During the time that Bob has been here at Prakash we have tried to give him the full experiences of India. Some have been fun and others….well…not so fun.
On Sundays we either attended a House church,
Student’s church or listened to Andy’s DVD’s. Each has had it’s own unique flavor and gave Bob insight into our worship environments.
One of student’s sang a solo during the Student’s service and actually if was very good. After the service we asked to talk with the young man and found he had a most unusual story. He honestly told us, “I ran away twice after coming to Prakash.” “Why?” was our question. He explained that he was totally unprepared to have any discipline in his life. Being a semi-orphan and pampered like most Indian young men—even though the family was EXTREMELY poor—meant he was downright lazy. When he became a student at Prakash and had to: wash his own clothes, study, keep timings, clean his room and the campus. He was shocked with the realities of life. Luckily, his guardian sent him back each time to Prakash and in the midst of all the chaos he found that he could sing and do it quite well. His relationship with the Lord has grown and he now LOVES the discipline.
Due to the fact that the monkeys have been in scarce supply while Bob has been here, we planned a surprise outing Sunday afternoon to RamTek. This is a Hindu Temple over run with monkeys.
The street vendors have made the most of the worshippers’ and tourists’ desire to FEED the monkeys.
The temple sits on the top of a hill and there are 700 steps to the top. We didn’t make Bob walk the stairway, but graciously drove him to the top. LOL (I wouldn’t have climbed the stairs either.) I did have to take off my shoes…ugg…but had plenty of Clorox wipes to clean my feet after leaving the Temple area.
Shopping, shopping, shopping takes an enormous amount of our time. It may take six or seven stops just to get the items you could buy in one store in the US. Bob has enjoyed all the trips to town just to “people watch” if nothing else. While shopping for gifts for friends he told Loren, “It is dangerous to go with Sylvia. She knows where all the really GOOD stuff is.”
Our time with Bob is winding down and we will miss his fellowship and humor. |