Thursday Evening

It's Friday night here now and we have had a good day. We did some shopping and traveled around Bangalore for about 4hrs this afternoon. I'm not really the shopping type, but it wasn't too bad. Our driver took us to some of the more high class shopping around the area. I guess they assume if you are from America that you want the best and are willing to pay for it. It was a little uncomfortable since I'm a Wal-Mart kind of guy, but it was a good experience overall. Jeni may describe it a little more later.

I am using the hotel computer right now and left Jeni back in the room watching American Idol. Can you believe it? I'm hoping for the SEC tourney to come on. Everbody likes Kentucky right? Even though American Idol is being broadcast here, I can't imagine that many people in this city have seen it. I'm sure that the vast majority do not have television.

The sights and sounds of this place one minute put a smile on your face, but then the next minute sadden you. This is the first time out of the U.S. for me, but seeing the poverty around here is heartbreaking. Although the economy here has been boosted by the American Technology companies moving in, the majority of this city is extremely poor. They are just now getting some public restrooms, so it is not uncommon to see people using the bathroom outside. We noticed men using the bathroom in the middle of city almost immediately upon arrival, but this morning I also noticed that people don't just do number 1 (if you know what I mean).

I have also noticed how many people work hard everyday to provide for their families. Of course I'm sure that some do not work and beg (we saw that today), but people here work harder than any I have ever seen. Whether it's pushing a fruit cart up a street, or driving a rick shaw, or selling goods, it seems like this city never sleeps and that people never stop working. I'm sure there is no welfare system here, so if you don't work, you don't eat. Pretty good motivation huh? (I think the Bible says something about that :)

After going out today, we came back to the hotel and crashed. We slept for a good 3hrs and wanted to sleep more. We forced ourselves awake so that our nights and days wouldn't get messed up again. I hope we can sleep good tonight, because tomorrow is the big day!! We are going to be a nervous wreck, please keep us in your prayers. I have no idea what to expect tomorrow other than we get to meet our daughter for the first time.

Last thing I want to say tonight is how wonderful the people here are. These are the most humble, hard working, servant minded people I have ever been around in my life. Maybe it's because we have been in a service type environment with hotels and drivers? I don't know? But the people here are constantly greeting us, opening doors for us, asking us how things are, doing things for us. They truly model some very scriptural principles (Philippians 2:3), even if they didn't know they were doing so. Please pray for the lost people in this city and country. They need Jesus, just as we all do.

Our computer in the room seems to work better at night, so watch for a post from Jeni later on. Thanks again for all the comments, it's so good to hear from you.
Kelly