Friday was a hot day in Mahab for Jim Sir. The day started with a convocation and prayer service to dedicate the teachers and students of Achiever Academy. As honored guests, Susan and I were invited to sit up on the stage in the direct sunshine. The service was meaningful and short, but by 10:00 I was well-toasted. After the service I helped Justin and Saroop (the worship pastor at Chennai Vineyard Church) take down the PA system and load Saroop’s car to take it back to Chennai. Then John Christian and Saroop showed me a couple of store rooms full of clothes, files, and sound equipment stored across the street at the Acts of Mercy office and asked me to help Justin and Thynkassi (the watchman at the widows village) sort through and organize the items after lunch.

“Susie Mam” and I decided we would walk the 1 kilometer to our favorite restaurant for take-away lunch before her class, so we hurried off down what we affectionately call “Mulberry Street.” - for we never know what we will see on the way.  On the way back to school, we parted company and Susan hurried back with the food while I stopped at the currency exchange to change some dollars to Rupees. Then I stopped at the laundry to pick up the clean laundry, but  I had forgotten to bring the dirty clothes to drop off so I walked back to school, retrieved the clothes, and made one more round trip to the laundry and back. When I got back to school I had only a few minutes to catch my breath and eat a little before Thynkassi came to tell me it was time to get to work on the storeroom.

I wish I could describe the stifling heat of a closed storeroom in India whose only ventilation is the open door, lifting antiquated  air conditioning units, oversized speakers and boxes of clothing and books out onto a narrow balcony, reorganizing

The days fly by so quickly here with so much to do and so many children and friends to love on. We teach English lessons and consult on instructional strategies and educational best practices.  We raise money throughout the year to purchase computers for the school and work with groups back home to accept their donations of used laptops, which may be reburbished and sent here to provide critical Internet access to students and teachers. More about this great new program that God is blessing in a coming story soon. The children arrive at school by scooter, bicycle, Tuk-Tuk, private car, and any number of ways. They begin the school day in Morning Assembly, singing and praying together, singing the Indian national anthem, and presenting daily news reports. Once classes begin, teachers move frequently between classrooms designed to teach Pre-K, Lower K, Upper K, and 1st - 5th grades. This is an activity-based school and very different from a typical government-school (public school) where there are commonly up to 100 children in a classroom - even Kindergarten. Achiever Academy is happy place where children and loved and encouraged to develop every type of skill and talent.  We hope you will enjoy this little glimpse into our days at Achever Academy, and why we return each summer.  (Note: this is a video we created in 2012 but we never get tired of watching it so hope you will enjoy it too).

Jim and I are very encouraged by the strong show of love and support from back home that seems to grow each year we come to India.  We are further encouraged by the many new friends we add to our mailing list each year. In honor of our new readers, I am re-posting the following from last years' blog.  For our long-time, faithful followers, we hope you will enjoy this re-run as a reminder of the human condition of this village. For our new readers, we hope God will speak to you through this writing and video below and stir your heart as He does ours in this harsh reality.

Originally posted:  July 4, 2012.  A day of Independence in America.  Little freedom here in India

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

There's no understanding it.  India is a paradox - contradictions at every turn. Most of it doesn't make sense to westerners and we are no different.  Even after 4 previous visits, we still scratch our heads in amazement every single day. At the most confounding moments, we just laugh and say to one other, "Welcome to India!" 

The village of Mahabalipuram, India, is home to Acts of Mercy, the non-profit organization for which we volunteer. Mahabs (as the locals call it) is a tiny rural village about 4 sq. miles and yet home to approximately 12.000 people and countless cows, goats, and monkeys, who all fill the streets, seemingly at once. India is a communal society, with multi-generational large families living together in relatively small homes. Known for its historic temples and beautiful beaches, Mahab is a tourist town and therefore, somewhat more prosperous than more rural villages nearby, many consisting of one or two dirt streets lined with thatched huts. Mahabs is a village of old and new, with Hindu temples carved from red sandstone in the 7th century  standing next to newly constructed guest lodges. Brightly colored  paint adorns the newer businesses in an

The village of Mahabalipuram is reeling from an accident here yesterday.  A building under construction collapsed around 2pm. 14 men are hospitalized, some with head injuries, and 1 man died in the accident.  Our prayer is that Jesus will come and heal the injured and comfort the family and friends of those affected. If you are willing to join us in this prayer, please post your name in the comments below, along with your city and/or state.  Our teachers here would be very moved to know that people, on the other side of the world, whom they don't even know, are praying for the people of this village. We invite you to share this prayer request with others and let us know so that we may pass along this support to our dear friends here. 
 
Two years ago, while we were here, 2 of our teachers experienced the death of the husband of a close friend and we were all moved by the plight of the widow.  Her husband lost consciousness and died of unknown causes at this job site in a hotel restaurant. His co-workers brought his body home, where his wife found a friend with a car and they took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead of unknown causes. The police were called and the widow was accused of murder, because she had delivered the body to the hospital. She left Mahab that day, to escape persecution and never returned, not even for her husband's funeral. The story is heart-wrenching but an example of the treatment of women, and especially the horrendous persecution of widows that goes every day in this culture. Surely, it breaks God's heart. We know it breaks ours.

We are constantly reminded that India is a very dark place with many evil spirits. These people need Jesus so desperately. While we are here, we are also constantly reminded that the most important work we do here is to pray. Hindu and Christian teachers here with us are praying side-by-side - with us and for us.  We believe that if you are following our story, God has called you to participate as well, even if from half a world away. Last time, many of you took this prayer request to your prayer groups, forwarded the story in emails, and asked others to pray too.  That day, we received the highest number of readers to this blog in a single day - 192, many of whom even Jim and I don't even know. Our teachers were moved to tears and prayer. It was a powerful example of the expansive and deep love of Jesus around the world. This, alone, causes many to want to "drink from this water", as well. Won't you please join us?  Please feel free to copy this URL and/or story and post it on your Facebook pages, take to your prayer groups, or forward in emails. Please let us know, in the comments, below, as you hear of others praying for this village.  The impact of this simple networking may make the different in the lives of these teachers and their friends in their acceptance of Jesus as the Great Healer and Comforter for all people - Christians, non-believers, Hindus, and more. 

We are praying for all readers of this blog and asking God to bless your faithfulness. 
Jim, Susan, and Charlie

After yesterday’s comfortable homecoming to India, I think we could call our
second day in India an interesting detour of opportunities.

Detour #1 - AC
When Susan and I awoke we discovered that when the power went off and back on in the middle of the night, the air conditioner in Charlie’s room had not come
back on. He was a good sport about the discomfort, but had spent much of the night trying to make it work. You may recall our great joy yesterday, when we 
discovered that all of the comforts of our home worked perfectly, even the first
time. It had been a great 12 hours of comfort, but I will tell you, we were not
completely surprised to wake to this new development. We called Kavita, our Acts of Mercy “fixer“, to find someone to fix the air conditioning, but based on our past experiences, we thought it might take a while to get the AC problem resolved so we also began thinking of alternative
solutions over breakfast. Susan spent a few extra minutes getting ready and I think she regretted not practicing, over the past year, how to properly drape her Sari. But soon she was beautifully wrapped in her Ivory Sari (with a more than a few extra pins for security) and we were on our way to school, all the while, the heat and humidity and the broken AC in the back of our minds.

We were greeted very warmly by all the teachers, who told us they were excited to see us again and had  been waiting for us to arrive for several days. The children presented us with bouquets of flowers during Morning Assembly as we enjoyed seeing how they had grown in the past year. Afterwards, Susan and

Frosty cold milk, fresh mangos, French toast, & Indian coffee!  Add warm
hugs and great smiles from our dear friends, John & Carol Christian.  What a
warm welcome home!

It had been a long trip covering 2.5 days, from Houston to Chennai, and we
were happy to finally be back in India. We purchased tickets at a great rate,
but when CheapOAirfare.com wanted to charge us $45 apiece for 3 seats together, we went “CheapO” ourselves. We decided to trust in God and the airline and opted out of the $135 expense. When we checked in at the airport, we were delighted to find our assigned seats were all together in the center of the second cabin, which seemed like an answered prayer.  When we boarded, however, God demonstrated His abundance when we learned that the airplane was half-empty and we could choose our own seats and spread out over several rows.  Quite a treat for a 14 hour flight to Dubai. After a layover in Dubai, the connecting flight on to Chennai was a little more crowded but we were all together and it was only
about four hours and quite acceptable.

When we arrived in Chennai, we were greeted with unusually cool temperatures - 73 degrees (although 3:00 AM) and quickly claimed our bags and cleared customs. There was no wait at the taxi stand and there was a currency exchange 30 feet away so within a half hour,  we were headed to Mahabalipuram in an “A/C Taxi”.

A week before our departure from Texas, our Indian hosts, John and Carol Christian, had invited us “come home for breakfast” at  their lovely farm home, Fresh Winds. What a joy to be greeted with those glorious smiles and welcome hearts. Soon we were enjoying fresh mangos and French Toast and best of all, fresh milk from the Fresh Winds dairy.

We enjoyed renewing our close friendship and after a short visit, John drove us to our rental home in the village, which is the same house we stayed in last year.  We were excited to be moving into the house so soon in our visit, as we had previously stayed in a hotel for several  nights as logistics were arranged. We got REALLY excited when we found that not only did the air conditioners in 
both bedrooms turn on, they actually pumped cool air. The refrigerator was in place and yes, it seemed to be working, too. Was it too much to hope for the well pump to actually deliver running water as well?  We were not disappointed as we settled our luggage and enjoyed a refreshing shower for the first time in 3 days. Still in awe of how easy and comfortable our arrival had been, we thanked God and settled in for a long nap to sleep away a bit of the jet lag.

We’ve accumulated a number of Indian household items through the years and we store them at the Acts of Mercy office between visits. Before leaving us at the house, John had arranged for Justin, the Acts of Mercy caretaker, driver, and jack-of-all trades, to pick us up in the afternoon so we could retrieve our home items and pick up the Acts of Mercy van, our main transportation during the month we will spend here. As I shook off the cobwebs from the nap, I heard the familiar honk of the school bus and was excited to see Justin and school bus full of children, all waving at us with great big smiles. Susan was still a little groggy and missed the bus, but Charlie (our mission partner this year) and I climbed aboard and enjoyed delivering each of the children home. Back at Achiever Academy, my focus switched to re-familiarizing myself with the van and I was glad I remembered that there is no working gas gauge in this near-ancient vehicle. After getting reassurance from Justin that there was plenty of petrol, we headed back to the house to pick up Susan and headed to our favorite restaurant for dinner.

We received a very warm welcome from the waiter at the restaurant and were honored when he remembered Susan’s and my favorite order and even how we preferred it prepared.  Soon after we ordered, the owner of the restaurant, our friend Jacques, came by to give us a warm and familiar greeting and we enjoyed renewing our long friendship with him. How wonderful to have such good friends and relationships half a world away.

After a delicious dinner we dropped by the market to pick up a few staples to get us through the next day and once more, realized how good it felt to be “home“ again in Mahabalipuram. When we walked in the market we were greeted us with a squeal from Kavita, the gracious office manager of  Acts of Mercy, and the one responsible for all our living arrangements. Kavita introduced us to the clerk at the market and a new friendship was formed. Susan had just been talking about how our relationships are similar to a spider web in that we have direct contacts with individuals, but there are also so many branches of people who know the same people we know. Our web of influence and blessing in India just keeps widening.  No trip to the store is quick, as Susan frequently discovers a few more things we might need but it was not long before we were on our way with a 5 gallon bottle of drinking water, juice, cereal, bread and a flat of fresh eggs, and a generous supply of cleaning products.

As I wove the van through the traffic and pedestrians (both human and bovine) I was contrasting the ease of transition these three travel days to India had been - a stark contrast to previous trips here. Those who have followed our previous travels to India may remember that in years past, we have waited more than a day for air conditioning and sometimes longer for a refrigerator. Fresh, clean water was iffy at best. How could we have ever imagined just four years ago that we would be able to fly to India, be greeted by true Christian friends, easily move into a wonderful house for a much needed nap, have a vehicle provided, enjoy a
delicious dinner and shop on the way home. It was a blessing to be greeted as treasured friends and made so very welcome at every stop.

On the drive home, we marveled at all the blessings of our warm “Welcome Home”. Comfortable, spacious airplane seating. Unseasonable cool temperatures in India. Easy navigation of our airport arrival. Wonderful breakfast with dear friends on an Indian farm. (Did I mention the milk? ) Simple move-in process for our home for the next month - so simple we had time for a long nap. Delicious dinner and the renewal of friendships all across the village.  Yes, it was a very comfortable and happy “Welcome Home”.

It reminds me of a favorite prayer:  "God is good all the time. All the time, God is good. For such is the nature of God."

From our home in India to yours,
Jim

Four years ago, we accepted God's invitation to join him in his work in India. As we worked side by side with Acts of Mercy and the villagers of Mahabalipuram through the years, our relationship with many people grew. At the same time, we received yet another blessing as the personal relationship between the two of us grew as well. Over time, we recognized the gift of love for one another that God placed in our hearts and we honored that gift by deciding to marry.

Because our families are so important to each of us and also to one another, we chose to host our wedding in a family-reunion style weekend and as the families joined together, we realized that instead of a family re-union, in reality, God was giving us a Family New-Union. On April 13, 2013 in the presence of our families and a few close friends, we pledged our lives to Christ and to one another and we became husband and wife, as well as partners in ministry.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul teaches us, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."  We are living proof that the Creator's creativity in our lives never ends, no matter our age or stage in life. We are leaving for India today, Tuesday, July 9th, and will spend 4 weeks in Mahabalipuram as a New Creation in Christ.  We would be privileged to have you join us on our journey, through this blog and through your prayers. And, as always, we would love to hear from each of you and pray for the new creation Christ is bringing to your lives as well.

On the road to India,
Jim & Susan Garvin