The phone was brought to me with a call from Hyderbad - Alfred (who was like a Grandpa to us there in India, one of the conference workers and a translator for us), called to wish me a Happy Birthday.  I was 34 (wow, I’m finally getting this put on my blog almost two years later!).  This morning I ate breakfast in Pr. Kelly’s room with him, Nathan, Yissy, and Pr. Clark.  We ate leftover rice with honey and soy milk on it, peanut butter and jelly bread (their bread there was dry and... like it was made with baking powder instead of yeast or something), and mangos.  It was a royal breakfast!

Survival food or delicacy?  Peanut butter and jelly on India's version of western bread.

Went to the building where the Bible Worker Training was being held.  All 80 some of them had slept there on the floor.  It was HOT in there today.  I heard it was 120 in the shade.  It was downright miserable.  At one point in the training, they announced that it was my birthday and brought out a 14” x 14” iced and decorated birthday cake with a large pink plastic flower that “bloomed” open as they lit the candles and it played “Happy Birthday.”  And they ALL sang Happy Birthday in English, with two added verses I have never heard before.  It was beautiful to hear all of them singing.  It is definitely one of the birthdays I will never forget for my entire life.  Now came the challenge to cut the cake into 90 pieces!  They told me to just share it with the Americans (they bought it I am sure), but that seemed rude to me.  So I counted off rows and tried my best.  Pr. John said it will have to be like the five loaves and two fishes.  Everyone ended up with a postage stamp piece of cake.  But it was appreciated, and it was fun for me to share.

For lunch we went to a restaurant and ate Thali.  It’s a large plate with rice in a pile and 5 little containers of curry around it and a space left for you to mix a pinch-full of rice with whichever curry you choose to dip it in.  And Indians don’t use forks and spoons, so we all tried to do it “by hand” as they do.  There is an art to scooping up rice and getting your curry mixed in (most of the curry is too spicy to eat by itself so this mixing is most necessary) then forming a bolus out of the mixture and using your thumb to flip it into your mouth.  You can only use your right hand because the left one is “dirty” (if you are not an American who brought your own toilet paper with you, you use your left hand for other purposes - therefore this “dirty” hand is never used to eat or touch anyone).  I managed to eat my whole plate “by hand” and almost had it figured out by the time I was done.  But the little dish of water that is brought out at the end to wash your fingers was not big enough to wash up the mess I had made in the process. : )

"Small Toni" eating her Thali

During the final bit of training with the Bible Workers/pastors it was obvious that we were losing their interest.  It was so hot in there and they probably just wanted to get on their ways home.  But they all revived and got excited when they learned that they were each getting a 500 rupees bonus.  That was quite a nice sum of money for them, and I am sure they could think of many, many good uses for it.  We took a group photo with all of them before we all departed.

Went home to prepare for the meeting tonight.  It was my turn to speak and the subject was what does the Bible say happens to a person when they die.  Everyone listened well tonight.  At the end of all our presentations Pr. Kelly has a quiz for review, and whoever raises their hand first and answers the question gets a prize.  For the adults it is a picture.  For the children it is a small toy.  Tonight Pr. Kelly had fun with the quiz and when he asked what happens in the end when the trumpet sounds he made a trumpet impersonation that was so accurate and out of character for him that all the people laughed.  Somehow we have crossed the bridge from being white speakers from America to real people like them.  It feels nice to be close to them in this way and I hope that one day many of us will be together in Heaven, without a language barrier, reminiscing on the day Pr. Kelly made a trumpet sound...

This man was listening so intently and was baptized on the final Sabbath there.

Meanwhile in Lisa and Steve's village, hundreds of people listened surprised at how AIDS is contracted.

Coughed terribly on the way home tonight and Locksmayah (the driver) coughed too, and has obviously caught my cold.  I patted him on the shoulder and said “I am sorry.”  He replied, “thank you.”  Back at the hotel I wanted to try a hot and coldish shower, but there was no hot water today.  So I just did the eucalyptus steam treatment, and felt like I could breath a little more freely.