Our purpose in India is to equip local leaders and churches for maximum kingdom impact in this region. Two common challenges faced by Christian leaders in north India are harassment from local authorities and lack of financial support. Registering their ministry as a nonprofit charitable organization gives them some legal protection to do Christian outreach in non-Christian areas. It is also easier to solicit financial support from others if they have a legitimate organization. However, many grass-roots Christian leaders have big hearts but lack foundational training in how to establish and sustain a healthy nonprofit organization. We are working with one couple who have already started four small churches and want to start a residential home for needy girls. We are coaching them in best practices for establishing a legal organization which will serve as the umbrella over their various activities. In our teaching sessions we talk about team-building, financial stewardship, organizational leadership, and good planning.     

Our transition from one apartment to the other meant that for a few days we had no kitchen, giving us an opportunity to sample the local cuisine. One night Shari ordered a paper dosa. We had eaten normal dosas before, and were curious to see how a paper dosa would be different. Imagine rolling up a page of newspaper the long way, and stuffing it with shredded coconut, raisins, and cashews (Shari's choice). You can order them with just about any filling imaginable. The dosa itself is a fragile, super-thin, fried pancake which is crispy and flaky. There is no neat, dignified way to eat a dosa. You have to use your hands. By the time you're finished there are crumbs and bits of filling all over the table and the eaters.

The Lord has opened up a place for us to live for a full year! After moving a few times, we can finally unpack our suitcases and feel settled. A German man and his Indian wife are spending the year back in Germany, and they invited us to take over their apartment while they are gone. They are a generous, kind couple and have done a lot to make us feel welcome and comfortable. We spent a few days moving some of their possessions into storage and doing some cleaning. Then we carried our suitcases and a few boxes just a short walk down the street from where we had been staying since mid-December. We are so thankful for this quiet, private, safe place to live for an entire year.

We used our anniversary in February as an excuse to take a full day of fun. We decided to visit the India government's botanical gardens and research center on the edge of the city. All the tourism guidebooks mention it as a worthwhile place to visit. We were not disappointed. In all our experience in India we have never seen a place this green, peaceful, and well-kept. Our neighborhood in the city is densely packed with people and houses, with limited view of the skyline. Here we feasted our eyes on the mountain views, the big sky, the expansive lawns, and the quiet walkways lined with flowers. Thank you Lord for a wonderful day of walking, talking, and resting! 

We thought we had left American culture on the other side of the ocean, so we had to chuckle over these little reminders of our home country!

Every Saturday we meet with friends for prayer, fellowship, and food. One evening Shari prepared biryani, a mixture of rice, vegetables, chicken, and spices. The bright yellow sauce gets mixed into the rice. Biryani is usually prepared in large quantities for group gatherings and celebrations.  The hardest part is controlling one's appetite and saying no to a third or fourth helping.

On Wednesdays we attend a two-hour class for Hindi grammar and review, and spend the rest of the week studying and practicing at home. We hope to hire two "language helpers" (male for David, female for Shari) to help us with conversation practice outside of the classroom.

The main "bazaar" or market area is filled with shops of every type. Most sell only one type of item... kitchen items, bedding, shoes, shawls, fabric, plastics, electronics, heaters, and the list goes on. Usually shops selling similar items are clustered together in one area. An alleyway may only have shops that sell notepaper and books. Another section may only have vegetables on offer. There are no maps, a person has to just keep walking until the right shop appears. Between trying to avoid tripping into a pothole, getting in the way of honking motorcycles and scooters, or bumping into someone or something, the shopper also has to be able to take in all the sights bombarding his eyes. It's a wonder if a person can exit this cacophony unscathed. And just for you ladies, "shop 'til you drop" takes on quite a new meaning here, walking for hours just to find that one elusive item in that one elusive shop. Malls are a walk in the park compared to this!

We're both game to try new foods. So when we saw some interesting fruit and vegetables in the market we eagerly bought them. Then we asked our friend what some of them were and how to cook them. Can you guess what any of these are? Some took us a bit of Googling to figure out!

A house on the street behind us is getting a make-over. Today we heard a loud, continuous noise. We looked out our screened window to see a cement mixer set up in the house owner's driveway and more workers than usual bustling about like worker bees. Each one had their own job and did it repetitively for the entire day, without stopping, in order to get the new roof finished before the cement dried. At night they built a fire in a metal fire-pot to keep warm and slept in the open night air. They work so hard yet probably make only a few dollars a day.