Tuesday afternoon, February 9th I flew to New Delhi and arrived at 7:20 PM.  The following morning I traveled by car to Moradabad for a Bible study with our members living there.  Moradabad is predominately Muslim and our members are surrounded by Muslims.  They operate an English language school called St. Peter Jr. High School.  On occasion they feel threatened living in their environment.  Your prayers for their safety would be much appreciated.  Thursday I traveled back to Delhi and flew to Hyderabad Friday afternoon.  I spent a very enjoyable Sabbath with Arjumand and Nargis Ali.  Arjumand and Nargis are long time members of the church.  Nargis is dealing with some health issues and both ladies would really appreciate your prayers.  Nargis was not able to attend the FOT last year due to a wound on her leg not healing properly.  She is very determined to attend the FOT this year in Sri Lanka.  Sunday morning, February 14th I departed Hyderabad for Kolkata.  I spent Sunday afternoon and Monday with our member Tarun Ghosh.  Tarun is a school teacher.  His wife, Seema is slowly recovering from a cancer operation and a stroke.  Seema was baptized this past year during the FOT.  Their daughter Priscilla is doing very well in her classes at the university.  On Monday I enjoyed a lovely lunch at Tarun’s home and was also able to visit with a couple of people interested in the church.  One of the individuals learned about us from his wife who worked at the hotel where we had the FOT last year.  She actually was able to take a couple of hours off work and attended our services. 

Friday morning I left India for Singapore.  

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.

My flight to Kolkata departed New Delhi at 8:40 PM and I arrived in my hotel at about midnight.  Thursday morning I awoke with a very upset stomach accompanied with nausea.  This was very disturbing because I was scheduled to visit the home of Tarun Ghosh and then visit the FOT site.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to accomplish either but thankfully Tarun came by the hotel and we were able to spend several hours discussing a wide range of Biblical and Christian living topics.  Tarun’s wife, Seema, is continuing to improve from her stroke.  She has to have regular physical therapy and her ability to walk and move her arm and hand is improving.  Your continued prayers for Seema are much appreciated by the family.  Tarun’s daughter, Priscilla, has finished her first year of university and will be starting her second year within a month.

It is monsoon season in Kolkata so it rained for most of my visit which is a blessing for the people of Kolkata.  The monsoon rain lowers the temperature and provides ample water for the city.  Thus far more than 2300 people have died in India due to the recent heat wave.

The flight from Abu Dhabi was packed with passengers because many people leave places like Abu Dhabi and Kuwait during the summer due to the heat.  However New Delhi was no cooler than Abu Dhabi!  I arrived at the hotel after 9:00 PM and after a delicious dinner I enjoyed a good night’s sleep in an air-conditioned room.

Tuesday morning I departed New Delhi on a four hour drive to Moradabad.  As we snaked through the New Delhi traffic my driver pointed out the location where 35,000 had gathered the previous day for International Yogi Day.  The traffic from New Delhi to Moradabad was the usual menagerie of cars, buses, trucks(lorries), motorcycles, trishaws, bullock carts, etc.  It is normal to see scenes of various wrecks consisting of severely damaged vehicles with their goods scattered across the highway and this trip was no exception.  We crossed the Ganges and the river was flowing full.  The monsoon rains had reached the mountains and people were enjoying the abundant water as they tried to escape the heat. 

In the afternoon I arrived in Moradabad, checked into my hotel and then visited with Eugene Kumar and his family.  Eugene’s family lives in a Muslim community so the streets were much less crowded than normal due to the Ramadan fast.  But even with few pedestrians and carts, winding through the narrow lanes was quite slow.  We shared a Bible study together as well as lots of fellowship which was capped off by a very delicious feast of Indian food.  The temperature and the humidity were quite high but thankfully Eugene’s family had a fan and air cooler.  The only complication was the intermittent electrical supply.  At first the public electricity was available but after a short time the power was cut and a generator had to be started.  Then the power would come back on and the generator was turned off.  This cycle repeated itself several times during the visit.  Sadly this is normal for much of India.  Power cuts can be frequent and unannounced so those who can afford to do so have a backup system in place.  Spending time with Eugene and his family is always a wonderful experience.  Please continue to pray for them.  Communal unrest is always a big concern for them.

Monday morning I departed for New Delhi, India.

My trip is going well and I thank you for your continued prayers for a successful trip.  It has been nonstop thus far.  Last Sabbath I was in Kuwait City with our members.  We were seven in number and it was wonderful to spend the day with them.  Sunday morning I was scheduled to fly to Abu Dhabi in the morning but due to fog and bad weather my flight was cancelled and I didn’t actually arrive in Abu Dhabi until late Sunday night.  Sadly one flight was kept on the tarmac for 12 hours and the passengers were not allowed to embark.  I am very thankful I was not on that flight.  Monday I flew to Delhi and then on Wednesday flew to Kolkata.  I spent Wednesday evening and Thursday with our member Tarun Ghosh.  Tarun’s wife Seema is making good progress with her physical therapy – trying to overcome the effects of a stroke.  I spent today, Friday, on airplanes and in airports traveling from Kolkata to Hyderabad.  I had to fly from the east coast of India to the west coast and then take another flight to Hyderabad, located in the interior of the country.  Tomorrow I will spend the Sabbath with Arjumand and Nargis Ali.  Sunday I will fly back to Delhi and Monday travel up to Moradabad to visit our members in that city.