Things are shaking in India

Monday February 16th   Did you hear about the earthquake that shook India this morning.  It happened about 50 miles from us and rated a 5.0 on the rictor scale.  They said it shook the area we are in at about 1:00 am, but we wouldn't know.  We slept through it.  The morning started at 5:30 am with shower and breakfast.  We then began our teaching at 7:00, we had 17 students for this Level 2 training.  It started slow and was hard to teach.  We were teaching concepts that they did not understand in writing goals and purpose statements.  It took about 4 hours to get though this section.  After lunch they began to catch on and they all understand it now.  We have started to write goals and how to evaluate our programs.  They do a great job on evangelism.  For them it was a cool day.  For us it was a hot day and made it even harder to teach.  They treat us very well here and they will give you all they have to make you fill welcome even if it means they will go with out.  It is hard for us to sit and eat a meal, they will not eat will us.  The women wait until we are done and will eat last, even if it is cold.    New Foods and a taste on the wild side.   Last night we had dinner at Mary's house.  This is Silchi's fieance,  there we had fish that we would would call creek chubs.  Also we had pomogranites in a yogurt fruit salad.  Today Bill, Rob, and Mickey tried deep fried cottage cheese.  Mickey did not like it, Bill and Rob said it tasted like cheese sticks.  Mickey did not agree.  We got to travel to a black smith shop this evening where a gentleman makes knives.  It takes 8 hours for each knive and they sell for $10.00.  We also stopped at a shop where they hand make purses, hand bags, and clothing.    Will end for now.    Mickey and Bill.

New Experience in India

Late entry Messed up blog for day 5. Sorry so long in between blogs, it's hard finding a internet server here. Here is what has happened the last 3 days. On Day three we had some minor problems. First our flight was delayed 1 hour. That meant we would miss our connecting flight out of Guwhati. We were to leave at 12:40 and we did not take off until 1:00. When we landed we did not even make it into the air port. They met us as we got off the plane and took us to the next flight that was waiting on us. We had to get off the bus 1 at a time and identify our luggage and then we could get on the next plane. It was already full of passengers waiting to take off. Since it was late we had a HOT landing and there were girls next to us and behind us throwing up. When we got through customs as foreiners we were loaded into a car that normally could fit 4 people with no luaggage. My Goldberg status lives on in Imphal as I was leaving the airport the military men were again taking Mickeys picture and looking at him. There is no electric until 5:00 pm and lasts only til 9:00 pm. That is if they have it at all. They are learning to change there lives to live without it. We have now tasted Carp and Corn Soup and some that we could not identify. It gets dark at 5:30 and daylight at 5:00. We went to bed at 6:00 and got up every 2 hours. The beds are only 1" thick on solid wood or concrete. Day 4 - Extremally COLD SHOWERS - NO HOT WATER..... There are 30 different languages spoken in Manipur. Could not go to the villiages to preach at night due to a burnt. A burnt is where a undergroud group starts a civil uprising that makes it not safe to be on the roads. They will rock the vehicle until its stops and then burn it. This was our first day of teaching, a little dissappointing with only 16 students and 6 books for them to use. The Manipur Baptist School has 900 students in it. Grades Pre K thru 12 and a monthly tutition of 150 to 400 Rupes a month or $3.00 to $8.00 USD a month. We had to adapt to our teaching and could not use any of our overheads or powerpoint presentations. We taught the entire day without any electric. We had dinner at the hotel where we are now staying - alot of food for very little money. Whole Chicken costs only $4.50 American. A can of coke and a kit kat are only about .65 cents. Day 5 - We were cut short on our teaching and could only go until noon. We have a new definiton of a cheese and egg sandwich. The teaching was very promising and a group from MBC has a good start on it and they do evangelism very good. We will be leaving here in the morning to fly to Tura and then drive to the Garo Baptist Church. It will be a 4 hour drive back into the mountains. Hopefully we will blog you soon. Signed, Goldberg and his handler.

India Update

Day 6 or there abouts.   The day started and ended with delays.  We were supposed to have a driver pick us up at 10:00 am to take us shopping and then to the airport.  They showed up at 11:00 and drove us to the international shopping market and we were able to shop for 10 minutes.  We then left for the airport to catch our flight that we supposed to leave at 2:05 pm.  We checked in at 12:00 and the plane did not arrive.  At 3:05 we were able to get on the plane.  The flight was supposed to take 55 minutes and they did it in 33 minutes with another HOT landing.  After landing it took 4 1/2 hours to drive to Tura in the Garo Hills.  Since being at the airport at noon we had not eaten anything.  Potato chips at 8:00 pm never tasted so good.  After arriving in Tura we had dinner at a bachelor party for Silchi.  We went to our room and we opened the door and our first gecko met us at the shower door.  During dinner they brought out a dessert for us to try.  Mickey was the only one to they this.  It is called a beetle nut.  It is also known as a narcotic.  The easiest way to describe the effects is it numbs your face and throat.  You take a piece of the beetle nut, a piece of the beetle leaf and a little bit of lime and then you chew it.  It had to be the worst thing he has ever tasted.  They all had a good laugh.   Day 7 or so.   Rob and Bill preached at 2 different churches today and both services were packed with people even sitting on the outside of the church to hear Gods word.  Bill only preached for 35 minutes but the service lasted just over 2 1/2 hours.  One of the church members had us over for lunch and again we experienced new foods.  We took a tour of Tura and saw a swinging bridge, view from the mountain tops, a water fall that we could even hear and we were over a mile away from it.  A natural fish hatchery where Jamie, Mark and Lynn would go crazy.  There were fish there over 28 inches and 10 lbs.  Tomorrow on Monday we will start our teaching at 7:00 am until 4:40 pm for the next 3 days.  Please keep us in your prayers and we love each of you.   Bill & Mickey

India - Day 2

We made it to the Taj Mahal today after a little bit of trouble. Again, the road we were suppose to travel had an accident on it and we had to go an alternative route. this route took us through the most dangerous village in India. We followed a man that was in the indian mofia, quite a guy. his license plate read, king Corba, all mofia in India had this license plates. We went the back roads through some really neat villages. All of the people in the villages could only point and stare when the saw Mickey. We had a great guide and learned alot about the Taj. I can now understand why it is one of the 7 wonders of the world. The traffic here in India is intense. There are no rules to follow and no age limit to drive. Road rage gets a new meaning here. While on our tours today, Mickey had his picture taken with about 50 different people. They all thought he was a wrestler and Rob and I did our part by calling him Goldburg. Our driver was sure he had watched Mickey on TV before. It was funny watching everyone point and stare at Mic. We had dinner at a McDonald's that did not serve red meat. They did however serve fries, chicken, fish and veggie burgers. It was an experience. We learned a great deal about the culture and costumes today. We fly out tomorrow at 9:30am for Imphal and teach our first class in the evening. I know that everyone is praying for us and we thank you for that and ask that you continue to pray for us. Hopefully, we will be able to write again latter.
bill and Mic

India - Message 1

After 30 hours of travel we have arrived at our motel. We were 24 hours in the air and the other 6 hours were lay overs. Our fights went great, not a problem. Our luggage made it with us. Our first flight from Charleston to Detroit was full. Mickey was able to switch a seat so he and I were not packed in like sardines. Our second leg, Detriot to Amsterdam was awesome. The plane was only about a third full and we had entire isles to ourselves. We had a chance to stretch out and enjoy the flight. We had a 5 hour layover in Amsterdam, by the way it was boring. We ate lunch there. I had a slice of pizza and a bottle of Coke Light and the price came to $12.11. Nothing is cheap! our last leg of the flight was booked to capacity. Mickey, rob and I all sat in the same row. Talk about being crowded. Our flight landed at 11:00pm their time which was about 12:30pm our time. They are 10 1/2 hours ahead of us. Tomorrow we take a trip to the Taj Mahol. time for a nap. We leave at 6:00am. So far, so good.
Bill and mic