Tuesday, October 27, 2009

What a ride

We took an hour ride or so this morning through the poorest area of Calcutta, very emotion stirring.


Sorry no photos or videos last night, had a lot of people using my VOIP phone, and I passed out like a log as soon as I laid down.

A couple of people in our group got sick and worn down last night, but all are doing much better today, thanks for your prayers.

So many things I want to write about but they will have to wait until tonight.

Got up at 5 a.m. this morning left at 6 for our ride...can't say enough about how poor the people are here.

One story about a 9 year old boy who earns money for his family by scraping coins off the bottom of the river with a magnet...

More later and photos and hopefully some video.

We love you guys and are so thankful for your prayers and thoughts.





The innocence of children....

Well we have been here for about a full day now.

Everyone so far is blown away by this place, 18 million people packed into this city...we drove for an hour yesterday and we didn't even get half way across the city.

We fear a stomach bug may be circulating among us, please pray for health, peace, and rest for all of us, as time changes, frequent travel, different diet, and not much sleep does not combine for the best health.

The people with the mission here are just great, they have welcomed us with open arms and we went straight to work this morning spending time at school. A few pictures are posted below. I will try and upload some video tonight things have just been crazy.

Look at the smiles on these kids' faces, they get this kind of love and attention only about once a month when a group comes through, their parents don't send them to the school because they care about their education, they do it because they get a free meal.

I have no hostility towards these people, we all truly feel for them. They work so hard and do what they can just to get by...a full weeks worth of work for the average Indian...55-60 hours will only get them about $20-$25. That is not an hourly wage, or a daily wage...that is a weekly wage...which they don't get paid. They receive their payment for labor monthly and have to budget it out. So an average Monthly wage for an Indian citizen is about $80-100. They just can't provide for themselves.

...sorry got to run...going to hospital wing for kids, will post photos and hopefully video tonight!

Monday, October 26, 2009

We are in INDIA

We landed in India about 10 minutes early, 7:40 A.M. on the 26th.

We are now 11 and 1/2 hours ahead of you guys back in Arkansas...so Midnight for us is like....11:30 A.M. for you...very awkward.



We spent most of today get oriented to the area and learning about the organization we will be helping.

Let me just say that Bob-A-Lue, our driver is clearly the most qualified driver in West Bengal (that is the state in India that Calcutta is in).

They drive on the left side of the road here and there is no order whatsoever, very nerve racking at times, but like I said, our driver is AMAZING. The people here are awesome, great hearts for missions. We are extremely excited for the work God has for us to do over the next 9 days.

The food is interesting, some really like it, some are unsure, and some haven't really tasted it yet, some of us skipped dinner tonight because they were dead dog tired. 40 something hours of straight travel will do that to you.

Here are a couple of shots of what we have to look forward to. More video tomorrow for sure as well as pictures, again thanks for following us here on your official Butterfield Church India Mission Trip Blog! Click on any of the pictures below for a larger version of the file.

Here is a link to the weather conditions in West Bengal!

Click HERE for our weather!


****WARNING****** Graphic Images Below






Dubai, Dubai, Dubai

We landed in Dubai on time with no problems.

This is a very nice airport, we took full advantage of the use of showers in a hotel inside the airport to freshen up for our final leg of the flight.

The flight from New York to Dubai was long, interesting, long, entertaining, and long.
Below are a couple of pictures from the flight!







Here are some excellent shots of the really neat airport we spent about 6 hours entertaining ourselves in Dubai!







More to come soon, thanks so much for praying for us on our trip and I will continue to do my very best to reward you with excellent content from our experiences here!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Dallas and New York!

Well we landed in Dallas and all went well. We had a slight delay in the airport and then a longer delay once we were on the runway. I will let the videos explain.


Here are some photos of us in Dallas and in New York where we met up with missionary Robert Solomon.







Saturday, October 24, 2009

India Bound

We are traveling currently, should be en route for about 40 hours or so.

I will be blogging, posting pictures and video throughout the next two weeks.


Here is one of Tiffany and I as we have set up camp in Dallas....


Here is another picture of us with Colleen Nick just as we got off our first flight...