Jim Stuff

India 15 - Me Here, Her There

Mosquito Update:

Mosquitoes are definitely a problem in some areas, but most areas I have been spending time in the last 2 weeks have not had a large mosquito problem. The largest concern is when we go out to eat or visit a client house or business location. The housing, hotels, work and conference locations I don’t even need mosquito spray. However, there are plenty of reasons to be careful:
Dengue cases (‘Den-gay) – Deaths this year 130
Chikungunya (‘Chicken Gan-y-A’)– cases reported this year 1.5M (I’m told this is very uncomfortable, joint pain, lot of flu like symptoms – recipients are out for a solid two weeks)
So far, I’ve had a totally of 3 bits – maybe! I say maybe, because if they were bits then the mosquitoes are pretty lightweight here cause they were nothing like the bits I usually get in Wisconsin or Minnesota.

Travel

Some more on the traffic scene! Traffic is continually an issue around here. The roads are very poorly laid out such that there is not a good path through the city. I have yet to see a freeway. Yes accidents Do happen! I witnessed one where a motorcycle ‘bumped’ into another one (probably some cracked mirrors or lenses in that one). On the way back from Mahabalipurm a little white car scrapped against one of the vehicles our group was traveling in (SUV). That little car tried to race off, but the good guys (that B us) gave chase and then a motor bike jumped in and help corner the car all so that they could exchange information. Exciting!! In fact if you look closely at all the cars on the road for more than 6 months, they basically all have little dents all around them. Just the cost of doing business here apparently! (us perfectionists and control freaks would be having issues dealing with this).

Client Progress

Yesterday and today have been Unstructured Days meaning they are reserved for us consultants to meet with our clients to (a) catch up on any score carding activities (we provide a scorecard of the 10 key areas we evaluate for the business – the bulk of yesterday was spent catching up and refining) (b) go through Visioning one client at a time (this is a very intense time of prayer and discussion with each client – it is a Powerful time! Each of our clients has been freed, released, and empowered in these session) (c) the client takes the consultants out to their place of work for a visit (for me this was a small home office, then off to a large computer firm where my clients company sub contracts with them to maintain and run all their power / AC / generator / maintenance / plumbing / carpentry needs).

Me Here – Her There!

Some questions have rolled around in my head since making the decision to go on this trip (some cognitively, some not) related to the fact that I’m a family man, but I’m here with no famly.
Why does God have me here without my family? Would God be better glorified with my family here with me? Am I wrong to go on a missions trip without my family?
I actually had not given much to this one while in country, but the other morning while having breakfast I felt God just whispered why I am here, and my family is there. If my family was with me, yes they would have a very educational time, but it would be an impossible situation for Renee to watch the kids in a very unclean and un-kid-friendly environment. Also importantly, I realized that it is fully my personality that if Renee was here, I would have much difficulty focusing on my part. I would spend too much time thinking about is she overwhelmed with the kids, are the kids being exposed to anything their system is just not used to, etc. No reflection on her or them, that is just who I am and how God has made me. Now having been on this venture, if God drove a combined trip in the future, I would definitely know what to account for up front so that there would be no mental distraction. It was nice of God to drop that morsel into my thinking.

Cricket Mania

We’ll Cricket mania seems to be the rage here. I have to admit, I’ve had much more interest in watching synchronized diving over my interest in Cricke. (note: I don’t consider synchronized diving an actual sport regardless of what the Olympic committee says). But you know – I am actually starting to enjoy watching it!! It’s amazing what happens with a little education. It really does have a lot of similarities to American Baseball (which I DO consider an actual sport ;-) ).

4 days left!! Today is the end of day Wednesday. We have full conference / presentations Thurs and Friday. Sat we work with our clients on their presentation of what impacted them during the consulting. Sat night the clients present their results and then we wrap up. Sunday night most of us fly out (some leave Monday, early). So 3 days of work and one day of rest, packing, and travel. I’m getting excited about that last day J

posted by Winya @ 11:37 AM