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Well, greetings from an entirely new place with entirely new circumstances. I apologize for a lack of a blog yesterday, but the interweb was super spotty at the Poonthanthalam Mission Center. And, admittedly, your resident Blogist was super beat last night falling asleep at dinner. David - The Godfather - told me to go to bed. You listen to the Godfather. And just as an aside, I realize “Blogist” is not the right word and that “Blogger” is what the kids are calling it these days, but “Blogger” reminds me too much of that video game, “Frogger”, and after the whole episode with the frog in my guitar, I just want to avoid frogs altogether. It occurs to me, after skillfully composing that last sentence, that due to a lack of updates on Wednesday, you missed the resolution to the “Frog in my guitar” story. As you may have remembered, on Tuesday evening, we found a frog in my guitar. We thought that was “The End”, but apparently, was not. Fast forward to late Wednesday morning. Jonathon arrives with the guitar cable and new set of strings he’d been promising me for days. We sit down to change the strings…hello, Frog. Frog is still in the guitar. Then it dawns on us…Frog was in the guitar during our entire morning program…meaning, Frog endured “Father Abraham” inside the guitar…and I’m super aggressive at “Father Abraham”. The next ten minutes consists of us doing everything short of smashing the guitar to get Frog out. Finally, after removing almost all of the strings, a very substantial shake from myself freed Frog from his acoustically-pleasing home. However, Frog jumped around in circles for a good long while. Lesson: camping out inside a guitar is never a good idea and could lead to brain damage. Congratulations. You just read the worse paragraph in the India 2012 blog yet! I’m really not sure where that came from. Apologies all around.

So much to update you on. Yesterday was our last official FULL day of VBS - and it was a great day. We did our “3 Parables of Jesus” skit - but only pulled off 2 of them due to time constraints and personnel. Leslie shared her “Giode” Grain Game as well. Leslie is a pro at her “Giode” illustration. She shares that she has practiced that illustration so many times on her dog that she’s pretty sure her dog is now saved. The Giode is an awesome picture of Jesus Christ. A giode is a rock that has been cut in half. Outwardly, it looks like your average large rock, but when you turn it around, you see the beauty and crystal looking things (scientific term) found within the rock. In the same way, Christ came and had no appearance that we would look on Him - yet once He was crushed, broken and crucified, was the full glory of God revealed. Leslie knows this presentation inside and out and it’s absolutely beautiful. Following our opening activity, we broke into the classes and the team went to each class to help make salvation bracelets. These bracelets are awesome tangible ways that kids can visualize the process of a relationship with Christ and wear it once it’s completed. Overall, we probably helped make 200-250 salvation bracelets. Also, yesterday we performed “God O” a record 4 times: twice in our morning session, once in our afternoon session and once outside, totally impromptu. I don’t advise doing an extremely active dance song in 103 degree weather in the middle of the afternoon…but if you are going to do one, make it “God O”. I’m not sure if I’ve filled you in on what “God O” is…but it’s a song that Leon introduced us to in our prep meetings - and I will go on record and say that it is absolutely the best camp/kids/VBS song I’ve ever encountered. It’s so simple, so much fun and by the end of the week, Indian kids who barely know English are singing this song to us. On our report night, rest assured we WILL be leading that song and you MUST participate. Seriously - it’s insanely good.

At the end our VBS yesterday, the Team was called up front and we were asked to give a brief testimony. The words from your Team were beautiful. We shared our love for them and how we are all family because of Jesus Christ. That may seem like small business to us, but to these Indian kids, that’s really special. Also, it’s 100% true. We have such a love for these children it kills us, especially when we had to say “Good-bye” to them officially today. So sad. Everyone on the Team really hated to leave the Mission Center. However, we know that God has called us to the next area of service and that’s where we get our strength. Tonight on our way to the next Mission Center, David told us that he had spoken to Pastor Gnanam back at the Poonthanthalam Mission Center. Gnanam had received a call from one of the village children crying because they were sad to see us leave and VBS come to an end. The children at this Mission Center are some of the best people I’ve ever met in my entire life. If you ever get a chance to participate in a mission trip to India, do not hesitate. In my End-of-VBS testimony yesterday, I opened with this comment: “My name is Jeff and this is my second time to India and Poonthanthalam Mission Center is my favorite place in the whole world. And no part of that statement is an exaggeration or lie. The work going on there is so remarkable. Please keep them in your prayers!

Debbie’s laptop is telling me I have 28 minutes left before it dies, so I have to hit the high points pretty quick. Today was a tough day. We had to say “Goodbye” officially and drive away from the relationships we’ve cultivated with these children. Our drive to the North River Mission was a long 3-hour drive and we arrived just around dinner time. Our first order of business was to dedicate a portion of the Mission Center in the memory of Jay Nichols, son of former Faith pastor, Dr. James Nichols. It was a very beautiful, intimate time together. A time of prayer, remembrance and sharing about Jay’s life. David shared that this Mission Center will be a place of life-change for years and years to come - and having just experienced the 10-year old Poonthathalam Mission Center, we know this is completely accurate. Also, a fun little story...as of today, our very own India 2012 PinWidget extraordinaire, Justin Hanneken, is a college grad! Well, he's been a college grad before...but never one with a Master's degree! He's worked hard and we are very proud of him...and his being with us on this trip meant that he missed his own graduation ceremony. So, naturally, we threw him one in the North River MC. When he came down for dinner, we all sang "Pomp and Circumstance", standing in his honor. We kicked off the regal ceremony with a rousing, harmonized, "Old McDonald" led by Chennai rock star and former-mullet-having musical prodigy, Jonathon Matthews. Then, our commencement speaker, the gifted Mrs. Betty Jo Bennett spoke kind words (and told jokes) to honor the boy. Then, The Godfather himself, David Rajan, presented Justin with his diploma, written in red marker on a roll of paper towels. Apparently, Justin graduated with a M.A. in "Awesomeness". He was also awarded a Pepsi and a pack of crackers for graduating at the top of his class (of those who were also present in Chennai right now). I'm pretty sure it wasn't as noble as his official graduation, but I'll bet it was more memorable.

Speaking of the North River Mission Center, let me introduce it to you. North River MC is the newest Mission Center David Rajan has built. And when I say “newest”, I mean, “the paint is still drying”. We are so excited and honored to be the very first group to live in the Mission Center. It’s located right on the river and there is a great sea breeze that often comes whipping through. We’re really looking forward to this added benefit! But along with that, we need your prayer support in a big way right now. Maybe it’s because we’re crashing from the past week’s work…maybe we’re just all old and decrepit…but whatever it is, we are all really feeling the physical strain now. Some are struggling with sickness…others allergies…heat exhaustion…upset stomach…at this point, I don’t think anyone isn’t physically struggling. Put on top of that the sadness over leaving our new friends, missing our family and friends back home, and facing what appears to be a more challenging 7 days than the previous 7...we just desperately plead for your prayers. David has been so generous to us and the work he has gotten accomplished to give us a place to lodge has been way more than anyone would have expected and way more than he should have done. Still, as Americans unfamiliar with this climate, we’re struggling pretty good over here. However, we know that God is faithful and that He gives us His strength. We knew before we ever got here that this mission and work was beyond our abilities. We just need to be reminded of that again. Your prayers do work - you encourage us so much and we ask you to think of us and this mission throughout your day. If you aren’t a “prayer person” and are just reading this to keep up with what your friend or family member is up to, would you join us in prayer, too? Be a part of the work God is doing and I promise that you will see that He is real. We are entirely certain of that. There is no way we would’ve left our home, our families, our comforts if we didn’t believe that to be true with every single cell over our bodies.

Depending on how you count, we are somewhere right around the halfway point. Pray that we will finish strong. Pray that we will put the energy into loving these new kids as much as the kids at Poonthanthhalam. Pray for sleep. Pray for restored strength. Pray for healing. Pray for Sharon Nichols as she flies home in 7 hours. Pray for David. Pray for Pastor Gnanam and all of the wonderful people at the Mission Center. Pray for Pastor Nandekumar (Non-day-COO-mar), pastor at North River Church/Mission Center. Pray that God would speak through them as the bring the Word of God tomorrow. Pray for team unity. Pray that each of us would be encouraged and not lose heart. Pray that we would be receptive to the Holy Spirit. Pray that we would see God’s glory. Pray for the children who will be attending North River VBS. Pray. Please pray. We are counting on each of you. Words cannot describe how much we appreciate you and your support.

Just pray.