Thursday, January 6, 2011

the group arrives - from Heather

We are here safe in India!  It took us 41 hours to get from our doors in Lawrence to the retreat center at Kottayam.  We've taken three planes, two cab rides through Mumbai and a 3 hour bus ride to get to the retreat center of thc Church of South India. Needless to say we are a bit travel weary, but our spirits are good.

The place we are staying is lovely - a bit of an oasis in the center of a very busy city.  I think the group has already been surprised by the things they have seen - even in our short time.  We spent three hours today in a small bus driving through Kerala towards Kottayam.  So we saw a lot of countryside and city life in Kerala.  This is my second time in India, so many memories are coming back to me.  All the people in the street, the crazy cab rides through the cities, the beautiful, colorful clothes worn by the women, the fresh fruit, Hindu temples along the road, the spicy food, hearing the Muslim call to prayer wafting through the streets at 6am, the trash, the stray dogs, the cows.  the list could go on and on.

We will write more tomorrow, I think.  Tonight we have rooms and time to collect ourselves.  thank you all for your prayers.  Please keep them coming!

Heather   

No comments:

Post a Comment