19 days since I've had a warm shower...

I have been in India for 19 days and it has been that many days since I took a hot shower...but it has been worth it. To tell you the truth, it's almost too hot most of the time and the cool water is welcomed.

I had heard so many stories about this country before coming, but I really didn't know what to expect...and this experience has been so much more. Unfortunately I can't post pictures from this computer so it has to wait for another month.

I am learning a lot...and still getting confused at times...by the Indian culture. One of the biggest ones is that I still have to guess when people are saying yes or no by the way they shake their heads. In the states, we nod our head up and down which means yes and turn is side to side to say no. Well, here, they don't nod...the bob their head from side to side and it looks an awful lot like no...but it's yes. So we ask questions and they bob their heads, and it takes a minute to try to discern whether the answer is yes or no.

Almost every day, we walk from our house down to the college campus and the surrounding area to meet with people, talk to them about their culture and tell them about our culture and beliefs. We have made a number of friends that we meet for coffee and build up that relationship. It's been interesting to learn from them, but also to have the chance to share our beliefs. Challenging, but great all the same.

We have joined another team for the time being. Within that team, they have a number of very talented musicians and were able to perform a free concert for the town. We had about 650 people show up, which was a pretty good turn out. Combining teams is not always easy, but this has been a wonderful experience and the two groups work very well together.

We only have a few days left here in India (where the weather is always HOT...somewhere between 95-100 everyday and humid), and then I will be wishing for a heat wave in China. The team is sad about leaving here, but also very excited about something new and getting to do a few different things.

Thanks for all your prayers.