Assembly & Family

I returned from the General Assembly last evening. It was good to see old friends. God spoke wonderfully during the worship services.

Cheryl had several members of her family visiting since Thursday. From left to right they are her aunt Dot, her mother, her sister Glenda, her nephew Josh, and her cousin Jane. Josh did not come until yesterday and he will be with us a few days. Everyone else left after Sunday dinner. They were most kind in their compliments of my sermon. Actually, Thelma slipped and said Cheryl was lucky to have married me.

Beautiful Homegoings

There is not much to post from Cleveland, at least not about us. It is a season of death for those we love. Last Monday I assisted in the funeral of Lamar Stillwell's mother in McCaysville, Georgia. Tomorrow we will bury Dr. Hollis Gause's son, Val. Both were beautiful homegoings. They now rejoice in the presence of Christ.

I will be leaving for the General Assembly after the funeral. Oh, joy.

VBS

Tonight was the last evening of VBS. Camdyn had a very good time.

Kitty First

First. Today is the first day this week Camdyn has not been out before 7:00 (with Papa) to feed apples to Aaron, Rose and Pride. At breakfast (honey, waffles, and cantelope from the garden) we told Camdyn she was going home tomorrow, her Mommy and Daddy missed her. I asked if she would miss Nanny, "yes." Cheryl asked if she would miss Pappa, "Yes, but I miss kitty first." I guess I know my place.

She wanted to hold kitty and I snapped this picture. With the camera out she decided she wanted a picture in her "pretty dress."

Camdyn is Here

Camdyn has been with us this week. We are having VBS this week at New Covenant: Camdyn is having a blast. We took her to Chilhowee to swim yesterday. She really clings to her Nanny.

I have been battling an ear infection.

News From Karisa

Karisa sent this email and pictures recently.

Hello all!
I thought that since I had received so many emails wondering about my safety (thanks so much for them, by the way!) now would be a good time to update! For starters, I am perfectly safe and well. For those who haven't heard: there were seven bomb blasts that went off in various train stations and trains around the city of Bombay yesterday. It was all within and hour and very well planned. We've been praising God for our group's safety and protection! I was actually in one of our slums when it happened and had no idea anything was going on until we were on the way back to our apartment and hit horrible traffic with police everywhere. Please pray for the city as this is the second bombing in the past year and there are over 200 dead and hundreds more injured. Our team here is looking into ways to help out so please pray for wisdom with that as well.


As for normal life here in Mumbai, I've settled in and am thoroughly enjoying this city of juxtapositions. As I walk to the bus everyday I am met with so many contrasts of this wonderful city. There's the smell of rotting food mixed with the ever present scent of incence, the large mansions along side of the tin huts, the cool monsoon rains along with the hot Indian sun and so much more. I have the joy of living with two wonderful Indian women who are part of the team here (the team is made of of two Indian women and two Indian men who lead the ministries here). They have been an incredible blessing and have taught me so much about the culture and life here!

The ministry here has several different aspects. There are the schools (one in each of the 3 slums), a church, job training (i.e. sewing classes), medical care on Mondays, Bible studies, kids programs, youth meetings, and house visits. While the things we do are interesting enough, it's undoubtedly the people that we work with that make me love this place. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to know, to laugh with, and to worship with people with such faith, such joy, and such trust in the Lord. They have been encouraging me and challenging me in many different areas. There's something about praying with a mother of seven that they would have enough food when the rains were so bad that her husband couldn't work brings new depth to the prayer "give us this day our daily bread", and there's something moving about listening to a woman who you know has so little in the eyes of the world (and in my own eyes) to be thankful for shouting out "thank you Lord, thank you Lord!" at the top of her lungs.

[Karisa's Apartment Building]


As for what I'm doing here- I've been substituting until now. :) For two weeks I taught a class of 9 year olds until they could hire a teacher. Along with that, everyone takes turns teaching at our 4 Bible studies, 3 kids programs, youth program, and preaching on Sundays. Now that we've hired a teacher, however, I'll be focusing more on visiting the homes of the people in the slums and praying and talking with them as well as developing an English class. In order to go anywhere in India- to go onto a good school, to get a good job, one needs to know English. Unfortunately, the kids in the slums aren't taught English in schools, so I'm going to be teaching them in the evenings in hopes that they'll have more opportunities.
Please pray for me as I, who has no background in teaching English, attempt to build this from scratch. :) Also, please pray that God would guide me as I preach during the week and that I would continually learn to strengthen myself in Him. Finally, please pray that God would bless the relationships I build and that I would continue to learn and grow.
Thanks so much for your prayers and I love you all!

Peace,
Karisa

PS. I'm using this email address now because I had to get a secure one which couldn't be scanned by the government.

Also, my super long address here is
Karisa Johns
C/O Bama KR
Flat No B-20
Plot No 17 B/C
Sector 4
Vashi, New Mumbai
India

PS: Her email address is Karisa.Johns@Swissmail.org

Spring Trips

We were blessed in the spring to make several trips. We went to Memphis to see Alethea, and Camdyn (Justin was out of town). We went to Wheaton for Johnmark's graduation and to help Karisa move out of the dorm. I don't have photos of my ride with my brother Jimmy in the Smokey Mountains. Neither did I take pictures of my two accreditation trips. Cheryl did not take pictures of her trip to speak to the Arizona Council of Churches.

Johnmark with his two grandmothers

At the U of Memphis fountain

U of Memphis tower

Other Spring Guests

During the spring we had two church events at our house. First was the Easter Egg hunt. Second was a Covenant Life Group cookout.

Easter Egg Hunt

Dennis Melton was at the CLG cookout

Fred and Nell Buser, long term friends from seminary days were in town for the CLG cookout too.

Visitors

Throughout the spring and early summer we were blessed with a number of guests. Unfortunately I did not get pictures of everyone

Cheryl's sister Ruth and her son Seth came for a visit to see Alethea, Justin, and Camdyn.


Camdyn helped clean her swing.

Kitty looks down on Camdyn.


Kim Belcher with Cheryl at Josh and Sara Long's wedding.

Derek, Katherine and Caroline Elizabeth Knoke came for the Long's wedding and spend the evening with us. Derek was our youth pastor at New Covenant.

Long-time friend and Bestman in my wedding, Moses Chowdry, was in the country and stopped by to prepare Karisa for India.

South Rim

We made a quick tour of the South Rim on our last day in Arizona.