Josh's Post

I am trying to remember how to do this! It has been so long and hopefully most of you that read this blog have been able to keep up with us through our friends and family this past month. We have been through so much since I last wrote, and I am really not sure where to start. I know Austin well give you details that have made this trip so memorable. I don’t think I would have noticed half the things I should have if Austin and I weren’t traveling together. It has been such a good time, we have had way good times and there have been way less bad times for sure. I could talk any day or any place we have been, there have been so many good times. But there have a few times that I hope we as friends will never forget. I feel like I should go back to when we were riding trains across Europe with Clay, but I will save those stories for another day.
I think I am going to bring you right up to date with what we what we did today! Or at least what we have been doing here in Thailand. On the 22 we landed in Bangkok and not much happed there, we spent one night there and then got on a 12 hour bus to come to where we are now Chang Mai. I am going to start by saying this about Thailand, there food is so much better than India’s and I am “lovin it”. We got hear at about 6 in the morning and then went and hung out in Burger King till things started opening up and then we went across the street to McDonalds, because things weren’t as open as we though! After waiting and eating McDonalds food for a while longer we decided we should find a place to stay. That isn’t hard, everybody here wants to help you it is just a matter of how much you will pay them. We got a room in a cheep but really nice guest house, and stashed out bags and headed out to the main part of town. We had one thing on our minds…scooters! Austin had been talking about getting scooters ever since before we left and by now we were both so ready to ride everywhere. We spent maybe one hour looking before we found a shop that would rent us two scooters for around fifteen USD for five days. The reason we only got them for five days is b/c that is all the time before we head up into the hill tribes to work on the hospital and water system. We got our bikes and were of, we had to stop for some gas, and then it was up to the temple on this hill that over looked the city. We had to figure things out but it didn’t take us very long to learn how to drive on the left side of the road. I am just hoping we remember how to drive on the right when we get back. After we saw the temple we went on a super long ride into the country and ended up going by a elephant farm that we are going to be going back to when we get back form our project. I am really excited about that whole deal I have been wanting to ride an elephant ever since we got to India but we didn’t get around to it there and now it is just a matter of a few days and we will be taming wild elephants. I was also kind of disappointed that we didn’t get to see any tigers while we were in India, but on our ride we found a tiger farm, so we went and got to see tigers. Chang Mai has it if you want to see it!
The next day was Christmas and we didn’t really know what to do with our selves. We got up at noon and had no plan so we decided we were go out to eat at a nice place to eat, get something American, and just take the day slow. We were on our way out and we meet up with a guy we meet in Bangkok, but he was from London and came on the same bus as us just the morning after. So we felt like we had just meet up with a old friend so we all went out to lunch together. Had a huge cheeseburger, which I think is the first time I have ever had one of those for Christmas, but it was good. After that we just took it easy and that night we got to do a lot of skypeing and talk to our family and friends. It was so good! But it wasn’t anywhere close to Christmas at home. It really turned out to be a great day for us. And I don’t think I am ever going to forget Christmas in Chang Mai.
Really that is all we have been up to. Riding our scooters and exploring this place and talking. We have a tradition that started the first night we got here, what we do is we ride are scooters down to the night bizarre and but a mango strawberry smoothie and we each get one banana chocolate rote (kinda like a crape only better) It is probably not the best thing we could be eating. But if it tastes good it cant be to bad. After walking through the bizarre for a while we come back to our room or just go exploring a new part of town. And today we have done some bloging some skypeing and have just got back from the temple on the hill. And I am trying to finish my part in this blog. But over all it has been such a good time for us, I am ready to go start work again but I am so glad we have gotten to spend these last week just hang out. It has been good and I am so thankful for all we have been able to go through to get to where we are. Thanks so much for all your prayers and here are some things that you can be praying about with us.
><>Pray that our focus will not be lost, and that we will glorify God in all we do as we travel.
><>That our time spent with the team from S.D.C.C. would be a time to encouraged and build each other up.
><>Safety as we work in the village, and that we will be able to accomplish a lot with the time we have.
><> And for myself, pray that I would have wisdom in the planning of the next part of the trip.
><>And praise God for His faithfulness to us everyday.

Thanks again and I know I really didn’t say much at all in this post so please feel free to ask any questions!

Once again its been forever

So it has been about a month and we have not updated the blog. Yes so much happened in that time but there are a few things you must understand before you allow yourself the frustration much deserved you. The dynamics of our trip shifted immensely when we arrived in India. It felt like to us that we were on a completely different trip, and in a big way we were. Europe as you well know was situated between a ton of different cities. Two or three days in one city and we were off to the next city. India began on a much different note. Leaving Europe we were a bit burnt out on all the movement we were not really experiencing much of the cultures were saw in Europe and knew that we couldn’t compromise as much energy in India. So getting to India knowing this and having already decided this amongst the both of us we felt a sense of relief, we were in the troprics, didn’t have to worry about finding a place to sleep, didn’t have to worry about where our next meal was going to be, didn’t have to worry about getting out of the weather, and most importantly we didn’t have when we would be able to be of service. We were in India and we were going to spend a full week just soaking up the ministry and service that Daniel was apart of.
So that is what we did. I left you guys in Pune. We had just gotten there we spent a day of rest and dedicated it all to the blog. I spent 12 hours blogging and that kinda blew my mind. I think in part that 12 hour trip might have been some of the reason why it has been so long since. HaHa. So this post might have to be more concise and less drawn out.
Anyways we dove right into the business that Daniel and his friends were a part of. We met some really amazing people there. Daniel is roommates with Theo. Theo is a six foot four inch Dutch guy! Amazing man! Theo was manager of a candle project in the factor. Oh yes before I begin to introduce people I will describe what the organization that all these people work for is about. Daniel and his friends are employees/missionaries working for this business that designs and engineers different things. Anything for the most part. They have a variety of Industrial tools that aid them through this process and what they do not have tools for they outsource. So a retailer decides that he/she wasn’t a chair built for them so this retailer submits a general idea of the function and maybe even some specific dimensions and Frank (founder/head engineer/man with dream) takes this general design and makes a some two-dimensional drafts of what the product could look like and those are sent to the retailer and are critiqued until a design is decided upon and from there a three-dimensional auto-cad draft is constructed or depending on what part or type of product is being constructed a two-dimensional copy is given to Daniel and he takes that drawing and they create a prototype product which is displayed or given to the retailer for inspection and when an appropriate product is found they begin to mass produce those products depending upon the retailers request.
So as many as three or four projects can be underway at one time. Theo is in charge or candles and he instructs a crew of three or four Indian workers. The day after we got there they had to lay off half of their Indian staff because they did not have enough work for everyone. The crew was going to be notified the first of January if they were to be needed further. So that was a big bummer to see. Those were valuable relationships kinda lost. But the factory kept on moving and shaking while we were there we got to be part of the completion of a shipment. When an entire order is completed huge semi sized trucks come in and haul off all the pallets to the shipping yards a three hours drive away in Mumbai where they are sent to the retailer most of the time Europe.
The shipment days were long days, on that day we worked from 9 am to 3 am and by the time we left everyone was burnt out. The company has to work around odd schedules at times. The power goes out on Thursday so Thursdays are off. So the shipping day was on a Wednesday and we got to have the next day off. India is funny like that. They power does what it wants. It will go off for hours on ends whenever it wants and that is not even questioned. Every time it rains it goes out so you can imagine the frequency of that during the rainy season. I don’t know if this stands for every community in India but we were told this was the case in Pune.
Ok now introductions to some of the staff. Frank as you head already is head honcho. He started the company and he has experience in Engineering and is from Holland. Olco is an accounting graduate from Oklahoma. He is a great guy! We got to go out to eat with him a couple times. Once at an Arabic restraunt and the other time at a going away get together for Ican who is another guy from Holland who was there for a business internship. Then there is Frank’s family his wife that I am so sorry but forgot her name. They have a handful of children and they have a house a five minute walk from Daniel’s house. This is where Olco is currently staying and was where Ican was staying. There are a handful of other India administrative staff that I didn’t get to know very well but the rest of the staff Josh and I worked everyday face to face with so we got to know them better and they were all local citizens of India. So there is Rufus who is an amazing guy! He is about 21 I think is what he said and he is from a caste that originated in the Mumbai area and they are a Christian caste apparently. I still don’t know exactly how the caste system is situated in the Indian culture. But he could speak the best English and helped translate for others. He know English, Hindi and the language of his caste. Then there is Mahroti (im sure I chopped the spelling of his name) who is another really great guy who knows how to weld real well and he was always a very energetic and driven worker. That is what surprised me though about all of the workers no one was really complaining on any level. They were all so positive about having a job. No one expected to be treated a certain way as an employee they just knew that they had a task to accomplish and they were excited on the simple fact of that. And the last guy worker is Ragess who is a character. He has experience as an actor and can pull a lot of stuff off. He is a smoozer in a good sense. He was looking for apartments for Theo and Daniel because they were planning on moving by the end of the month. So yeah he has a wife that works with the company as well. The last day that we were there Ragess really wanted to treat us to something so he brought us out to eat and took his by his home neighborhood! That was really great to see and very nice of him to do. So yeah then there were the lady workers who we really didn’t get to know very well one because they were doing there own lady deal and two cause they didn’t speak as much English. But they were very nice there was one by the name of Rika who was the head boss leady and kinda directed everything. She made sure everyone was in line and doing what they needed to be. Most of the workers had up to a middle school education some had a highschool education.
We worked and ate with them all for a full week and a half then booked tickets to Kashmir and then to Delhi. So that began the second stage of the trip. *If you would like to hear more about the Daniels a part of please check out Josh’s previous update he has a few different link and addresses for you.
Kashmir was a winter wonderland in comparison with Pune we got flights out of Mumbai to Srinagar the capital city of Kashmir. And when we arrived in the airport we were greeted by a man who wanted to offer us a room in a houseboat for 400 ruppies a night. So we accepted it and went took a taxi to the river where the houseboat was anchored. It was an amazing decorative cozy little boat with two or three bedrooms and a sitting room. I believe each room had a small woodstove which was the primary form of heat. The temperature averaged in the 30s so we had to get into another gear mentally in order to deal with the drastic change in temperature. But we got to know this Muslim family really well and they taught us a lot about Islam. Every night we had a deep conversation about spiritual stuff that happens frequently in Kashmir. So we got to hear some about the personal side of the Islamic life. I was stoked to hear so much about Kashmir and what the people were all about there. I don’t know just everything was new to me. We went up into the Himalayas some. We traveled a days to this place called Gulmarg that was a sky resort and had snow monkeys. The whole place was drenched in snow. Maybe like 50 feet of snow is dumped there every year is what we learned. That blew my mind! I never heard of anything like that. So Kashmir was great we stayed there for about 4 days. We learned alot about the Kashmir culture its position with India in terms of its automacy. The tea there is the best in the world.
So while we stayed in Kashmir we were actively making connections to in Delhi so that we had a place to stay and people to help out. Josh and I ended up having mutual connections. I had a friend that came to India two years ago and spent a lot of time here so I contacted him and he gave me Micheal Gunderson’s information and I contacted Micheal and told him that Josh was given the contact of the Malakars by a mutual friend Bjorn that went to school with Josh’s sister. So he did and it happened to be that he lived a 2 minute walk from them and all the work he was apart of was with them. He is the roommate of Mrs. Malakar’s father Dr. Tom Halstead. Dr. Tom Halstead is the Head Chairman and director of the Bible department at Master’s College. He has been teaching as a professor there for… I think 24 years now. So that was an amazing coincidence. We got to spend time with them and they directed us around Delhi. The ministry they are apart of is really cool the first night we got there they had a bible study going on and then on Sunday they had a church service that Mr. Malakar’s father taught. Then later on in the evening we had a Christmas service. So that was great to hear. Doc taught that. While we were in Delhi we just mainly sight saw and sort of interacted with the schedules of the ministry that everyone was involved in. We got our own rooms a bathroom and a kitchen to use whenever we needed to. So that was really cool. We took a day trip to Agra on the train and saw the Taj Mahal and Red Fort where the rulers of that part of India, the Mughals emperors, lived and ruled out of. We got a tour through that whole structure and the history behind the five emperors who lived there. Then next few days were spent in Delhi sight seeing and touring around. Then we booked a last minute train to Kalkutta.
Out trip to Kalkutta was a bit scattered we left ourselves three days in Kalkutta. So we booked a ticket on a sleeper train for like 9 dollars. It was to be a 20 hour trip or something. So we got to the Delhi train station the next day and realized that our ticket was on a waiting list and that we didn’t get a refund or to get on the next train. So that kinda shocked us, but we saw a travel agency on the way into the station so we went across the street and booked confirmed flight from Delhi to Kallkutta on a sleeper train the next day that left at 7 am. So we got a really cheap hotel in the heart of Delhi and ordered some Chicken fried rice and got up at 5 to go to the Old Delhi Train station. So when we got out of bed we saw that we had accidentally kept the key to Mike and Doc’s apartment. So we had about an hour left before the train arrived. So I initially forgot about it when we woke up I was like focused on getting this train. But when we got there Josh pointed out how close we were to the apartment and that train was going to leave for like 2 hours so I grabbed the key and took off! I sprinted to the nearest rickshaw driver and didn’t slow down until I got into his rickshaw. I was like “Kingscamp, North Campus Delhi University!” and we went. I got there and the outside door was locked. I didn’t have the key to that so I was going to leave the key in the ignition of his motorcycle. But the night watchman rang the doorbell which was this hideous retched bird scream of a noise and it was loud. So Mike came stumbling out like not know what hit him and I who should have been in Kalkutta by now, handed him this small little skeleton key. And the first thing he asked was “You didn’t come all the way back just to give me this?” Haha. I told him the situation and he went back to bed. And by that time it was like 6:10 a.m. and our train was to arrive at 6:40 a.m. so we sped back and I got there with about 10 minutes to spare before it even arrived in the station. So that began the adventure to Kallkutta. The train ride was pretty ridiculous. The bed were stacked three high which wasn’t too crazy but there were a couple people who snuck on the train and as the ticket master came through this guys who was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Josh was asked about his ticket, and all he did was put his hands together and bow his head in shame. So without even thinking the ticket master pulled an emergency stop lever and grabbed the guy by the shit, brought him to the open door and by that time the train had slowed down a bit, and the ticketmaster pushed him out of the moving train. The train then sped up and that was the last of him. No one seemed to surprised about the whole situation so yeah that was that. The train would stop every five minutes to let another train pass because the track was only one track wide most of the time. But the unfortunate part of the train trip was how dirty it was. It was so griamy. The air pollution, and dirtiness of the cars kind of got ridiculous at times. We had to dash for food at random stops not knowif the train was going to take off without us. I had a really cool conversation with a Tibetan refugee monk who was teaching the Tibetan language in Buddhist monistaries across the country of India. The train was about half full with monks of every age and race. They were from Mongolia, India, Tibet, Nepal, and other various places. They guy I talked with was very friendly and we had a great conversation talking about his flee from Tibet to Nepal over the Himalayas. It was a month long journey on foot with only a backpack full of rice and noodles. He didn’t pack a sleeping bag he just had a think jumpsuit on and put a piece of plastic over him when he slept. They had to look out for Chinese guards as they went. It sounded like a very risky journey but a great one!
They last hour of the trip a massive group of young people got on the trip they were probably our age maybe a few years younger and they were pumped up! Josh and I were attempting to sleep but they were shaking up to get up so we did and they were all coming from the surrounding Kalkutta area to go to a massive conference that was being held in the city. Apparently a communist leader from somewhere in Asia was speaking on a communist uprisng that needed to occur in the state of West Bengal. We didn’t have any clue how big of a deal this really was until we got into town. The entire time we were on the street there were tons of semi sized cargo trucks full of people rallying and screaming while holding this flags with the red star on them! It blew my mind! Everyone was stoked on it. There were five to ten million people involved in this rally. The entire city was in a ralley frenzy! I didn’t know how to deal with it. No one was getting violent it was just like a happy go lucky feeling of “yeah communism is what we need!” I didn’t get it. So that went down for a few days. We got a cheap hotel a five minute walk from Mother Teresa’s house of the Destitute and Dieing. So we went over and checked that out. We didn’t get to see much cause it part of it was closed for some reason. It was right next door to the headquarters for this United Employee Union that was getting all excited and worked up for the rally. The Mother Teresa head quarter place was across the way from the National Treasury I think too. It was some form of Treasury.
Kalkutta was much more tropical then Delhi the people of West Bengal have a different culture and way of doing things. I learned a lot about how diverse a country can be while in India. It is a very vast place in allot of different ways. That was that we got on the plane and headed out to Bangkok. Bangkok airport is so huge! Compared to Kalkutta Bangkok seemed like a five star hotel of an Airport. Kalkutta is supposedly the biggest city in India and it has an international airport the size of Bozeman, Montana’s airport. It was dinky. There were only a handful of airlines that actually fly in and out of there I guess. But we were relieved to be in Bangkok by the time we got there.
Getting to Bangkok marked a whole new part of the trip. Every time we get on a place that what it seems to mean. I feel like a whole new trip begins. It was very hard not to compare the amount of pollution in Kalkutta to the amount in Bangkok. Both cities of at least ten million and I haven’t seen such a huge well kept city. Even the air which would seem almost impossible to keep clean was very clean. You can see for ten miles without a problem in any direction! The day we left Kalkutta we couldn’t see beyond a two kilometer distance! I got physically ill because I wasn’t used to it. So yeah that was different. All of Thailand is this clean. I think it is cleaner than most places in the United States and that is impressive to say about Asia. It has been a constant refreshment to take in this tropical, warm, clean, calm, and welcoming environment. We were in Bangkok for like two days. We saw some malls, got to ride on the Metro, and just toured around Bangkok. It is hard not to be blown away though by the open sex trade that is happening all over the place in Bangkok. We booked some flights while we were there and then got a 12 hour night bus to Chiang Mai where we are now. We rented some scooters the first day we were here and have been exploring the city ever since then. We got a little guest house and spent Xmas here. The guest house has free wireless internet so we have been able to Skype with friends and catch up before we head into the village for two weeks. The Thai team will have left by the time this is posted. We have been waiting for a few days now, and I am so excited to see my friends and the village that I have been able to serve in for the last couple of years! In a lot of different ways this the pinnacle of the trip for me. We will be the most involved in doing some hands on serving alongside some of my best friends in the world! On the other side of the world! ☺
Hopefully I will find time to update the blog as soon as we get back from the village but we will see. And again please forgive me for such the delay in the update.

Josh's update

I just want to say before I get started is that I hope you don’t expect the same size up date from me as you just got from Austin! If you really are interested in what we have been doing, down to the last detail you should just take a week off and read Austin’s new book! I will hopefully be able to inform you with as little writing as possible, on how we are, and what we have been doing here in India, and more then that how God has been faithful to us.
This trip has been such an eye opener for me! We have seen and done so much that have caused me, and I am sure all of us, to think about things that we never would have. And I am sure that I have missed so much of what God has done for us. But the things I have noticed and been encouraged by I will write about. I will start in Roma and from there on, who knows where I will go. Roma was an amazing city to be able to see, and I am so glad we spent a week there. I am not sure what Austin wrote but we got to see most of Roma, at least that is how I felt about it. And by far I liked the catacombs the most, it really just blows your mind when you can go down into this place where the church started. And to see the coliseum, and all that really old stuff was a lot of fun. But while we were here there was so much going on with us as a group, and a lot for us to think though. Clay had just told us that he was thinking about staying in Athens; and that wasn’t really as hug of a deal as I though it was going to be. Sure we talk about it every day after that, but what was good for me was I was really challenged to really think about what it was that I believed, and why. And I am going to challenge all of you to just take a min. to think about your faith. Is it something you just do because that is just the way it has always been? or is it real? Are you learning and growing closer to Him every day?

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you-James 4:8.


I wish I could say, now that I have been thinking and praying about it that I know all the answers, but I cant. I can say that it has challenged me to really put my trust in God more than I thought I ever could.

I will say of the Lord, “ He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust.” Psalm 91:2.
And it has been so good to be on this trip with two of my closest friends and to learn and grow with them has been huge. After Roma we had some crazy train rides and one fairy ride to get to Athens. If you want to know about that read “the book”. Athens is really close to being one of the most beautiful places we have been on the trip. While we were there we got to camp across from the Acropolis on this amazing little hill. It had been a while since any of us had a shower, and one guy we meet through this little church that Clay was going to, asked if he could buy us a room some where so we could get cleaned up (I added that because I don’t think Austin put that in “the book” or is really aware of the whole smell issue). So we went and found a hostel to stay at for a night, and we able to get cleaned up. And just to tell you how good God is, it rained that night in Athens and that was so nice not to be wet for a change. But what got all of us thinking in Athens; was while we were at the hostel we meet this girl from the U.S. and she started tell me her life story. Which wasn’t that crazy in the hostel setting, that is just what they do there. I will spare you her story and just tell you what it was that got us thinking. It all started when she recommended a book for me to read about the times we are living in, and how after she had read this book her life made since. And how we really don’t have to worry or even think about anything right now. Because there is going to be a leader coming that will unify the world and when that happens everything will be clear and we will just have to do what he tell us, and it is going to be great! I bet you can just guess what I was think by this point. I just sat there trying to figure out how to get away for this girl. But it went on forever it felt like. And she told me about how it wasn’t just her but most of her friends and family that were at the same place as she was. LOST! All I can say is that I was challenged to think. To think about the time I have been given, and what I am doing to be ready for the days that I know are coming.

But don’t overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years one day. 2 Peter 3:8
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

After that we headed out to a Greek island to hang out and see what it was like out there. And it was so nice, we camped right on the sea and got to cook most of our own food. It was are last few days with Clay and they were so good. We really didn’t do a whole lot on the island, but it was by far some of the best times we have had as friends.
It was off to India for Austin and I the morning after we rolled back from the island. We were packed and ready to roll, a little jealous that Clay did have to carry his pack any more. And we had a long trek to the metro that went to the air port. This is an other way that God has really shown Himself to us. We had all the things we needed to get to India, packs, tickets, everything. But Austin insisted that we stop at a internet café to print out his copy for our itinerary. We had seen a internet café earlier so we headed that way even though it was about twice as far to hike. We got there Austin got his copy made and we were just trying to get some time out of the internet we had bought, a ½ hrs worth, I was done and on my way out when Austin told me that Mallory was on. Which was amazing in the first place because it was like two in the morning there! So I singed right back on to my computer to say “Hi”. And it ended up being a lot more than just a “Hi”! for the first time we found out what was happening in India and the turmoil that was going on in Mumbai. The city where we were planning to stay for our first few days there! Mallory called my parents so we could talk with them and it was just crazy for a while. Our plane left in less than 3 hr and we were about an hour from the airport still, and we were trying to figure out if we should stay or go. But if we were going to figure out anything we were going to have to go to the airport, said our goodbyes and I was so thankful that Mallory had got a hold of us to tell us what was going on. So, off to the airport we went, we were in a huge hurry to get there and Clay was only going to the metro. We said good bye to him and were off. When we got to the airport our flight was checking in so we had no time! we went to the main cheek in both to ask them what they thought we should do, and they didn’t even know what was going on! So they called some people and checked to see what it would cost to change our tickets. And after about 10 min of that we had to make the choice to go or to stay. The only comfort I got out of this whole deal was the fact that people checking us in though we would be alright because we didn’t look like tourists, but more like hitchhikers. We didn’t have any time to think it through, but we were checked in and waiting to get on out plain before we knew it. All we could do is just pray and trust God that we were doing what He wanted us to. We flew all night and had one layover, I was able to call home and make sure everyone knew that we were doing exactly what they asked us not to. But I got to spend a lot of time reading my Bible and praying and I can say that I was really filled with peace on what was happening. I have been reading Romans and now I have just been in 1 Cor .There was so much there to be encouraged by. But so far my favorite verse so far has been Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may about in hope.

We landed in Mumbai at 6 in the morning. We didn’t get a lot of sleep on the flight but we had time to think it though and had an idea of how to get to Pune. Which is were we were planning on going after Mumbai to help a friend of Austin’s for a while. It was so good to know that you were all praying for us and as soon as we got off the plain God started answering all of them. We had to cancel a hotel reservation and find a way to get to this place in Mumbai where there were gov. bus going to Pune. We got so much help from all the people we ran into and after a ride in a van and then a taxi we were at the bus station. It was so easy and the guy that was suppose to drive us to the hotel canceled or reservation and got us the taxi that we needed to get to the bus, and not only that but he talked the taxi driver into doing it for less than he was going to! It was amazing to see how God was working through these people. We got on the bus, and we both feel sound asleep for our 6 hour bus ride. When we arrived we didn’t know what to do next, but we had an address and a rickshaw driver that wanted to take us anywhere. We showed him the address and we were off again, only to find out that we had the wrong address, so our driver took us to a place were we could call Daniel. Thankfully we had his phone number, so we called and found out we were on the wrong side of town, and just so you know…this is a big town! So we talked to our driver and he said he would take us but it was going to cost about 20 dollars! We though that was really cheep and we were off again the only problem was our driver didn’t know where to go on the other side of town so we had a little detour to his parents house were he asked his dad and brother for directions. It was so crazy fun to hangout with them for a few min. and as soon as he know where we going we were off. It took about 2 hr in sold traffic but we made it, and Daniel was waiting for us. And I was just amazed that we had made it! There was now way that we could have done it on our own and I am so thankful for all your prayers. God has been so faithful!
We spent the rest of the day walking around looking at all the projects that C.G.C.E ( the co. that Daniel works for) . The next day we just slept and checked out the town a little bit, that is when Austin wrote his book! After that we started working with Daniel. He is in charge of making tripods to be shipped around the world. It is a huge project and it is tons of fun to work with the Indians. As for the mission, I am not sure what it is other to employ poor Indians who need a job. But I will write more about that when I know more. We had to have enough tripods put together and packed before Wednesday so they could be shipped out to wherever. I though we were doing really good we had made so many of those things. Then it came to the last day and we still had a lot to go! We went to work earlier than normal and ended up finishing the whole process the next morning at 4:30! I am writing this on our day off they work on Sunday and have Thursday off. And we did the shipment of tripods last night. We are planning on just hanging out to day and then tomorrow we are going site seeing with Daniel since he got two days off. I think that is just about all I have for know, I cant tell you how thankful I am for all your prayers! And please don’t stop any time soon. I hope you will be encouraged by what God has been doing in my life! And this is such a little bit!

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: He also is to be feared above all gods.><>1 Chronicles 16:25
Thanks again! Josh





I asked and found out a lot about what C.G.C.E. (Chikali Great Commission Engineering) is. So I will try to explain it to you, and if you have any questions just ask. Or visit there web site at www.gct-usa.com to find out more!

The company C.G.C.E. is trying to get itself into a position where they have a say in the government. Why? Legally the cast system doesn’t exist but with the Hindu influence the Muslims and so many other religions that have all the focus on self, it makes out for madness here in India. Everyone is out to cheat their neighbor. So what this company is doing is getting a trust built up with the government and with people in the importing business, and doing it all legally. Which is a big deal because not very many companies are doing it legally, or are very honest about this type of work that is being done. Ultimately they are trying to set a standard, by being a Christian owned and run co.; they want to get noticed. When they get to the place where they have a say in gov. then they will be able to change things a little bit more than they are now. And hopefully start to change the focus of this country.
What they are doing now is working with the people of India. Not just poor Christians who need help, but any one who is willing to work for them and meet there standards. They expect there workers to be honest and do all there work as good as they can. And through that it opens a door to explain why, and they have a chance to share there faith. It is so much different than what I am used to doing on a mission. But God is truly at work here, and He is working through this company. I am so glad I have gotten to be part of what God is doing here! Thanks again for all your prayers. God Bless Josh