Delhi to Siliguri

Today we were again up early to catch our flight from Delhi to an airport located in a place called Bagdogra, servicing the area we will visit called Siliguri. The highlight of the travel was the view we had flying just south of the Himalayas on a cloudless morning. About half way through the flight we came upon the unmistakable silhouette of Mount Everest in the distance looming far about the surrounding peaks. Could be that is the closest we will ever come to it, but what a view! Siliguri is located very close to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and not to far south of the China border. The Bagdogra airport is a combined civil air and military air base, albeit a small one. The helicopter and airplane we saw were Russian made. These people here look more Nepalese, or Chinese than they do traditional or typical Indian. The town is ancient by our standards but has a neatness and order to it that the other smaller Indian cities did not have. Most apparent was the lack of trash littering the roadsides and the smells associated with that. Having said that, we noticed a new Hyundai and Toyota building under construction, and a single, relatively new looking shopping mall amist the shanty markets and animals.

After we arrived we settled in a bit in our very modest (read - the only one in town) hotel we were off to the rented basement area of a larger structure where the church resides for worship and study. The low ceiling blessed me with a lump on my head I now have after not ducking when instructed to.  We were greeted and welcomed with traditional Nepalese scarves, and each of us took turns preaching a short lesson to the group of about 50 men, women and children that were there. As always a very warm welcome before and after the lessons. Tomorrow we will visit a children’s school, and have an afternoon of bible classes that we will teach much like we have thus far, with Jerris and me teaching men and combined classes, Juanita teaching the ladies class, and Renee will handle a load of about 30 children from the surrounding area. Another long day, but another great day serving the Lord.