Incredible India

I first saw you about 14 years ago while I was working at a plant nursery, in walked this beautiful couple! She was wearing a red saree, he was in a white kurta.  I saw, I stared, I followed. I was mesmerized!  I didn't know you then. But, I wanted to...

January 2019-May 2019 

The start of 7 States in India and 4 countries.

Incredible India your woman are the most beautiful dressed in their colorful sariees. Like beautiful birds of the amazon jungle.

Your hospitality was the best, us westerners should learn from you. There is always time for a cup of chai and conversation. We hurry up and wait, no problem... would you like another cup of chai?

Incredible India....where cows rule the road, and goats and skinny dogs are everywhere.

Incredible India....traffic rules don't exist, nor do back seat, seat belts....hold on for dear life....every trip was an obstacle course of speed bumps, cows, goats, cows, dogs, cows, bikes, and cows..... honk honk honk.....how do they stay alive?

Incredible India.....where horns are the most important part of a car!  honk honk communication.... I see you-honk, I am passing you-honk, I am next to you-honk, get out of my way-honk, lets play chicken-honk! and people sit anywhere they can...on top of cars, hanging off the side and even on the back of the spare tire going down the freeway, really!

Incredible India....how many can you fit on a motorcycle, two, three, a family of five and a goat! How many cartons of eggs can you carry? How about an 8 foot ladder? No problem.

web photo

Incredible India....why is everyone called Aunty or Uncle? would you like a cup of chai?

Incredible India...what does the side to side head shake mean? yes or no? It was your answer to everything...would like a cup of chai?

Incredible India...where kids walk around naked and pee anywhere...where cows sleep in the roads at night! Where boys and men hold hands and sit with their arms around each other and they are not gay...Where MEN ask for directions! Where MEN ask for directions...oh, I already said that...but would you like a cup of chai?

Holding hands

Incredible India...you have been invaded by cel phones.....groups of youth just like in America were huddled around cel phones, we drove over an hour from a far village to a remote village....and there coming down the road was a man sitting on a wooden ox cart, pulled by two Indian bulls, and this man was on a cel phone! True Story!

Incredible India...did I mention the grass roof shacks with  satellite dishes?

Incredible India....I loved your bambo homes coated in cow poo and clay and those chirping geckos in every home. I loved your baby goats in the room next to your bedrooms! But, the milk cows on your front porch, that was to close for me...would you like a cup of chai?

Incredible India...some things must change, the women taking  drinks while bathing and washing their clothes in dirty creek water....while just upstream was a dead chicken....education is needed, please!

Putting needed wells in

Incredible India...what to do with your trash....it fills your streets and gutters, it burns your nose and lungs, it washes down the street to the rivers to the sea. I am sorry you have to live this way...lets have a cup of chai.

Incredible India...your trash burning hurt my lungs, made me cough, cracked my ribs. Your hard mattresses left bruises on my bones. Yet, many sleep on the floor with no bed, no pad. I am spoiled. Ashamed of my luxuries...

Beds with no pads

Incredible India....I hate to say, I hate to admit, but I liked your squatty pottys on the floor.

Incredible India....You made the Bible come alive. Men and women on different sides of the church. Women, no asking your husband questions from across the room! Oh, and "Just Weights and Measures", and then the affection of men, like John laying his head against Jesus' chest....I was jealous of their ability for natural affection, something that is not natural in me...then Peter taking the crippled man by the right hand, rise and walk he said.  The left hand is unclean...toilet paper is a luxury in India...but Chai tea is everywhere!

Incredible India...I can not lie,  I am a shy eater and did not enjoy being served and watched with every bite. Please just sit and eat with us...like family.

Incredible India....your neighbor Bangladesh was beautiful also. My highlight was the twice daily boat ride up and down the river canal to visit the children. The beautiful children. But, many in the city were not like you, the older ones stared with eyes of suspicion, and the younger wanted selfies. Haven't they ever seen a paleface before?  My face is all over Bangladesh Facebook.

Incredible India....the people of Nepal and Bhutan looked different then you. They were just as beautiful, yet so different. In America you see everyone, from every nation. It is so common I don't even notice the variety. Yet, these neighbors are so close, yet look so different. Why the separation? God says there is no difference, He loves all the same.

Incredible India....you stared, you watched, you followed me, just like I followed you!

Incredible India....you will forever be upon my mind and memories. Your people, your customs, your hospitality, your chai tea.. It took many years to get to you, but, what an Incredible time we had, Incredible India!

My English tutoring student, Deep.

A Joy, and a new Journey for him

Incredible India...you made us love you, you made us cry in our goodbyes, your faces are forever ethched upon our hearts and minds! Incredible India....We will come again!

COFFEE!

Abbynormals Journey from 24 acres to 24 feet.

Grab a cup of coffee or tea, cause this may take a while. 

Packed again!

For the second time, we were packed and ready to go. On March 16th we had one last teach-and-show-me-how tour for the new owners  then we turned over the keys of our farm to another family, and drove off. That was almost 4 months ago.  It all feels very surreal.  Like a dream. Daniel drove the box van that pulled our 24 ft. trailer and I drove the Honda Element. Everything we now owned was with us. 


The timing of our move was perfect. Even though we were frustrated after two buyers backed out. This third time was God's time. We had prayed for years that God would bring the right family to our farm. And because He is faithful, He did.  This new family has blended into the church and community perfectly. Even the timing of us leaving was perfect.

 We stopped in at the Birkenfeld church for their once a month community lunch to say our goodbyes.

In front of church.

After lunch we headed to Portland for a family gathering on Daniels side.

Daniel and 2 of his boys and grandkids.

Daniel and his daughter Bethany and grandson.

Heading to La Pine, OR

                                                                                                                                                                    Then we headed to La Pine OR for a few days to see my grandma, who is 98 and my mom and dad.

Timing #1.  As we crossed out of Oregon into the Nevada desert we were behind a women who drifted into the on coming traffic of an 18 wheeler!  They hit right bumper to right bumper which sent her little SUV flying and tumbling through the air into the desert. We were first responders and were able to pray with her and be there with her until the police came. She was okay!

Heading to Las Vegas to see family

Danny and Tamara's new home

Easter Sunday

Daniel-son, Tamara and me

The three Daniels

Timing #2  My daughter Tamara, her husband Danny and their two kids were in the middle of moving into a new home with land in Las Vegas, so we had room to set up our trailer. Their place also had a well and septic system. We had experience with these and were able to be there when some BIG issues came up....like tree roots in the septic line going to the house! Us being there to help them move in, start some remodeling and to get the water and septic all working right saved them tons of money. We stayed at their place for 3 weeks and also had time with my son Daniel and my friend Kate and very long time friends Mark and Melody. 

Kate

Mark and Melody with daughter

Timing #3 From Las Vegas we headed to Kingman to see my sister, Victoria for one night. She had a friend that had just found out that he had throat cancer. We laid hands on him and spoke healing and life to his body. We found out a few weeks later, no cancer!

New boots with my sis

It took us about 4 days to get from Kingman AZ to Austin TX where my daughter Natasha and her husband Kyle and their 3 year old son lived. We had a good fun visit with them.

Natasha and Bear

We made it to Wylie, Texas on Friday April 20, 2018. The mobile home/RV park was holding two spots for us, so we could choose the one we wanted. 

Our new home!

We picked the spot with a tree for my bird feeder. We have a family of Red Cardinals and a family of Blue Jays that hang out at our feeder now. Plus some doves, singing Mocking Birds, a snake and toads. Oh, and bugs! Wylie TX is a rural area that was mostly farms. There are still hay fields in the area. It is pretty green here with lots of large shade type trees, some lakes and small creeks with turtles, snakes, and fish in them. People in Texas are so nice, even strangers will stop and chat with you.

Our van works for a big screen for outdoor movies 

Neighbor kids enjoying an outdoor movie

We were at our new church on Sunday and met others that had also just moved here. One week later was the John G. Lake's  "Mind Renewal" Conference with people from all over the world. What an awesome way to kickstart all our training! (JGLM.org)

Dominion Bible School inside our trailer.

Within two weeks Daniel was signed up with Dominion Bible Institute, year 1. I had already done year one back in 2014. So I will review with him and then we will go through year 2 together.

We also joined a Life Team (small group training)The focus right now is on sharing the gospel with people. Believe it or not, I never really truly learned how to witness to people. Now it just flows out when I start talking with people. AND people are responding! A neighbor down the street told us about his 80+ year old brother-in-law, John, who was in a care facility who wanted to go to Portland Oregon so he could have assisted suicide. We went over to meet John and share God's love with him and to pray for his body. He received much pain relief and wanted us to  come back again. So we did, with more prayer and God's love. We left him a New Testament this time and by our 3rd visit he had read 116 pages and was ready to accept Jesus as savior and Lord!

Dallas view from Hospital

On Fridays a group from church drive into Dallas to a public, county hospital to minister. Everyone breaks up into groups of 2 or 3. Daniel and I have been going together. We walk around outside and minister  to people as they sit in the sunshine. Then we  ride the elevators up and down and meet people coming to see family or friends. Many invite us to come pray in the rooms. Since mid May Daniel and I have seen the Holy Spirit remove more then 24 people's  pain! God is Faithful! This is for all believers in Christ, we just have to know who the Bible says were are, and believe and do.   Be Know Do!
Following is a testimony we shared at church--

At Parkland Hospital, in Dallas we met a 23 year old woman in the elevator that was in a wheel chair . She said she had neuropathy in her hands and feet. (numbness and pain) She was on her way to visit her mother. We started ministering and her pain was getting less. We followed her to her mothers room to finish ministering to her, after commanding  her body about 5-6 times  all numbness and pain left, I took her hands and got her out of her wheelchair and walked her around the room, she had not been able to walk for 6 months!  We purposely finished healing her before starting on her mom. We wanted to build her mothers faith.(not needed but nice to have) Her mother also had numbness in her hands and very bad pain and numbness in feet. So bad was her pain that when her daughter touch her foot she yelled! We commanded healing and that all pain leave her body and again after about 5-6 commands all pain and numbness was GONE! I had her daughter squeeze her feet. NO PAIN! We then spent time sharing the gospel with them and teaching them how to speak life to their bodies. (Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.)

The intensive training and being around like minded people has produced incredible results! We still have more renewing of our minds and dying to self yet to do. Jesus healed all, and we have lost a few. Not a good feeling.  "The harvest is ready; the harvester (Holy Spirit) is ready. We are responsible to release Him!" "The Spirit that is in me is the one that has healed EVERY sick person...EVER!" Based on Romans 8:11.

We serve a Faithful God! His Word is true and what the Bible says that we can do, or commands us to do, CAN be done by us! ALL OF US...Jesus would not command us to do something that He had not made a way for.... If it requires God's assistance or power, it is expected that His power (Holy Spirit) will be available when required.

So here we are, living in a 24 ft. trailer, that's under 200 sq feet. Not much space by most people's standards. But, I really like it. I had always wanted to live in a small house, although I wasn't thinking of a trailer, I was thinking more like a rock or log cabin in the woods, not a RV park.

Paradise on Earth? No, hard work!

But, we were living in "Paradise on Earth" as the Jehovah Witness man said of our farm when he pulled up and saw the beauty of the peacocks, chickens, song birds, chipmunks, and squirrels all hanging out together near or on our porch.  (By the way he was driving a very nice clean car, and was wearing a suit, and I was down in the goat pen cleaning poo wearing mismatched raggy farm clothes). We did have a nice talk about the fact that the only paradise on earth is when we are doing God's work.  Jesus told his disciples in  (Mark 16:15.. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.)  He did not say seek paradise on earth.


There is no greater joy then being with someone who is being healed and touched by the power of the Holy Spirit!  Romans 10:15  As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

                           I want beautiful feet!

Photo from internet.