Long day yesterday, good...but long

Sorry for not posting anything yesterday afternoon, but we got home late and then pretty much passed out.

We had a great time visiting 3 different rural clinics.

1 Clinic in particular opens at 3 in the afternoon on Thursdays, it has only been open for 2 months, which translates into 8 days...in those 8 days it has served over 1000 patients.

****News BREAK*****
Peanut Butter and Bananas on Toast with breakfast this morning!!!!
Colleen: "All is now right with the world...."

Ryan: "No...you are not right"


Back to our talk about our mission work, I am actually at breakfast trying to get some content up for you guys.

So the clinics were really just amazing, they are literally out in the middle of nowhere. 3 hour drive from the nearest hospital...and most of these people walk, especially the ones who make the trek by foot from Bangladesh.

Today we are going to the Blind school so that should be a really neat experience. We are taking some toys for them to play with, but the most important thing is that they can hear and feel what we bring for them to play with. To be clear, this is a school for Blind Children.

I met the sweetest little girl last night at the third clinic. She was 9 years old, her name was Marian, and she was working on a computer writing thank you letters to people who had donated Rupees to the school. She had the sweetest little voice, and spoke perfect English with a little British accent.

We drove a lot, and a lot, and a lot, and a lot yesterday.....hours and hours.....miles and miles....and we didn't have one accident, our driver Bob-UH-LOU is AWESOME!!!!!

Night time was really scary, there is no roller coaster that can compare to the fear and excitement we get from our rides with Bob-uh-Lou....the difference is you know what to expect with a roller coaster...a beginning, a few loops, and an end.....on this bus...you don't know what to expect....horns honk, people yell, vehicles slam on their breaks, goats and cows fighting in the streets, pedestrians running at full speed in wide receiver hot route patterns with 50 pounds of bricks on their head, and all the while Bob-uh-lou keeps his calm and doesn't flinch one muscle.

Here are some pics....

Breakfast....

Breakfast was great this morning, they had OATMEALLLL!!!! my favorite...they call it porridge, I really don't care what they call it, but it with a pack of sugar and a spoon is all I need.

They had it with our breakfast the first morning we were here and it was great but didn't yesterday.... we were all sad....

:-(

they had it this morning and we all cheered. We all also added sugar to it and that was foreign to our chefs, one of the resident volunteers here had to explain that their oatmeal was just perfect we southerners just like to add sugar to everything!

We leave in just a few for the countryside, we are packing up lots of water and electrolyte packets to make sure we don't have anybody else go down from heat exhaustion or anything of that nature.

Sorry no photos right now....

A Far off place

Well we are going out...into the middle of the India Countryside today to spend some time with people in very very rural medical clinics.

Not sure what to expect, it is a little after 5 right now and I am already feeling geared up.

We are literally going out to a place where Christ is not showed off regularly. this is a predominantly Muslim community. We have mostly been dealing with Hindus who have been more or less laid back about our Christianity, so this should be very interesting.

We hope that we can touch the hearts of these people by showing them love like they don't see anywhere else. Mostly this will be women and children who are easier to reach than the men here so that is a plus for us right off the bat.

Our women are going to have to dress a bit more conservatively today than they have been, so far this week t-shirt and capris has been conservative enough, but today they will have to really cover up, which stinks since we will be out in the heat all day. We need lots of water, strength, and prayers from you guys back at home today, we will literally be out in the middle of no where.

That is all I have for now, here are a couple of other pictures I wanted to upload yesterday from the day before, and later I will try and upload yesterday's and todays photos/

God Bless!

Oh yes, prayers again our team leads Chapel service this morning.

So so so very moving....

So this afternoon we spent time at another school.

These kids were so so great and loving and ready to truly be loved. I can't wait to show you some of the photos and videos.

I am a little behind on my posting, mainly because we have had no breaks since we have been here. I am in the midst of a 90 minute break right now, but that is the 1st we have got, we have been working nonstop.

We were all up at 5 this morning and will be going until late tonight, don't get me wrong, we love it!!!! but we are dead dog tired.

I think we are growing as a group, devotion in the mornings is awesome, our team did praise and worship with Robert this morning for Devo so that was really neat, I think all us crazy pentecostal "white" people might have freaked out the locals, you know us, singers, dancers, and praisers....can you imagine how they would have reacted if C.R. had come.....

yeah.....

I am going to post 3 videos and 5 more pictures right now and try and get a lot more done tonight.

Currently one of the volunteers here has my memory card because hers was full, she has an awesome camera so i let her use it and I will get it back later and upload today's photos in hopes of getting completley caught up for you guys.

Let me just say how awesome it is to spend time with these kids, we truly don't know how good we have it back home, and surely the kids in the U.S. don't either. These kids were so EXCITED to spend a couple of hours kicking a soccer ball around with Rachel, Laura, Michael and myself. they loved doing arts and crafts and singing and dancing with the rest of the group. They are so starved for love and attention. When I went inside after playing soccer, I don't think I had sat down for more than about 10 seconds and I had 8-10 kids climbing all over me, hugging, tugging, smiling, crying. They just want someone to love them. Tiffany and I, like everyone else brought some toys and trinkets to give to the kids, we had stickers, they just went crazy of a simple little sticker. They are so grateful to have anything.

Last story for now, need to upload those videos, but yesterday at the other school, we were passing out pixie sticks....yes...sugar....little kids....parents probably weren't happy with us....anyways....

Laura had passed all of her pixie sticks out and one little girl came over to her with half of one left and begged Laura to take it. why? because she saw that everybody else had them, but Laura didn't....so a 6 or 7 year old girl can comprehend the love of Christ on such a level that she begs Laura to take the only little gift she has probably received this month. It was really moving to see the little kids comprehend the concept of giving out of what you have.

I have hopes of sharing more with you, and maybe some video interviews from some of our team. Again thanks for your prayers, thoughts, and contributions. It is so amazing to see what God is doing, what He has done, and what He is going to do.

The video below is part of the long walk down the hallways of the pediatric ward, this was our first time to stop in and see all the children with their cleft palates, as you will see in the next couple of videos, they are the sweetest little children. Let me also say that this is no state of the Art hospital. They do the best they can with what they have, and they do it well....but it is better described as a low quality version of a Vietnam Field Hospital, we have it so easy in the U.S.

This next video is of a child with a double cleft palate, I don't know how rare that is, but it is rare enough that I have never seen or heard of it before, I warn you now....this is some VERY VERY GRAPHIC FOOTAGE, if you have the heart and stomach to see this footage you should, if you don't I challenge you to still watch the footage for the simple reason of you need to know what these kids are going through, you need to be thankful for what you have, your health, your kids' health, etc. God is touching lives here, the hospital we are working with is the vessel God is using the change the futures of these children. Without the surgery they receive at this hospital, they would be worthless to this culture. Right now they are just "throw aways" Truly sad....and amazing....watch....
****GRAPHIC FOOTAGE*

This next video is of another child in the pediatrics ward, such a sweet little child, innocent, and completley in the hands of God at this hospital, it is so amazing what they are doing for these children.

I am waiting on this final video to upload and figured I would spend that time sharing a little more while I had a few minutes left before we leave again....

Something that we can't share or depict with pictures, or videos, or even words for that matter is the smell here....

I know that sounds weird, but it is such a strong odor that sometimes it is very difficult to breathe without gagging. It seems as though each of us is struggling with the air at different times....but listen to this....the smog here is so bad....that breathing here for 1 day is the equivalent of smoking 3 packs of cigarettes.....yeah...terrible...

But the people urinate in the streets dump their waste in the gutters, the #1 fossil fuel is cow pie....you think I am joking? They cook over cow pie fires....I will post a picture of cow pies stacked upon each other like what we do with fire food...

Imagine the worst stench you have ever smelled in the world....then....lock it up in a room for 5 years and let it mutate into mutant stench....then and only then could you begin to imagine some of the smells we have here.

arghhhh have to leave no time for photos, will upload later, server is very slow here.... :-(

What a ride

We took an hour ride or so this morning through the poorest area of Calcutta, very emotion stirring.

Sorry no photos or videos last night, had a lot of people using my VOIP phone, and I passed out like a log as soon as I laid down.

A couple of people in our group got sick and worn down last night, but all are doing much better today, thanks for your prayers.

So many things I want to write about but they will have to wait until tonight.

Got up at 5 a.m. this morning left at 6 for our ride...can't say enough about how poor the people are here.

One story about a 9 year old boy who earns money for his family by scraping coins off the bottom of the river with a magnet...

More later and photos and hopefully some video.

We love you guys and are so thankful for your prayers and thoughts.

The innocence of children....

Well we have been here for about a full day now.

Everyone so far is blown away by this place, 18 million people packed into this city...we drove for an hour yesterday and we didn't even get half way across the city.

We fear a stomach bug may be circulating among us, please pray for health, peace, and rest for all of us, as time changes, frequent travel, different diet, and not much sleep does not combine for the best health.

The people with the mission here are just great, they have welcomed us with open arms and we went straight to work this morning spending time at school. A few pictures are posted below. I will try and upload some video tonight things have just been crazy.

Look at the smiles on these kids' faces, they get this kind of love and attention only about once a month when a group comes through, their parents don't send them to the school because they care about their education, they do it because they get a free meal.

I have no hostility towards these people, we all truly feel for them. They work so hard and do what they can just to get by...a full weeks worth of work for the average Indian...55-60 hours will only get them about $20-$25. That is not an hourly wage, or a daily wage...that is a weekly wage...which they don't get paid. They receive their payment for labor monthly and have to budget it out. So an average Monthly wage for an Indian citizen is about $80-100. They just can't provide for themselves.

...sorry got to run...going to hospital wing for kids, will post photos and hopefully video tonight!

We are in INDIA

We landed in India about 10 minutes early, 7:40 A.M. on the 26th.

We are now 11 and 1/2 hours ahead of you guys back in Arkansas...so Midnight for us is like....11:30 A.M. for you...very awkward.

Kolkata (Calcutta) Time

We spent most of today get oriented to the area and learning about the organization we will be helping.

Let me just say that Bob-A-Lue, our driver is clearly the most qualified driver in West Bengal (that is the state in India that Calcutta is in).

They drive on the left side of the road here and there is no order whatsoever, very nerve racking at times, but like I said, our driver is AMAZING. The people here are awesome, great hearts for missions. We are extremely excited for the work God has for us to do over the next 9 days.

The food is interesting, some really like it, some are unsure, and some haven't really tasted it yet, some of us skipped dinner tonight because they were dead dog tired. 40 something hours of straight travel will do that to you.

Here are a couple of shots of what we have to look forward to. More video tomorrow for sure as well as pictures, again thanks for following us here on your official Butterfield Church India Mission Trip Blog! Click on any of the pictures below for a larger version of the file.

Here is a link to the weather conditions in West Bengal!

Click HERE for our weather!


****WARNING****** Graphic Images Below