The Campus is Alive
Sorry for the long post. Our internet access is really limited and so I'll put all of last week's post in one big post. There are also some pictures from our time at ACA and in Kolkata that can be found on the bottom of this post.
It’s hard to believe that another week has passed and that we are more than half way through our stay here at Makunda. This has been a challenging week as we have thought much about what medical missions should look like and how to balance the demands of work, ministry and time with family.
Monday of this week was an exciting day because some of the other physicians who work here had come back from their vacation. Dr. Shilini, the OB/GYN doctor returned to a full labor ward and Dr. Harry and Amanda McNaughton (missionary physicians from New Zealand) returned from their trip to Shilong.
The Weekend
We have not had internet access for more than a week (for that matter no electricity or phones) and so I’ve been journaling every couple of days and now that we have are at an internet café I’ll post the journal entries under the day they were written and thus you’ll see several entries from the last week…just didn’t want to confuse anybody. You can start reading the new entries from the one titled “ACA” and then work forwards up to the latest entry titled “The Weekend.”
On Friday we conducted the OPD in breakneck speed as usual and topped the 215 mark. We had several TB patients admitted on Friday including two patients who had been having fevers and night sweats for over a month.
Preventable Disease
Today was another typical day at Makunda during which we saw 203 outpatients and performed two surgeries in the evening as well as a couple of D&Cs. We admitted another baby overnight into the ICU with pneumonia. The baby was quite fussy throughout the day but hopefully will turn the corner soon. Unlike the baby we admitted the day before with pneumonia, this baby does not seem to have heart failure as a consequence of her pneumonia.
We had another patient with malaria admitted yesterday as well. Malaria season is just starting in the area because the rains have begun (we’ve been getting torrential downpours every 1-2 days and thus we still have not had electricity for more than a few hours since we have arrived). Because of the rain, there is plenty of space for mosquitoes to breed and thus the higher incidence of malaria over the next few months.
Day 3
Wednesday was another interesting day at the hospital. The OPD was relatively slower compared to the number of people we saw on Tuesday. We probably saw around 150 patients on Wednesday. We’ve been trying as hard as possible to learn Hindi/Bengali/Tribal Languages but it has been difficult because we’re learning some words from each language and some patients only know one out of the three. Both of us continue to see how important it will be for us to learn the language once we return to India so that it can facilitate our ability to talk with patients, students and neighbors alike.
Life and Death
If there is one word that can describe the amount of work that has to be done here it is overwhelming. I keep being amazed by the sheer number of people that we see daily in the outpatient department, the several operations we perform, and the number of deliveries that are done daily. Even with four physicians working this week, we seem to go at breakneck speed just to get through the number of patients. I guess it has made me appreciate all the more the all sufficiency of Christ and how He gives the strength necessary to complete the work.
Unfortunately our second day at Makunda was filled with much death. The reality of death is something that is ever present here because there are many diseases for which, no matter how good our therapy, there is little hope of the patient surviving. One of the patients who had been here for thirteen days suffering from tetanus died around 2 AM because of respiratory failure.
Arrival at Makunda
We write this after our first full day at Makunda Christian Hospital. To say that the world in which we live in now is 180 degrees different from the life we lived in Minnesota would only capture a little of life here. We left the hotel in Kolkata around 9:30 in the morning having learned from our prior airport stop in Bangalore to leave much more time so that we wouldn’t end up nearly missing the flight again. If any of you will be traveling to Kolkata sometime consider staying at the O2 hotel there…we had a great experience with them and the day at the hotel really helped to rejuvenate us before the last leg of our journey.
After arriving at the airport we were pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to navigate our way through and arrive at the right location. Although then we found out that our 1 PM flight was delayed by almost an hour and a half and thus we had quite a long wait at the airport.
ACA
We were so blessed by the short time we spent at ACA. It had been eight years since Christo was last there and five years since Melissa’s last visit. There have been many changes on campus as new buildings have come up and various people have moved around. However, the biggest change was with the House of Joy kids. They are so grown up now! Many of the kids Melissa cared for during her time are still there and so it was wonderful to reconnect with them, marvel at how tall they had grown and introduce them to Karuna and Luke. The kids are nearing a new life stage and so a lot of decisions will soon be made regarding further schooling and career paths so please be praying that God would grant wisdom in these matters.
It was the last day of school for the year and all of Melissa’s students are old enough that they have graduated but it was encouraging to see how the school has grown in terms of numbers and also to hear how this long term investment, spiritually and educationally, is paying dividends in the community. Asian Christian High School is a K-10th school and a school nearby asked that all of ACHS’ graduates be encouraged to come to them for their 11th and 12th because of how strong their education is.
Our time at ACA was capped by the 2008 graduation of the Evangelical Theological Seminary, the backbone of the ministry at ACA. It was fun to reconnect with many friends who also came to join in on the festivities. We were particularly encouraged to hear how many of ACA’s graduates are now going all around India to plant churches!
We had a day in Bangalore before leaving for Calcutta. The highlight of our day there was reconnecting with our dear friends Joemon and Eva and meeting their two sons, David and Daniel. Joemon and Eva were studying at ACA during the time Melissa was there and so Eva and Melissa became good friends. They are working with India Campus Crusade for Christ training up student leaders who work all around south Asia. We have been privileged to support their ministry over the years. They are in need of additional members of their support team so if this is a ministry God has laid on your heart, please let us know and we will help you get in touch with Joemon and Eva. We can happily attest to their faithfulness in the ministry and how God is using them to build His kingdom!
In Kolkata
Just wanted to let all of you know that we arrived safely in Kolkata and even got to explore a little of the city yesterday. God has been gracious to us on this trip because we made the flight from Bangalore to Kolkata with one minute to spare...they even had a special bus come and pick just us up to take us to the plane so that we wouldn't miss it. The traffic and people in Bangalore airport were much more than we ever expected and thus the reason for us nearly missing the flight. We spent yesterday evening in Kolkata city and were amazed by how totally overwhelming the city is. The sheer mass of humanity and activity was unlike any we had seen before. It was also sad to see how dark of a city Kolkata is and our hearts went out to the people here as we prayed that many would come to know Christ soon because this city desperately needs Christ. We'll write more about Kolkata and post pictures when we get settled at Makunda. We are now waiting for the flight to Silchar which will leave around 1 PM this afternoon from Kolkata and then we'll hopefully get to the hospital later this evening after about a three hour journey from Silchar. Thank you all for your continued prayers...we can really feel them on this trip because of how miraculously God has provided for our safety and sanity as we have traveled. We are not sure about how often we'll be able to get internet access once we arrive at the hospital but we'll try our best to keep all of you updated!
Whirlwind Kerala Trip
Greetings from Jeemangalam, India, home of the Asian Christian Academy (ACA). Since we last wrote our travels have taken us from Kottayam back to Cochin, then to Kanhangad and most recently to Jeemangalam which is about 40 km outside of Bangalore.
We had a great visit to South India where we finished a whirlwind tour of Kerala to see some more of Christo’s relatives from his dad’s side of the family before we arrived here in Tamil Nadu where Melissa used to live when she worked in India. We spent a day in Kottayam visiting with Christo’s dad’s younger brother, Kunjumon uncle. They treated us to some wonderful South Indian meals and we got our first experience on a house boat which was a special treat. The house boat allowed us to see Kerala in a different way than we had ever seen it before. We would highly recommend it to anyone that would like to experience some of the unique things about Kerala, “God’s own country” as it is known here.
On Saturday evening we traveled back to Cochin and experienced Indian driving to the best only to be outdone by our later trip from Kanhangad to Hosur. Our driver Francis, a big help in navigating travel through Kerala, somehow managed to get us back to Cochin alive although there were several occasions on our trip when we were about 2 seconds from death with several halting stops on the way. On Sunday of last week, we had the pleasure of attending church with the believers in Kalamassery, the church that Christo attended while he was in India. It was great to see so many new faces at the church while also being able to see some old ones. When Christo attended church in Cochin, there was only one local church here but now there are many more as the believers here have planted multiple church in locations around Cochin. Christo got to give the message to the church about the Christian response to poverty. This is a topic that has especially been difficult for us as we see poverty always surrounding us here and it is difficult to find out how best to respond to it as Christians. If you would like to see some of the notes from the message Christo gave you can view them here. Let us know your thoughts on how to give to the poor...we would love to get your input because there is no one answer that will seem to cover every situation.
After meeting with the believers in Cochin, we traveled to another part of Cochin to meet Christo’s dad’s sister, Mary and her husband Matthew and son Joel. Melissa enjoyed getting to meet them for the first time and the kids loved playing with Joel. We continue to pray for them because their family and another family on Christo’s father’s side are Jehovah’s Witnesses and thus we continue to pray for them having a true understanding of the Gospel and the great news of Christ’s life on earth and death on the cross for our salvation. We then experienced the Indian railroad system on Sunday evening when we took the overnight train from Cochin to Kanhangad. God was so gracious in where He allowed us to get seats so that we could get the twenty pieces of luggage between us and Christo’s parents all put together in one area. We slept okay on the train (the kids did surprisingly well even with all the bumps). The craziest part of the train ride was our exit off the train at Kanhangad. We had exactly one minute to exit the train with all the kids and our twenty pieces of luggage. We ended up using two exits and with some strategic planning, help from others on the train and tossing the last three pieces of luggage out as the train started to move, we someone managed to get everything off and still arrive unhurt! Praise God for keeping us safe and helping us to arrive okay in Kanhanjad.
We then spent the next two days in Kanhangad visiting Christo’s dad’s older brother, Chettai and his family along with Christo’s grandmother, Injumma, who lives with them. Chettai’s kids all came back from their respective colleges to visit us so that they could meet Melissa and the kids and thus it was fun to see Prince, Prasanth, and Prasuna. We also got to spend some time with Injumma which was a bittersweet visit because she is very ill and had several strokes over the last couple of years. She has been bedridden for over a year and has been fed with a feeding tube during that time and so she was quite debilitated when we saw her. It was sad to see her suffer so much and we prayed for her comfort. We also got to visit Christo’s dad’s family home in Balanthode. That was a great experience for the kids because they got to see and play in the river that runs right next to their property and Melissa got to learn some more about Christo’s dad’s side of the family.
Then on Tuesday night we drove overnight about 500 km from Kanhangad to Jeemangalam in Tamil Nadu where Melissa had worked while she lived in India for two years. That drive was a difficult one to say the least with almost 12 hours of drive time over some very treacherous roads. Thankfully we had a great driver and a friend from ACA who accompanied him and they helped us navigate through this part of the country. Quite a bit of the journey was through the Western Ghats, a very remote mountainous jungle region with very winding roads that somehow we managed to get through without hitting anybody or anything. We were worried about police checkpoints along the way and prayed that we would not get stopped because often the police here will ask for money before they will let you through. Thankfully we weren’t stopped on this trip and thus all the donated medical equipment that we are taking to Makunda arrived safely at ACA.
We spent most of Wednesday at ACA recovering from our overnight trip and spending time with people on campus that Melissa had known during her time in India. We also got to see the kids at the orphanage where Melissa worked as a house mother for two years. We were so amazed to see how tall they had all gotten and it was great to see their heart for the Lord and to see the progress they had made during the last several years. ACA is an organization that has been around for now almost 30 years and Christo’s uncle Dr. Joy serves as the president of the organization. ACA has a wide range of ministry including an evangelical theological seminary, a high school with over 1000 students, a hospital, an orphanage, and several church plants all across India. You can read more about ACA and their ministry to develop Christian leaders for South Asia at www.acaindia.org. We will spend two more days here attending the seminary graduation before going to Bangalore to depart for Calcutta and then on to Silchar to arrive at our final destination of Makunda Christian Hospital.
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for our safety in Calcutta as we’ll spend a day there on Saturday before traveling to Silchar on Sunday. Calcutta is a city that neither of us are familiar with and not necessarily the safest city and so we are a little apprehensive about this stage of the journey.
- Pray for our last two flights before we arrive at the hospital that all of our luggage, especially the medical supplies would safely arrive there.
- Pray for our safety while at Makunda in Assam. We just got news from one of the doctors there that one of their administrative staff was physically assaulted in the community. Please pray for him and his family and for us as we work at Makunda and learn about the work of EHA.
Along with this post, we’ve put up some pictures from our time in Kerala including the first gallery which are pictures from Cochin and Mylapra and the second one which has pictures from Allepy and Kottayam.
First Days in South India
Our first couple of days have been filled with lots more travel, people to visit and some great South Indian Food. After we arrived in Cochin (located in the state of Kerala, the state where Christo grew up), we spent Tuesday and Wednesday visiting with Christo's uncle Babu and aunt Sally who work as church planters in the city of Cochin. When Christo lived in India, he attended one of the churches which Babu Uncle had planted and it was while attending that church that Babu Uncle led Christo to Christ. Babu & Sally lived in the US in the 80s while Babu Uncle attended Dallas Theological Seminary from where he received his masters in theology. Subsequently they returned to India to plant a church in Cochin where they served as church planters for 12 years. They then returned to the US for a couple of years while their children went to high school and have since returned to India about a year and half ago as missionaries sent out from Denton Bible Church. Since their return, Babu uncle has taken an active role in providing theological training for leaders from local churches around India. It was wonderful to hear about the work God is doing in the churches in South India, especially as many families from the local churches in South India have decided to go to North India to help take the Gospel there.
Since this was our first visit to South India since getting married, Christo’s parents flew to India to meet us here for the first two weeks so that they could help to facilitate some of our meetings with Christo’s relatives (especially on his dad’s side) who have never met Melissa or the kids. Having them here has been such a big help because it has allowed us to have two more sets of hands to help out with kids who were extremely tired from the trip and all the adjustments they have had to make after coming here. After spending Wednesday in Cochin, we traveled to Mylapra via Allepy. Allepy was Christo’s childhood home where he lived from the time he was born until age three and so on this trip Melissa and the kids got to see a little of Christo’s life that he experienced while growing up in India. We then arrived in Mylapra where we visited Christo’s aunt, Chinnamamma who lost her husband a few months ago. This was a difficult visit because the three month anniversary of her husband’s passing away occurred during our visit. They had been married for over 45 years and now almost everything in their home reminds her of him and thus it has been a long couple of months for her as she grieves this loss. Since she has family in the US, we encouraged her to come and visit for a couple of months so that she has some time way from a place that invokes so many memories for her.
After visiting Chinnamamma, we traveled to Malapilly on Friday to visit Dayle, Thankachayan uncle and Valsammama (Christo’s uncle and aunt on his mom’s side). Dayle is one of Christo’s cousins who works for the State Department and she was visiting her parents for a couple of weeks from Kuwait. She is expecting her first baby and plans to move back to the US for a year for the baby’s birth before going abroad again. After this visit, we drove to the area near Christo’s dad’s childhood home (Kottayam). We had a really enjoyable visit with Dr. Finny Matthew and his wife. Dr. Finny was the person who led dad to Christ many years ago and so it was wonderful to see them again and hear about their heart for India. It is Dr. Finny’s son (Philip) who we met a couple of years ago in Dallas who shared with us about the hospital at Makunda where we’ll be traveling to next week. Dr. Finny served with World Vision India as their national director and now that he has retired he serves as president of Shalom Bible College which helps to train men and women in theology. It was exciting to hear about a new course they have started there in cross-cultural missions where they bring in church leaders and missionaries from Northern India to come to the South to train men here and give them a vision for reaching North India for Christ. It was exciting to hear them share about their passion for reaching India. They have been such a dear family to us over the years and we’re glad that we’ll get to be with their son and his family during our time at Makunda.
After the visit with Dr. Finny, we finally travelled to Christo’s uncle’s house, our final destination for Friday. Kunjumon uncle and his family have never met Melissa or the kids and thus are some of the first people from Christo’s dad’s side of the family to meet them. Our plan is to spend Saturday in Kottayam before we travel back to Cochin.
On Sunday evening we will travel via train to northern Kerala to visit the rest of Christo’s dad’s side of the family.
Prayer Requests:
- Continued mercies as we have more travel ahead of us.
- Please pray for Christo on Sunday (this will be Saturday evening in the US) as he will be preaching on Sunday in Cochin regarding the Christian response to poverty. (This will be at the church he attended with his family while they lived in Cochin prior to coming to the US.)
- Our jet-lagged kids. We are making progress little by little but their sleeping and eating schedules are still off. Christo and Melissa are pretty much over jet lag so all of our schedules are off from one another’s!
Along with this post, we’ve put up some pictures from our trip to India and others taken during our first day in Cochin.
