James Kirk

Right now I’m in Delhi, having traveled by train from Dehradun this morning. I really wish I had been able to blog more while I was in Dehradun, but I always seemed to be on the move with my team. I know I won’t be able to do justice to my experiences in this quick little update at a Delhi Internet Cafe. I think I’ll just copy verbatim what I wrote this morning in my little journal.

As I write this, I’m sitting in a train running from Dehradun to Delhi, where we ill spend the next 3 days. It’s been an extraordinary, and eventful, week in Dehradun. The conference ended well, and I’ve heard multiple times about how much of a blessing we’ve been to take care of the children and allow parents to be free to receive at the conference. As fun as it was, it’s a relief to be finished with the job of teaching and looking after those kids.

Since then, we’ve gone to the village a few times to work on the water purifier. A few days ago, we installed the thing, with the help of a local plumber who spent the whole day with us, and only cost 200 Rupees (a little under five dollars). When we came back the next day, we were surprised to find the pump running (when it shouldn’t have been) - Sanjay’s father had hooked it up in his absence, backwards! It looked like he’d been messing with one of the tanks, too. We spent our time that day teaching Sanjay how to use the purifier, and he was a quick learner, despite the language barrier. Hopefully he’ll teach his father.

Last night I had a cool experience. When I went on an errand to the bazaar, I stopped off in a homeopathic remedy shop for a gift. I met a guy speaking English, his name was Joshi, who just got into town from working on a Carnival cruise ship. We talked for awhile, then he took me on his scooter (which seemed to only start by rolling it and popping it in gear) to other shops to find a container for parts of the other purifier we’re giving to the church. Then, after hanging out in front of a stand for awhile, he drove me back to my hotel, and we talked for some more in my room. Very nice guy - I hope he comes to LA sometime; I offered him my couch. Yesterday we had two meetings with the Dehradun Vineyard - a staff meeting in the morning and a ministry team meeting in the evening. After the evening meeting, we all went out (like 35 of us) to Kumar Restaurant where we Americans had one last chance to see everyone and say goodbye. It was a wonderful evening.

Now I’m going to try and catch some Z’s before we hit Delhi editor’s note: I didn’t, and played Scrabble with David, Kathleen, Sarah, and Emily instead. From here on out, it’s just the Taj Mahal, some shopping, dinner with a missionary couple here in Delhi, then back to America. Before I leave India, I really want to spend some time reflecting a little, too, about my experience in Dehradun.