Click, Click, Click

Cow Count: 147

Blessings...
Today was one of the most exciting days that I've had in a long time. Long story short we met with a man who A) founded an incredibly successful local NGO that takes care of abandon babies, shelters women, rehabilitates drug addicts, and houses the destitute and abandon elderly and B) has provided us with full access to the ideal subjects for our research. Due to his influence we will spend the next x days (x = the number of days we need) traveling through the countryside from NGO to NGO (minimum 5 total) and visiting the villages and tribes that they work in. Basically, as far as our research is concerned, today was a home run beyond our most hopeful and optimistic expectations.

Babies...
We also had the opportunity to visit the Angel house today, an orphanage that deals primarily with abandon babies. They had recently received 12 toddlers from a near by orphanage that had been shut down due to poor operating procedures. These kids were extremely cute and in clearly in need of love and individual attention. We also met Alexi (how interesting that this should be her name!), a college aged student from Canada, that has spent a good part of last year loving on these little kids after having found the place randomly. The love the kids displayed towards her bore witness to her impact in the place. I found her work there inspiring- all the more so because I got the impression that she was very-much-so not about herself and her own goodness, but was moved by the children themselves.

Suspense...
I feel as though right now we are strapped into a roller coaster that has just left the platform and is climbing slowly up the track- Click, Click, Click. The last few days have been quiet and uneventful- time filled with reading, writing, walks and conversations with Tej, and lots and lots of food. Tomorrow, we take one last day of vacation-like-living (we are visiting ma-ha-bolly-poor-um(no clue on the spelling) a temple south of the city) and then on Monday take a train into rural India... I don't know what exactly this will hold, but it sounds like all the adventure for which I have been hoping. I am so excited for our work here to begin in earnest.

Greeks and Romans...
I have been reading an enthralling history of the Greeks and Romans... The Classical World by Robin Fox. Today I read the story of Antony and Cleopatra for the first time and was absolutely fascinated. I've taken my interest in this book to be a very good sign, given the change of majors I recently made. The book has also helped provide a new perspective on the New Testament as I learn more and more about the world in which Christ was born, and the cities to which Paul wrote. It has also been a very interesting set of ideas to have rolling through my head as I encounter a culture that does not have its roots in Greek and Roman history...

How has Hollywood not taken advantage of the story of a man who gives up a legitimate shot at ruling the world for a mad love affair? Perhaps this is more the realm of poetry...


Might not have a chance to write for several days... Thanks for the prayers! God is good.
MDK