Tuesday -- Flight to Chicago

You couldn’t ask for more than what we received for the long flight to Chicago. No, we didn’t get bumped up into business class; but the next-best thing. All of us were in the back half of the plane, and it was only about 1/3 full. That meant each of us got an entire row to ourselves. I actually was able to stretch out completely across four seats and sleep some. THAT WAS NICE!!! As usual, the food and service was excellent, and we are all excited about touching-down in about an hour. I think the best part will be dropping Greg Lee off (well, that didn’t come out the way I wanted), because at his house we are having PIZZA!!! It’s amazing the things you long for when you’ve been away for two weeks.

P.S. -- McDonald's in O'Hare never smelled so good.

Tuesday -- Abu Dhabi

We had an uneventful drive from Kottayam to Cochin (a nice thing). Many were ready to go early, so we headed out by 9:30 p.m., and arrived at the airport a little before midnight. It’s an interesting scene there, because many flights leave overnight – between midnight and 4:00 a.m. The reason is that – just like us – if you depart then, you can reach your final destination on the same day. Mind you, your body clock is all messed up, but at least it doesn’t feel like it’s as long as it actually is. Staying in the airport from then until 4:00 a.m., when our flight was to depart, was like being an adult at a youth lock-in: it was so hard to stay awake, but you knew you needed to so that you could sleep on the plane! Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to sleep a lot on the four-hour flight to Abu Dhabi, but I did rest and caught a couple of cat-naps. We arrived here around 7:00 local time, which is an hour-and-a-half earlier than India. Now we are waiting for our flight to Chicago – only fifteen hours long! I’ll be impressed if I remember what day it is by the time we land in the States.

We also got to track the last 10 minutes of the Colts-Texans game through the internet. Hope Felipe had a good time in my place!

Sunday and Monday

These two days have been much less hectic and more relaxing than any others on the trip thus far. Sunday we opened our day with morning prayer, led by David and Danny, two members of our group. This has been our practice each morning we’ve been in Kottayam, and we all have felt a great nourishment from this time of communal worship. After that, we were given freedom to do what we wished in the morning. There were worship services here and in town, but none were in English, so I must admit I stayed at SEERI and rested and caught up on some things. After lunch, we had a discussion with Father Jacob, who is the director of SEERI, and a professor at the local university who has accompanied us during our time here. We talked about what it’s like to be Christian in such a predominant Hindu country, as well as to live in Kerala, where the Christians are in a greater number but not a majority. It was interesting, although it felt more like a lecture from their end. But I took away from this discussion the comparison of how we in the United States are now the church in a minority. Too often I hear the phrase “Christian nation”, but in reality the church is now a minority presence in American society. And it’s not so much a minority to another religion, like India, but rather to secularism. How will we seek to be the Body of Christ without presuming we have certain inherent advantages as the American church?

That evening, our group had another excellent debriefing, which reminds me of why I feel so blessed to be a part of this fellowship. We reflected more deeply on how this trip has shaped us as leaders, what we have learned about this place, and what we have learned about ourselves. Through the disorientation we all felt, we have not only grown closer together as colleagues and friends, we have grown deeper in our appreciation for our Christian faith and practices. We have discovered the importance of seeking interfaith and ecumenical dialogue, as we have witnessed in India. And I have discovered the importance for me finding space in the chaos of daily living (not unlike the traffic here) to find someone/something to lean on and find peace and strength in the midst of the journey. That can be closer and deeper relationships with family or friends. That can be spiritual practices and disciplines, which deepen our faith and relationship with God. But to only try and live this life “on your own” will only leave you lost and unfulfilled. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone to realize what that really feels like.

Today has been completely free, but that doesn’t mean it was without activity. After breakfast this morning, our group met by ourselves – without our leaders. And the purpose was to talk more fully about what happens after our last session at the end of this month. Once again, we are realizing the value we place in this group of pastors from at least nine different denominations, and how that has given us a forum to engage in the kinds of conversations we normally would not be able to have. We will see where it leads – I believe we have some purpose ideas laid out, and now it’s a matter of hammering out the details. After our meeting, it was time to shop. Oh joy. No, it was fun, and after both a morning trip and afternoon trip into town, I got all things on my list. And thankfully, they all fit in the suitcases I brought! We are waiting to have dinner here at SEERI, and then we will take our last cold shower of the trip (won’t miss that, BTW), and then it’s on the bus to Cochin for a flight that leaves in the middle of the night. I’ll probably do some more reflecting on the plane and try to post something when we’re in Abu Dhabi.

Friday and Saturday

These two days were our overnight trip to Madurai, where there is a huge Hindu temple – Meenakshi Temple. It is architecturally beautiful and is the largest temple in all of South India. We did get to see the temple – but not until Saturday (our original schedule was Friday). And while our initial estimate of the trip was five hours by bus, it was more like twice that. Part of that was due to underestimation of how long it would take – it likely was more of an eight-hour drive. But the other delays were caused by the drivers getting lost when we got within 50 kilometers of Madurai. It was an adventure to say the least! But we all took it in stride, and the one saving grace of the day Friday was a delicious lunch at the Hotel Western Gatz. When we arrived in Madurai in the evening, it was at a very nice hotel – they had hot water! But I was so exhausted that I fell asleep by 9:30 and didn’t wake up until morning. Although my roommate, Greg, indicated I did wake up to let him back in the room around 10:45 – yet I do not remember that. Must have still been sleeping . . .
Saturday morning we walked to the temple from our hotel after eating a hearty breakfast. It had rained overnight, so our walk around the temple grounds in bare feet was a bit dirty. But it was brightly painted and colorful, and a much larger complex than it appears on the outside. Of course, this was the one day I left my camera on the bus the night before, so I bought postcards, and will rely on my friends’ pictures for this visit. We meandered back through town to the hotel and departed around 10:15 a.m. Now, the trip started off great, as we got to the Hotel Western Gatz for lunch in half the time it took us on Friday. However, while there, the bus drivers discovered that one of the tires was low on air, and in attempting to change it while we ate lunch, the jack broke. Thankfully, neither of them was hurt – but they had to find another jack in town in order to change the tire, and an hour-and-a-half later we were on our way. Guess it’s bad Karma . . . We did stop in a small town on the way back to have a spot of tea and a little shopping, which was nice. But we didn’t arrive back in Kottayam at SEERI until 9:30 p.m. Once again, an exhausting day of travel!

This might be a good time to explain what it is like to drive/ride in a car in India. One of my friends on the trip put it like this: “If your prayer life is not strengthened while riding in a car in India, nothing will strengthen it.” This trip was over the Gatz mountain range in southern India, and that meant two lane mountain roads, not unlike what I grew up with in West Virginia. However, instead of simply staying behind the person behind you on sharp curves or blind stretches, the drivers here (including our bus driver) will pass by flashing their lights and honking their horns. I honestly do not know how we were not killed last night, or how no one else was killed! And I will think twice before I complain about the conditions of our roads at home after this trip. The total distance yesterday from Madurai to Kottayam was 245 kilometers, which is about 155 miles. On an interstate back home, that would take you a little over two hours. In the mountains in the US, you could probably add 30-45 minutes. Our driving time alone yesterday was seven-and-a-half hours – over twice as long. It makes me wonder seriously about this country’s ability to develop commercially with the transport of goods, if they only have one or two major divided highways for the entire country. Needless to say, glad to be on terra firma today!!!

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday was full of visits – a total of five visits to various flavors and varieties of the Orthodox and/or Catholic Churches in Kerala. The layers of the Christian Church in this area are several and complex, and that is something I need to spend some time processing and sorting out. Our visits included meeting the archbishops or metropolitans of the various churches, as well as seminaries where they are training priests for leadership. I found it interesting that they have had the same level of historical divisions of the church as we know and have experienced in the United States, likely over the same “small” or “large” issues. At one of the visits, I met another Princeton alum in a bishop in the Mar Thoma Syrian Church (Rex and I got that picture, too). I think one of the reasons we made all of these visits was that if we hadn’t visited one and visited the others, it would have been noticeable, if you know what I mean! However, it also was informative to be brought in touch with each of these branches of the body in the church here, and to recognize their shared roots in the St. Thomas tradition. St. Thomas is the apostle who brought Christianity to India. I thought an interesting note made by one of the church leaders was that it was appropriate that Thomas was the one who brought Christianity here, because he was the disciple who doubted and needed physical proof of the Lord’s resurrection. Even in the midst of doubts and questions, God comes to us and meets us where we are, maintaining relationship with us through Jesus Christ. Understandably, we were exhausted by the end of our day, but that did not stop us from having an honest and meaningful conversation as a whole group after dinner. This trip has been incredibly disorienting for all of us, and that was made clear as we talked about what we had experienced over the past ten days. The women and men have had much different experiences, especially as it relates to cultural gender roles and how we have had to observe those. I was very grateful for the women’s sharing their frustrations, anger, and how all of that has impacted us as a group. What was overwhelming was how we came together the next morning for worship, and how that spiritual experience brought us even closer together.

Thursday was a day to take a breath and a break. The morning was unscheduled, and around 10:00 we went into the shopping district of Kottayam. It was good to get out on our own a bit and mix with the local people. Unlike Ahmedabad, where I felt as if I was always being “watched” because westerners are so unusual, here I haven’t felt the same conspicuousness. Another interesting contrast between the north and south are how the men are dressed. In the north, they mostly wore western-style clothing. Here, the men will wear a western-style shirt, but instead of pants, they wear what I would call an Indian kilt: a wrapped cloth around their waist and loin which resembles the kilts of Scotland. I still can’t figure out where they put their wallets! Shopping was fun, and I got a few nice things for folks (including a key chain which was Heather’s one request!). After lunch we took a boat ride on some of the canals and backwaters around Kottayam. It was relaxing and fun to get out of the city for a few hours, and to see the natural beauty which surrounds this city. The mixture of basic, even crude homes, and more upscale housing is shocking. It’s also shocking to see people bathing, swimming, washing clothes, etc., in a body of water which is incredibly dirty. But that is life here – and sometimes we have to simply live in the midst of what makes us uncomfortable. We had one final visit with members of the faculty at St. Thomas Apostolic Seminary, a school of the Syro-Malabar Church. That was one of our best visits, as we engaged the faculty with questions regarding how they prepare priests, etc. Following dinner and some more debriefing as a group, the highlight of my day was being able to call my grandmother in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and wishing her a happy 100th birthday! It’s amazing how much technology has brought the world closer together: the fact that I could talk to her through the internet, and it sounded like we were making a local phone call is extraordinary to me. I am grateful for her wonderful witness and life of service.

Tuesday

After a good night’s rest and a wonderful breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, homemade bread, pineapple jam, and hot tea (it all hit the spot – trust me!), our group had a busy day of activities. Our first appointment was with the Bishop of the Church of South India, Thomas Samuel, and it was a very enlightening conversation of over an hour. The CSI is a federation of protestant churches (Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran), and has had a presence in this region for decades. Bishop Samuel was very forthcoming in sharing what challenges they face, but also what good interfaith relations they hold in Kerala with Hindus and Muslims. We also found out he was a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, so Rex Espiritu and I had a picture taken with him, and we’ll send it in to the PTS Alumni journal! After our visit with him, we went to the city to see Thirunakkara Ambalam, a Hindu Temple in Kottayam. What was helpful for me about that visit was to see the stark contrast between it and what we had experienced in Ahmedabad. The Swamanarayans are a reformist movement of the last 200 years, and what we saw in Kottayam would be an example of what they reformed from. The temple was much more basic, much more tribal, if I can say it like that – a greater sense of mysticism about their practices and setting. We returned to SEERI for lunch and a brief rest, and then headed out in the afternoon for another tour of some church sites in the city. The Syrian Orthodox Church is the oldest Christian presence in this region, and so we visited two of those congregations. We also visited an Islamic mosque, which from the exterior looked nothing like a mosque – an example of how architecture truly reflects the region and culture. Late in the afternoon, we visited the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Kottayam, and met with Father K.M. George, the principal of the seminary. That, too, was a very fruitful conversation, as he shared about the challenges they face in preparing men for leadership, but also his strong convictions about ecumenical relations and how that is key to our future as the Body of Christ. He was a faculty member at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey in Switzerland, where Debbie and I were our first year after seminary. We then stayed for evening prayers with the students and faculty, which was all done in Syriac, so we didn’t really understand what was going on. But the entire service was sung or chanted, and those men can sing!! We returned to SEERI for dinner and an evening program, but I was exhausted and I confess, slept through part of the program (Lord, forgive me). This morning (Wednesday), I had the chance to talk with Debbie and the girls through Skype, and that meant the world to me. It was wonderful to see their faces and hear their voices, and to feel like we weren’t that far apart after all. As I write this and prepare for our own group’s morning prayers, it is raining – the first time of our whole trip. There is a peace about hearing it come down which is refreshing, I must tell you.

Tuesday

After a good night’s rest and a wonderful breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, homemade bread, pineapple jam, and hot tea (it all hit the spot – trust me!), our group had a busy day of activities. Our first appointment was with the Bishop of the Church of South India, Thomas Samuel, and it was a very enlightening conversation of over an hour. The CSI is a federation of protestant churches (Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran), and has had a presence in this region for decades. Bishop Samuel was very forthcoming in sharing what challenges they face, but also what good interfaith relations they hold in Kerala with Hindus and Muslims. We also found out he was a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, so Rex Espiritu and I had a picture taken with him, and we’ll send it in to the PTS Alumni journal! After our visit with him, we went to the city to see Thirunakkara Ambalam, a Hindu Temple in Kottayam. What was helpful for me about that visit was to see the stark contrast between it and what we had experienced in Ahmedabad. The Swamanarayans are a reformist movement of the last 200 years, and what we saw in Kottayam would be an example of what they reformed from. The temple was much more basic, much more tribal, if I can say it like that – a greater sense of mysticism about their practices and setting. We returned to SEERI for lunch and a brief rest, and then headed out in the afternoon for another tour of some church sites in the city. The Syrian Orthodox Church is the oldest Christian presence in this region, and so we visited two of those congregations. We also visited an Islamic mosque, which from the exterior looked nothing like a mosque – an example of how architecture truly reflects the region and culture. Late in the afternoon, we visited the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Kottayam, and met with Father K.M. George, the principal of the seminary. That, too, was a very fruitful conversation, as he shared about the challenges they face in preparing men for leadership, but also his strong convictions about ecumenical relations and how that is key to our future as the Body of Christ. He was a faculty member at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey in Switzerland, where Debbie and I were our first year after seminary. We then stayed for evening prayers with the students and faculty, which was all done in Syriac, so we didn’t really understand what was going on. But the entire service was sung or chanted, and those men can sing!! We returned to SEERI for dinner and an evening program, but I was exhausted and I confess, slept through part of the program (Lord, forgive me). This morning (Wednesday), I had the chance to talk with Debbie and the girls through Skype, and that meant the world to me. It was wonderful to see their faces and hear their voices, and to feel like we weren’t that far apart after all. As I write this and prepare for our own group’s morning prayers, it is raining – the first time of our whole trip. There is a peace about hearing it come down which is refreshing, I must tell you.

Sunday and Monday

Sunday morning we had the opportunity to worship together at Shalom Methodist Church in Ahmedabad. Our group all went together, and we were warmly welcomed by all there. The Bishop of that diocese was the preacher that day, and he preached in English, while being translated into Gujarat for the rest of the congregation. Reminded me of New Creation Church at John Knox! Also that morning, they received young people as confirmands into the church. 178 of them! It was an amazing example of witnessing the power of the Spirit leading men and women to follow Christ – especially in such a setting as Ahmedabad, where the Christian population is so small. Following worship, we went back to our host families for lunch and rest – much needed, I must add. Then that evening, we visited a museum being built for this sect of the Swamanarayan faith – very impressive, although after our recent building project at John Knox, I wish I had my hard hat on! After that, we closed with dinner hosted by the acharya and his wife at their residence. I had a chance to speak with her during the evening, and found her to be genuinely interested in me personally, my family, and my impressions of her country. I won’t go into any details, but I will say that I sensed in her a deep desire for connection with the “outside world”, something I know the women in our group who have stayed with them this week have also indicated. They were very gracious to us, and presented us with gifts as we departed. That evening, our host family was also gracious, offering each of us a gift (flower vase and artificial flowers) to take home. I feel as if this foreign land is not nearly as foreign to me anymore.

Monday morning came early, as we woke up at 4:00 a.m., in order to get to the airport by 5:30. Despite our persistent requests to only have coffee or tea and no food, our hosts provided us a full breakfast nonetheless. Our entire group made it without difficulty to the airport, checked through security without problems, and flew to Mumbai (Bombay) and then on to Cochin in the south. When we looked at a world map on the plane, Cochin is only 10 degrees north of the equator, while Ahmedabad is around the same longitude as Chiapas, Mexico, where we were one year ago. It is a much different setting than Ahmedabad. Palm trees, lush green gardens – a very tropical feel to it. In Cochin, we had a buffet lunch in a hotel near the airport, which we all devoured – our first taste of meat since we arrived! Then we took a bus into the city and on to Fort Cochin, which is one of the original colonial settlements in the area. It was nice, but to be honest, we were all beat at that point, and by the time we drove the hour-and-a-half to Kottayam, you could have stuck a fork in us because we were done. We arrived at SEERI, which is the St. Ephreem Ecumenical Research Institute, and where we will stay through the rest of our time here. We had a light supper and then on to bed. And our rooms and conditions are much more modest than what at least I had in Ahmedabad. I’ll go into that later!!! But it is very adequate for all that we need, and we feel blessed once again for such gracious hospitality.

Saturday

Today we spent the morning at the Swaminarayan Kalupur temple, the center of the Swaminarayan Hindu faith of our host families. It was a special festival day for them, which coincided with the full moon of the night before, so it was filled with people. We met briefly with the father of the head of the sect – Tej, for short! – and then were given a guided tour of the temple complex. This included visiting the holy shrines of their faith, and seeing where the sadhus, or saints for them, live in community. We went to the top of the facility, some seven stories high, and were able to view the entire city from that point. It was moving for me to look out over such a crowded, bustling city and feel a bit of peace in the midst of it all. We were served lunch at the temple – at 10:45 in the morning! – and then our visit there was complete. All of this, by the way, was done by the men only – the women spent the morning at the temple, but with the wife of Tej and were given their own program. The men proceeded to take richshaws from the temple (will try and post a video soon of what that is like) to BAPS guest house, where we had a bit of time for rest. I used that opportunity to go to an internet café and catch-up on blog posts, emails, and seeing what else is going on the world (Dallas Clark gone for the year (boo), Yankees don’t make it to the World Series (yea)). At 1:00, our entire group met together for the first time in private to be able to reflect openly and honestly on what our experience has been like so far. I won’t go into that at this time, but it was very helpful to all of us to be together, and to share highs and lows thus far. We then proceeded to go to a museum of rare Indian tapestry and art. That was interesting and all, but very few of us had the energy or stamina to take it all in! We then went back to the guest house and rested for a couple of hours before dinner. Dinner was at a local restaurant with another civic leader, and the food was good – although it’s all beginning to look the same to me by this point in the trip! I haven’t had issues with intestinal or stomach problems, while some in our group have. But I am looking forward to moving on to Kerala Monday to a region which will have either chicken or, yes, even fish.

For many of us in our group, this is our first significant time being exposed to the Hindu faith. For each of us, our reaction has been different and unique, and for me it has caused me to ponder more on how I would refine and sharpen the words I use to speak my own Christian faith. I think it will be helpful to reflect some on this while we are in Kerala, where we will be interacting with a variety of Christian denominations – and how they exist and minister to the people as a minority religion. There has been a definite struggle for many of us between how positively we have felt by the people’s gracious hospitality, and the concern we feel due to how so many millions, or billions, of people are far from the Christian faith. Perhaps I am beginning to narrow in on the point of this trip in the first place . . . .

Friday

Even though it was probably as hot as it was on Thursday, I didn’t feel as exhausted and “spent” by the end of the day on Friday. Maybe I’m getting used to it (doubtful), or maybe we spent more time inside (likely!). After another hearty breakfast from our host family – I don’t think I’m actually losing weight on this trip but gaining – our group met and took a bus ride out to the Adalaj Step-Well. This is an ancient well constructed in 1498 which goes four stories underground. It felt like walking into an Indiana Jones movie! We were fascinated by the intricately-carved figures on the walls, and how so much had been preserved over 500 years. On our way back into town, we stopped at a Jain Temple, and it, too, was an architectural masterpiece. Jainism is not the same as Hindu – a totally separate religion. Following that, we headed to BAPS, where we spent the afternoon. The men had another chance to visit with two sadhus, and this interaction was even more helpful than the day before. Our group had a chance to ask very open and honest questions, and they were revealing in their responses. And they had a chance to ask us about our roles and vocations in the US, which I believe was important to their understanding of religion outside their own. It was mutually beneficial and meaningful. We had another delicious lunch at the guest house, and then I was able to use the internet there to download emails, post blogs, set my fantasy football team for this Sunday (don’t worry, it was in that order). Then in the late-afternoon, we left for Akshardham Gandhinagar, which is a large complex of BAPS outside of Ahmedabad. On 23 acres, they have erected what they call a monument, whose purpose is to share Indian culture and the tenets of the Swaminarayan faith. There is a beautiful central monument, with several exhibition halls surrounding it. They retold some of their faith’s central stories in film and drama – including a laser light show at night. We were very honored by their gracious hospitality to us all. We came home after 10 pm, and went right to bed!

Thursday

This was an extremely long day for our group, with much included throughout the day. To begin, it is extremely hot here – high temperatures reaching 95+ degrees with high humidity. This is uncommon for this time of the year here; normally after the monsoon season, the temps cool down. Not so for our group! We woke up at 6:00 am, and after a hearty breakfast with our hosts, we arrived at the Swaminarayan Temple. From there, our group took a walking tour of the old city of Ahmedabad, highlighting the various styles of architecture. The city was founded in 1411, so there’s been a lot of styles of architecture over its lifetime! The tour was interesting, not so much because of the buildings, but because we were in the midst of the people. The city is incredibly crowded, with dogs, cows, and other animals wandering freely among the people. And then there is the traffic – absolute chaos. Cars, motorcycles, scooters, richshaws (three-wheeled taxis), bicycles – all on the street together, and all honking their horns! It can become a bit overwhelming for the outsider like us, but clearly there is some form of order to this chaos. And we certainly feel like we took our lives in our own hands anytime we sought to cross a street. But this tour was exhausting: by the time we reached the end of two-and-a-half hours, I was soaked with sweat and could not take in anymore “culture!” Thankfully, at lunch we had a chance to rest and cool down for a few hours, and we all slept hard again. We had lunch at the BAPS guest house and facility – this is another group of the Swaminarayan sect here in Ahmedabad, and I will go into their differences later (they are different than the temple our host families belong to). We appreciated the chance to rest and cool down, and then we took a tour of the BAPS facility, and had the opportunity to visit with the sadhus, the spiritual leaders/priests of this order. That was fascinating. After our visit at BAPS, we went to a traditional Gujarati restaurant, where we were served a meal on banana leaves and traditional food. It was a late evening, but a good one, and we are grateful for our gracious hosts and the work of Dr. Williams in making all of these arrangements.

Wednesday

We arrived in Ahmedabad around 6:45 am, local time, nine-and-a-half hours ahead of Indianapolis. No one lost luggage (good thing), and it was overall a very smooth process considering 20 of us were travelling together halfway across the world! Our host families picked us up at the airport, and four of us are staying with one family. The women are all staying in one place separate from the men. Our family is very hospitable and generous, and they fed us breakfast, lunch, and dinner on that first day. We slept in the morning – slept hard, I might add – and after lunch they took us into the old city to meet our bus for the afternoon. Our whole group took the bus to Gandhi’s Ashram, a very special/honored place in Ahmedabad. It was from here that Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1917, and lived in community with all different castes and people. It was also from here that many national and world leaders came to meet with him and he developed many of his plans for non-violent protest and action. It was a very spiritual place for me, and I found myself reflecting on how Gandhi’s influence has spread over so many different nations and leaders. Following that, we returned to our host families and after dinner, we retired early for the night.

Abu Dhabi, Here We Are!

Made it to Abu Dhabi after fourteen hours on the plane. Etihad Airlines -- really good airline food (real silverware), and very nice service. I must have slept longer than I realized, because the flight didn't seem as long as I imagined it would be. The challenge now is not worrying about what day it is, and just remember to go to the next flight. It's a weird feeling to take off in the dark, watch the sun rise and set all while you are in the air, and then land in the dark.

From here we go to Mumbai, India, and then from there on to Ahmedabad. Who knows when I'll post next, but it will be from India when I do.

Sitting in Chicago

I am sitting in the international terminal in Chicago waiting for our flight to board. Left the house around 12:30 and after picking up David, met everyone else in Crawfordsville. We took two college vans from there to O'Hare, picking up three others in our group up in Crown Point, Indiana. No problems travelling, and the check-in and security went very smoothly. Now, the joy of spending fourteen hours on a flight -- hoping I don't go crazy!! Our group is both excited and a little subdued -- I think we all are missing our families already, and realize the extent of this amazing trip/journey ahead of us. By the way, I sat by Nathan all the way to Chicago. (He threatened me to put his name in the blog!)

I'll try and drop a note when I get a chance -- who knows when that will be. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Two Days to Go

Only two more days before I depart with our group to India. I got all my shots a couple of weeks ago -- that was lots of fun! I begin taking the malaria pills tonight -- hoping for the best on that one. And enjoying a relaxing weekend with the family before I go -- including recuperating from throwing Debbie a surprise 40th birthday party last night. I'll be gone in India on her birthday (21st), so thought this would be fun to do -- and it was!!!
Made a couple of trips to Target for shopping for the trip -- still need a couple of last-minute items, but will work on that tomorrow.
Getting more excited, but still a bit anxious, too.

Where We Will Be

Our group will spend our trip in two primary regions of India over the two weeks. The first week, we will be in the region of Gujarat, in the city of Ahmedebad. The second week, we will be in the region of Kerala, in the city of Kottayam. I've attached maps of India, Gujarat, and Kerala for reference.

Introduction

Since January 2009, I have been part of a very special group. The Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program brings together 18 pastors from all over Indiana to meet at Wabash College. We have met leaders throughout our state in areas like education, government, health care, criminal justice, and philanthropy. And in our discussions with them and with one another, we have grown not only closer together as colleagues, but we have matured into healthier leaders of both our congregations and in our local communities.

Part of this program, funded by the Lilly Endowment, is for us to also experience cultures much different than our own, and to explore with religious and civic leaders outside the US what lessons we can learn from them to take to our own contexts. Last fall, we travelled to San Cristobal, Mexico, and had a truly transformative experience. Now, in ten days, our group will depart for another truly transformative experience, as we will go to India for two weeks. I hope in this blog/journal, I will be able to share with you my own reflections as we make this journey, and I hope you will respond to what I write so that this might be a conversation, not just a monologue! Thank you for your prayers and well wishes!