The Joy of Serving

Hi All,

It’s Wednesday morning just after 9 o’clock.  I was up before light this morning.  I’m not an early riser, but yesterday I came down with a cold.  So I didn’t sleep much last night and finally gave up trying just after 5 AM.

Roger and KM are on their way to Hyderabad for the day; some conference, or something.  So I kinda have to pay extra attention to the workmen.  So far only the painters have arrived.  I walked around some looking at their work.  They just need to know someone is watching them.  The other day it was discovered they were diluting the paint to make it easier to spread.  The contract called for unmixed paint too be used so it would cover better and last longer.  But it’s more work for them.  So now they must know we are keeping an eye on them.

They have a young man here, Martin, whose job is sort of a maintenence man among other things.  This mornong he gave me a tour of their water treatment equipment.  He goes into that room every day and back-flushes the equipment and checks the chemicals that keep the scale from clogging the pipes.  I understand from Roger, though, one of the major reasons for the treatment system is to lower the very high (about 10x allowable) amount of fluoride in the water.  Until Roger and Jan arrived earlier this month this system had been not working well since certain filters, etc. were in dire need of replacement.  I hope the new ones do the trick.  While I was checking on the painters the children all converged around me as usual to say Good Morning and ask me how I was doing.  While doing this I did notice that many of them have mottled teeth.  I know that high fluoride levels in the water has been known to cause that.  Please pray that their water will remain clean and healthy for them.

The other day it was discovered that someone had donated a video projector to the orphanage sometime in the past.  Nobody here knew how to use it, so it just sat there.  I tried it out by hooking it up to my computer and playing a DVD in it.  It works beautifully.  So Jan is planning to play some Bible story DVDs for them.  I have a hunch it will also be able to play videos we take here with our cameras.  I am planning to try that this afternoon, as well as a VCR.  If the VCR works with it there are a bunch of Barney videos we can play for them.  They love Barney.

Night before last we needed to pray for healing for one of the girls.  She lost her mother some time back and ever since, while she dwells on her loss, she develops bad headaches that leave her bawling with pain, either emotional or physical.  We have checked on her several times since that night and she is doing fine, so far.

Poor Rani, another girl, is also walking around in pain.  She had some major dental work done yesterday, and now is walking around afraid to move her jaw.  Her teeth were all crooked and Roger and Jan paid for her dental work.  Rani is a beautiful girl, about marrying age who is even more beautiful with straight teeth.

I met another little girl this morning.  Her name is Swathi.  She looks like about 5 or 6 years old.  She comes from the Banjara community.  In spite of missing her upper two front teeth she really has the sweetest smile and loves to be hugged.  But Swathi only speaks Lombadi (sp), the native Banjara language.  She doesn’t seem to be able to learn Telugu, so can’t communicate with us, or the other children either.  So she just stands around looking up at you with that sweet smile and waits for a hug.  It’s so easy to love these children!

I am writing this post on Jayamani’s computer again.  I haven’t heard any ideas from anyone regarding that wi-fi signal I mentioned in my last post.  I hope there’s a way to use it.  If anyone knows how please leave me a post.

Must go now.  The painters will be getting lazy

Mike M.

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The following is the post I tried to do last time but couldn’t get on line with my computer.  I just tried copying it from my thumb drive but Jayamani’s computer has no driver for it, although the port is there.  So I bit the bullet and am retyping it manually.  There is some overlap between this post and the last one.  Sorry.

We arrived in Amsterdam at about 7:30 on Wednesday morning, local time.  This was to be a 5 hour layover, but we didn’t mind.  We had just wrapped up a 10 hour flight and had another one to look forward to before our arrival in Jangaon.  So, we used the time to walk around some, get a snack, etc.  Sharon peeked in on the small free art museum that was there.

I dragged out the laptop and tried to use the free wi-fi but for some reason was unable to logon.  I had wanted to get this report posted in a more timely manner.

So, as it turns out we are at the orphange in Jangaon and enjoying some wondeful Indian hospitality as this is being written.  The food here is wonderful and one need only sit in one place for a few moments before a tray of tea magically appears.  This happened to me again just about 2 minutes ago as I set up my computer and began typing this write-up.  K.M. and Jayamani are very gracious hosts.

It was a real joy to see the children here again.  When we arrived they gave Sharon and I the same welcome I receive last year; singing, dancing, garlands around our necks and flower petal showers.  This was done by just the younger children this time, since the others were still in school for another hour, or so.

I thought they might be up to something when we pulled up to the orphange.  The driver  honked his horn for somebody to open up and pretty soon one little girl started to open the gate.  Right away someone else closed it and shooed her away.  There followed the rustling sound of a couple dozen little feet and some muted voices.  Then the gate was re-opened and we were allowed in for the welcoming.  Little children can do such endearing things.

Later, when the older ones arrived from school we were greeted by them and they chatted excitedly and some wanted to make sure I remembered them from last year.  Then they wanted to know how well I was feeling and how my sister, Mary was doing.  All the kids here have been praying for Mary and me since they found out about our health problems when I was here last year.  I have been told they pray for both of us every day.

The repair work on the building here has been struggling.  Roger and Jan got here at the beginning of the year to get things going and the hired painters started painting just today.  This is no fault of Roger and Jan’s.  It just seems to be a part of the Indian frame of mind to consider things at great length before beginning.  I have peeked in on the painters a couple times today (I must do something.  After all, they think I’m the overseer).  I must say, I think it is looking good so far.  Maybe I won’t even have to tell them to do anything.  No that they would understand me anyway.

The water damage to the building has required the expertise of an engineer, a specialist in building reclamation.  On Sunday he will be here to inject grout, or mortar or something into the walls to fill a bunch of serious cracks from the inside out.  Then he will coat the walls with a special paint.  This will keep the monsoons from wreaking their havoc on them.  Windows and screens are also in the works.  When completed the rains should be effectively kept on the outside of the building where they belong.  With all that accomplished it will then make sense to finish the floors with tile that are now just rough, dirty concrete.

We are enjoying fairly mild weather for this time of year in India.  I don’t think it’s even been out of the 80s and it’s not overly humid, although if you were to ask Roger it needs to be about 15 to 20 degrees cooler.

The four of us took a pedicab into town today to do some errands.  I needed to do some banking, basically get a bunch of rupees, and also come up with an adapter that would let me plug each of my various appliance chargers into the particular style of electrical outlat they have in India.  This last was found rather quickly and only cost 10 rupees, about 25 cents.  More rupees, however, would have to wait for another day as it turns out the bankers were on strike.

It was very interesting and enlightening to go downtown and discover I had never really seen much of Jangaon when I was here last year.  What I was able to see today convinced me that there were, indeed, about 70,000 people living here.  The town has a bustling central commercial area.

Surprisingly, when I cranked up my laptop to compose this post I was informed there was a very strong wi-fi signal from who-knows-where (who knew?).  However, although I was able to connect to it I was not able to logon and use it.  I really am hoping I can figure out how to use that service.  Good internet access here is elusive, the computers at the local internet cafe are fairly slow and it’s decidedly inconvenient to go there to use them.  Besides I NEED to just use my own computer.

I wish I was just a little more computer savvy.  Wi-fi in Jangaon, India would be the cat’s meow, and also would make including photos with these posts a practical reality.  I guess it’s a peer-to-peer or computer-to-compurer connection, whatever all that means.  Is that good, or bad?  I don’t know.  If someone can advise me please post me a comment about it.  Until then I will be working on becoming a familiar face at the Jangaon Internet Cafe.  Later I will be making some attempts to post photos even if I’m stuck using someone else’s computer, and a dial-up connection.  We can hope.

Stay tuned for more.

Mike M.

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Hi all,

It’s Saturday Jan 26 in India and I now have some time on Jayamani’s computer so I will try to get a quick post done.

The plane ride went well with the second attempt.  We arriverd at check in at Sea-Tac somewhat earlier than necessary and there was hardly any line.  Although things seemed to be going routinely we were relieved when the plane actually started rolling.  Then we knew we were actually on our way.

The flight to Amsterdam was mostly smoothe but 10 hours is a long time anyway.  It was 7:30 AM Wednesday when we landed.  Then a 5 hour layover before the final leg to Hyderabad, another 9 hours.  A long time, but we got here.

Roger met us at the airport in Hyderabad and got us over to the hotel.  By the time we got to bed it was about 3:30 AM local time.  I think we had been awake for about 28 hours.

Roger gave us a wakeup call at about 8 AM same morning.  We had breakfast and hung around until the prearranged taxi showed up at a little after 2 PM and drove us the 2 hours to Jangaon and the orphanage.  So, from the time we left home until we arrived here was about 65 hours . . .whew!  But the kids make it all worth it.

I have a better-thought-out post which I composed on my laptop yesterday and copied to my thumb drive in anticipation of having this computer time.  But once I was here I found there were no available USB ports.  So that post will have to wait til later.

Suffice it to say I now fully understand what Jan was up against in getting timely posts on her blog.

I hear the kids singing in the courtyard.  Got to go.  More later.

Mike M.

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Hi Friends and Family: 

Well, although we should be well on our way to Amsterdam by now, instead we are stuck in beautiful downtown Seattle!  A Holiday Inn near Sea-Tac airport to be exact.

We rode up here with Allison and Mary Alice, stopping for breakfast in Olympia along the way, and arrived at the airport with the required two hours to spare.  We quickly unloaded our baggage along the curb, said our goodbyes, and wheeled everything inside to get out of the cold.  Then for about the next hour we were herded along through all the “zigzags”, slowly working our way up to the check in desk.  It’s such a hastle keeping everything together as you maneuver through all the turns pulling 5 suitcases behind you while trying to keep straps from your camera or laptop from dropping off your shoulder.  But through it all you look forward to your arrival at the front of the line where most of your load is finally dumped on the airline worker as you check them in.  Then you are FREE.  You no longer have to be concerned about most of your burden until your arrival at your destination-right?  Wrong!

I should have known something was up when the self-check-in screen told me something on the order of,”see attendant”.  Sharon and I both tried it but it was stubborn and replied with the same message for both of us.  So we hailed an attendant who wasn’t busy when we could find one.  She also came out and tried it.  She could do no better and so took our passports and went over to a computer where, for the next 30 minutes we seemingly stood in everybody else’s way while she tried to get us checked in the manual way (I suppose).

When something like this happens I believe the worst thing you can do is to watch the attendant’s facial expressions for encouragement as the minutes slowly roll by .  So, of course, that’s exactly what we did.  And we saw squints, eyebrow raises, sighs, lip-biting and, the worst, head-shaking.  What seemed to be completely lacking though, were the smiles.

Well, we found out at long last why this all was when she walked back over to us and said sympathetically, “Mr. Monson, your flight has been re-booked for tomorrow”  What!!  (I did say that somewhat loudly).  “Yes”, and she went on to explain that the flight from Amsterdam to Hyderabad was cancelled and so they re-booked us.  “They should have told you” she added unnecessarily.

Well to wrap this all up, no amount of pleading with them to “do something” changed anything and so here we are.  We hauled our burdens back out to the parking area and called for a shuttle bus from Holiday Inn to come and pick us up.  When we show up tomorrow I hope things will go better.  Please pray for us that it does.

God Bless,

Mike and Sharon

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Dear Brothers and Sisters:

The time is fast approaching when Sharon and I will be leaving for India.  We fly to Hyderabad on January 21 to meet up with Roger and Jan and head out to Jangaon for a two-week stay.  In addition to our spending time with the orphans and general support for the ministry of K. M. and Jayamani John in the Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh, I will also be involved, along with Roger, in maintenance and repairs of the Mercy House Orphanage building, a project I became involved with after my first trip there last January.  For Sharon, this will be a first ever experience of traveling to a faraway land and experiencing a culture that shows just what the meaning of “foreign” is.  But she is as excited as I am, and we both go there with a desire to serve God in any way that pleases Him.
There is plenty to do.  There is plumbing to fix, water damage to repair, painting to be done, missing screens to replace if we can get them, work on kitchen facilities; all sorts of physical upgrades of building, etc.  More important, however, is to go there and give spiritual support for all the good work K. M. and Jayamani have been doing in the name of the Lord in Jangaon and the surrounding villages.  Sharon’s presence and support will be very much appreciated in that respect.  Beyond that she knows not what awaits her.
The believers in these villages absolutely love it when we show up at their worship services and hear their joyous singing and wonderful drum rhythms.  They also love to hear us give our own testimonies, and in Roger’s case, some preaching.  They can’t wait to greet us with a handshake after the service is over.  And then they crowd around us and ask us to pray for them.  What strangers have ever made me feel more welcome?
Returning from India last year I required almost a month of reflection before I could truly explain what I saw there and what I experienced.  Then it took another several weeks of writing about it before I realized some of what it meant to me.  A year has now gone by and still things are sinking in.
Yes, as I wrote in that first account, there is much spiritual darkness in India.  Cruel things happen there that the dominant culture either accepts or just ignores; child abuse, abandonment of widows, children and infants, even young girls sold into sexual slavery.  But the good news is that a growing segment of society, the Christians, are no longer part of that dominant culture.  These Christians are spreading the Word, and more and more people there are awakening to the realization of how wrong those things are.
I might go on to say how these poor people need us and our support.  That they are worthy of all the help we can give them.  That they have shown they have the potential to spread God’s word far and wide . . . and so that’s why I am going back.  But while I believe those things are true, the simple fact is that, for some reason, God has put love in my heart for these orphans and believing villagers of Andhra Pradesh, India and if ever I felt He had a plan for my life, I am certain it involves my presence there soon.  I am delighted to discover there is joy in believing God is working through me.
And so now, as the time to leave draws near, we ask for your prayers to go with us.  We ask you to pray that God would be ever present with us as we show Him our faith by taking such a long and costly trip to a country so far away.  And please pray that, even though we don’t have all our activities planned out for us in great detail, our work with the ministry there would bear good fruit for God’s kingdom, whether in our own lifetimes, or after.

Thank you for your support and God bless you all,

Mike and Sharon Monson

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As most of you know Sharon and I are excited to be leaving for India this Monday, January 21.  I expect we will be very busy much of the time, along with Roger and Jan, helping K.M. and Jayamani with their ministry, especially the Mercy House Orphanage.  However, I also plan to take some time to submit posts to this blog every day, or so.

Of course I have no way of knowing if there will be adequate internet access required to do it.  Jan has been making some posts on her blog, One Handful of Rice and her news makes very interesting reading.  She has mentioned, however, she has not been able to get pictures posted with the articles.  I am hoping to include lots of pictures in my posts so I will try a couple adjustments, and see if it works.  If so Jan should also be able to send hers the same way.  I would love to have been able to see the pictures of the Banjaras dancing she mentioned.

So, check here often to see what we have experienced in India and please remember your comments are really appreciated.

God bless you all,

Mike and Sharon M.

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From Breitbart.com

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8U7R3300&show_article=1

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Also includes Muslims fighting ‘to protect themselves from harm’

From World Net Daily

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59707

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What kids read, discipline they need, church attendance could be decided by state
By World Net Daily

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59718

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State ‘audit’ declares petition effort short even though signatures ‘verified’
From World Net Daily

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59715

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