The intrepid travelers are in the city of Pondicherry. Pondicherry is a former French enclave formerly known as French India. Pondicherry was relinquished by the French to India in 1956. The French influence can still be seen throughout the city. This costal town on the Bay of Bengal is a two hour or so van ride from Chennai.

While in Pondicherry the group visited a paper mill, a textile factory and did some sightseeing. The group with make it's way toward's Chennai today (our Saturday night their Sunday morning). The group will fly from Chennai to Delhi and visit the Taj Mahal and other places of interest.

Pictures to follow.

Our last day at the mission began with a wonderful breakfast at Vijaya Grace's house with Winnie and Minnie helping serve us. We stepped onto their sleeping porch after breakfast and they thanked us for all the work we had done at the mission.

The morning session was steady with return patients. The team was overwhelmed with the way the patients thanked them for their work. One after another return patients came to wish us "happy journey" and express their gratitude. In the afternoon, the team met with Sagar to discuss all the patients they had seen. Over 90 patients were treated, most on a returning basis. Sagar served lunch at his house and then after rest the team went to the HIV Aids center to view the progress and pray for Henry's vision for caring for Aids patients in their last stages of the disease. It was made especially poignant because Remaka was with us - a lady who contracted aids from her husband, who then left her. She came to the mission over a year ago despondant and desparate and found care and love from the Good Shepherd staff. She was thrilled with the center and plans at some point to be a patient. After saying goodbye to the children at the Ashram we had dinner at Praveen's house. The girls are now having their hands painted with henna by the mission girls. We leave tomorrow for Chennai, Pondicherry and then Delhi. We are not sure how much we will be able to post but want to leave this final picture. Ramesh had come for his first visit with Maureen. He is the paralyzed man whom she treated last summer. A cushion was donated for his use and he was coming for treatment. He was having trouble getting up the hill and all the mission children ran to help him and bring him to Good Shepherd. This expresses the sense of community we have experienced here. It is an amazing place - we keep saying "TII" or "this is India". This will stay with us forever.

But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh...... Genesis 40:14

Jeanette traveled South and West ten hours by train to visit with Anne Walters. Anne lives and works on a hill station called Ooty. Hill stations are just that, hills or mountains that are very temperate and more lush than the semi-arid landscape at Good Shepherd Mission. Ooty has an elevation of approximately 7000 feet and is somewhat of a retreat area and has tea plantations. The picture above is of Anne overlooking some of the property owned by Freedom Firm the group that she works for. The picture with the horse shows Anne and Carmen (one of the volunteers) with one of the horses who are also kept on the mountain property. The last picture shows Jeanette and Anne having coffee at a Coffee Day (new franchise in India) and just visiting and catching up. Jeanette spent the day on Tuesday meeting people and seeing all the facets of the Freedom Firm ministry.

You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance— the place, O LORD, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established. Exodus 15:17

Tuesday night words from Maureen:

The students continue to show remarkable resilience. As our final days at the mission come near, we are having mixed feelings. The work here is hard, and often heart-breaking. Yet, we have formed so many relationships with the people of the mission, and our hearts are growing heavier as our time to leave gets near.

One of the challenges has been to be resourceful in using what we have to make shift what we need.... last week we used tape to make steri-strips to cover a wound, and we used a blood pressure cuff to measure hand strength (in place of a dynamometer), and tonight we finished the process of melting and remolding a right hand splint to make it a LEFT splint!!

This morning the students went to the roof of the hospital, to enjoy the wonderful view of the surrounding mountains. Shortly after, we got very busy in the clinic, and saw about 12 new patients, and about 30 returning patients. During the mid day break, the bangle vendor came by the mission, and the students bought bangles for themselves and the hostel girls.

This evening, Erin had a lesson in sari wrapping from Winnie. After two tries, she felt like at least she had the idea of it... the application being a bit harder.

Sunday was a full day. The group spent most of the day in Kolladam worshiping with the villagers. To the left is a picture of the church in Kolladam. Sister Jeanette brought the word and the group served communion.



After services, the group had a chance to walk through the rural village. The girls had a chance to see some very primitive lifestyles.

After leaving Kolladam, the group went to Yenattavedu. This is where the church is dedicated in memory of David Miller. The group was warmly welcomed by Brother Protop and the other families. The village sends their greetings back to the United States.

The group is looking forward to getting back to work at the clinic. Sister Jeanette is leaving the group for a few days to visit Anne Walters in Ooty.

News from Saturday:

This is Sujima. She is a mission girl and Saturday was her birthday! To celebrate, she gave the group some treats and asked for their blessings.

The group traveled to the temple at Tirumala on Saturday. It is the second largest religious pilgrimage site in the world. Worshipers wait in line for anywhere from 15 hours to 2 days just to be able to see a god statue for less than five minutes.

Tidbits from earlier in the week:

As anyone who has been to India knows, sometimes the food can be an issue. On Thursday, Brother Henry had Mary drive 70km to Tiraputi in order to get the group some pizza! Upon their return, I am sure that the group will be nominating Brother Henry for the Nobel Peace Prize for this specific effort!

On Wednesday night, the group had the chance to witness a wedding in the ashram. Since the groom formerly worked at Good Shepherd, Henry let him have the wedding there. Although they arrived late because of their work at the clinic, the Americans were given honored seating in front of the bride's family. As an act of goodwill, the Mausolf family was kind enough to loan the happy couple two chairs from their living room.