Mission Trip 2016 to India

Posted by Alan on August 23, 2016

The 2016 Mission trip launched August 18. Seven people from Calvary traveled to Trivandrum, India to serve with G.S. Nair, one of our supported missionaries. Stay up to date with them on Twitter. @CBCIndia16

Mini update: August 30

We had a fun but long day. Up at 3 a.m. to go watch the sunrise at the southern tip of India, visited the Ghandi memorial, and relaxed most of the afternoon. We had our final and best kid's program and are now chilling out before our last night's sleep in India!

Caleb

India Update 8/30/16

Hello everyone!

      Wait, we’re getting up at 3:30 AM? Yes, we got up at 3:30 AM. All of us took a quick nap, and were loaded up in a vehicle on our way to visit the southern tip of India to watch the sunrise. At this particular location the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea converge. It was affectionately nicknamed the Cornucopia because it was easier to say than the Indian name of Kanyakumari. The shore line was relatively crowded and lively when we arrived at about 5:15.

    We were surprised when we immediately ran into some of the men who had been at the conference last week. We were not surprised when they still wanted to take a picture with us.

     There was a cool wind, and the waves came barreling towards the rocks that lined the shore. Cheerily, the sun popped above the clouds lounging on the horizon. In the distance, there was an island with a humongous statue, and a large Moslem Mosque. Little row boats could be seen floating towards the island. The sight of it all was just amazing! I wanted to sing How Great Thou Art.

     After ambling through a few shoreline shops, we learned that the memorial for Gandhi was right next door! We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go see it. It’s not every day that people from the plains of America make it to India; let alone the “Cornucopia” or Gandhi’s memorial! We were instantly greeted by a tour guide who zealously showed us around the temple like structure. The white, three-storied building was quite interesting. Pastor Bowman was taken by surprise by our tour guide when, without warning, he to put the red, Hindu dot on his forehead from the small incense burning altar at the center of the building. It was great!

     We were all feeling quite tuckered. So, we took off towards the children’s home. Upon arrival, we were told to go rest in our rooms until 4:30 PM – the time the kids would be getting home from school. After lunch, we decided to take a walk. We were guided by one of the pastors who works at the home. He made an excellent guide, because he knew the back roads of the neighborhood much better than we did.

    Our last kids program rolled around the corner. As with the previous evening, the kids had a blast. We did too, for that matter. At the end of the program, we gave the kids – and adults – some gifts, and we said our goodbyes. Those kids were awesome. They had big smiles and magnetic personalities!

    This has truly been an unforgettable trip. We have met so many wonderful men, women, and children! God has also taught us lessons of patience and dependence on Him through it all!

    Please pray for our health as a few of us are not quite tip top shape. Also pray for our safety – as well as the safety of the guest pastors and their families - while traveling back home. Thank you, again, for your love and prayers.

Our question of the day is: “Is Amanda (A.K.A. Sister Awkward Fluffy Pants) still sleeping?”

India Update 8/29/16 -

August 28

To start, yesterday’s question of the day didn’t make it into the yesterday’s email, so I decided to start today’s update with it.  The question of yesterday was “There’s still glass on you?”  Anywhoo, the morning of Sunday, August 28, started bright and early at 7:30 with singing practice and breakfast.  

We headed out to the college and watched a baptismal service before the normal morning service.  During the service, we ladies of the group received a tunic type of outfit (of which I can’t recall the correct name) and Luke & James got what they had both been waiting for – their man skirts!  
Or rather, their mondu!  

After we received our Indian apparel and before the preaching began, I had the opportunity to play “Be Thou My Vision” on the violin.  After that, we had a children’s program (surprise!) We did quite well rolling with the punches, as Pastor Bowman would say. After the service was over we were asked to pose for “just one snap.” This turned into a line of people waiting for their “one snap,” which is always more than just one picture.  When our photoshoot was over, we ate lunch and I had several mini bananas – again.  We finished lunch and bid fond goodbyes to the Aussie girls and the college folk with whom we had become friends.

Leaving the college in the mid-afternoon with no other plans for the evening means just one thing, shopping!  First off we stopped at Baskin Robbins, which was quite delish. We continued down the road to a clothing shop and there we bought some more Indian clothing. Then came our next adventure: crossing the busy street! Waiting for the crosswalk sign wasn’t working out…so we just went for it.  Good news is all seven of us survived.  We went to a super market (crossing the street again) with super creepy mannequins that were as white as us. We bought all sorts of things, from bangles to Lay’s Magic Masala flavored chips, more clothes and random candies.  We then headed back on our mile trek to the Domino’s Pizza across the street from the hotel.  Dinner consisted of pizza and all the junk food we had bought gathered around the bed in one of our rooms.  We got close to the “Point of No Return” and it was quite the entertaining evening.  Our question of the day today is “Did he just say we are doing a kids program?”

Retiring for the evening,

Nichole for the India Team

P.S. The men in the photo with Caleb are two pastors who oversee a children's home. We were able to donate school supplies to their children's home for 30 children! They were very grateful!

Caleb

August 27

Hello everyone!

       Today was a rip roaring day! You know the usual breakfast and waiting for the driver routine: so I will spare you that.

       We got to sleep in a little later today because there was not a morning or an afternoon service. Instead, the men and the women divided up for several Bible studies led by the guest pastors and their wives. 

Once we arrived on campus, we were whisked away to one of the men’s Bible study groups - where we all shared our testimonies. Pastor Bowman led the study.

       After lunch, we joined the Australian girls in the chapel for a random “jam session” using our voices and various instruments. With the variety of songs and sounds happening in one place, the auditorium was filled with the sound of musical chaos. But we were all enjoying ourselves.

        Previously uncertain, we were informed that we would be going souvenir shopping for the remainder of the afternoon. We all – including one of the guest pastors – crammed into a vehicle to seize some adventure! More than we bargained for, actually.

      We were about to the shop when our session of singing to some of our favorite musical songs was interrupted by a bus running into the back of our vehicle. Heads whiplashed and glass from the back window flew all over the back seat! Quickly assessing our physical condition, we were very grateful to God that no one was hurt! The police quickly arrived and did their job. With little delay, we went on our way to the souvenir shop.

    The evening service was already in progress when we got back to the campus. Following the sermon, pastors near and dear to the Nairs honored then with colorful scarves and beautiful plaques as a thank you for their faithful years of service. The guest pastors were also honored with the gift of the - affectionately called - man skirt.

     One big group picture was taken with all of the guest pastors and whoever came with them, the Nair family, and the student body of People’s Baptist Bible College. Many of whom were in the traditional dress of the state of Kerala. It made for one big, bright, and colorful picture!

     Well, despite the accident, it was a wonderful day. God really took care of us! We thank you deeply, again, for your prayers and support!

     As for additional prayer requests: please pray for the pastors and Nair family members that will be travelling back in the next few days.

 Also, please pray for Pastor Van Geldrin, who was briefly hospitalized for a stomach bug that he contracted during his stay.

  Sincerely,

Michaela and the India 2016 mission trip team

August 26

Greetings from the other side of the world!

The day started off like many of the other days here in India. We woke up, practiced some songs, and went down for breakfast. We had extra time after eating so we decided to venture out of the hotel to go shopping for balloons and candy at a few of the small shops around. Crossing the street was an adventure as the crazy traffic never seemed to let up; however, the locals never had any trouble crossing the streets.

We were later picked up and taken back to the college for another day of the conference and had an opportunity to put on a kid’s program again. Michaela led the children in “Jesus Loves Me” and Luke taught the lesson on David and Absalom and the importance of trusting God.  We then heard Nichole play “As the Deer” on the Violin and broke up for game time in which we played a few Awana games such as bean bag bonanza and bean bag relay.

Solomon, our interpreter, had some amazing gospel related magic tricks to show the kids and then shared his incredible testimony about how God had healed him, saved him, and called him to the ministry. After our program he also gave the team the scoop on how to do a few of the tricks!

It has been truly amazing and a great blessing to see God’s work in the ministry here and to hear the testimonies of many of the pastors and workers in the ministry. We are excited to see what lies ahead for opportunities to serve here as we will soon be going to the “Tsunami Home” for orphans and will be doing our kid’s programs there.

The question of the day today is “what is the question of the day?” We thank you for all the support we have had and will keep you updated on how things are going here in India!

James for the India Team

August 25

Today has been the busiest day yet and, praise God, full of opportunities. We had an early morning because Pastor Bowman had to be at the college at 8:30 to preach the morning devotional. At 7:15, we met to practice two special songs we might sing and go over the plans for the day. After the meeting, we rushed downstairs to breakfast, which started at 7:30. As usual our breakfasts consisted of toast with butter and a strange fruit jelly, boiled eggs, cornflakes (with two packets of sugar if you are Mrs. Schwab) and assorted fruits. We had a new driver this morning but, like most locals, he was extremely friendly. The minivan arrived at 8:00, and to our partial dismay, rushed to eat our last bites of toast, or maybe all of your toast.

We arrived at the college at 9:00 and Pastor Bowman immediately started preaching. His message was on Exodus 20 and focused on God’s holy attributes. As is custom in the majority of preaching with PBM, his message was translated sentence by sentence. After the devotional the college had a break for breakfast until 10:30.

Throughout most of this break, our group found themselves in the middle of an Indian photo shoot! It seems like everyone wants to take our picture! After roughly 200 pictures and very sore cheek muscles, the mob disappeared. The next session of preaching and worship began shortly after and lasted until 1:15. After this session, there was a two hour break. Lunch was curry chicken, fish, and an Indian bread made out of rice.

 For the next hour, our team helped move chairs and tables to prepare for our first children’s program! There were a lot of kids, totaling about 50! Michaela opened by leading songs with Nichole as accompaniment and the rest of the group becoming background singers. The children did not know the songs or were very shy, so Michaela taught the children each song as we sang them.  After a few songs, James began teaching his lesson, which was on John 4, the woman at the well. There were several children in the group that did not speak English, and thankfully, shortly after James started, an interpreter came. Once the interpreter, whose name is Solomon, came the kids became more attentive. James was able to clearly present the gospel message, and did well, especially having an interpreter for the first time! After the lesson, Michaela and Nichole taught the children a few other songs with the help of Solomon. 

Once the songs were over, which was about an hour after the program started, Nichole gathered the group together for games. She led the group through games of Jump the Jordan, Balloon Relay, and Beanbag toss. After the games Solomon showed them two magic tricks. One used two ropes, which helped explain the gospel story and the need for salvation.

  
Throughout the entire children’s program God really provided. Not only did Solomon show up with a love for children and the gospel, but a pastor’s wife helped us lead the children through all the activities. Today was a major learning curve on leading a children’s program, but overall it went very well.

Once the children’s program was over, there was an hour break before the next preaching session. It remained uneventful, other than the Indian paparazzi. We had dinner after the evening session ended we ate dinner, which was the usual Indian cuisine, and left for the hotel around 10:30. The ride home was full of laughs and as we prefer to call random funny things, the awkward moments. Here, we determined the question of the day to be: “What are we going to do with all these kids?” Ironically, this question sounds as though we answered “Yes” to yesterday’s question of the day: “Can you take our children?”! On a side note, yesterday we gave Mrs. Schwab a wonderful nickname. Since she is the team mom for this trip, it was decided she needed an awesome name to sum up her wonderful care-taking abilities. Thanks to Michaela, she now has the name Mother Teresa! She truly is living up to her wonderful nickname and will certainly make sure we stay in line.

As for prayers, we ask that you continue to pray for our team to be the greatest impact to the Indian people and for us to have a servant’s heart. Especially, we ask that you would pray for us as we plan to run another children’s program tomorrow. Please pray for wisdom and clarity for teaching, effective leadership and speaking skills in the loud environment and with the language barrier. We also ask that you keep praying for our stomach’s that continue to adjust to the different style of food.  All in all, we continue to enjoy this blessed opportunity to serve God here in India! Thank you all so much for your prayers and loving support. We miss you all!

Luke for the India Team

August 24, 2016

Hey everyone!

Yesterday morning, Tuesday the 23, we arose bright and early to a breakfast of both traditional and Indian breakfast foods.  After satisfying our stomachs we went shopping for a guitar and violin for Michaela and I to play while we are here and then to donate to People’s Baptist Bible College when we leave.  The shop was quite nice and we had to take off our shoes before going in.  After we made our purchases we headed off to the college campus – but first a quick stop at KFC for lunch!  While it’s still Kentucky Fried Chicken, they call it Kerala Fried Chicken, after their state.

Once we arrived at the college, we fellowshipped with the other pastors from several different countries also here for the celebration conference.  Also before the service began we had several people lining up to take pictures with us and to shake our hands.  We sang in the evening service and Michaela played a guitar solo.  The messages were delivered in English and translated into Hindi, which was really cool to see and listen to.  We had a late dinner afterwards, in which most of us reached "The Point of No Return", wherein we are all so sleep deprived that we laugh hysterically at nothing.  We finished up at 10:30 and arrived back at our hotel at 12:00, making for a late night after showers and such.  We decided to have a question of the day, which we repeat several hundred times and laugh over each time it is spoken.  This day’s was “Should we get Luke a man skirt?” which is still to be determined….

This morning, Wednesday the 24, we got up and going with our mixed breakfast and waited for our driver to arrive.  Once we got to the college, the morning service was already in session so we slipped in for it and sang a song on the spot.  The service finished up and we headed over for lunch in the college dining hall.  We were given an insane amount of food once again and most of it was quite tasty.  We had about an hour break in which we socialized with the people around us.  One family asked if we would like to take their kids with us to the U.S. and then father asked if there was an opportunity for him to be our president in November!

The afternoon service started up and we had a wee bit of trouble staying awake, but we survived.  We sang a special during it with one of our new Australian friends accompanying us on the piano and it sounded quite nice.  Next on the schedule was a break until 6:30.  We drank tea and tried to escape from having dozens of pictures taken of us, but failed.

The evening service began at about 7:00, and the messages were very good, even if some of us had to doodle to stay awake.  We had dinner at the college beginning at about 9:30 and we headed home afterwards.  Our question of the day for today was either “Can we take your picture?” or “Can you take our children?” or “Can I be your president?”  All in all, the trip so far has been a blast!

Signing out!

Nichole for the India Team

Well, it has been quite a day already, and it’s only 4:22!

Pastor Nair invited us to Peoples Baptist Bible College for chapel and a quick tour of the campus. It is a lovely campus. When we got there, there was a cool breeze and a happy sun. The students were busy cleaning and making preparations for the celebration conference.

The people here love to hear singing. Anytime we sing something – be it a hymn or some random silly song – heads turn and phone cameras come out instantly. We also get lots of stares and giggles because of our glistening, white skin!

After a quick, emergency shoe shopping trip, we gathered at Pastor Nair’s house for lunch with five guest pastors, three girls from Australia, Pastor Nair’s family and some additional friends of the Nair family. Lunch was served on a banana leaf. Rice with about twelve different side/toppings was the cuisine for lunch. The food is loaded with many colorful spices. The spices are not hot, but they are strong and highly concentrated.

It has been a joy getting to talk with the guest pastors, Pastor Nair, and his family. The hospitality of the Nair’s has been impeccable!

We are currently taking a short respite at our hotel. But at five, we are to return to Pastor Nair’s. They are having a special get together and meal to dedicate his daughter and son-in-law’s new house which is being built next door.

Each day brings a new surprise schedule, as we are given the plans for the day as the day progresses. As far as what the rest of today, and tomorrow hold, we do not know. But, we look forward to the adventures of serving God; wherever he will take us!

As far as prayer requests go: it would be appreciated if you would pray for patience and flexibility for us as we are learning our schedule as we go. Also, good health for all of us; our bodies are having trouble adjusting to the new food and the side-effects of the medications we are taking to prevent more serious illnesses. Most of us have felt sick, or been sick during the trip.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support! God is good all the time! He has kept us from injury, kidnapping, and from losing our luggage. We pray that all is going well at home.

From Caleb Bowman,