“Experience of a Lifetime” Part II: Christmas Day to Departure
Part two appeared in the March 2004 issue of The Beacon.

The mission team was very active on Christmas Day. Morning worship at the Christian Cancer Center started with a webcam hook-up to St. Timothy’s 10:00 p.m. Christmas Eve worship.  On the India side of the world, the worship included the presentation of the Christmas tree banner and chrismons prepared by the Dorcas Circle.  Following worship some of our ladies visited mothers and babies in the Christian Cancer Center. We were then treated to a visit with refreshments at the home of Auntie Israel. Auntie Israel, now retired, was an integral part of the Hope Village Boy’s Home and CCC.  She is still a very active presence in both of these ministries.

About 11 a.m., we went to the local Lutheran church where we joined in their ongoing worship, and provided the Christmas Day anthem, singing for them some of the Telugu Christmas songs we had learned.

We returned to the hotel for Christmas Day lunch with the boys of Hope Village.  Following lunch, the boys received their certificates of achievement and the gifts we brought from the U.S. About 3:30 the boys left for home and we had until 5:30 to rest.  That evening we rode out to Hope Village to present to them the telescope and astronomy books that we had brought along. But, as luck would have it, it was cloudy so they were not able to look at stars. But the opportunity was not wasted.  Instead, they looked at lights on towers off in the distance.

The day after Christmas, we were off to Rajamundry to visit the Lutheran General Hospital.  It is a 100-year old hospital.  It had been closed for a number of years.  But after much work, Dr. Charles was able to get a portion of it up and running again through the efforts of Hope International, Inc. and the hard work of the hospital staff.  It is a beautiful place.  Next door to it is a little church with several beautiful stained glass windows. This hospital could very well serve as a model for many of the hospitals in India that had suffered a similar fate. With proper management and dedicated staff, Lutheran General Hospital could be just the first of many restarts in Indian Christian healthcare.

When we got back to Kakinada in the evening, the Christian Cancer Center had their Christmas celebration in front of their building.  We were also surprised to find ourselves featured prominently on the evening‘s program.  The mission team lead prayers, read the Bible lessons, and Pastor preached the sermon. (Luckily, he had a spare one tucked in his briefcase ready for just such an occasion.). We were amazed at the number of children, from ages about 4 to 12, who got up on the stage and sang.  Many of them sang solos from memory.  Following the worship the mission team said their goodbyes to the boy’s of Hope Village and the staff of the CCC. Their travels were to take them to other parts of the country, and they would not be returning to Kakinada.

The next day, we were on the road in a sleeper-bus to Vijayawada.  On the way, we stopped for lunch at the home of Vasantha Charles’ mother and met the rest of her family. From there, we went to Sakhinetipalli for a dedication ceremony at the Lutheran High School, founded by Pataparthi Charles, father of John, Mary, Silas, Sarah and Rhoda.  He served as the headmaster for many years. There we heard many speeches and enjoyed several Indian dances done by the girls from the High School.  We were excused a bit early from the remainder of the ceremony at Lutheran High School because we had a five-hour bus ride to Vijayawada ahead of us.

After spending the night in Vijayawada, we boarded a train and headed north to Agra.  We got off the train 22 hours later.  We made a brief stop at a Holiday Inn to freshen up a bit then we were off to see the Seventh Wonder of the modern world, the Taj Mahal.  What a glorious and magnificent sight, awesome in size, architecture and artistry! There is no doubt in anyone’s mind, this is a “must see” when traveling to India.

Our time in Agra was short.  We were due some lunch, and we had another five-hour bus ride ahead of us that day. We were ready for something other than rice so we went to a Pizza Hut.  Yes, a Pizza Hut!

After lunch, we went by bus to Jaipur, where we spent the night. In Jaipur we saw many of its interesting palaces and other sites. The city is home to many artists and skilled craftsmen. Jaipur’s Astronomical Observatory is the home of world’s largest sundial. We also met snake charmers and their cobras, who performed for us in the streets. At one stop, many of us rode elephants through the streets leading up to one of the fortresses. Again, the day seemed to short, for we had another four-hour bus ride to Delhi that evening.

Delhi was to be our last stop. We arrived after dark and checked into the downtown Delhi YMCA. The weather in Delhi was in the 40’s at night. The Y had no heat in the rooms, except for a small space heater, and most of us were cold.  The next day, New Year’s Eve, was foggy and cold. We started the day with a bus tour of both New Delhi and old Delhi. In old Delhi the streets were filled with people and all their wares.  The streets are very narrow.  We had lunch at a Mc Donald’s then indulged in a little shopping at a nearby “flea market” style shopping center.

We had to head home on New Year’s Day. Most of us spent the morning and early afternoon at the India National Museum, then, after an early lunch, we left for the airport. Our original flight itinerary had to change because our flight back to Dubai had been canceled.  So we had to take a flight from Delhi to Bombay.  From there we caught a flight to Dubai, and we are back on schedule for the rest of the flight home.

It was a great trip. No one was incapacitated by sickness or injury, and we lost no baggage.  The mission trip was jam-packed with things to do and see, much more than any of us had imagined.  As we look back, we wish many more had gone with us.  But as we look forward, we do so with the hope that more opportunities will come in the not to distant future for others to enjoy what we did.  Thank you Silas, Sarah, John, Vasantha, Rhoda and John for making it possible.

Prepared by: JoAnn Young, India Mission Team Chair
Edited by: Pastor Blaine Johnson

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