COTTON CITY

POST #25

A DAY IN "COTTON CITY." It’s been a scheduled administrative day for Joe in Yavatmal. While Joe was in meetings with regional leaders, Bob and John traipsed around this city of 500,000 inhabitants. Yavatmal is known as "Cotton City" because it is in the heart of cotton production in India. We’ve seen piles of cotton over two stories high. Yavatmal is also home to the first Free Methodist Church in India. The "mother church" is over 100 years old and still thriving. The pastor and his family hosted us for lunch in their parsonage today.

SANJAY’S HOMETOWN. Yavatmal is also the home of Sanjay "Gope" Samudre, our professional driver and guide for "Bicycle India 2007." Sanjay and his family hosted John, Bob and Donna Yardy, and Sherrill Yardy for tea and refreshments in their home today. He and Ujwala, a surgical nurse, happen to serve the best chai in India…a touch of ginger and easy on the sugar. Sanjay has driven many people all over India for decades, but "Bicycle India 2007" is the longest single journey in terms of days and kilometers/miles that he has ever undertaken. We heartily recommend his caring service to all!

HOSTED AT YCLT. While Bob and Donna have been staying at Shanti Bhavan, John, Joe and Marilyn have been staying at Hannun House, a guest house on the campus of Yavatmal College for Leadership Training. YCLT has a 2,000-student school, a boarding school for indigenous missionaries’ children, and a bachelor’s level college for theology and ministry students. The hospitality here has been gracious. YCLT President Justus and several students plan to ride with us to Nagpur over the next few days. We welcome their company and hope the journey is an inspiration to many.

TO NAGPUR…AND BEYOND! This was last day of "official" responsibilities for us. We hit the road tomorrow in earnest, hoping to reach Nagpur by Friday afternoon. We plan to meet with local leaders in Nagpur on Friday evening. We will also say farewell to Marilyn James and Donna Yardy in Nagpur. From there they will fly home to the USA, exchanging sunshine and 85-degree Fahrenheit temperatures in central India for freezing temps and four inches of snow in the American heartland. After Nagpur, we will be relatively on our own on up to New Delhi. Relatively, we say, because we know that many people are supporting us with prayers. We believe that makes a big difference.

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