Saying Goodbye

Due to an early morning flight, we had to meet in the lobby at 3 a.m. on Sunday. I had decided to not go to bed, because I thought it would make me feel worse to sleep just a couple of hours, so that's what I did. Not sure it was the smartest, but at least I had a chance to get some blogging done.

What is so amazing about these guys is that they all showed up to see us off. Most of them stayed up all night just to be there when we left. I can't begin to describe the selfless nature that I see in these people. Their kindness and love for us is overwhelming. I missed them as soon as we left and there's a sadness that will remain until I see them again. As long as the Lord allows, that WILL happen.

Here's Chuckoo and the girls. Not sure how they feel about being tagged "the girls," but it just happened as the week went on. :)
Brothers from another mother.

Solomon is truly one of the best people I've ever known. My most accurate description of him is Matthew 5:8. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." This man reflects the light of Christ at all times and it is such a blessing to call him my friend.

We sent these shirts over last year when we returned, and it blessed my heart to see Emme wearing a Tennessee shirt. Even Jeff didn't mind, although I'm sure he's working on a plan to get them something from the Tide just for balance.
Joseph and Deepak, my two drivers. Jeff and I saw a story on the news this morning about a Nashville woman who is lying in a coma in an Indian hospital from a motorcycle accident and her family is trying to raise $100,000 to bring her home. We just looked at each other. So thankful God covered us on that one!


I have so much fun with Singing David. He has such a passion for worship and we love to share songs back and forth. I'm working on getting him some new stuff for their worship team. He's about to head to Australia for three years to attend the Hillsong Leadership College. He will be so on fire after that - I can't wait to learn from him!
I had the privilege of presenting Bibles to Chuckoo and Sagar on behalf of our group. They spent a ridiculous amount of hours with us, making sure things ran smoothly and that our every need was met. We are so spoiled by them! We gave Chuckoo a parallel Bible that has the NIV translation right next to the Message on each page. I think I need to get one of these for myself! It is so cool. We all signed it, and I hope that he loves it as much as we love him.
We gave Sagar the Quest Bible. It's filled with questions and answers on every page and hopefully it will be a great reference for him. Sagar let me use his Bible the first day of clinic for patients that could read English, so it was fun to give him one in return.
We left for the airport about 4:30. Sagar and Emme joined Nelson, Jeremy, Shane, Kellyn and Jena on a little excursion to the Taj Majal. I confess a little jealousy over missing that part of the trip, but I knew it was time to get home. Jeff says we can go next time, which makes me smile just to hear the words "next time." Lord, please make that so!

My fervent prayer is that the stories I've shared here have given some of you a passion for this amazing place and that you will begin to pray about going there. I can promise you that your time, effort and money would be so worth it. Whatever you put into it would come back to you 100-fold in the blessings you would receive. God is just good like that. I'm so grateful to Him!