• Photoblogging India: Village

    11Nov
    Categories: India, Personal, Photos Comments: 0

    We visited a village and had a meeting in which we encouraged the local inhabitants.












    Watching Alex juggle



    Eating in the village – the villagers were poor, so for taste they substitute spice for the too-expensive meat. Tears were running down my cheeks, my face was beet red, and I was sweating profusely as I ate. This was all after Sam had told them to make it less spicy than normal and after we made our rice only a slight pink color from the curry.






    The villagers asked us to name this baby! So we did–they wanted a Hebrew name, so we named it Moses.

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  • Photoblogging India: Golkonda Fort – People

    10Nov
    Categories: India, Personal, Photos Comments: 0


    My sweet friend Sonya


    Sonya and Maria


    Sonya and Katrina


    Map of the fort


    The Ascent


    Pondering


    Drawing — an entire art class from a local university was there on a field assignment to draw pictures of Golkonda


    The group


    Relaxing


    Cheesing with his little KS hat




    The group, including Sonya and Jason


    Sonya, myself, and Jason




    Craigly

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  • Photoblogging India: Golkonda Fort – General

    09Nov
    Categories: India, Personal, Photos Comments: 0


    Telugu


    Army of Worms


    Water fountain


    This sweet shot was taken by Craig


    Sugar cane juice



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  • Photoblogging India: Golkonda Fort – Architecture

    08Nov
    Categories: India, Personal Comments: 0

    We visited the fascinating Golkonda Fort.



















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  • Photoblogging India: Good Life Schools – Quarry School

    07Nov
    Categories: India, Personal, Photos Comments: 0


    Balancing rocks


    Dishing out the noon meal


    Working in the fields with the dust of quarry work rising in the background


    Buddies eating together by the slide



    Getting a very fast ride on the merry-go-round


    Posing for and taking pictures


    Quiet contemplation


    Sweetly and distractedly eating



    Handing out candy


    Curious onlookers


    Juggling rocks and trumpeting


    Rapt attention


    Doing housework


    Working in the quarry

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  • Photoblogging India: Good Life Schools

    06Nov
    Categories: India, Personal, Photos Comments: 0

    The Good Life Schools provide free education and one meal per day to slum children. They are run by a friend of mine.



    Peeking at the foreigner



    Playing with the flowers


    Greeting us with garlands


    Gazing wistfully inside


    Each student was eager to shake each of our hands


    Watching us leave

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  • Photoblogging India: On the Road – Transportation

    05Nov
    Categories: India, Personal, Photos Comments: 0


    Renewable energy source powered light transport vehicle


    Renewable energy source powered heavy transport vehicle


    Renewable energy source powered personal transit vehicle


    Blue and white


    Traffic


    The 5-7 passenger back seat


    Renewable energy source powered farm transport vehicle



    Big load

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  • Photoblogging India: On the Road – People

    04Nov
    Categories: India, Personal, Photos Comments: 0


    An old Muslim man I met while the ladies were fabric shopping. He thought I was a Muslim because of my beard and was proudly telling me of the time he worked as a sweeper at Mecca. He was showing me little mementos of some of the high points of his life.



    Crossing the street



    Gathering food and recyclables


    Christmas toys? No assembly required


    Tanker transport



    Best friends


    A flash of color from under the burkha. Let me interject that on this trip I was especially intrigued by ladies in burkhas. There was such mystery behind those brown eyes that gazed out from the narrow crack that revealed a hidden person.


    White haired companions

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  • Photoblogging India: On the Road – General

    03Nov
    Categories: India, Personal, Photos Comments: 0



    Going through the metal detector to get into KFC


    A mosque



    Holy cows on the road


    Looking at the world through tinted glasses–this shot was taken through the rear tinted window of our SUV


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  • Photoblogging India: Around the House

    20Oct
    Categories: India, Personal, Photos Comments: 0


    Maria and Jason


    Sorting medicines for medical camps


    This young lady lives with Sam’s. She served us tea twice a day, as is Indian custom. While we were there, Sam’s mother–the shepherd’s wife–spotted a young man who she thought would be a good match for this young lady. So Sam’s mom contacted this boy’s parents who contacted Sam’s, who are acting as this young lady’s parents. So, one evening the young lady got all dressed up–she took quite a long time to do this–and Sam took her over to the young man’s house so that he could “look her over”. Apparently he and his mom liked what they saw, so marriage arrangements are proceeding. They will be married in several months.


    My shy little buddy Judson


    Sweet young Sonya


    Sam and Craig talking


    My wonderful little sidekick, Jason, helping his mom in the kitchen by grating cheese


    Playing cricket in the living room


    Hey, we were using a soft ball!



    Eating


    Craig gazing at the same stars that Rachel is gazing at

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  • Photoblogging India: Travel

    19Oct
    Categories: India, Personal, Photos Comments: 0

    We went to India to visit my good friend Sam who lived across the street from my family for several years. He married an American lady and moved back to India.
    I am going to do something a little bit different for this trip. I am going to photoblog topically instead of chronologically. So, here ya go. Hope you enjoy.


    Playing rook in the Thai food court in the Bangkok airport. It’s a really sweet little out of the way place in the basement. We were about the only Caucasians there. It was really cheap Thai food.


    Craig chatting with some Sikh men from India in the Bangkok airport


    Being greeted with flowers, as is Indian custom


    Uncle Alvin arriving from my community in Catlett

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  • World Religions: Sikhism

    12Oct
    Categories: Christianity, India, Personal Comments: 2

    Today our World Religions class was taught by a Sikh man, Ravi. He was assisted by his mother. They did a truly excellent job. My rough notes are below the fold.

    It should be noted that Sikhism is the 5th largest religion in the world. I was struck by how very similar to Christianity that Sikhism is.

    Sikh man teaching World Religions class

    Here is a comparison/contrast that I did of Sikhism and Christianity in response to their presentation:

    Comparisons:

    • Remember God when you eat
    • Internals more important than externals
    • Externals serve to keep believer accountable
    • Conditional non-violence (vs. unconditional non-violence)
    • Use of actors as an illustration to talk about the masks we put on (see Greek word hupokrisis which being translated means hypocrisy; means “to speak from under a mask”; it’s an acting term)
    • Creator God
    • Shouldn’t be attached to material possessions because they are temporal
    • God is outside of time—eternal and unchanging
    • Equality among people
    • Our minds are unstable
    • Everybody has a responsibility in life to seek the truth
    • Close identification of the Word (11th guru) and God
    • Bad is when we make other things more important than God (this is in a way the root of all sin, from a Christian perspective)
    • God is not no-where, He is now-here.
    • We can talk to God, but we can only hear Him if we are one with Him (and Christians would clarify, submitted to Him)
    • Evils and incongruities of Hinduism: caste system and dead idols

    Contrasts:

    • God is not affected by sin
    • God is an impersonal set of attributes
    • We become part of God when we correctly know Him
    • All religions lead to God
    • Heaven and hell are in our mind—our condition of guilt
    • No supernatural miracles
    • There is no good and bad in this world (“It’s very complicated.” she hastened to clarify. Indeed it must be. They talked quite a bit about the importance of living a good life, including non-violence, charity, etc.)

    Below are my rough notes of what they said. If you want a more organized, cogent presentation, check out Wikipedia.

    Read more »

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  • Vietnam Trip – Day 12

    09Oct
    Categories: Christianity, Personal Comments: 0


    Leaving Vietnam


    Saigon from the air


    Nomes and Emily


    Beautiful sunset while landing in Chiang Mai

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  • Vietnam Trip – Day 11

    08Oct
    Categories: Christianity, Personal Comments: 0

    This morning we got up quite early and left Dalat. One the way back to Saigon, we stopped at a waterfall. It had rained hard the night before and that morning and the river was a muddy swollen torrent:



    Some of the more “adventuresome” ones walking underneath the waterfall on a flooded catwalk.


    Three musketeers!


    A hanging bridge across the river


    Some people who lived on the river

    We ate a wonderful breakfast of french bread, fish, eggs, and pork!


    Arlin peacefully sleeping much to Phil’s chagrin

    After we got back to Saigon, we went to the hospital to visit the man that had the stroke during the church service. He was unconscious while we were there but we had a good time of encouraging his family and praying for him. The hospital was nearly indescribable. The hallways were outdoors. Everything was built with bare block walls. 20-30 patients were in each room. The outdoor hallways were lined with the sleeping bags and miscellaneous possessions of the family members who were staying with people in the hospital. We had to don special sandals and a bright yellow lab coat to go in to visit the man.


    A view through the window into a typical hospital room.


    The entrance to the hospital room he was in

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  • Video: Ostrich Riding

    19Sep
    Categories: Humor, Personal Comments: 1

    Here’s a video of Arlin and I riding ostriches in Vietnam.

    YouTube (0:35)
    WMV (4.38 MB, 0:35)

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