Friday morning was an early start to the airport.  Thankfully my stomach was starting to settle a bit so I was able to continue my trip as planned.  My next destination was Hyderabad but since there are no direct flights I could book, I had to fly to Mumbai and then catch another flight to Hyderabad. I left my hotel in Kolkata at 6:30 AM and arrived at the hotel in Hyderabad at 4:00 PM.  After settling into my room I caught up on some correspondence before the Sabbath, had an early dinner by Indian standards and tried to get to bed early. 

On the Sabbath I traveled to the home of Arjumand and Nargis Ali.  I first met Arjumand and Nargis along with their mother Dr. D.S. Ali at the Feast of Tabernacles in Lonavla, India in 1986.  At that time I never imagined having the opportunity of visiting them many times since 1986.  Arjumand has a Ph.D. in Psychics and Nargis has a Masters in History.  Their employment opportunities are limited due to the Sabbath.  Educational Institutes have classes on the Sabbath so Arjumand and Nargis have to be resourceful in order to work and observe the Sabbath.  Arjumand earns a living by giving private tuition from her home.  She has a small classroom set up in the front room of their house.  Nargis is a teacher at a nearby university but cannot become a permanent instructor because doing so would require her to work on the Sabbath.  Thus she receives no benefits from the university and no guarantee that her contract will be renewed.  Arjumand and Nargis set a beautiful example of living by faith.

Traveling in India is always an adventure.  You never know what you will see or experience around the next corner.  Arjumand and Nargis live in Secunderabad so on the way to their house I passed by a sacred tree in the middle of the road.  Over the years the road in this particular area has been widened and since the tree was considered sacred it could not be cut down.  I suppose at one time the tree was beside the road but as the road has been widened through the years it is now in the middle of the road!

I arrived at the home of the Ali sisters at 11:30 AM and we caught up on the latest news of our families and then had a Bible study on “keys to answered prayers”.  After the study we enjoyed a delicious lunch and continued our discussion of news as well as history of the church.  With reluctance I had to say goodbye to Arjumand and Nargis and return to Hyderabad.  Thankfully we are able to stay in regular contact via email and a regular Friday evening Skype Bible study.  Please continue to pray for Arjumand and Nargis.  They do face various health problems and they have no insurance or pension.  They are also living in a country that has witnessed a lot of communal and religious violence through the years and some feel those tensions are starting to arise again.  Since they have no safety net that many of us enjoy, they literally live each day by faith.

After returning to my hotel, I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep and then depart for the airport at 10:00 PM.  My flight left Hyderabad for Bangkok at 1:30 AM on Sunday, June 28th and I arrived in Bangkok at 6:30 AM as I make my way to the Philippines.