arrival in colourful craziness!

we have arrived calcutta (kolkata)!
thank you for your prayers, calls and emails

we left brisbane base friday arvo after being prayed for by pretty much everyone, and had a happy flight to thailand, where gen's and tanja's and my (callie's) taxi cab got lost for first time..eventually we arrived at a clean hotel (with yummy breakfast) and slept and enjoyed a few thai massages and market places of bangkok...bangkok was more developed than some of us were expecting, quite western with developed road systems, but not an abundance of english speakers so we quickly adopted our 'pidgin' form we have even begun speaking to each other sometimes (we eat now? you go where?)...haha.

sat night we flew safely into kolkata, where it doesn't smell right now (lucky us) i think because not so hot as summer..quite cool in mornings and evenings. we have a little hotel where the manager speaks english and we are lullaby'ed to sleep every night by boisterous traffic, cars blaring...and woken to active fish market which flourishes downstairs below our windows! we are learning how to deal with taxi drivers, and love the crazy driving here. (a few of us have even gotten to travel a bit traditional indian style - rickshaw two-wheel buggy carried by guy in front. hm. kolkata is a poverty-striken, problem-ridden city..they say it's cleaned up in the last few years, still it is always sobering for us to see the hurt and the pain and the hopeless lifestyles...(while also not wanting to imagine that western lifestyles themselves hold the answers!)...this is a spiritually dark place. shrines on every street, incense and prayers to idols everywhere...mysticism and superstition we find everywhere.

today our second day volunteering at mother theresa home! dina and tim are at dana bavan (spelling?), they got to play cricket outside yesterday and then are working with handicapped children (mostly boys) to feed them, change them, do exercises, etc. the rest of us are in shintu bavan house...gen, mel and janneka are working with handicapped children upstairs (exercises, eating, cleaning up), and hanna and tanja and i are helping downstairs with boisterous toddlers and young children who might be adopted (they have crazy amounts of energy and are love hungry of us). we are praying much through what we see here, wanting to be sensitive to understand and feel people's pain, without being overwhelmed though!

we love some of the indian food (butter non, yum!!) but also having some trouble adjusting stomachs! enjoying the happiness of squatty potties (wry smile) and starting out each day with worship and prayer together, we want to see God in this place and walk boldly in any way we can be His hands and feet. friday night (at midnight!) we'll be leaving for darjeeling (via 15hr train + 6hr jeep) and i think we're looking forward to going somewhere we can settle in a little, and learn more of the language. language barrier here is hard so we work much through smiles, gestures, simple english and some "God bless you"s where receptive..much prayer...

some prayer requests for you! compiled from our team to you....
+ unity on team
+ boldness
+ good health
+ wisdom...to deal with what we see, and not be overwhelmed...yes.
+ teaching...how to embrace and relate to the culture
+ safety in travel
+ signs and wonders of God, not for sensationalism but because we don't want to limit God!
+ Holy Spirit to work in and through us!
+ protection over our leaders, wisdom to lead
+ patience
+ humor in the hard situations (soo good!)
+ communication in the team and with contacts
+ building friendships with indians and nepali..this more when we arrive darjeeling.

pictures to come when we arrive in mountain city!
keep us in your prayers,
and walk boldly, humbly with our God.