The Joy of Serving

It’s Monday 8:30 PM.  I’ll be hitting the sack early tonight.  Tomorrow Sharon and I have another LONG day of travel ahead of us; actually 31 hours.  That’s how long it will take us to fly from Portland, OR to Chennai, India.  It can be grueling and expensive.

So, why do we do it?  There’s a husband and wife there we want to meet.  We have been emailing them for months to arrange our visit.  They are a very special couple in India.  They rescue baby girls who face an unjust death sentence.  Babies whose parents have decided to murder them for being girls instead of boys.

It’s difficult for westerners to understand that some people in India don’t see the wrong in doing this.  And I do mean some people because it’s by no means the majority who think that way.  Even so, in the last couple decades it’s estimated that there were millions of girls murdered in India, either as infants or as fetuses.

When I heard about this during my first trip there I asked who or what organization is working to save them.  They don’t have a chance on their own.  Surprizingly, no one I asked knew.

So I began to pray that God would lead me to them, and after 2 more years I found this couple.  And now we get to meet them.

I’m a little nervous about it, since I don’t have our visit all planned out like some experienced planner of such things.  I just feel led to go there.  Then we’ll se what God makes of it.

I continue to thank God for teaching me that there is great joy in serving Him.

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As far as international jet setting goes, both Sharon and I are real novices, and so still somewhat insecure going through customs, immigrations, etc.  True, this was my third trip to India (and Sharon’s second).  But the hassles and confusions at airports of my first two were such that I still refer to them occasionally when bragging rights are in order; kind of like comparing battle scars with friends.  So, when the people from The Airlines told us they wouldn’t allow us to board our connecting flight to Amsterdam, I not only felt anger and dismay, I also felt helpless, powerless and lost about what to do next.

In this last regard, however, the Airlines Officials knew just the thing for us: no problem! we simply call our travel agent and book another flight.  While you’re at it, call a hotel too ‘cause you’re gonna need it, since there won’t be another flight until tomorrow night.  Oh, you don’t have a car and driver to get to a hotel?  You’ll need to talk to someone about that, too, to get a pedicab.  Uh, too much baggage for a pedicab I see.  Well, you’ll need a taxi, then, although they’re considerably more expensive.  Us pay?  Don’t be silly.

The preceding, in a nutshell, pretty much sums up the overall attitude of the Airlines Officials towards Sharon and I and the rest of us that they left stranded in Delhi.  Having to get our own hotel would have been a somewhat costly insult.  But booking another flight on our own would have cost us over $1600.00 alone!  Needless to say, this did not go down well.

Banding and Bonding

During the time I was trying to come to grips with all the ramifications of our new situation it occured to me that at some point an argument had ensued, and now the shouts were starting to cut through the fog in my head.  It seems that Raji (have I still not told you about Raji) was apparently a more experienced traveler.  Being somewhat more sure of herself than I, she was not about to stand for their version of a solution.  As I listened to the argument other voices began to chime in (there were nine of us altogether who were missing this connection).

Sharon and I didn’t really participate in the argument but more or less hung around it all, offering moral support to our side, so to speak.  Those doing the arguing were directing all their energy towards an apparent Airline Official.  It should be pointed out here that there were 3 different airlines and, in our case at least, one travel agency involved in this whole mixup*.  I had no idea which this particular official worked for.  But, since he was standing there taking all this, he must be guilty.

I know I tend to drag some of my stories out a long ways sometimes.  This time I’ll not bore you with more detail than is needed (have I done that already?).  What it amounted to was Raji, her brother Sridar, a couple whose names were Arvand and Iradna, and two other men basically would not stop ranting and arguing and threatening legal action (yes, legal action.  You see, the tide was turning.  It seems that Iradna was an attorney; even associated with a firm in Delhi I think I overheard).  At one point Iradna left the hallway where we had the official cornered, to make a private cell phone call.  Leaving was quite a wasted effort.  Everyone in the vicinity could hear her almost screaming at someone on the other end of the line.  I hope that person was at least guilty, too.  Our group effort eventually began yielding some results, however, and after some time the Airline Officials began to soften their stance.

In the end, we never did get on that flight to Amsterdam that night (did I say night?  by now it was almost 2 AM!).  But because of, shall we say persistence, on the part of these more worldly people we had banded together with, the best of a bad situation seems to have been made.  The airlines did rebook our flights for free (whew), they put us all up in a nice “4-Star Hotel” in Delhi for the night, with breakfast in the morning included (by the time we will have finally made it to the hotel, though, it will be 4 AM).

Getting from the airport to the “4-Star Hotel” turned out to be a misadventure in itself (this stuff never ends; I want to sleep!).  There was a new Airline Official out in the parking lot where we all awaited our transportation.  He had been responsible for arranging the shuttle to take all of us, and our considerable baggage, to the hotel.  When I asked this young Indian man his name, he answered, “Warren” (right!)  Now, spacial concepts were apparently not Warren’s strong point.  When the “shuttle” showed up, it was actually 2 very small cars, somewhat larger than one of those Smart Cars we see here.  Here it was, about 2:30 AM.  By now, we have all been wasted and bedraggled for some time.  We’re all looking forward to some rest in this “4-Star Hotel”.  We can’t wait to get some sleep.  Well, we all looked at those 2 little cars . . .then looked at each other, then at all our baggage, and you could sense all our eyes rolling at the same time.  I do not think you could have fitted all of us and our luggage in 6 of those cars.  The couple, Arvand and Iradna must have had 11 or 12 bags themselves!  Well, by unspoken agreement, Raji, Sridar and their mother (who wasn’t well) left in one car, and the other two guys in the other.  This only left Sharon and I, and Arvand and Iradna standing in the, now cold, night hoping that 2 more cars like that didn’t show up again, since there would not be room for all people and baggage.

About this time Arvand really started to come unglued.  He, rightfully, demanded that Warren get on his cell phone and immediately arrange for some appropriate transportation for the rest of us, strongly suggesting he account for all our luggage this time.  Warren argued he had already made adequate arrangements, although when asked what those were it seemed he couldn’t speak much English anymore.  We just wanted to be sure that the next transportation that arrived wouldn’t leave with any more of us still standing there.

At times like these it’s important to keep in contact with people like Warren until the last moment when you get handed off to the next person who will be responsible for your best interests, in this case the “4-Star Hotel” shuttle driver.  And since the shuttle wasn’t there yet we had no intention of letting Warren out of our sight.  But it was a big parking lot, and there were only 4 of us now so we couldn’t exactly corner him as we had done to his coworker.  This must have finally occurred to Warren, too, for presently he made the lame claim that the battery in his cell phone was now dead.  He would have to go get another one, but he would return shortly.  We never saw Warren again.

It was getting noticeably colder and we waited for probably another 20 minutes before our shuttle finally arrived.  Praise the Lord! it was large enough to get us all out of there.  At long last we were on our way to getting some sleep.

A half hour later we did arrive at the hotel.  As we suspected, it was far from rating 4 stars.  But I think even the Airline Officials knew by the time we got here we would only care about mattress and pillows.

The stress and strain had Sharon and I keyed up, and worn out at the same time.  Next flight wasn’t until 11 PM that night.  We would have done well to have slept most of the time before the shuttle was due to take us back to the airport.  There was just one little problem with that plan.  That free breakfast!  We had to get up by 9, or so to have time to clean up and get over to the restaurant for that.  That meant only about 5 hours of sleep for us, who had just gone through a very harrowing 20 hours.  But, get up, we did.  For all that we and the rest of our band of friends had gone through to squeeze concessions out of that turnip of an airline official, Sharon and I were not about to leave that breakfast on the table J

Much Later

So, we did finally make it home, and without further incident, albeit with some more “battle scars” to brag about.

This return trip from India was a trying experience, but I do not blame India.  We had a really wonderful time there.  I love India.  I love the people of India that I have met (well, as a Christian, I am trying to love those Airline Officials).  I especially love the children in India.  Nothing that happened with those airlines would make me shy away from going there again.  The hotel wouldn’t rate 4 stars here in the US, but I will say their staff was not only friendly and helpful, but I believe I actually sensed empathy for us.

And looking at the positive side, which I do more of it seems since I became a Christian, I met some really neat people only because of these problems with the airlines.  Raji suggested all of us band together.  We ended up doing a lot of chatting with her and her brother, Sridar.  Their mother was with them, also.  Although she spoke little, or no, English she knew when she was being introduced and responded with a very kind nod and smile.  I don’t remember all of their names, but we had some very enjoyable conversations during layovers.  I wish them all well and hope to cross paths with them again sometime.

Flyer Beware

So, why have I told you all of this?  I think a good thing to keep in mind in the future is this: the airlines, or the travel agencies make mistakes, too.  They just don’t expect to have to pay for them.  So check for problems with itineraries they offer before you make your choice.  There may be serious consequences.

In our case, the mistake they made was to have an itinerary to choose from which was inherently flawed.  It only allowed 2 hours and 40 minutes after landing in Delhi to connect to the flight to Amsterdam.  The airline industry routinely nowadays suggests, or requires 3 hours time for international flights.  But, when booking our flights I wasn’t on the lookout for itineraries that had built-in problems, who would?  What with the delay in our flight from Hyderabad even a 3 hour margin might not have been enough.  But the point is that the Airline Officials seemed to have chosen to use their own flawed itinerary as their own way out, telling us it wasn’t their responsibility since we didn’t arrive with the required 3 hours to spare.  Lucky for us the resulting argument eventually became a battle of wits.  In this arena the Airline Officials were simply outclassed.

Mike

*Airlines involved: Northwest Airlines, KLM and Kingfisher

  Travel Agency: Expedia Travel

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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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