The long awaited, India post.
By Emma Boucher



Welcome to India!

The 30 hour journey was over.
The team was welcomed with flowers and big, bright banners.
We got settled in our room and went shopping with Esther (Pastor Daniel's wife) for Sarees.



At night we met the Wall Lizards!
The poisonous, wall lizards.
They were cute little guys!



We went right to work, Pastor Daniel had at least one meeting planned for every day. Most of the pictures above are in the Main Church, right next to Pastor Daniel and Esther's house. They waited until our whole team was there so they could have their communion Sunday, it was very special. I had the opportunity to help lead worship and preach to about 300 people! I never thought I would be doing that at this time of my life! But God had His plans for this trip...




The woman and I in the top right hand corner had just met! We had the amazing opportunity to go to a wedding(where we were honored guests), although we did not know the couple. Afterwards, this woman came up to me and just could not stop touching me and hugging me! Finally she was content to have her picture taken with me and let go :)

Rasheed, in the bottom left, was a neighbor boy we saw everyday. Sooooo cute! And Levi, Pastor Daniel's 10 year old son, is on the bottom right, singing a song at a street meeting.

I will never forget the people of India, they blessed our team so much! They ALWAYS had smiles for us, and usually food or anything else they could give us. Being an honored guest where ever we went...Oh! and many times they would bring a professional photographer to the house if we came to visit! It was truly the most humbling experience of my life!




We were able to visit a Tribal Village because Pastor Daniel said he wanted us to experience "Real India." It was so amazing!!! And beautiful! And tiny and dirty...to be honest. But the people were still as generous, honoring and grateful that we were there as any one else. They had bought that tribal dress I'm wearing NEW for us to try on! (oh yes and the goat, well...that was Pastor Daniel's idea! The whole family really did have great senses of humor).




Worship at the church, with their new banners and streamers.



We had a morning/afternoon off so we headed to the Bay of Bengal two hours away. It was very busy with fishermen and boys were swimming everywhere. They loved Curtis and Jordan...and ignored us :)



Goats goats everywhere...and cows, dogs, lizards, cockroaches, spiders, etc
The other 3 pictures are taken from the car window, that huge statue is in between Hyderabad and Vijayawada.



A couple more pictures of worship and the youth eating a meal on the right (Look at the huge plates!!)


We called this little naked fella, the naughty boy.
He was always into mischief and was always naked.
One day he was dressed with shoes and a backpack, waiting to leave for school.
But he neglected to put on any other clothes.







Saying goodbye...about 30 people came to see us off...




What a trip! I absolutely loved it and God used me in ways I never thought He would OR could! I was completely stretched on this trip, we really did have to be prepared and willing to do anything they asked us! But I don't regret a single experience (even all the food)! I was blessed by these people's great faith so much, I only hope God used me to be a blessing to them as well! If you have any questions go ahead and post them in the comments!


God Bless You,
Emma