Cooking shed take two...

After returning to Kakinada from taking Christy to the airport, I expected the cooking shed to be concreted in place. However my helpers Niranjan and Raju informed me that the land owner was not happy with the design of the shed. I thought that the back of the shed could be supported by a concrete wall that borders the property. The landlord didn't like it this way. After one more trip up the side of the building and a few more hours of welding we had a remodeled cooking shed, self supported and ready to be lowered and carried to its location. We spent most of Friday doing this. Then we shopped for more metal to make a welding shed. Basically it will be a sunblock. It is pretty hot in the middle of the day on the roof. Today we had all the roofing and metal we need to hopefully finish the two sheds. I am trying to adapt to Indian construction materials and methods. I think I am learning as much from Raju and Niranjan as they are from me.

Welding school.

Monday I started to teach Niranjan and Raju to weld. They spent most of the day trying to start an arc and make beads. They are both doing well for beginners. We purchased some metal tubing to make a shelter for the cooks. It is a small kitchen but I saw they had three stoves cooking. The best place that we found to weld is on top of the roof on the third floor. This place is the best because the children won't look at the arc while your trying to weld. We had to lift all the tubing up to the second floor balcony and then pass it onto the roof. Then we welded the structure together and lowered it by rope back to the ground. I welded some of Monday and most of Tuesday and finished early Wednesday. During that time Christy and Crystal kept the kids busy and off the roof. We still need to buy some corrugated plastic or fiberboard panels for the roof of the building but hopefully we can do that tomorrow.

The second part of Wednesday we went to drop Christy at Vizag. Vizag is a nice city and they have English movies. Unfortunately, the English movie had already played by the time we got there. Ricky and our driver, Sekhar, still wanted to watch a movie and Crystal and I didn't want to be spoilers, so we saw our first Telegu movie in a theater. Ricky translated, but most of the movie was easy to get, and the rest of the movie was dancing or fighting. It was a fun experience. We did get to go to the beach there before we left this morning and it is a pretty beach. We arrived back in Kakinada around 2, and tonight we are supposed to go to the church building.

Recent events. Very tired.

Friday the 22ND Crystal, Ricky and I went to the coconut jungles and visited a preacher named John. Last time we were in India John asked Ricky to speak at his village. They had a small community church and they listened to Ricky preach on the radio and television. Ricky spoke and several were baptized by Ricky and I in the ocean. One of the girls we baptized teaches sewing here in Kakinada. John was baptized by Ricky later and he works with several churches in the area. John took us to one of the churches he works with. They were very loving to us. I spoke for an hour with Ricky translating. An hour is a personal record. Most of it was Ricky translating. We asked if any wanted to be baptized and four said they did. We didn't go with them for the baptizing because they had to travel pretty far to be baptized. They requested that we could help them with a baptistery so they wouldn't have to travel so far for baptisms. We had to leave pretty fast to get home at a decent hour, but they were so loving that it was hard to leave.

Saturday the 23 we left very early because we had three villages on our agenda. We were guided by a preacher named Joseph. His area was an hour past the village we had visited on Friday. We arrived at the first village around 11 a.m. This village had several members but only a few bibles. During my speech I asked if someone would read a scripture. Ricky realized hardly anyone had bibles so he told them on his next visit he would bring them some. Ricky and I spoke on the rooftop of the local preacher's mother's house. Crystal and Christy did puppets for the children inside the house on the first floor. One man that could not climb the stairs also watched the puppets and listened to Crystal and Christy teach songs. At this village four also wanted to be baptized. Two of them came to us after I spoke, including the lady that owned the house. They fed us and then to others said they wanted to be baptized. It was 3 p.m. before we left that village we were supposed to be at the next village at 3, but when we arrived it was like 6:30. Some of the people had left since we were late but there was still a group of thirty or so still waiting on us. This village was deep in the Eastern Ghats mountains. It was a very beautiful trip.
They were needing a well in this village so they wouldn't have to walk so far to get water. I hope to return to them and help them dig one. They also had a half finished church that need a roof and walls and floor. Today, Sunday we went to church and tried to rest.

Shopping is hard work...

Yesterday and the day before Aaron, Christy, & I went shopping to buy stuff for the children's home. Christy bought some stainless steel cups and plates for each of the children with their names on them. We bought some clothing material, tools for the well and welding stuff for the well, trash cans, brooms, and paid the tailor to make the clothing. Some of the children don't have clothes that fit them, or they only have pants that don't button, and so a lot of the kids only keep their pants up with a string. Most of their clothes have holes in them and they only have like one or two outfits each, so they really were needing some new clothes. So people that gave to us, we are trying to put your money to good use.

After Christy gave them their plates and cups, we took pictures of them each individually, and wrote down their names.

Kovaru

Last night we went to a village called Kovaru. They met outside the church so it drew a big crowd. Aaron spoke about how we struggle with God sometimes, and how this brings about perseverance, and how if you persevere you can see beautiful things. It was a very good talk. He used the story of how his Dad used to wrestle with him as a kid, and also one of his cave exploring stories. We also told three stories for the children. We told about Sampson, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, and the story in Acts where Peter and John heal a blind beggar in Jesus' name. Sampson is a real hit because we get the puppet Delilah ties Sampson up and we also have water bottles that act like pillars that we have him knock over. After, we handed out pencils and pens and then they asked for us to pray for them. They were so nice.

Chillin with the children

We have been staying in Kakinada and playing with the children. It is harder work than you would think. Duck Duck Goose is one of the main games we have been playing, along with heads up 7 up. Crystal and Christy taught the children on Sunday and let them make a Noah's Ark out of paper plates and popsicle sticks. Crystal taught them the Sea of Galilee song which was very challenging and humorous.

Today I went shopping for a welder and other tools to teach with and everyone else went to a village and a wedding. I rode my own bicycle this time in the market. I am very proud of this accomplishment. Finding tools and other supplies is very challenging. I wish there was a Lowe's or a Home Depot here. I never knew how spoiled I was in America until I had to shop for something in India.

Some Pics

We had some difficulty with our camera so we are behind on posting pictures. Here are some pictures corresponding to some of our previous posts

Here is Raju (right) Niranjan (left) and myself with our sidewalk

Crystal painting

Marie and I building some stoves.

For the Children

Aaron-
Yesterday and today we worked on some of the projects we had started for the children's home. Crystal, Marie, Michelle and Sarah started on painting, while Raju and I started working on a sidewalk to the shower. The shower is just a spigot high on the wall that the children stand under to bath. The girls finished painting the front of the building, and Marie and Crystal helped me finish the sidewalk. Sarah and Michelle started to help me but decided they could be more useful stamping and labeling. We finished off yesterday's work with a nice trip to the beach. None of us were brave enough to go completely in the water but we all waded around for a good hour. After the beach Marie wanted to say goodbye to the children. Raju also wanted me to play guitar for the children so we returned after dark for my first concert. I can truthfully say there was standing room only. Marie passed out finger puppets that her sister had made as gifts and the children delightfully re-enacted the battle of Jericho for us. Marie had a hard time saying goodbye. Today I went back to the children's home to get an early start. I worked on the platform for the shower for an hour with Raju before Crystal showed up. She took over mixing the concrete while I worked on pouring and leveling. Mixing is especially hard work since we are mixing on the ground with shovels that have handles only a foot long. I was proud of Crystal, because she worked so hard. Sarah and Michelle returned to the office for another day of stamping and labeling while Marie packed for her return trip. We finished pouring the pad and I am waiting to see the end result in the morning. Crystal, Marie and Ricky left for Vizag after lunch to drop Marie off at the airport. Michelle, Sarah and I will be joining them in the morning. I will miss the girls when they leave. They all have been so good with the children. I think the Children will miss them too.

Hyderabad & Sudeepa's parent's orphanage

Crystal: Sorry that we haven't written in a while, we went to Hyderabad (which is the capital city of the State we are in right now) with the group from OC to drop them off at the airport. A couple of us got sick there, but we are doing better now and we are glad to be back in Kakinada.

Thursday we went to Sudeepa's parent's orphanage, where we taught them about 5 bible stories and taught them the Hippo song, which was fun. There were about 100 children there. Afterward, we stayed and played games with them like duck duck goose and hop skotch. They were really sweet children, they showed me all around the orphanage, sometimes with more than one child holding onto each hand. One girl played with my hair and braided it. She loved to touch my hair. A couple of the children asked me my parents' names, and then one girl told me her parents' names. I thought that was different, but probably because they are orphans. There was one little boy that could mimick all different kinds of animals and even a baby crying. He couldn't walk very well but he was always really happy, and all the children liked him.

Yesterday I got to talk to the ladies class about what gets in the way of being a true worshipper of the Father, while the rest of the group went to a village and taught the children.

Aaron: I have been impressed with the hunger for God's word here in India. Yesterday Michelle, Sarah, Marie and I went to a village where we did a puppet show for over 120 kids. They were crowded into a hut and saw by candle light. We handed out candy and pencils and they were all so excited. Today and yesterday we worked on stamping and labeling some of the monthly magazines that the Joshua translates and prints. We did 4000, but still have 8000 to go. The monsoon rains are keeping us from traveling so we will have plenty of time to finish it. Actually keep us in your prayers because the rains are flooding much of Andra Pradesh. It has been raining for two days straight. Some of the villages we were supposed to visit have cancelled because they were concerned for us. We are staying in Kakinada for now.

Preachers workshop and Mulaparru

Yesterday was the preacher's workshop. It was so encouraging to meet all the preachers and their wives. They all were really nice and are really hardworking! One preacher goes and preaches for 3 to 4 villages, in which most of the time they have to walk long distances, except for those who have "Gospel Chariots" which are bicycles that the church in Kakinada gave them for their hardwork. Aaron spoke to them about Grace and Mercy, Beverly spoke to the women about Mary and Martha, and I spoke to the women about how we should work together to bring people to Christ and how we shouldn't give up or be discouraged if people haven't come to Christ yet. It was fun! One of the girls from the Children's home made us girls all flowers to put in our hair which smelled wonderful. It made us all feel pretty:) Afterward, we all went to Ricky's Aunt's house to put icing on Sudeepa's cake because it was her birthday.

Today, we went to a village that was about 3-4 hours away. We got to teach about 50 kids 4 bible stories about Jesus while we used puppets to illustrate. We taught Jesus in the Temple, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus walks on the water, and the Good Samaritan. The kids here really love the puppets. We also got to teach them some songs with the OC group and then one of the guys from the other group gave a short sermon about coming into the family of the Lord. Then Ricky handed out bibles. Afterward, two women were baptized in the river, which was awesome because the meeting was supposed to originally be only the children, but the adults ended up coming also, which is why one of the OC guys spoke. After that the children huddled around us and were all wanting to shake our hands, some of them shaked our hands over and over again. They were so cute. The churches here are so welcoming and loving. Please continue to pray for us, Michelle has been having some stomach problems, but she is doing a little better.
Love,
Crystal