Bye Bye Aaron and Crystal

Ricky: Aaron and Crystal left Kakinada on Oct 2nd to catch a flight from Vizag - Madras - Delhi - Chicago - Tulsa. They reached Tulsa safely! Crystal dad would come and pick them up from the airport and then they would go back to Stillwater.

Crystal and Aaron were a blessing to us here. They worked very hard with many things. I was surpised. Their presence was an encoragement to me here in India. They gave me their account to me so I would be posting about things happing here in India. Please do keep on checking about what's happing with us here in Kakinada and keep us in your prayers. This Blog thing is new to me so I need to explore this.

Coconut Jungles...our last villages

Today we went to two villages. The first village had a lot of children so Niranjan (our fearless translator) and I (Crystal) went with them into a little room and taught them bible stories while Aaron preached to the adults about becoming like a child with Ricky translating. We taught them 4 stories about Elijah since they never heard of him, 2 stories about Elisha, one about King Josiah, one about Jesus healing the ten lepers and how only one came back to thank him, one about Peter and John healing a lame beggar in Jesus' name, and one about Paul and Silas in jail during an earthquake. It was fun, we just kept on going with the stories because Aaron wasn't done with his sermon outside yet. Since there was only two of us we elected not to use the puppets, but the children saw them and wanted to see them when we were done with the stories. It is funny because there is always a little child in each village who is scared of the puppets, while the other children want to touch them all the time. Then some of the ladies who were in there to watch their children asked me questions and made me sing a song for them. They were a really loving congregation. They asked us to come back and visit them.

The second village we went to didn't have that many children, so I just watched Aaron preach and hung out with the older ladies and the children of the congregation. One lady in particular was really sweet. She asked me to sit by her and held my hand. Lately I've been trying to sing along with the Telegu songs by watching the songleader(since we can't sing in English)...it is kind of funny because the children always look at me and smile. I think they think I actually know the songs, while I only know a few, and not very well. Aaron spoke about how God's gift to man is salvation through the death of His son and how God requires us to search for our gift, and how if we stay faithful we will get the prize at the end of our race of faith. One man decided to be baptized, so we were blessed by being able to see him make that decision.

Please pray for us as we fly out on Thursday.

God bless

Love,

Crystal

The last few days...

The last few days have been bitter-sweet. Saturday we tried to make a solution to the food and water waste in the yard of the children's home. Aaron dug a ditch along the place where the water spilled out, while I poured gravel where he was digging. Then we put sand over that...we still need to find out what we are going to do with the mud that we dug up. We thought it would be good for a garden or a flower bed, but we're not sure if we have enough time to make one or not...we will try.

The children all had exams the past week so we tried not to bother them too much while they were studying. After, they all have a 10 day break, starting Sunday, but most of them are going to relatives houses. It was kind of sad because we were excited to spend time with them up until we left, but then we found out most of them would be leaving today. So, yesterday afternoon through last night we just hung out with them, watched movies, played games, Aaron played guitar for them and then we all sang songs and and we handed out friendship bracelets that we made for them. Aaron gave them a good going away talk, but when I was supposed to talk I started crying...so I had to stop. Then like 6 children prayed for us taking turns.

We went to a village today. As soon as I got out of the car a woman from the congregation greeted me (wuntha namulu-"The churches of Christ greet you" Rom 16:6) and then she hugged me. We taught the children some bible stories, Ricky preached, then they put some cloth on our shoulders. We will miss India, the children and the villages. We are going to two villages tomorrow, then I think we are leaving for Vizag on Wednesday morning to spend some time there before our plane leaves Thursday from there.

One week left...

Crystal and I have been keeping busy. We finished the welding shed and are still trying to get the water filter flowing right. I spent today making tools and buying some plywood. There are a few things we want to do before we leave. One of the gutters at the children's home runs into the yard where it sits until it soaks into the ground. We are hoping to figure something out before we leave. Also we want to pour some concrete around the cooking shed post so it won't move in a high wind. I think we are also going to go a few villages which should be fun.

Updates

Crystal: I didn't get to say but Sunday we had a fun bible class...we did the story about Elijah and Elisha and the Chariot of fire, Elisha helping a widow to pay off her debt, Elisha repaying a couple for their kindness by asking God to bless them with a child, and the story about Josiah, who becomes a king when he's eight. Then the children decorated crowns to wear on their heads. Aaron also had the opportunity to teach the young adults class and preach for worship.

Lately we've been working on the welding shed for Raju and Niranjan. Raju has been helping in the mornings because his school is starting later this week, so we've been able to get a lot done. We've also pretty much finished the water filter, but the flowrate is a little too fast, so we have to slow it down.

Yesterday we went with Ricky to St. Mary's College and talked to the Education students about America. We were kind of nervous about it, but it was really fun. My cheeks hurt by the end because of smiling so much. We tried to work in stuff about the church and Christianity. Ricky asked who was going to come to the church on Sunday and a couple of them said that they would. It was funny because we would start talking about America and Ricky would finish what we were going to say in translation...either he is a mind reader, or he really knows his American History...hmm. Aaron played a song on his guitar and then we sang two songs acapella- a Christian song in English, then Naa Pranama, a Telegu song. It was really fun. They asked all sorts of questions about rumors they heard of America, and they asked how long we agreed to be married, which we said forever, and Ricky said 1000 years. I guess they heard about our divorce rate in America. They also thought that in America you can't go out past 8 at night or somebody will shoot you. We also told them how America is a lot different than they make it out to be in the movies and music videos.

The village that we started digging a well in hit a boulder and couldn't get through it, but the government decided that they would help them, and they used machinery, so God blessed their faith and hard work anyway. Joseph, the preacher we worked with, has been starting wells for his other congregations and is having some success. The people there have the mind to work he said. Aaron went with him to buy pump stuff for one of his wells. The money that people gave our group is also providing for a baptistry for a congregation, a sewing machine for a congregation for their outreach sewing class, finishing the church building for the congregation in Bukaluru (where we first started digging a well), and we still have some more to allot to certain things. Thank you all for giving to us, we want you to know that God is allowing us to put it to good use and the need is great here.

Please continue to pray for us. We only have a week and a day left.
Love,
Crystal

Breaking rocks in the hot sun...I fought with the law, and the law won.

Crystal and I started making a water filter last week. We took a class last spring offered by Convoy of Hope on how to do this. It is a simple project, basically a barrel full of sand and gravel. We found our barrel attached the necessary plumbing, and started to load our sand. To disinfect our sand we washed it and spread it out on a tarp on the roof to bake it. We spent alot of time on the roof stirring our sand which was hot, but fun. I made several sand paintings, a tree a goose, a fountain. Perhaps the sun was getting to me. We have experienced how to make our filters with worst case scenario conditions, which is timely but not impossible.

Yesterday we traveled to see brother Samuel Raju at Skinners Garden. It is a beautiful childrens' home and widows' home. They grow a lot of their own food and teach sewing, Bible and driving to young men and women. We recieved the grand tour of the entire campus and spent some time in their library. Please pray for them and their work. They have been facing persecution from some of the Hindus in the area. They were holding a free medical camp when six men drove up and started to tell them to stop. Samuel said the doctors were Hindu, those benefitting from the clinic were hindu, but it was sponsored by the Christians so it was opposed. Also their main well has been giving them problems for some time and needs replaced.

Preacher's Workshop

Today we went to a village for the monthly Preacher's Workshop. They were expecting like 75-100 people and about 150 showed up. I (Crystal) got to sit next to the ladies and pass notes back and forth to the villagers that knew English. I got one girl to write the New Testament Books for me in Telegu. It was fun...I made some friends. The girl I was sitting next to said that we were best friends...she was really sweet. Another lady said that she wanted to go to America with us so I told her that I would have to fit her in my suitcase. They were really fun.

We got to listen to a lot of Preachers speak in Telegu, then Aaron spoke last about how the Bible is our toolbox full of different tools and how we have to use it and live it. It was nice to hear a sermon in English. Aaron and I both miss hearing sermons in English. One preacher was really excited and we could tell he was probably a good preacher, but we had no idea what he was saying. It was a really good experience. All the villagers and the preachers were really loving.