Leaving on a Jet Plane

I am about to go milk Coco. The teeny little backpack is packed. The list is pretty much checked off. I have never in my life traveled with so little stuff. We are going to be flying to Chennai tomorrow. Hours after we arrive we will take an 18 hour train journey to the state of Orissa where we will be getting to know some of the pastors and wives of the area. Many of these people have undergone severe persecution last year over the months of August through December. Homes of tens of thousands of christians were destroyed as well as schools and churches. At least 50 people were killed in the violence. Many more were raped, injured, maimed. We hope to encourage and help in whatever way we can. I am so happy to have the chance to make the acquaintance of some of the people we have been praying for for months.

This is a big trip for me. I have never been away from the family or the farm for 2 whole weeks. Last night I started to feel very weepy as I hugged little girls and big boys at bedtime. I already miss them and our farm.

Even so, I have a tingly feeling, eager to get off that airplane in a completely different world. New sounds, smells, tastes. A world where many many people do with much less. Less everything. Less food, less clothing, less privacy, less money, less clean bathrooms, less security, less freedom. Not to mention all the more: more people, more germs, more sickness, more poverty, more faith??? I wonder what lessons I will learn? I hope to let you know in a couple of weeks or so!

Farewell family. Farewell farm. Farewell Coco and cold night skies and squacking guineas and woolly sheep and cuddly cats and big fat mama goats and scratching chickens and barking dogs and grass-fed steers and pregnant Priscilla and quacking ducks and ice covered pond and warm fireplace and comfortable pillow and lamp and book to read at night. Farewell blog friends. I hope to bring back wonderful stories of India.