back from india...

it was an awesome trip. we got home late saturday night. while we were at lax, the lady at the counter wound up sending our luggage to seattle. we were at the terminal, waiting for the plane to arrive when i looked at the claim tickets and noticed that the names on the stickers weren't mine, but someone else's that i have never heard of. so i went up to the customer service desk and showed them. they said that it was caught in time, so they would be able to right the wrong. i left my boarding pass with them and about a half hour later, was called back and was told that the bags had been rerouted to spokane. when we got to the baggage claim, no bags. they were in seattle. the bags were on the next plane to spokane and we would get them sometime sunday morning. at least it happened on the way home instead on the way to india.

anyway, more about the trip...

siliguri is awesome. the people that we met and places that we went to were incredible. we saw 104 people come to the saving knowledge of Christ, with about 35 of them kids. in india, children aren't much appreciated, but now, they are learning that they are in fact the next generation. tony and i were talking about needing a youth program for the kids that are there. there really isn't anything for them. hopefully, the need will become great and a program will present itself.

i think that rin had a great time as well. being able to visit/work with her family and be able just to be there, doing what needs to be done. we visited a few different tea gardens and a school. we were able to build some new relationships that will last a lifetime. for more information on our trip, i posted about 4 times while in india and you can find those below this post. i've also uploaded some images to my flickr account. i took about 1000 shots (that i kept) and i keep going through them to find which ones to display for all to see. it will be a long process, but hopefully worthwhile.

on the return flight home, we had a layover in singapore. i love singapore. rin can understand why now. she also shares my feelings towards that tropical city. it was about 85°f with about 85% humidity (give or take). we were there in december, wearing flip flops, shorts and t-shirts, enjoying the heat while there was snow on the ground back home. we walked up and down orchard road, just enjoying each other and reconnecting with each other. there were a few places we went. time was limited, so we wound up going to the asian civilizations museum. it was interesting, to say the least. i am very interested in asian culture, so it was good to learn some things. i took a bunch of images but couldn't use the flash, which was understandable.

afterwards, we hopped on the hop-on bus and headed to clarke quay and walked the waterfront. talked about things and just enjoyed the area. then headed back to the bus and went to the botanic garden. it blows manito park away. incredible. it was just amazing. on the hill in the garden was the national orchid society garden. again, incredible. it was very cool to see plants that we grow here as indoor plants growing in the warm, humid conditions they were meant for. amazing colors and sizes abounded.

since it had been a long day and we walked everywhere, rin wanted to start heading back to orchard road. we were able to catch the last bus back to the city (barely). it basically turned into a foot race to get to the bus. we got back to our room so that rin could change from her flip flops to her converse and we headed back out to get some blizzards from dairy queen. that's one thing i love about singapore, it is in the east, so it has asian flavor, but it has also been westernized.

we walked the road again, but this time it was dark and that's when the road comes to life. many, many people out. out having fun and just relaxing as well. we called it an early night, since our flight was the next morning. fast forward about 15 hours from departure and we are waiting in the customs line at lax. i hand over our passports and immigration card to the agent and he asked what we were doing overseas. we told him missionary work and he stamped our little blue books and told us those two little words that always brings a slight tear to my eye whenever i come back:

welcome home.