India (Trip 1) - Wrap Up
Thank You for your support of me and the Equip team on our venture to India.
Financial update: out of the total $3700 needed to cover the cost of the trip – Praise God – 88% came in via donations. Thank you so much for everyone’s generosity.
As most are aware I had an incredible time and God moved in incredible ways.
I feel that I was blessed in being able to do some Force10 work for a week prior to the missions part of the trip taking place. Making the trip to India and doing only the Force10 work or only the Missions portion would have been a very different trip and I definitely would not have gotten the well balanced perspective I did. I feel very fortunate to have seen the “big business, professional side”, along the “tourist, missionary, smaller business side”. I missed my family, but I truly value the experience and perspective gained by the journey.
Integrating back to the US was strange, but amazingly swift. At this point, I am working to make sure that the lessons learned remain fresh – but with each day the distance from here to India seems further away. I hope to return when the time is right. It would be a great experience for Renee and the kids as well (although they seem a little young for it now).
I left a lot of contemplations in my Blog entries, but a few closing thoughts are
1. God showed up in ways that I never expected him to - and often in areas that I never thought he’d need to!
2. I found out I’m not bullet proof – emotionally, mentally, or physically.
3. I really enjoyed the daily worship, team prayer, and constant expectation for God to ‘show up’ (and He did).
4. I knew I was really back in the US on my first day back at work. We were talking about a problem, and my first impulse was to ask the group “let’s pray about it”. I caught myself before asking my non-Christian coworkers – but maybe I should have asked anyway!
5. The trip renewed my understanding that what I allow God to do by way of expectation and faith – He will do. As I expect him to show up and do the miraculous – he does. When I don’t believe – I close that door for Him.
6. I continue to marvel at the level of communication that the Intercessor team had! I strive to have such a transparent relationship and daily discussion with God my father.
7. A biggie for me is the clear message I need to SLOW down and LISTEN. In India I was able to hear God speak as I took time to listen.
I am interested in what the future will hold in this area for me and my family.
God Bless. Thank you again for your wonderful and marvelous support.
India 19 - Hmmmm
This place is different!
- Starbucks – there is so much room in the stores!
- There are no flies buzzing around the pastry counter!
- No car beeping (horns) when the light turns green – how do the cars know it’s time to go (yet they do)?
- Cars are sooo big!!
- Cars go sooo fast!!
- Highways are sooo wide!!
- I Have not had the courage to go into the super-Safeway by our house yet! Not sure what I’ll do with all that food around. (I never saw a store larger than a 7-11 in India. Most are very small and it appears people just shop every day).
- I never saw anything in India that compares to a drug store here. All shops were very uni-functional. Medical shop has only medicines. Food shop has only food. Personal care shop has only hygiene care products. Most shops have a counter you walk up to that is street facing and they go retrieve what you ask for. You may recall the electronics store snap I posted. That store is twice as big as almost every other store with which I interacted.
- I keep hearing people say cell phones and I’m not sure what they are talking about – could they mean their ‘mobile’?
- Where are all the people? I have not seen anyone crossing the street in the middle of rush-hour traffic?
- Clean – glorious clean. I used to lament at the garbage I’d see on the side of the freeway on the way to work. Well, I still don’t like it, but what we have is sooo much cleaner than what I observed overseas.
- Coffee cups are so amazingly big here!!
- Cows – who kidnapped all the cows? I have not seen one since getting back.
- Stray dogs – what happened to the poor stray dogs!! Have they all been deported to India?
- Smells! Let’s just not go there! Nice to be home.
- The company at which I work has an Engineering Dept with a 75% Indian makeup. So In many ways I feel like I’m just in another part of India (the part with big cars, big roads, big stores, no cows, no stray dogs, no smells, no flies, no beeping cars, and actual grocery stores) – Hmmm, I guess that’s called Silicon Valley!
- Why am I yearning to see a Cricket match? Who won the World Cricket cup (India got eliminated, did Australia ‘the arch rival’ go all the way)? Did Dhoni get the most valuable Bowler award? Sheesh, I can’t find out anything on American news!
- Ahhhhh. Diet Pepsi. Say no more.
- It is interesting to me. In the US we really do have so much variety in everything. Take soda for instance. Walk into a grocery store and you have 20-30 different soda brands/flavors to pick from. In India, I never saw more than 5-7 in any one place. Usually it was 3 (pepsi, 7-up, Orange). How can the US market which has a quarter of the consumers (compared to India) support so much stuff!! We really are a nation of consumers!!
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking the landscape which makes up India or the US. Each has its own personality and that’s what makes each different. It’s just that they are VERY different!
I was a visitor in India so I did not have to deal with the day to day issues of running a household, etc. But it is surprising how quickly I have snapped back into consumer/producer mode back in the US.
When I was young, I’d hear older folk say ‘time goes so fast’. I never understood that saying until – well, I got older! Now, yes, time does go fast. Another saying that is living out in my mind now is ‘it seems so long ago even though it was just yesterday’. How does that happen?
Was I really on the other side of the globe?
India 18 - Goin home!
Wrap up. This is a longer blog. You may want to come back when you have time!
I’m on my final leg of the flight home. Still have 3+ hours to go, but I wanted to start putting together a final travel posting. It has truly been an awesome trip and God has worked in so many ways in my own heart. I talked so several long-term missionaries on the ground in Chennai, and it’s strange that I can now look at them and have some understanding of ‘yeah, I can see how normal people can get plucked up by God and moved in that direction’. Having not traveled much, I realize I always kind of viewed missionaries as super-human beings specially rigged to handle all the continental hardships where ever they landed (okay, I’m suffering from watching Superman on the plane earlier this morning, but the parallel just fits).
Sunday morning we had our own church service with all the team (minus 2 who had to leave Sat evening). Some of the final activities are to affirm each other, our friendships, God’s fingerprints, His calling. I really don’t know why I’m surprised, but for some reason I was expecting “okay this is a wrap, good job kidos, pack-it, stack-it, and rack-it!”. God had more specific plans, and it was quite possibly one of the most impactful times in the trip. It is amazing how God just keeps pulling back the curtain. He brings you to a wow and aha space, then just keeps revealing. Not a dry eye in the place. All the tissue boxes empty. God is good.
Sunday afternoon I got out to run a last couple errands, just to see what had been a nice Sunny day turning into yet another rainy day. The dark clouds were looming by 5:00pm and by the time we pulled out from the hotel en-route to the airport at 7:00pm the rain was already falling. Our drivers provided the entertainment for the evening by doing their best to scare us silly in an attempt to get to the airport before the rain really pounded down. It also seemed they were kind of racing each other some of us commented afterwared – thanks for the lasting impression guys J.
The airport was totally jammed on the outside and whatever line was snaking across the front of the airport was clearly just not moving. God inspired our fearless leader to just push through and they let all 6 of us in through by the check-in counters and immigration where the crowd was minimal (we got to enjoy much of the India/’Australia cricket match while waiting). While in the airport I got these 2 pics of the bathroom for everyone to appreciate. Pic1 has 2 doors for the stalls. They are labeled IWC and EWC. I’m quite certain this stands for Indian Water Closet and European Water Closet. Where the Indian has a hole in the floor and a bucket of water for toilet paper, and the European has what us American’s are more accustomed to – a commode and toilet paper (see Pic2).. The houses I visited all had commodes. Some businesses and houses that other team members visited had the traditional style.
Both work of course.
Yes - you will find out quickly exactly how strong your leg muscles are using the IWC.
So how has my life been most impacted by this trip at this point! That is the real question. I expect some introspection to come as I step back into my ‘normal’ schedule. Here are a couple points that come to mind.
1. India is truly an amazing place. Not repulsive. The Christians I meet all had warm hospitable hearts with a yearning to reach their fellow brothers and sisters for Christ.
2. Traveling alone can be scary when your not used to it! Loneliness, isolation, fear, loss of control – these are not just experiences of weaklings (yeah, yeah, this is my blog so I get to go with the assertion I’m no weakling ;-) ). God provided an abundance of opportunities to realize my own ugly self confidence and hand it over to Him. Even a couple small panic attacks when pushing into fully unknown areas, realizing that if the taxi or auto-driver where to just drop me at the corner I’d be completely and utterly lost.
3. God shows up when you allow him to. I observed this so many times in my own life, in the group, and with the clients.
4. The powers of darkness show up when you step outside your comfort zone and position yourself to do kingdom work. Again, so many observations – But God has the victory.
5. The Pepsi and diet-Pepsi taste very different and the listed ingredients are altered to be very unreadable so you have no clue as to what type of sweetener is used in Diet Pepsi. Further I basically affirmed that I can exist largely on just water with very limited soda, coffee, and tea intake.
6. I was called by tech-guy-jim (I was the designated tech guy for the trip), dungeon-jim (I was in charge of the dungeon in one of the skits), video-jim, actor-jim, etc,
I learned what a pleasure it is to work with a diverse team from all over the world. The perspectives, stories, and overall fragrant-friendship aromas they bring are so fantastic.
Funny moments – there were many, here are a couple:
1. we were in 2 SUVs being shuttled around Mahabalipuram looking at the widow outreach, orphan school, etc. On the way back we were flying down the highway and went prast a bus stop where a bus had stopped to pick up folks, but everyone had emptied out and were clearly taking a quick break. This stop was not in town or near anything of substance. I had to literally laugh outload when we drove past as there were 30-40 men all lined up on the edge of the road (facing away from traffic thankfully) – watering the landscape. I’ve never seen anything like that before!! (visions of a chorus line came to mind)
2. One of our American consultants arranged 2 different skits many of us got involved in and they were very hilarious.
3. My roommate the Equip portion of the trip was Wayne Cerullo. We got along famously the entire time, and it is definitely an understatement to say that Wayne is a funny guy. On Sunday morning while we were doing ‘serious’ affirmations, he pops out with the following affirmation.
Room 23: (spoof of Psalm 23)
Jim is my roomated, I shall not want any other
He’s ok if I lie down on my gren bedspread by day or by night;
He is still quiet when using the waters of the bathroom.
He restores my internet connection.
He guides me on the path to the electronics store for the groups saving
Even tho I walk thru the valley between large suit cases in a shadowy room, I have not fear of stepping on yourshoes or underwear.
Your skype headset and extension power chord, they comfortme.
You prepare a plate of Masala before me in line, just for the heck of it.
You anoint squeaky sheels with oil, our shower overflows sherever we go.
Shirly, Agnes, and Marcdy will follow me all the days of this venture,
But I’d prefer to room with Jim, whenever
-Wayne
4. Jenna found a bottle from the medical store called Double Action. Its purpose is to make sure your bowel voiding process is pleasant and normal. It was hysterical because it had a little picture of a guy sitting on a commode (largely obscured y the advertisement) – but with an unmistakable large smile on his face. This little bottle occupied the focus of the group for an entire meal. Then there were endless references to it in the following days. Very funny.
I plan to have one more update after a couple days being back with observations integrating back to the norm. FYI.
Jw.
India 17 - Consult Complete
Wow - badda boom, badda bing! and just like that the training is over, the visioning is complete, the final P explained, and the last presentation has been delivered. Waves of jubilation, disbelief, relief, exhaustion - what now!
You can't take part in a day like today and not walk out with a take away that is life changing! In the morning the clients came and worked with the consultants to finish up the 10-P scorecarding and hammer out the client presentations. That ran through lunch. Then at 2:30 everyone transitioned into a prayer time for India. It was a powerful time as Indian and foreigners alike poured out a common passion to see India reached.
From the prayer time we immediately rolled into the presentations. The transformation of ALL clients from day 1 to the presentations can only be explained as 'God showed up'! Client after client spoke to the fact how God showed up, torqued their world, then helped pick up th
e pieces. This trip had a full range of personality types and backgrounds and clients. It was amazing to see as clients confessed revelations ranging from not putting God first in their business, to not consulting God about business decisions, to never receiving from the wisdom in their wife regarding their business, to living in deception resulting in blocking God out from their business. The confessions were authentic, the repentance was real, and the change in radiance was unmistakable.
Ironically, the videographer (a believer) had been in prayer and depressed about his business just this morning. After videoing the clients (a 2 min summary each had prepared), and then videoing the client presentations – he walked out on cloud nine and is very excited about the prospects of getting involved and repurposing his business.
It has been raining all day, but tonight it has truly reached torrential proportions. The report from the front desk is don't even think of making a run to the airport unless we have a jeep or similar high wheel base vehicle. Please keep the team in prayer as some are already en route to the airport, and more will head that direction tomorrow.
God Bless.
Jim Wynia
India 16 - Coffee and Eats
Client / Venture Update
Howdy all. Well it’s been raining off and on quite heavily over the last 3 days here in Chennai. This has slowed everything down (as rain paralyzes the city as I mentioned before), but the venture marches on!! Today (Friday) is coming to an end. Just one more day, then most of us start the packing. Yesterday and today had awesome impact! Every consultant is sparked up observing the passion, focus, and break through they are seeing with their clients and respective businesses. I too am very excited to see how God is moving with my client. One thing is for sure – we are not leaving this place the same way we found it :-)
This morning we had an absolutely incredible prayer time for Virendra the team leader who was also born and raised here in India. The word came that God will be moving mightily through him in partnership with others to help open up other cities here in India. It was a very moving time for all this morning when this word came and we had a focused time with God before the clients showed up. It is also very exciting to see the focus, dedication, and passion that the India consultants have displayed all the way through the venture!! They really get it! They see the need. They feel the hunger. They answer the call. God is doing incredible things. I am humbled to see the finger prints and results of God all over this venture and the lives of those in it.
None of us will be showing up the same after this experience I don’t think (I sure pray I don’t). It has really been fun getting to know everyone from all over the world: of course all the locals (India), Chucks (Nigeria), Garrett (South Africa), Ceelok and Ophelia (Malaysia), and all the rest based in the US (even though they are from all over as well).
Time To EatLast night we went out to eat at an ‘American Food’ place:
Gallopin Gooseberry. I have my first BBQ hamburger here in India. Not bad! A far cry short of In-n-Out I’ll venture – but it sure tasted good all the same :-). Tonight we went out to eat at some place called
Tanderi (or something close – sorry didn’t get the full name). It was a lot of fun. I think everyone is sensing the close of the venture and as most of the deliverables are complete for most folks the ‘work pressure’ is dropping off. So diner was a lot of fun. The food at this place was all Indian – and quite possibly the best restaurant food I’ve had this entire trip! (yes even better than Pizza Hut :-) ). No breakfast tomorrow…say no more (wink, wink, nod, nod). The desserts had some very strange names!!
For you coffee drinkers – the coffee I’ve had everywhere we gone comes in one of two forms. 1. it is pre mixed with almost a full cup of milk and stirred well (this is what you get in most of street shops). 2. they mix it in front of you by pouring coffee from one thermos (it literally has the consistency of used 30W motor oil), then add hot water and/or hot milk depending on if you want it black or normal. The taste is good though. I have lamented the convenience of Starbucks more than the actual product. Also, the Pepsi tastes funny, and Diet Pepsi is very difficult to find!! Pepsi is literally in every other shop on the street. But finding one that carries a diet variety of any kind is almost impossible!! (While Pepsi is everywhere, Coke is nowhere)
GoodnightHeading off to Bed! This is Friday night. Tommorrow is the day we help prep clients for their presentations with the presentations tomorrow night. Sunday is pack, and head off to the airport. This place becomes a part of you. I will miss everyone: clients, fellow consultants, the intercessors – but I can’t wait to see Renee and the kids : -)
Cultural Note: billboards are everywhere and you can't escape them. Also here is an example of a luxury taxi (seriously).
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
India 14 - Worship Widows/Orphans
Monday Night.Church on the Beach!
Well our 2 day respite is coming to an end. We had Sunday and Monday with no official client activities and some to do as we pleased. Sunday we all got up later than usual and had breakfast. Then at 11:00 we all met down on the beach
and had an inspiring time sharing, singing praises (I brought down my computer and cranked up some tunes), had some typical intense prayer time, and got to know a couple more team members who had arrived the night before (Ophelia and C – from Malaysia). Powerful time!! We sat in those little white deck chairs on the sand, under a thatched hut structure with palm trees all around. Europeans were definitely within ear range of our worshiping and prayer – and I hope they were blessed
Then off to lunch. Then a few of us rented bicycles from the hotel and rode into town (about 1.5 miles away I’m guess). What a treat! What commotion! What a mess! Traffic was the typical clog. We did find an amazing temple hewn right out of some huge rocks – with lots of symbolisms and idols carved right out of stones. Amazing – National Geographic kind of stuff!! Then back to the hotel for a swim (swam as many laps as my arms would allow – penance for not being a good boy at the buffet spread). Then cleanup and off for diner on the seawall where they had prepared a tremendous diner out on the veranda. What a treat!!. Finally most of us hopped a transport into down and walked around the ‘garment district’ just browsing. Move over Rodeo-drive in Beverly hills! You can’t top this (well, maybe if they added some random cows they’d come close).
[imagine picture of exotic temple here - having technical difficulty]
Widows and Ophans
Monday (today) we went to visit the orphan school and widow workshop. It is amazing how widows are treated in India. It’s actually kept very hush-hush as the govt does not want the West to really understand how bad it is. Basically, once a husband dies, the wife is blamed. A widow is not allowed to cross the street in then 
morning. If a widow is seen while a wedding is coming out (processional) they are driven off, abuse, and can even be beaten. They cannot get jobs as no one wants their bad luck around. Many widows are 19-20 years old and with kids! Many end up in prostitution as they have no other alternatives. Many go home to their father’s household, where they are just treated like Crap!! Often even by Christians!! They are only allowed to eat leftovers. If the matron of the house is displeased the leftovers can be given to beggars and they have nothing. The view is just so incredibly pervasive that they are lower than a slave. It’s mind-boggling. If a husband dies or commits suicide, they often quickly hide/burn the body so there is no police report. If there is a police report then they are required to do a post-modem. This is super expensive and the new widow must pay. Then the police come back every week and push the new widow – “what did she do” to drive her husband to suicide! Sick stuff! So we visited a group that is making a huge difference by rescuing widows and orphans that are considered untouchable in most spheres. They provide them a trade so they can eventually be employable, have dignity, and provide for their own household.
After seeing and hearing how most organizations work in the region – it has really reaffirmed that you really want to support groups that provide, teach, train. Groups that just give handouts only perpetuate dependency! The group I mentioned that is making such a difference has been really key in help setup/bring Equip to India and they are acting as a client to see how their business model can also benefit from the consulting.
As I’ve been typing I’m been hearing lots of big booms outside the hotel window. I just looked out and sure enough there are fireworks as they celebrate the end of Ramadan. Please pray for the salvation of India and Muslims all over the world.
And here is a quick snap I got off of 4 people on one bike. It is common to see 4 people on a motor bike, but usually 2 are adults and 2 are medium size. This ride is actually quite comfy. The record this trip is we saw 5 people on one bike on the way back into Chennai today. Traffic safety is a TOTALLY different mind set here.
None of us will be showing up the same after this experience I don’t think (I sure pray I don’t). It has really been fun getting to know everyone from all over the world: of course all the locals (India), Chucks (Nigeria), Garrett (South Africa), Ceelok and Ophelia (Malaysia), and all the rest based in the US (even though they are from all over as well).
