Letter from Kodai

Dear Family and Friends,

This past month has been one that has been full and overflowing with travel, work, activities and events. It has also been a month in which we have seen the evidence of God's care and grace in each and every day.

Betsy traveled with the International Ministries' Xtreme Team 2002 to India for the month of July. Each day of the 25 days that the Team spent in India was jammed with Xposures and Xperiences, so to get a really good idea of what we did, you will have to check the web site to read the daily journals of the Team members and see photos from each day. The website is xtremeteamonline.org. There is also a link through the IM website. I'll just tell you about the most Xtreme day of the trip for me. It was Day 17 – July 24th. We were spending our third and final day in the city of Kolkata. The 11 of us headed out in two vehicles right after breakfast. First stop was the famous Kali Temple of Kolkata. Kali is the goddess of destruction and the temple is a compact place teaming with people who have come to offer sacrifices to the goddess. Goats are sacrificed by the priests and the blood offered to the idol and placed on the foreheads of the worshippers. There was a frenzy about the place and the people that was different from other temples which we visited and that I found disturbing. The dirt clung to the soles of our feet as we left.

We walked to the other end of the small block from the temple, where the Sisters of Charity have the Mother Teresa Home of the Dying Destitute. We joined the sisters and other volunteers in the work of the morning. I began by working on the roof of the building, laying out linens and clothing to dry that had been washed by volunteers working below. Kolkata was extremely hot and humid that day and the amount of sweat I was dripping onto the clothes was only prolonging the drying process. With the laundry all stretched out in the sun, I went downstairs just as the "train station team" arrived with an old woman who after several days on the platform, injured, hungry and alone, had allowed the sisters to bring her to the Home. Her only possession was a filthy rag of a sari wound around her skeletal body and after she was placed on a washing platform, even that was taken away on the end of a stick. Natasha, one of the Xtreme Team members, and I accepted the task of washing the woman. It took quite some time of scrubbing before she was clean. At first the woman cried out at our work, but by the time we were drying her, she looked at us gratefully. While we washed her, two scripture passages were foremost in my mind. Matthew 26:40: "I tell you the truth, whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done for me." I looked down and that was Christ we were washing, Christ we were caring for – hurt and alone. The other passage was John 13:14: "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet." I looked over at Natasha and that was Christ doing the washing, serving and loving.

After the morning of work, we left the Home for the Dying Destitute and spent 30 minutes in a Prayer Walk, walking around that area of the Home and the Kali Temple and small residential streets, lifting up the people and the many needs before the Lord. Then the Team got at X-file (clue) – a small card with 5 stars on it. We drove just a few minutes away, getting out at the posh Taj Bengal Hotel, walked through the large, air-conditioned, marble-floored lobby to feast on the all-you-can-eat buffet at one of Hotel's restaurants. I found it difficult to really enjoy the food because thoughts of the people lying on the pallets at the Mother Teresa Home clung to me just like the sweat and dirt which still covered me from the long morning.

This day was also the most challenging for me physically. The dehydration caused by the hot, hard work of the morning, the strain of walking around the city, the contrast of the air-conditioned coolness of the Taj, and ending the day by carrying luggage and waiting for several hours in the Howrah train station before boarding a train on which we spent the night, nearly overwhelmed me. My body teetered on the brink of heat exhaustion and only after drinking many liters of water and a liter of electrolyte rehydration solution later did I feel my strength return. But Jesus promised, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." The next day we arrived at a beach hotel in the town of Vishakapatnam and had our day of rest.

While Betsy was traveling around India with the Xtreme Team, the school year was starting at Kodaikanal International School. Our three girls began classes – Anna in 10th grade, Lisa in 8th grade and Kara in 6th. David, as the Coordinator of the Elementary School, got classrooms ready, oriented new teachers and welcomed new students. It is tremendous to see God's answer to the prayers for new staff. More than half of the elementary teachers joined the school this year. They are a strong group of experienced, loving people, most of whom are Christians. Praise the Lord! There continue to be staffing struggles in other parts of the school – the ESL program and Health particularly this year. But we are happy to be settled into our home and to be here as the school year begins, unlike last year. A year ago today we had just completed the New Missionary Orientation at Green Lake and were starting the 3 days of travel to come to India.

God has been incredibly good to us in the last year. We are privileged to be living here and to be serving under International Ministries. Thank you to each of you who have helped to make this possible for us by your financial, practical or prayerful support.

In Christ,

David and Betsy Perkins
Anna, Lisa and Kara