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It’s now Friday night, since I haven’t had an opportunity for blogging since Thursday morning. Actually, I haven’t had any chance to get on the Internet, either. The hotel’s connection was down, which was disappointing. So by the time you read this, it will have been some time since I was on, and you’ll be getting a whole bunch of updates at once. Planning on getting to a café tomorrow and doing all my internetting.

The tourist guide for Angkor and Siem Reap recommended a one day tour of the temples in the area if all we wanted to see were the highlights. It was enough, for sure, since many of the temples look much alike. But we were able to choose a few that had some unique features, along with Angkor Wat itself, of course, and we got a good overview of the architecture, the history, and the scope of the ruins.

We were met by our guide, Rith, about 9 am at the hotel. He was a really nice young guy, and a good guide. We kept trying to get things around to spiritual things (working on the comparative religions theme to try to open the door), but he wasn’t biting, I’m sorry to say. This area is now a national “park” of sorts, and the jungle has been allowed to reclaim much of it, so the woods are green and beautiful and dense around the temples. We were able to see the famous faces of the Bayon temple complex, and climb into its interior to explore it from the inside out. There are symmetrical towers throughout the temple, and each one has four faces on it, each facing the points of the compass. From there we stopped at another temple close by the name of which I don’t remember, which had a long causeway leading up to it, symbolizing the journey from earth to heaven. Many of these temples are “mountain” temples, meaning they represent sacred mountains of the ancient Brahman mythology. They take a lot of climbing to get up into them. There was another one nearby that we could have climbed, the so-called “Temple of Heaven,” but we’d had enough climbing by then.  We passed through the ruins of the ancient palace, and wound up on the Elephant Terrace, which bordered a kind of parade ground where the king would be entertained, returning armies would be reviewed, and the general populace addressed. Quite impressive.

Our final stop of the morning was Pa Thom, the temple where the famous strangler fig trees are reclaiming the temple by slowing crushing it to bits. Even though we were extremely hot and tired by then, it was worth the effort. The trees are magnificent. Mark and I commented to one another that we found it particularly satisfying that God’s creation was overcoming man’s perverse creation. Sure, the temples were amazing and must have really been beautiful in their prime, but they are attempts to imitate divine truth according to man’s imagination, which never works.

After lunch, we returned to Angkor Wat itself for a tour. This place is immense! If you want a detailed history of the temple complex, you can check out the internet on it, but the accomplishment here, particularly in carvings, mostly bas relief, is incredible. What really is something to consider is that from the 1100s to the about the time of the beginnings of the Reformation in Europe, major kingdoms vied for supremacy in this area, many of which we had never heard. The population is estimated to have been over 1 million around the temple and palace complexes! Yet Westerners never hear much about anything else in the world outside of Europe going on at that time. Very interesting stuff, mostly about battles, and quite a bit of mythology.

Came home really wiped and rested for a bit – it was a really hot day, and it sapped us. After awhile, though, we got pretty hungry, and set off in search of dinner. This is more dangerous than it sounds, since this part of Cambodia was at one time infested with crocodiles. In ancient times, they actually used to fill the motes around the temples and palaces with them as a pretty reliable line of defense. You really have to be careful as they tend to lurk in the ditches beside roads, and we were walking down to the Old Market. Once in the vicinity we came face to face with a crocodile! Not just a crocodile, but a python, too. We, however, were not afraid. We cooked them over an open flame. They were delicious. So were the chicken, pork, and fish portions that the restaurant gave us. Mark had spotted this place on Wednesday evening, and we just had to try it. After that, a short walk around in the cooling evening air, and then back to the hotel for the night.

Friday it was back to the bus station to catch our bus, and a long 6 hours back to Phnom Penh. Once back in Mark’s place we rested up and then set out to rent me a motorcycle for the remainder of our time here, since it will be quite a bit cheaper than paying taxis or tuk-tuks to take us everywhere. More fun, too. That’s when our adventure started. The moto rental place is at the other end of town, so I climbed on the back of Mark’s 100cc and we took off. Clouds were threatening on the horizon, so we wanted to make sure we picked up my bike and did some errands before they unloaded on us. About halfway there, the back tire blew, a slow leak apparently aggravated by putting two people on it whose total weight is about 3 times the weight of the whole bike! Meanwhile, the rain had moved in more quickly that we anticipated, and the skies opened up. There was nowhere to get out of the rain, so Mark pushed his moto while I walked along the sidewalk, both of us getting drenched. Even now, hours later, my clothes are still wet. Anyway, we finally found a guy who fixes flats on the sidewalk. He uses a unique method for putting a patch on tubes. He takes some petroleum based goop and smears it on the back of a piece of rubber, puts it over the hole, lays a piece of flattened aluminum can over that, and then a puts the whole thing in a clamp with a little steel cylinder in which he pours some fuel and lights on fire! It melts the goop and softens the rubber, which fuses itself to the inner tube permanently. Seventy-five cents and an hour later (he had several to fix before ours), we were on our way again. We rented my bike finally, and then set off to find our restaurant in the dark. Took a while, but it was worth it. It was a place named after William Tell, and featured Swiss and German food. We started off with cheese fondue, and then had some traditional German dishes. Good stuff. A long ride home, and now we’re enjoying unwinding a bit. Talk to you again tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers!

Mark and I decided to go cheap and we took a luxury bus up to Siem Reap for only $22 each round trip. It really was a nice bus, but after 5 hours of being sardined next to each other we were beginning to wish that we had flown up here! Especially since we get to do it again on Friday morning when we head back to Phnom Penh. Anyway, we used the time to get caught up and talked through Mark’s ministry plans for the years to come.

The countryside between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap doesn’t vary much. It’s mostly a flood plain that stretches away flat as far as you can see in all directions, dotted with palm trees and laid out with a checkerboard of small farms. Occasionally a small hill appears, usually capped with a temple. Sometimes, far off in the distance to the south a line of hills appears. It struck me that it is no wonder that during the time of the genocide here people tried very hard to get south and west into the mountains toward Thailand, where it would be much easier to hide. The country is so flat and open that moving from one point to another without detection would be next to impossible, especially if you had a group of people. It is also a main reason why so many did not escape. If you’ve never watched the movie, “The Killing Fields,” you should.

This time of year is usually very dry and hot, but it has been significantly cooler this year, and quite rainy, so everything is beautifully green instead of the usual brown. Most of the villages that we go through simply line the road on either side. Different villages seem to specialize in different trades, whether farming, or stone carving, or lumber, or concrete (making posts, water pipes, etc.). One village was famous for carving Buddhas out of stone, and they lined the road by the thousands in various stages of completion. I was reminded of the biblical statement of the sad irony that must be true of every idolater: “…every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion…” (Jeremiah 10:14, 15).

Cambodia started off as a Hindu nation due to Indian incursion into the area during the Angkor period in the 8^th-13^th centuries. The temples we’ll see today are actually Hindu places of worship, and we’ll see more idols there relating to Shiva and the asparas (kind of the Hindu substitute for biblical angels). We’re not going for the religious experience though, of course, but rather to appreciate the cultural significance of the place and the wonder and beauty that is there. Upon arriving, we unloaded at our hotel – an awesome place that we got at half price because we’re here in the off season – and walked down to the “Old Market” where most of the tourist craft shops are. We pretty much explored the area in entirety, had some good Khmer food, and saved our money for another day. After an evening meal on a balcony overlooking Pub Street (a street lined with restaurants and shops), we headed back to crash for the night. We hired a guide and a car for our tour of some of the temples tomorrow, and it should be a great day. More on that later! One more thing that I have to mention. Mark and I now know from experience the significance of the phrase, “The elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top.” For some weird reason, our hotel’s elevator only went to floor 4, and our rooms were on floor 5! No idea why, but we had to take stairs to finish our trip to the top floor. Still, very nice rooms, and a great breakfast every morning.

My final day in Singapore was a good opportunity to get to know this vibrant city-state a little better. Jack and Angie are excellent guides, and after a leisurely morning we caught the MRT train towards downtown. There, we took a leisurely walk past historic colonial era buildings and monuments as we headed for our objective, Fort Canning and the Battle Box. Our path took us along the Singapore River, past the spot where the founder of modern Singapore, Mr. Raffles, first stepped ashore nearly 200 years ago. We watched river taxis begin their day quietly puttering up and down.  Though only mid-morning, the temperature was already in the mid-30s with high humidity. Every breeze was a blessing! Most of the shops and restaurants along the waterfront were closed at that time of day, but the colors and views were nevertheless delightful.

We eventually reached Fort Canning, which is situated at the top of a hill. A short, steep climb up the staircase took us to a gorgeous walk through the tropical forest that now surround the old British fort.

 The entire grounds are now a national park. It was here that the British established the entire Malaya strategic command during WWII. Underground at the top of the hill is the “Battle Box” – a bunker best known as the place where the decision to surrender Singapore to the Japanese was made on February 15, 1942. As a result of that surrender, British and Australian POWs were moved into the mainland jungles to build roads, bridges, railways (remember “Bridge Over the River Kwai”?) to aid the Japanese advance. Many never returned. It was an interesting and sobering reminder of realties of war in a fallen world so often motivated by greed, lust for power, and cruelty, as well as the nobility that often is never seen unless such circumstances exist.

We were joined for lunch at the fort by Mr. John Chin, chairman of Life BP Church’s Missions Committee, and had a great time of fellowship and preparation for a meeting later in the evening with the Committee as a whole. Afterwards, he dropped us at Sim Lim Electronics Centre, which is nothing short of techie heaven. The entire building id dedicated to electronics shops. If you can plug it in, you can find it here at wholesale prices that you can often get even lower by bargaining. I needed a few odds and ends, and came away with good stuff at great prices thanks to Jack and Angie, who know how to negotiate in Chinese!

We returned home in time for a brief meal and then I was off to my meeting with the Missions Committee. Life Church has a long history of missions outreach; indeed, every BP church in Singapore (all 40 or 50 of them) can trace its lineage back to Life either directly or indirectly. So I was a little curious as to what wisdom I could possibly bring to their discussion about the future of their works in the region. Bu leadership changes at Life have been used of the Lord to raise up a fresh and earnest group of men and women who are seeking to reevaluate their policies so that the legacy of faithful outreach and missions will continue even more strongly. It was a great nohor to converse with them, answer questions, and enjoy the knitting together of hearts in the common love of the work of the gospel. The three hours went by quickly!

The day wasn’t over yet, as I still had to pack, and sleep didn’t happen until after midnight. It was a short night, as I had an early flight out in the morning. I had a lengthy layover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a first for me. It is one of the most beautiful settings for an airport that I’ve seen. The morning mist clings to the terraced hills and jungle all around, stubbornly fighting the morning sun’s attempts to clear it away. Infinite shades of green stretch out into the mist. I wished that I had just a little more time to just take off and do some exploring before the next leg of the journey on to Phnom Penh. Perhaps another time….

Arrived in Phnom Penh safely, and was greeted by Rev. Mark Baldwin at the airport. We had a great day today, touring the city, getting a feel for potential church planting sites, and just getting caught up. We finished it off with a wonderful traditional Khmer meal at a restaurant on the Tonle Sap River called the Titanic…why, I don’t know, as the décor is about as traditional Khmer as you could wish for. As we waited for our meal to arrive, we watched a rare storm come in upon us (this is supposed to be the dry season, but it has been cooler and wetter than it has been for many years), loving the feel of the breeze after the heat of the day. We had to retreat from the patio due to the rain, and the skies just opened up, complete with lightning. It was great. We caught a ride home in a tuk-tuk, a cart pulled by a small motorcycle, and enjoyed the cool air some more.

Tomorrow, we head for the spiritual and historical center of Cambodia – Siem Reap, and the Angkor Wat temple complex. I’ll be writing you again from there. In the meantime, please pray for our time together this week; safety in travels about the country, and guidance for our decisions regarding expanding the work of Christ in Cambodia.

Today was a busy and blessed day. I spent it with Jack Sin and the congregation at Maranatha Bible Presbyterian Church here in Singapore. I preached and sang in the morning service, enjoyed lunch on the church grounds with the congregation, and then presented a seminar in the afternoon on the Call and Cost of Discipleship. After a brief rest, I had the privilege of a wonderful meal (prawns, lots of pepper crab, fish, and loads of delectable goodies to accompany them all) and fellowship with three couples from the church for a long, relaxed, and satisfying end to a precious day of fellowship and worship.

Worship at Maranatha is quite similar to the style that we are used to in the States. The Singapore BP churches all began when Dr. Timothy Tow returned to the island after being trained at Faith Theological Seminary and started Life BP Church in 1950.  The brethren here still cherish the relationships that have developed over the years with their US BP brethren. It is a blessing to be among such brethren, who hold fast to the truths of the Protestant Reformation, and whose hearts burn with passion for souls who do not know the blessings of a relationship with the Lord Jesus.

It was a hot day here, even the local folks said it was more so than usual, and I’ve about run out of juice. It was the kind of day where you look for shade, and I found some under a coconut palm next to the church, so I thought I’d take a picture of it for the blog. More to come tomorrow after a day on the town!

Arrived in Singapore more or less on schedule last evening, greeted as I landed by lush green gardens dotted with flowers, palms, and manicured lawns lining the runway. It’s a little cooler here than in India (about 30c when I landed at 5 pm, compared to 42c in Delhi), but much more humid, so it feels almost the same to me.

Singapore is an amazing city, noted for its cleanliness, no chewing gum ordinance (see prior item), strict laws against drug smuggling (mandatory death penalty with no extradition), and cosmopolitan mixture of Chinese, English, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Indian cultures. Huge highrises downtown, and apartment buildings everywhere help house everyone nicely, and the traffic flows along with less (apparent) chaos than in India. A friend in India told me with a smile several times, “India has everything, it just is not in order!” Here, it’s in order.

The first “order” of the day was to meet my dear friends, Jack and Angie Sin. They are keeping me at their flat in what I now consider to be my room, since this is my fourth visit here. Let me tell you, there’s not a B&B anywhere that can do any better at making someone comfortable and welcome. I’m going to have to avoid telling about all the great stuff they are feeding me, or you’ll think that all I do here is eat! Well, OK, we went out for steak last night, and Angie prepared homemade laksa, which is a spicy soup that is a great favorite of mine, for lunch today. Oh man, was that good. The Lord just keeps the culinary blessings that he started in India coming my way.

After an easy morning of getting oriented for the weekend, we headed off this afternoon to the mother church of the Singapore BP world, Life BP Church. We held the afternoon conference there because of the size of the anticipated gathering. The conference was called “Father God or Mother Earth? A Christian Response to the Ecological Crisis.” One of the pics, above, is of the large flyer they designed and printed up for distribution. I had the privilege of the pulpit as I spoke, and the 250+ people had the opportunity to ask questions of a panel after my lecture and tea time. Anyway, the questions were good, and I was joined on the panel by the Rev. Dr. Jack Sin and the Rev. Charles Seet. Dr. Sin pastors Maranatha BP church and Rev. Seet is pastoring Life Church. Rev. Isaac Ong chaired the panel discussion. It was a blessing to join with the congregation in singing hymns at various times trough the afternoon. The Singaporean believers love to sing praises, and they do it with great zeal.

The seminar was just about three hours long, and afterwards I had the privilege of — you guessed it — eating again! We went to a little Chinese restaurant not far from the church and enjoyed a wonderful dinner there with a number of the pastors and a gentleman who is preparing to study for the ministry. It was a blessed time. I also had the privilege of providing some light entertainment for the brethren as they enjoyed my exasperating attempts to devour a large prawn still in its shell with chopsticks and a spoon. It took a bit to dismantle it, but I did it eventually. Seemed to work off some of the calories, so all in all it was a success.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day at Maranatha, preaching, teaching, and singing. (Probably will eat again, too.) I put in a picture of the congregation as it was last summer, since I probably won’t get one of everyone tomorrow. Hope to get more pictures from the services, fellowship times, and afternoon seminar on discipleship. If I can scrounge a couple from someone who took some at today’s meeting, I add them later to this post.

As always, thanks for your prayers. God is so good to me.

We began our day today enjoying breakfast with the Principal of Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Dr. Chacko, and taking a tour of the campus. It is a beautiful place, loaded with big shade trees, rose gardens, and wonderful facilities for the hundred or so students that attend there. They come from all over India, and some from Nepal as well. Maybe 20% are from Presbyterian churches, the rest from a variety of other traditions. In the afternoon we spent the better part of three hours teaching and fellowshipping with the students, meeting with members of the presbytery in this area, and getting a glimpse of the heritage of Bible Presbyterian missionaries from a generation ago. We taught on the importance and challenges of being “confessional” in our churches, meaning holding on firmly to the historical Reformed confessions of faith as a guide to our understanding of the Scriptures and to the government and discipline of the Church. Graduation is tomorrow, and the students were gracious enough to be a good audience even as they anticipated being set loose for the summer in two days!

We finished up the day at Anup Hiwale’s house for dinner (Domino’s pizza and wings, a very special treat), and will part company with him at the train station in the morning. He is a precious friend, and our parting will be bittersweet. We hope that we have been an encouragement to him and the work he is trying to do in this place. He is a faithful man of high integrity and unusual wisdom, and I am honored to call him my friend and colleague.

There’s another wedding outside tonight (our hotel is a popular spot for them apparently, and this is the wedding season around – looks like another loud one. Thankfully, they have to kill the noise at 10 pm. Tomorrow (Thursday here) will be a travel day mostly, back to Delhi. Backus heads back to New York around midnight. After a short night’s sleep for me, I take off for Singapore and ministry there for a few days. I am eager to renew my friendships with the brethren there. Next time I write, the Lord willing, I’ll be there. Thanks again for your prayers!

Since I wrote last, we’ve had an enormous amount of experience packed into just a couple of days. (Consequently, this is a long blog!) On Monday, we got up early and headed for one of the many trains stations scattered around Delhi and caught a 6 am train to Agra, the site of the Taj Mahal, Fatephur Sikri, and the Agra Fort. We figured that we couldn’t very well come to India and not see one of the wonders of the world.

First, though, we drove out with our guide to the site of the “Phantom City” of Fatephur Sikri. This huge city was built of red sandstone about 500 years ago by the great Moghul king Ahkbar the Great, who united India into a single kingdom and established a dynasty that lasted until the British conquered India. The palace complex has been amazingly preserved, and the stone work is incredible. We particularly liked the private audience hall, where the king sat above the floor in a throne perched on top of a lotus flower shaped pedestal (the lotus was the traditional seat of the gods).

Next, we traveled to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is situated. The Taj lived up to its reputation. I kept getting chills up my spine every time I looked at it – never thought I’d be able to stand next to, walk through, or touch this amazing place, and we did all three. We wandered over the grounds slowly, trying to take this enormous tomb’s dimensions and beauty in as best we could. The wonder doesn’t diminish when you get closer: it’s not just the size of the place, it’s also the detail. Made of hard crystallized marble, embedded with hundreds of thousands of tiny shaped pieces of semi-precious stones in the shape of trees, flowers, birds, leaves, vines, and other motifs, and carved profusely with bas relief flora images (not to mention the immense ornate carved screens made of single slabs of the marble), the closer you looked the more wonder there was. I don’t think I will ever forget visiting this place. I should mention that by the time we got to the Taj, the temp was nearing 110 degrees Fahrenheit! But, at least it was a dry heat (Dr. Backus hates it when I say that!).

After lunch and a little shopping for some of that wonderful marble work, which is still done by the descendants of the same family that was in charge of the work at the Taj hundreds of years ago, and done with exactly the same techniques (even the glue is the same, a secret family recipe), we took a brief tour of the Agra Fort, built by Ahkbar again in red sandstone. It is IMMENSE. You can’t go through most of it, since it is still occupied by the Indian military, but the palaces are beautiful. By then, it was time to head back to Delhi by plane, in time to catch another train up to Dehradun. During our layover, we were able to rest a bit at the Solankis’ house again, which was another blessing.

Our train to Dehradun was an overnight special, so both of us enjoyed a first-time experience of sleeping in a sleeping car on a train. Pretty cool, though the berth was a little short for me. We were met at the station by my good friend Anup Hiwale, whom I met back in the US a couple of years ago, and who is now laboring here for the Lord teaching and preaching and seeking to help a faithful Reformed and Presbyterian witness in this area. He is the one who made the initial invitation and who was our liaison with the brethren here in setting up this trip. We checked into our hotel, got a little breakfast and rest, and then set out for a visit of the area. Besides seeing a good bit of the city of Dehradun, which is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, we made a couple of very interesting stops. First, we visited the site of the oldest Presbyterian church building in the region, which was started by Bible Presbyterian missionaries a long time ago, and is still operating today in conjunction with a children’s home, started about the same time. The children who are there are not orphans: their parents are all lepers, and cannot be part of society (there’s actually a large leper colony right next to the Taj Mahal), so the kids come here to learn and be prepared for society. Out of this sad situation comes joy many times. The pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church is a close colleague of our friends Hiwale and Solanki, and adopted two of the girls years ago –those girls are now teachers at the children’s home school.

After a nice tea with the pastor and his wife, we set out for the Hindu holy city of Rishikesh, further up in the foothills, perched on the bank of the upper Ganges River. High mountains surround the town, and temples march up their flanks. Enormous multi-story buildings lined the river, occupied not by people but by thousands of idols. The locals call it “the city where the gods live.” We crossed the river twice on the suspension bridges that hang high over the water, and once on a boat. At water’s edge, people dipped themselves in the water in the belief that they were washing their sins away for the next year. Higher up the banks, pilgrims wandered through the narrow streets from temple to temple, trying to cover the bases. But with countless gods (I’ve heard estimates of anywhere from 36000 to 3.6 million) to try to appease, it’s a hopeless situation. I was struck with thankfulness that my sins are covered by the sacrificial blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, once for all, for eternity. He has satisfied the justice of the one true and living God, who is not and cannot be made by human hands.

Anyway, the ride there and back was really beautiful. In this foothill country the roads were winding and shaded under the forest as we drove through. It is much greener up here than down in Delhi and the plains. It is a land with wild elephants, though we didn’t see any, and lots of monkeys, which we did see. They hang out by the roads waiting for people to feed them and are generally a nuisance. On the way back, Anup wanted me to drive. We went by some back roads so there would be less traffic (have I mentioned how BAD the traffic is?), and I drove for a few kms. Haven’t done the left-hand driving for quite awhile, and there’s lot of passing on curves, and dodging pedestrians, cows, motos, and trucks. Car mirrors are folded in most of the time, because they go so close to each other that they would get ripped off if they were extended! It was fun, and I didn’t hit anything. Mission accomplished! We finished up the day with tea at the Hiwales’ apartment, which was a great way to end a most interesting couple of days. Tonight, as I write, a local wedding celebration is loudly going on outside our hotel – and I mean loud! But Dr. Backus is so tired that he’s sleeping through it like nothing was going on. As you can tell, it’s been an eventful couple of days.

Tomorrow, we will speak at Presbyterian Theological Seminary in the afternoon, and meet with faculty and students there. The following day we head back to Delhi, and prepare to part company as Dr. Backus heads back to New York and I continue on alone to Singapore. Won’t be alone for long, though…. Singaporean friends are awesome! Hope you enjoy the pics.

With a day off on Saturday, our hosts suggested that we complete the third leg of the “Golden Triangle” here, which is the city of Jaipur, in the state of Rajastan. The other two points of the triangle are Delhi and Agra, which we’ll head over to on Monday, the Lord willing. Jaipur’s history you can look up on the web yourself, but suffice it to say that it is a well-preserved medieval period city, and is the site of the magnificent Moghul palace called Amber (or, Amer, depending on who you talk to). It was a long ride down there, and we started early. We really were not prepared for what we saw and experienced. It was like stepping back in time. The beauty, the size and scope of the place, mounted on top of the hills and surrounded by walls resembling the Great Wall of China snaking over the ridges was stunning. We pretty much could anywhere in the palace, and explored it thoroughly.

Speaking of snakes, we did run into a snake charmer while we were there — and saw lots of elephants, camel carts — yeah, we weren’t expecting camels in India, either. Rajastan, though, is a desert state, similar in topography to inland Souther California, and camels do better than horses. We saw some monkeys, too, and there are parrots everywhere. It was a good day.

We finished off the day by returning to Delhi and enjoying the hospitality of Pastor Solanki and his family. He and his family have become very precious to us. And, I have to say, his wife is a marvelous cook. She prepared the best Indian food I’ve ever had, bar none. Anyway, we enjoyed fellowship until late in the evening as we learned more about the ongoing work of the presbytery here, and talked about the vision of planting 25 churches in Delhi and its suburbs. Right now, Solanki’s church of about 50 people has started seven other congregations, and is beginning work on an eigth. They are systematically making a ring around the city, with the idea of eventually having a Bible Presbyterian church within 5-7 kms from anywhere in the city. It’s a great vision, and they are well on their way.

This morning we gathered with the central church here in Delhi with the congregation. They do not own a building, but rent space from Faith Academy, an independent Christian school founded by Rev. John Dorsey, who I mentioned previously as being instrumental in the establishment of the church as well. In a simple classroom, the believers gather, seat themselves on the floor on rugs (women on the left, men on the right), sing praises, recite the Catechism, read the Scriptures, and attend carefully to the Word. I was privileged to preach this morning, and Backus brought greetings from our churches here in the States. It was a great time of worship and fellowship.

Tomorrow morning early, we catch a train to Agra for the day to see the Taj Mahal and some other sites there. From there we head north to Dehradun for a few days, where we will visit and minister at the presbytery’s seminary. More on these things in the days to come….

Thanks for your prayers.

This morning (Friday 18 April), we wrapped up our seminar on church planting and government with the brethren here in Delhi. It’s been a tremendous time. This morning I was a little woozy, since I decided to take a sleeping pill last night — the dopey feeling stayed with me on into the morning, and I had to skip Dr. Backus’ session to go lie down. I gave the closing message of the seminar, and the Lord was gracious to me and provided the strength and clarity of mind that I needed.

After lunch, we all went our separate ways, the brethren returning to their homes around the country, and Backus and I being treated to an afternoon tour of some of the city’s monuments, prominent buildings, and beautiful neighborhoods by a deacon in the main church here, Mr. Carol Peters. This dear brother owns a tour company here, and has taken it upon himself to make sure that we are well provided for in the way of transportation and local knowledge. He is a gracious and articulate host, and we enjoyed our afternoon together much. Tomorrow, he’ll be taking us to the “Pink City” of Jaipur, some 160 km from Delhi (we’re leaving early!) to see an entirely different side of India. We’re looking forward to it. I’m throwing in an assortment of pictures from our day today. I also took some video of the brethren singing, which was a blessing. As soon as I get it down into a manageable file, I’ll post a little of that as well. Thanks again for your prayers!

Well, today was a good day again. Neither Kevin nor I slept well last night, so we were pretty tired as the day began. Nonetheless, we had an excellent day of teaching — so much so that our host, Pastor Solanki, wants to use our materials in his training for the licentiates of the presbytery here for the next several years! We are humbled and grateful for this development.

Turns out there is already a good working presbytery here, which we were not expecting. The churches have their roots in the work of BP missionary John Dorsey, now with the Lord since 2002. He left behind a legacy of churches and mission stations that are doing their best to do thing properly. There are 8 congregations in the Delhi area, two of which have ordained pastors. The others are training for ordination. The process for ordination is very rigorous, more than most American churches. There are two licentiates as well who oversee local works. They have been planting churches at a rate of about one a year for the past several years now. There are also five lay pastors from the eastern state of Orissa, and one from the Mombai area as well. Some of these men took two days to get here by train! Altogether, there are about fifteen or sixteen men attending these lectures.

We are teaching in the general area of church planting and church government. The response has been very good, and we have just one day left to finish up tomorrow here. We shall regroup over the weekend, see a few sights, worship and minister at Faith Bible Presbyterian Church in Delhi on the Lord’s Day, and then head north to Dehradun to minister at the Presbytery’s seminary there. We’ll be teaching on the importance and challenges of confessional Christianity there. We are expecting about 115 students to attend those lectures.

It was pretty warm today, and the power in the building kept cycling on and off, which made presenting difficult at times. Finally, my laptop quit entirely — thought I had lost it for good, but it turns out I only fried the battery. I’ll replace it in Singapore, the Lord willing. In the meantime, it works just fine without the battery in it and plugged in directly.

Traffic in Delhi is living up to its reputation, with a lot of gridlock. It was worse than usual today because of the running of the Olympic torch through the middle of the city, which shut down the city center for several hours. Our taxi added to the congestion by quitting about a kilometer from our hotel. We walked the rest of the way. It was faster! Today we have seen (one or the other of us) a man riding an elephant down the street, sacred cows clogging up the works on the streets, women in saris wielding mattocks in a street construction project, and more motos, bicycles, trishaws, and pedestrians weaving in and out of traffic than you can shake stick at. Solanki tells me that he will let me ride his scooter around on Saturday, which I may or may not do, depending on the schedule. Backus already has dibs on my laptop, even without the battery! Seriously, we may head out to see a beautiful and ancient area outside of Delhi called Jaipur “”The Pink City,” complete with palaces, etc. One of the deacons of the church operates a tour company here, and is happily taking us around.

Well, I’ll sign off for tonight. Thanks for your prayers for us as we travel.