Lots to update...

Hello friends!

Sorry it has been so long, had some technology issues in Nepal and after 3 failed attempts to write the blog, I finally just gave up! So let me give a quick update on everything that has happened in the past few days...

We arrived in Nepal and were amazing to find the weather to be absolutely beautiful and cool!! Such a contrast from the Kalcutta furnace! Our hotel was more like a resort and was in the valley surrounded by an amazing view of the mountains! What a blessing! During our stay in Nepal we worked with Janets friends who had been working there for the past 20 years doing bible translation for village people groups. The first day we got to meet his team, which contsisted of many men from the village. A few of them shared with us their testimonies which were truly moving... They expressed their desire to know more about the Lord and they were so excited and full of passion about reading the word. One of the men told us that he worked on this translations project becasue he so badly wanted his family and friends to know the word of God! WOW... These stories really convicted me because it made me realize how much I take for granted the fact that I have had the bible in my language always at my finger tips. These men were craving to hear the word in their own tounge and I take advantage of the my easy assessibility. After hearing their stories, we were all left in tears... it was beautiful and refreshing to hear...

We spent the rest of our time in Nepal just touring around with our wonderful hosts. They took us to many Buddhist temples adn shrines, which i found to be beautiful and interesting. I really can appriciate many ideas from Buddhism and want to learn more about it. We also spend a lot of time in the market areas and I successfully traded out my entire wardrobe for a new one! ha! Lots of light linen pants and shirts...very cool.

One day we got to go to a few of the villages that the translators worked in, which was really cool and gave a new perspective. I loved the village feel, so laid back and peaceful.

After Nepal, we flew back to Delhi for a night and then we were off to Jammu, which is way up north India. We will be spending about a week in this area. While we are here we are working with a group here and doing water testing in almost 40 villages! The hope of this project is that we can test the water in these villages and then show them the samples, many of which are full of coloforms, which is bacteria from human and animal feases. After we show them that their water isnt clean we hope to do some community orgainzing and get them to understand that this dirty water is what is making their kids sick and even die. We also brought with us water filters and we can help them build filters for their water.

Yesterday we broke up into three teams and went out with translators to the different villages to get water samples. My team consisted of myself, two missionaries who were just a little bit older than me that are stationed here for 2 years, and then our translator who was also much age. We drove around all day to different villages and talked to the people there and told them that we wanted to test their water to see if it iwas healthy or not.

This is a new project for this group and many of these villages that we visited had have limited to no contact with the outside peoeple. It was cool to think that my presense might be their first immpression of westerners or even Christians. While the water testing has obvious practical uses, the main reason this group started this project was to give them a reason to go into the villages and build relatioships with the people. It was a really cool day and got to see a lot!

Today we are actually doing the tests back at their home. I feel like I am in Chemistry lab again, with all my chemicals and test tubes... We have already found that more than half of the villages we tested had traced of fecal matter in their drinking water. It is cool to be just a small part of this long process that is about to begin with these people. I knew this already, but this is just reconfirming to me that real ministry takes so much time. No matter what it may look like, building relationships is key and it takes so much time and effort!

Well i feel like I might have missed some things for sure, but I need to get back to work!

I love you all so much, please leave me some comments of send me an email! I would love to hear from you!

OH, I forget to tell you all that I have a plan for the second part of my summer here!!! I will be working in Pune at a coffee shop and helping our new friends who own it start up their second shop! I am so excited to help out however I can. They said they are also excited for me to be there at this time because they are trying to get a fresh perspective since they are trying to cater more to college ages people! Their story is so amazing and they believe that ministry can be integrated into normal society and that is what they are doing with their coffee shop which is located in a predominatly muslim area. They are constant lights in their area just by living their lives like Christ. I can't wait to be there and help!! More details to come!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Matt-