Everybody's Got a Water Buffalo - Daryl

Only you VeggieTale fans out there will appreciate the title, but here in India it seems to be true.  You see water buffalo everywhere, so I just had to get my picture with one.  They do not eat them, but they do milk them.  In fact, every evening a man comes around with his water buffaloes and milks them right outside the house.  The milk is then pasteurized by heat here at the house.  So, we have fresh buffalo milk everyday.  It is always served warm, never cold.  Generally it is an ingredient.  I have not seen anyone drinking just milk, nor have I asked for any, but it sure is good in hot tea with a little sugar.

Today was a great day.  We travelled a little over an hour to a village to preach.  The drive out kept us close to the coast so we had a cool breeze.  The village is located in what they call the coconut jungle.  Guess what they grow there.  You guessed it, rice!  Ha! Among all the coconut trees there are rice patties so everything is rice and coconut in that area.  We really did see a lot of nice scenery and the weather was perfect.  The village was very much what you think of when you think of a village.  Little huts lined the one road and livestock just roaming around.  They did have electricity and some of the huts and houses had satellite dishes.

The people there were very friendly and stared a lot at us.  For many of them we were the first white people they had ever seen.  The church greeted us like celebrities  with banners and all.  It's kind of funny because we do have a bit of an entourage.  We have a paid driver, Ricky is kind of our manager, and we have 2 boys (Raju & Nirynjin) who help translate, carry our stuff, and take pictures for us.  

After being ushered into the hut/church building we were greeted with fresh flower leis and introduced.  They sang a few songs and then Steve preached.  We took a break for lunch where again we were given first class treatment.  I was a little leery of eating the food, but it actually was really good.  I nearly pulled a tooth trying to get the tough "country" chicken off the bone, but it tasted good.  After lunch, I spoke about living a life of joy because of what we have been saved from.  We wrapped up our time by handing out Bibles to everyone there.  The people were so excited about getting the Bibles some of them were kind of even pushing their way to the front to be sure they got one.  We then posed for some photos and handed out candy before heading back home.

We got to spend a little time this evening in the market area shopping for souvenirs.  That was an interesting experience.  Tomorrow we head into the jungle!  Can't wait to see what that is like.