Loving Life!

Thailand and Bangalore

2009-07-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! God is so good. Currently we have our 7th and 8th teams in India right now. Life is crazy, but I am learning how to walk in peace. Jesus has been so gentle and patient with me as I learn how to be a better administrator and how to disciple my girls more effectively. I am thankful so his overflowing grace in my life.

My mom was just in town this past June! She and I try to see each other every 6 months... and this time she treated me to a trip to Thailand! We went to an amazing beach resort on the Island of Phuket and stayed at a resort called the Disit Thani. We got a massage, we spent some quality time in the pool, and shopping at all the western stores! It was so refreshing and fun to have a peaceful vacation just the 2 of us. Mom came back to India with me after being in Thailand and we got go see the Taj Mahal. It was really great for my mom to see my life in India and I think in the future we will be able to connect more because she understands what it is like to live in India.

Things are really picking up here. I have 3 girls I am training and many more I am following up with from short-term teams.

Prayer:
-That I would have 3 solid MBB girls (Muslim background believers) I am investing in
-That God would establish Diane's house church and multiply it quickly
-That I would be one who lives in the grace of God in all that I do at all times!

Blessings from India,
Gabe

2009-05-20T04:06:00.000-07:00

The Value of Life

Something God is repeatedly bringing to me are women who are having pregnancy crises in India. The Lord is revealing to me how many girls have abortions here (I think it is higher than in the US). Pregnancy outside of wedlock in one of the most shameful things a young woman can do, most will be cut off completely from their families, and some even fear for their lives. Birth control is not common in India either so unwanted pregnancy happens all the time. Young women are scared and feel they have no other choice but the abort their babies. I have found myself in two different situations in the past couple months where girls have been faced with forced abortions and/or unbelievable pressure from others to get ride of the babies. One baby was saved only because Nick and I intervened and helped her get away, and one we lost to abortion. Please pray with me that God would intervene and stop this injustice! We need insight and wisdom into how to help these women and provide safe places for them to give birth.

My many job titles

2009-02-17T08:15:00.000-08:00

After living here for 7 months my resume looks pretty impressive...
Here are the top 17 most interesting jobs I've taken on since living here... Enjoy!

1.) Director of Campus Development for a consultancy company

2.) Worship Leader at churches

3.) Chef... I specialize in making things from scratch: cookies, salsa, noodles, fudge etc...

4.) Auto Mechanic... I specialize in motorized scooters and things with 2 wheels!

5.) Professional Exterminator... no cockroach has lived long after I laid eye on it!!!

6.) Marriage Counselor.... aparently you don't need to have any marriage experience in order to do this... right?

7.) Employment Consultant... I specialize in writing and reviewing resumes aparently...

8.) Antiabortion Advocate/Crisis Pregnacy Caretaker (this one is not funny!)

9.) Personal Driver... who says a scooter can only hold 2 people...

10.) Communications Anaylist... I specialize in yelling at disfuncational internet companies and rickshaw drivers...

11.) Skype Tech Support... Why call skype's helpline when I can help you figureout how to download skype, call Asia, use a webcam, put headphones into your computer, figureout why there is no sound coming, or indentify what "that" buzzing noise is?

12.) Telephone Hotline Host... I get about 5-10 calls a day where the conversation consists of "HI... so... tell me... 'tell you what'... 'What are you doing?' 'I'm in a meeting is there anything you need?' 'I just haven't heard from you in a long time...' 'I just saw you yesterday...'"

13.) Languist... in this city there are acutally 5 spoken/recognized languages and you never know who will know which one!

14.) Plumber... If the smell lasts longer than a day you have a problem!!

15.) Nutricianist... just the fact that i know what a food pyramid is and that drinking water is good for you makes me qualified for this position...

16.) English Tutor... "say victory"... "ok wictery"...

17.) Rancher... you never know when a cow will cross the line from public to private territory... and you have to be prepared to take action on the streets!

Dubai

2009-02-04T02:10:00.000-08:00

A camel ride along the beach!

See the nose ring? yay for my friends who held my hand through the whole ordeal!

Me and a team mate in the traditional Emirate dress...

Me and my roomie chillin at the beach...

This is the worlds tallest building...

Me and Pria Mia

Well, after an incredibly stressful month I found myself at the mercy of my team leader insisting that we go on a 6 day trip to Dubai for a team retreat... It was the most restful and amazing trip I have ever been on! Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates on the Gulf Coast near Saudi Arabia! We spent time on the beach and shopping at the worlds biggest mall! I also got my nose pierced!!!! It was really great to reconnect as a team and get some extra R&R. Dubai was a great place to rest because the culture is very calm, the city is clean, and they have all the american restaurants you can imagine... Chili's, Jonny Rockets, and Taco Bell are just a few. Here are some pictures of our trip!

Christmas overseas!!!

2009-01-17T20:40:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR! It is so good to back I had the best time in Italy. I got to reconnect with my family and spend quality time laughing, doing puzzles, and eating western food! I am so blessed to have such supportive parents!

We had such a great time in Italy! We first started out in Rome where we enjoyed pizza, the Sistine chapel, and all the ancient Roman ruins. Then we traveled to Florence where we stayed in an apartment we rented and feasted on homemade pasta and antipasti... and basked in the many Renaissance art museums. Then on to the Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Italian Alps to ski and enjoy some of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen. The best part of the trip was how much we laughed and enjoyed each others company... I was so sad though that my brother and sister-in-law could not make it... Christmas just seemed to be missing something.

You Tube

2008-11-21T05:15:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone... check out this link to my Christmas video!!!

Love you all!!

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=CFqoDy8ni1E

The Blind See!

2008-10-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

Minosh and Valentina stopped to translate for Nick and I when were praying for an elderly man with a cane. After the man was healed of his leg pain Minosh (a Hindu) looked at us with wide eyes and asked if we would pray for his left eye. He could only see about 1 foot in front of him in that eye. We prayed once and then he covered his right eye and realized now he could see further than before! We prayed 4 times (each time it got a little better) and by the end he could see as far as I can see! He immediately wanted to follow Jesus as his only God and invited us to his house to pray for his mother! His wife Valentina already knew Jesus and was so excited that her husband came to know Jesus! The next week we went to Minosh’s house and prayed for his mother, sister, and next door neighbor and all three were healed of various illnesses. Minosh’s mother (also Hindu) was healed of a high fever and pain in many places on her body. After she was healed she wanted to be baptized. That day we baptized Minosh, his mother, and his sister. Every person who came to that meeting was healed of something and the whole family was so excited about Jesus they wanted to get ride of all the Hindu idols that filled their house! Since then we have been meeting with Minosh and Valentina and are training them to lead a house church in Minosh’s mothers home.

My address for all of you who may have lost it!

Gabe-CPI

PO Box 470

Wheaton,IL 60187

Its a bird... its a plane... its a little man in our coconut tree!

2008-10-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

This morning i was spending time with Jesus when I kept seeing the coconut tree out by our house moving around. Excitedly I though it was a monkey or a scarlet macaw so I went over to have a look... Well I couldn't see anything so I went back into the office, but then I heard it again. Only it sounded like hacking... Now for your information I live on the third floor of this villa and our trees are just barely above our house (they are really high!!!). I thought the only thing that could get into this tree would be a chipmunk, monkey, or bees.

I could not concentrate because the noise kept getting louder. I went back over to have another look and I saw a huge knife sticking out of the tree and then I saw this little Indian man peeking out of the tree three stories up! He was harvesting coconuts. I said hello and I guess they were doing it illegally because when he saw me he quickly shimmied down this enormose tree and him and his buddies carried their loot away quickly! I sat there stunned that this man not even 100 LB had climbed all that way up and then before my eyes just slid down the tree like you might see in a movie. It never ceases to amaze me the things I see here!

Just wanted to share that with you!

gabe

BUS DAY!

2008-09-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! So sara and I decided to learn the Bangalore Bus System today and it was very interesting... Here are a few things we learned...

1.) Bus stations in India are not marked, they are marked by a random group of people standing on the side of the road.

2.) Buses are very cheap!! We spent about 50 RS... and we went all over the city.

3.) Buses don't always go the places they went last time... for example... bus 335 goes to MG Road, but today I was going to get on bus 335 and someone stopped me and said... "just so you know that bus is not going to MG road". I said "how did you know that?" He said, "I just asked him and he said he's not going there today!"

4.) Women get priority seating most places... PRAISE JESUS!

5.) When you go to Majestic... the hugest bus stop in the world (I am pretty sure) the bus stops don't go in any order... bus number 367 is right next to bus 80 and bus 80 is across from bus 255... You just have to ask people until you find the correct stop!

6.) Always go with an experienced bus taker the first time you try and figure out the bus system...

here are some pictures of us on our bus day!

a new post!

2008-08-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I wanted to update you all on my life in India. I am having much fun. I am adjusting pretty well to India, I think. I have been enjoying eating with my hands and making Indian friends. I did get sick last week from something I ate, but it was only a 24 hour thing! Sara (my roommate the other girl in the picture) and I enrolled in a Bali Wood dance class that has brightened up my days. We are hoping to make friends in the class as well as get some good exercise. Indian dance is way different than anything I have ever danced before... the closest thing would be hip hop or salsa... or belly dancing.

We have had three groups of Americans in town, 2 are here currently, 21 americans in all! It has been so fun to have them here and they have seen some amazing things happen. I will send an email out soon to you all letting you know about everything that is going on here... hopefully it will go out tomorrow. Basically I am out all day in the city.

I do miss home so you can pray for me that I would find comfort here/ grace to make India feel like home to me. But I am excited that i get to be here on this adventure!

I miss you all dearly!

gabe

News from India

2008-07-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family!

I was not sure if you saw the papers yet... it will be in the news tomorrow... but there were some slight terror attacks on Bangalore... 1 day before the horrible attacks in Ahmenadad that killed 40 some people. I wanted to let you all know I am safe and there is no reason to worry. There was only one death according to the Indian police (i know CNN is claiming 2 deaths) and about 10 injured, and I have not even heard of the place where most of the bombs were planted. They were attached to bicycles. It was most likely from a student terror group called HUJI... they are very makeshift wildteenage, lower caste group and after the Muslim/Hindu conflict... I think Bangalore was not a main target because everyone here is very peaceful! And if they wanted to hurt people it would have been really easy to target some other places in the city because people are everywhere here. The upper part of India has seen much more violence... Ahmenadad borders Pakistan. Anyway when we heard there was a bomb threat we stayed in doors all day and night and the next day our neighbor said it was fine to go out.

I want you all to know I am taking this very seriously though and our team has come up with precautions for if something of a greater scale were to arise near the IT tech center where we live. Hopefully this was the last of it in Bangalore. Anyway, so far I love india! We have been shopping for furniture and preparing for business which will start very soon! Some friends arrive for a cultural exchange on Thursday so we must prepare for life before they arrive!

Blessings,

Gabe