a few hours into the trip, nothing that much out of the ordinary.

We drove for about five or six hours until the road split off into three directions. Now, that first six hours or so was not too bad. Sure the road was bumpy and windy, but not extreme compared to some other Northeast India roads I’ve been on. The worst part was all the dust. You were literally eating it, especially when a vehicle passed you going the other way.

Then the road split into three very narrow, very windy, and at times, very muddy roads. We took the one toward Khawlien, our destination. After only a few minutes on this road, I could soon tell why we were some of the only white people ever to visit some of these villages. It was pretty extreme. I will be posting some video footage when we get back in January that you’ll have to be sure to check out. The roads ran along the sides of the mountains and snaked their way down into the valleys and then back up the mountains on the other side. Our driver very rarely shifted out of first gear and when he did shift into second, it was usually only a minute or less before he had to shift back down. Our average speed could not have been more than about five miles per hour. Fortunately, we did not meet other vehicles, because the road was only wide enough for one, and there were often deep ruts in the road, making only one place to drive. Besides that, most of the time there were sheer drop-offs of thousands of feet within just a few feet and sometimes just a few inches of the side of our vehicle!

And on these roads we drove on and on, sleep being basically impossible because it was so bumpy. Finally, we came around a corner, and there in front of us was a village. Relief… for a few minutes. But then they told us that this was not Khawlien, that Khawlien was the next village, but it was only ten kilometers away. Great, we thought. In American measurements, that is only six or seven miles. It won’t be long now. Yeah, right! These are roads in the remotest part of India we’re talking about. Finally, an hour and a half later, we arrived in Khawlien. Yes, you read that right… the last six miles took us one and a half hours!

It was 7:00 when we arrived… almost twelve hours after we left Aizawl, and we were quite road weary to say the least, but I soon forgot about that, because standing there was Alish! Alish was a member of both the 2005 and 2006 India Children’s Choirs. The last time I came to India, I got to see all the kids except for her, so I was thrilled to be able to see her again.

We settled into our guest house, which was quite nice for a village that remote, cleaned up, and then went to the headmistress of the school’s house for dinner. Shortly after that, we returned to the guesthouse and slept very well until the next morning.

Sunday morning dawned bright and beautiful there in Khawlien. The area is actually very nice… the village in built on the peak of one of the many mountains in the region and the views are quite spectacular. But quite frankly, I am not sure why anyone would settle in an area so remote. Just a point of interest… this is also the village in which Mawii was born. Mawii is the wife of Dr. Rochunga Pudaite, the founder of Bibles For The World, which is the parent organization of the India Children’s Choir.

A new school building was just recently constructed in Khawlien, a much needed improvement over the very crowded building they used up until now. That building was constructed of bamboo with classrooms of not much more that ten feet by ten feet in size. Each one of these classrooms would hold twenty to thirty students. Some of them were so crowded, there was no room for the teachers… they had to stand outside the door.

This new school building had not yet been dedicated, and it was decided to do the dedication while we were there. So, at 7:00 on Sunday morning, we headed over to the school building for the ceremony. About 150 of the 320 students were on hand, as well as some of the local people. I had the opportunity to do the ribbon cutting for the new building and then the local pastor had a dedication prayer. Because of my involvement with the Bibles For The World child sponsorship program, and because of that my indirect involvement with the schools, it was a really neat opportunity and a great honor for me to be able to have a part in the dedication of a new school.

From there, we went to Alish’s house for breakfast. She, along with her mother and sister, prepared a great meal for us. After the meal, we went back to our guest house to clean up and pack up and then it was off to church around 9:30. All of us (Marv, Mahlon, Elvin, and I) spoke for a few minutes during the service. We were also presented with some gifts made by the local people. The amazing thing about this culture is that it doesn’t seem to matter how poor the people are, they always give you a gift. In fact, we paid a visit to one house, and they presented us each with an egg.

Soon after the church service, we headed out again. We could see the village we were going to over on the next mountain. It couldn’t have been more than five miles straight across. But again, these are the “hills”, some of the remotest parts of India.

We thought the roads could not get any worse than the ones we had been on, but guess what, they did! We only got stuck one time, though, and that was not too bad. A little push by all of us, and we were on our way again. We came to a small village where we stopped by at a house to get some medicine for Joyful… all the bumpy roads had her stomach a little upset. They were just getting ready to eat, and cooking there over the fire were to skewers of rats! Paul claims they are actually quite tasty, but none of us had the guts to try one.

We drove for a few more hours, and finally, around 7:00 PM we arrived in Suongpuilawn, the town that we could see from where we started. It took us seven hours to get there. We stopped there in the town to eat dinner at the pastor’s house. Now, white people very, very rarely come to these remote towns, so it was a big deal that we were there, even if it was only for a meal. Fifty or more people lined up to shake our hands as we walked from the vehicle to the house, and then they all crowded inside to watch our every move. One person had a camera, and so a bunch of the people took turns having their pictures taken with us.

Once the dinner was ready, the crowd was shooed outside, and we ate. Soon after dinner, we once again loaded up and headed out. From here on out, even thought still narrow and windy, the road was paved, and our driver took advantage. But even on the good roads, we had four hours to drive to Sawkerdai, and we arrived there around midnight.

Just last year, the government finished a guest house there, and so we had very nice accommodations for the night.


Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Wow, what an amazing two days it has been. The last entry went up until Sunday night. On Monday morning we finally took the opportunity to rest up a little bit and didn’t have any activities planned until around 9:00. The local pastor from Sawkardai came and met us and took us to the place where their new church is being constructed. After that, we went to his house for lunch.

Around 12:00, we headed out on the road to Senvon, which is across the river in Manipur. Now, Paul had done this same trip with a group from Samaritan’s Purse last year, and he said the trip would take three hours or so. We could actually see the village where we were going to on the top of the next mountain. Those paved roads that I mentioned soon ended and we were back on the narrow, bumpy, muddy roads. We thought the roads that we encountered on the way to Khawlien were about as bad as roads could get. But, once again, they got worse. We would our way back around the mountain and all the way down to the river.

Now… the next dilemma… how to get across the river. You see, a few years ago, the bridge washed out from the high water during rainy season. The only way across seemed to be to drive the sumo through the river. Our driver checked it out, we watched a few other vehicles cross, and then we crossed ourselves. The river was several hundred yards wide, and deep enough to almost reach the hood of the sumo. But we made it across. Footage of the river crossing will be included in the little video we are putting together about our time in the “hills”. We’ll let you know when it is posted.

On the other side of the river, the road got even worse. No sooner had we got up out of the water and we got stuck. And a few minutes later, we got stuck again. About twenty minutes later, again. That time it took almost thirty minutes and the help of a rope and some passerbys to get us out. Four or five times we got stuck.

To make matters worse, or at least to make us feel worse, we had heard that the whole village of Senvon, school students and all, had a big celebration planned for our arrival, and they were anxiously awaiting us, and had been for hours.

Finally, around 7:00 PM, we arrived in Senvon. A big banner saying “Welcome ICC Leaders” hung over the road to welcome our arrival.

The trip that was supposed to take three hours ended up taking seven because of the road conditions, which were a lot worse than when Paul was there the year before. Every rainy season, the roads wash out, and apparently last year’s rainy season did even more damage than usual.

By the time we arrived, the crowd awaiting our arrival had dispersed, and plans were made to do the welcome celebration the next morning. We ate dinner and soon retired for the night.

This morning at 7:00, the celebration got under way. And what a celebration it was. Held right at the spot where Watkin Roberts first preached back in 1910, the festivities included singing, traditional Hmar dances, and presentations of gifts. It was really incredible. They told us that we were the third white people ever to visit that village. The first one was Watkin Roberts, the second was the Samaritan’s Purse group, and then us. What a feeling!

Senvon is also the village where Dr. Ro, the founder of Bibles For The World and the man who translated the Bible into Hmar, was born. Also, Mesie, a member of the 2008 ICC was there to greet us. She and her family walked all day from their village to meet us there.

Around 11:00, we left Senvon and drove the one hour (only about 7 miles) to Lungthulien. Lungthulien is the village where Esther F., Abisak, and Sylvia, all members of the 2008 ICC are from. None of them were there, however… they were all gone to other parts of India for Christmas. That did not stop the school and the village from giving us a hero’s welcome. Again, a huge banner reading “Welcome Brother Michael and Friends” was hung over the road to greet us. Hundreds of people lined the streets to welcome us. They stopped the jeep a little distance before the center of the crowd and had us get out. From there, they carried us on chairs with bamboo poles through the crowd to the center. It was amazing.

Again, more singing, and presentations followed. These people sure know how to put on a welcome celebration. We were only the second group of white people to ever visit this village.

After the festivities ended, we drove about three miles (45 minutes) to Parbung, a village where another BFTW school is located. This is also the village where Mesie is from. Once again, a crowd of people awaited our arrival. We had a short welcome ceremony with them and then they showed us around the village.

We went back to Lungthulien, cleaned up at the house of the school headmistress, where we are staying, and then went to a special church service held because we were in town. Mahlon, Marv, and Elvin, all spoke for a little bit, and then I preached the sermon. That was a little interesting, because I didn’t know ahead of time that I was to preach, but all went well.

After the service we came back to the headmistress’s house and had dinner. Tomorrow morning, we will be leaving bright and early to take a ten hour boat ride down the river to our next destination, Hmarkawlien. It will be a welcome change from the bumpy roads, but then again, I’ve never done the boat ride before, so I may not know what I am getting myself into.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

I am sitting at the Silchar airport writing this update… the final one about our trip to the hills. Hopefully, we will be leaving here sometime soon for our flight to Imphal. The flight time was 7:35 AM, but that time came and went and there are no staff people or even airplanes here at the airport! Oh well, it is Northeast India.

We left from Lungthulien yesterday around 6:30 AM. The plan was to drive two hours to the river, get on the boat, and make the ten hour trip and be in Hmarkhawlien by early evening. But, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, not everything goes according to plan while traveling in these remote parts.

Within a few minutes after we left the headmistress’s house, we heard a loud pop from under the vehicle. Our driver got out to check it out and discovered that the leaf spring had snapped. For a few minutes, we weren’t sure if we were going anywhere anytime soon, but fortunately, there was a spare spring in the village. Even though it was not made for our vehicle, they made it fit, and two or three hours later, we were on our way.

Around 11:00, we boarded the boat bound for Hmarkhawlien. That trip was relatively uneventful. It was a welcome change from driving on the bumpy roads of the “hills”. Around 4:30 PM, we made a stop in the village of Ankhasuo to see the Bibles For The World school there. We had tea with the headmistress, and then were on our way again. An interesting not about the school at Ankhasuo was the fact that out of 204 students, 171 of them are sponsored through the Bibles For The World child sponsorship program. That is most likely the highest percentage of any of our schools.

We finally arrived in Hmarkhawlien around 9:30 PM, and ate dinner and stayed for the night at the house of Goa and his wife. Goa is the headmaster of the Hmarkawlien school, BFTW’s second largest school.

So everything said, we had a great, great time in hills. It was a very rewarding and humbling experience. I will never forget hearing all the people from those very remote and impoverished villages telling me how sponsorship and help from the American people has changed their lives.

Thank you for reading.

A Relaxing Day In Aizawl

After three or four days of messed up plans, long road trips, etc., we finally had a restful day here in the "city on a hill." Aizawl is literally that, built on the side of a steep mountain. How steep, you may ask? Try this... if you are looking at your neighbor's house directly across the street, you are most likely looking at the fourth or fifth story of their house! It's amazing that anyone would build a city in a place like this.

We started our day with a great brunch prepared by Joyful. She is still as good a cook as ever, and after three years, still remembered some of my favorites. After relaxing at the house for a few more hours, Paul took the four of us out to town to do some shopping. We spent the rest of the afternoon picking up a few items here and there, and doing some exploring of the town.

Tonight, after dinner, David and Timothy from the 2006 choir, came over to hang out for a while.

So, the day was quite relaxing... a much needed rest, too.

Tomorrow morning, we will head out for Khawlien, a very remote village about eight hours drive from here. We will be in the "hills" until next Thursday, so I will not be able to post any updates for the next week. I will, however, try to keep a journal of our time there and post it when we get back.

It should be a great experience... We will be some of the first white people to visit some of these areas. One of the places we are visiting is the village where the Gospel first came to the Hmar tribe almost 100 years ago.

We Made It!

Wow, what a day... or two or three.

I informed you in my last post about all the troubles we were having getting to Aizawl. Well, we are finally here, but not without a story to tell.

After we made it back to Shillong last night, we ate dinner and made plans to head out for Aizawl around 9:00. While we were waiting for the vehicle to arrive, we made good use of the time by playing with the kids that we have come to love over the last few days. It was so good to see all of them again, even though we had only been gone for a day.

Finally, around 10:00, the "sumo" arrived. We loaded up our stuff, said our goodbyes once again (I think it was harder the second time around), and headed up the street to meet a few other people who were traveling with us. Once we finally had everything loaded up, we started out. There was just one more thing we needed... fuel. The only problem was that it was now 11:00 at night, and none of the fuel stations were open. We had a fifteen hour drive ahead of us... we needed fuel. After taking another hour trying to figure out what to do, the driver decided to start driving. An hour so or so into the trip, we found an open station and fueled up, so we were good to go.

The other guys and I dozed off here and there and even slept a little as much as the bumpy, windy roads would allow. Daylight came, and still we drove on.

The first few hours of the new day were uneventful, but that all changed when we arrived in the little remote town of Vairengte. Here we crossed the border from the state of Assam into the state of Mizoram. Everything went smoothly there.

The pastor of the local EFCI church in Vairengte had received us at the border and made sure all our paperwork was taken care of. After that, he had gone on ahead to the church, where we were to stop for tea. During the very short drive from the border crossing to the church, however, suddenly two guys started yelling at the driver of our vehicle and told him to stop. He stopped and they came and yanked open the driver's door and tried to get him to get out of the vehicle. A heated argument broke out.

At that time, we were just down the street from the church, and the pastor, hearing the commotion, came running. He convinced the guys to let our driver go, and we drove to the church. My group got out and started enjoying our tea and snack, but no sooner had we started and the guys from down the street saw that our driver had stopped and came after him again.

Again, an argument broke out, this one lasting for more than half an hour. It seems that these local guys were accusing our driver or one of his friends of doing something to them or stealing something from them the day before, and they were out for revenge. Finally, the local police got involved, and off we went. All was good, or so we thought.

When we reached the next checkpoint (there are quite a few along this road), they told our driver he had to pull over. Apparently someone had called from the situation before, and told the officers at this checkpoint to keep the vehicle until they got there. A few jeep loads of officers pulled up. Once again, they questioned out our driver. Finally, one very official looking man came out. I asked him what was up. He said nothing, that it was just a misunderstanding, so once again, were on our way. Oh, the joys of traveling in India.

Finally, around 5:30 this evening, we finally reached the home of Paul and Joyful Chonzik. Paul and Joyful, along with their daughter, Jael, were a part of the 2006 choir. How happy we were to finally get out of that "sumo". We got cleaned up and ate the wonderful meal Joyful had ready for us.

We are going to spend the day tomorrow resting up and enjoying a day around town here before heading to the "hills" on Saturday.

Back In Shillong

Yes, you read that right. We are back in Shillong. No, I can't believe it either.

In the last post, I wrote that we were getting ready to board our flight to Aizawl. Well, we boarded the flight, it took off, and it flew all the way to Aizawl. And that's when things stopped going according to plan.

We were most of the way into our descent to the airport when the plane leveled off. We flew directly over the runway, and then the plane pulled back up. And it kept going up and up. About twenty minutes later, they made an announcement that due to "technical difficulties with the aircraft", the plane was being diverted back to Guwahati! Definitely not what we wanted to hear, but not much we could do about it.

So back to Guwahati we went. When we landed, we waited for a few minutes and then the officials told us to come to the podium to make further arrangements. They told us there would not be another flight today, and that the flight for tomorrow was full.

So we decided to try to find an overnight bus to Aizawl. But they were all full. Next step was to try to book a "sumo" or jeep to take us on the fourteen hour trip. Not much luck there, either. So we called up Remkung, our guy in Shillong, to ask him what to do. We finally decided to return to Shillong and arrange for the all night ride from there.

So here we are, back in Shillong, after the three hour ride here. Our great friends once again provided us with dinner, and we will be heading out in another hour or so... once again to make an attempt to go to Aizawl.

Never a dull moment...

Stuck In Guwahati!

Well, you couldn't expect a month long trip half way around the world to go without ANY monkey wrenches, could you?

After making the four hour drive from Shillong to the airport here in Guwahati yesterday, we went to check in for our supposedly 1:30 PM flight, only to find out the flight had left at 9:50 AM. They said they had sent an email a few days earlier that apparently landed in cyberspace somewhere.

Being in a strange town with no one that you know and no place to go is not the best feeling in the world, but again the people from Shillong came through! I had called Remkung, our contact in Shillong, as soon as we found out about the flight. He immediately called our driver, who came back to the airport and made all the arrangements for us stay in a hotel in Guwahati.

So, we are back at the airport where our flight is supposed to be leaving at 9:50 AM, which is in an hour. From here we fly to Aizawl, where we will be received by Paul and Joyful Chonzik, who were the leaders of the 2006 India Children's Choir.

NOTE: I HAVE NOTICED THAT THE EMAILS OF THIS POST ARE NOT VERY TIMELY. IT SEEMS THAT SOMETIME THEY DO NOT GET SENT OUT UNTIL ALMOST A DAY AFTER THEY ARE POSTED. YOU CAN READ THE POSTS RIGHT AFTER THEY ARE MADE BY VISITING WWW.MICHAELESH.BLOGSPOT.COM.

Having A Wonderful Time In Shillong

Well, our time in Shillong is almost over :(. What a great time it has been. If the rest of the trip is anywhere close to as good as the last few days have been, we are in for an awesome, awesome time.

One of the best parts of being here in Shillong has been not only getting to spend time with the former ICC members, but also getting to know all of their friends. There are a lot of children here in the compound where we are staying, and we have made a lot of new friends. We are constantly surrounded by the kids. They wait for us to get up in the morning, and are here at our guesthouse until we go to bed at night. And I'm not talking just one or two kids around, but more like twenty! It's awesome. It will be a sad day here at the EFCI compound when we leave tomorrow.

The hospitality has been exceptional. Mary Jones, the 2008 ICC narrator, has done an outstanding job of making sure that our needs are more than met.

Yesterday was Sunday, and so we attended the morning church service at 11:00. After the service, we went and had lunch at Joyce's house. Joyce was one of the 2008 ICC school teachers. After the lunch was over, we played with the kids for a few hours, went back to the guest house to rest for a little bit, and then went to church for the 6:00 service.

Grace, Christina, and Jerry performed the song "Here I Am" during the service. It was one of the most beautiful renditions of the song I have ever heard. They chose it especially because they knew it was one of my favorites. The three of them were good singers during the time they were in the India Children's Choir, but they blew me away with how good they are now. They have improved tremendously.

I also had the opportunity to preach the sermon at the evening service, and I preached a message about not wasting your life, but making every moment count for God. A lot of the inspiration for the sermon came from a book called "Butterfly In Brazil", written by my friend, Glenn Packiam, who is a worship pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. A great book... check it out.

After the service was over, we went to Grace's house for dinner and then came back up to the guest house where, surprise suprise, there were a bunch of kids waiting for us. We spent some time with them and then retired for the night.

This morning, we had breakfast at Mary Jones and Jerry's house and then went sightseeing to Cherrapunjee, an are about two hours from Shillong. Cherrapunjee is the rainiest spot on earth, but you wouldn't have known it today. It was quite hot and sunny.

We got back to the EFCI center around 4:30 and then went and had tea with the family of Uniky, the girl that my parents sponsor.

This evening, they had a special time of singing with the youth and children at the church, an event planned in honor of our visit. Following the service, we ate dinner at the home of Rev. J. Huoplien, the president of the Evangelical Free Church of India.

Tomorrow, it's off to Aizawl, where we will meet Paul Chonzik and his family. They were all a part of the 2006 ICC. We will miss Shillong... I wish we had a few more days here... but are also looking very much foreward to the next ten days or so, during which time we will get to travel to some extremely remote areas. We'll try to keep you posted as much as possible.

Shillong, Northeast India

They call this place the "Scotland of the East" because of it highlands and beautiful scenery. Shillong is situated high in the mountains of the Northeast Indian state of Meghalaya. Also here is the headquarters of the Evangelical Free Church of India, the denomination founded by Dr. Ro and Mawii Pudiate.

We traveled here mostly for one reason. Some of the former India Children's Choir members live here.

Our day started early this morning... we left our hotel at 4:00 AM and went the the airport. We took the flight from Delhi to Guwahati and then made the four hour drive to Shillong. We had a big party awaiting our arrival. Grace and Christina from the 2007 choir, Jerry from the 2006 choir, and Mary Jones and Joyce, both leaders from the 2008 choir, all live here. Not only do they all live here in Shillong, but they all live here in the same compound (owned by EFCI) where we are staying.

We had a great time playing and hanging out with them. We ate dinner at the house of Lal Pakhuongte, one of the EFCI pastors who works here in the office.

After the dinner, we attended the Saturday night prayer service at the church and then came back to our guest house where we entertained a bunch of visitors (mostly kids) for the next few hours.

We are all running on less than three hours of sleep, so this boy is off to bed.

Oh, one more thing. I've gotta preach at the church service here tomorrow night, so if you will keep me in your prayers, I'd appreciate it!

INDIA!

Greetings from Delhi.

We arrived here yesterday afternoon around 3:00 following a twleve hour flight from NY to Dubai, a two hour layover there, and then a three hour flight to Delhi. It is so good to be back on Indian soil again. This place definately has a special place in my heart.

We were met at the airport by C. Thant Khawbung, one of Bibles for the World's people who lives and works in Delhi. He took us to our hotel where we rested for a few hours and got cleaned up. In the evening, we went to Boaza's house for dinner. Boaza was a member of the 2007 India Children's Choir. His father is a pastor working with Bibles For The World, and the family lives here in Delhi.

This morning, we met up with Jocelyn, the narrator fromt the 2007 India Children's Choir. The four of us in my group, along with Jocelyn and one of her friends, spent a few hours together, including lunch at TGI Fridays! Yea, all the way to India, and we get to eat at TGI Fridays. Very interesting, though, is that there is no beef on the menu. The have hamburgers, but they are lamb meat. Even the McDonalds here in Delhi do not serve any beef.

The rest of the day we will just be hanging out, meeting a few more friends, and then bright and early tomorrow morning, we fly to Northeast India.

The Trip is Underway!

Hey there,

Welcome to the blog that will (hopefully) allow you to follow us (myself, Marv Esh, Mahlon Esh, and Elvin King) as we travel around India for the next month.

Right now, we are at JFK airport in New York and getting ready to board our flight that will take us to Dubai and then on to Delhi.

Keep checking back for more posts, or you can subscribe to receive the posts via email.

Tour Is Over, and I'm Going to India!

Hey everyone,

The tour is over... the kids left the US on November 20. I have been back home, enjoying family, friends, and "real" life for a few weeks. Tomorrow, my brother, two firends, and I head for India! I am so excited to get to see all my kids from the last few years and spend Christmas and New Years with them. Can't wait!