 Phil.
4:19 My God shall supply all your needs. God always provided food
for us. There were times we felt hungry for familiar foods or did not get
enough because it was flavored with hot spices. We always had something to
eat. We praise God for He always provided for us. Many times teenagers are
hungry 4 times a day no matter what country we are in. It seems during
growth spurts, you can never fill them up. India with its food so
different from ours was no exception. Of all the countries we have been in
so far, it was the most difficult to find foods we could eat without
extreme pain. We were however, thrilled with the new fruits we had never
before seen or tasted.
This is a typical kettle we were loaned to cook our stew in. As always, we packed foods the children were familiar with into pockets and every suitcase bag. Six cases of granola bars of various flavors were stuffed into the children's belongings. Then granola was made by a friend. Also powdered rice milk was taken. Mixes of gluten and patties and waffles I had prepared so we could just add water and cook. There just is not time to conduct medical clinics all day, and preach for hours at night and still do cooking for a crew of children. It would have been nice to have a hard working dedicated cook along. There was also lintels, split peas, and dried vegetable soups crammed into the luggage. Peanut butter was another item we took. With teenage boys and growing children I hoped that if we were neglected by our Indian friends for a day or two, we could survive on the items we stuffed into our bags. We were provided this little kerosene burner in Tenali and sat outside to do our cooking up of stew. It tasted so good. We enjoyed the pineapples, papayas, mangos and bananas we were given by the pastor. He also fried up potatoes. |
  The
bananas were inexpensive. Then we got a type that tasted like soap and the
boys refused to eat another banana in their lives. |
|
|
   The
Jack fruit was delicious. It had a taste mixture of banana and pineapple. |
  The
Ice apple felt like real firm Jell-O in your mouth and had a pocket of
cool liquid in the center. This Ice apple was supposed to help one deal
with high temperatures easier. We could stand to have some help for we
were experiencing temperatures up to 130 degrees F. This fruit grew on
palm trees. It looked like coconut till it was shelled. |
  The
high temperatures of 130 F made even birds and bats fall dead
from the trees. The heat along with the challenge of finding food we could
eat and trying to get enough rest were the three greatest challenges God
gave us strength to meet. We praise God He kept His promises. Isaiah
40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increaseth strength. 40:30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint. |
 Another
wonderful fruit we tasted was this. It appeared like the fuzzy kiwi yet
inside the fruit was so sweet it was like pear jam. I really enjoyed
these. |
 Coconuts
were for sale everywhere. I liked the coconut milk if it was fresh. Some
of it tasted like soapy water. |
 The
pomegranates were delicious. We had some in Russia but these even were
sweeter.
|
  The
open market had a great variety of foods to choose from. Our friends
wanted to do all the purchasing for us so we did not always know how to
ask for things. What we pointed out, they were delighted to arrange for
us. It was a good thing we had food along those first 21 days for we were
so busy with meetings and the pastor with advertising, that we did not
always get what we needed to eat at the right time. Sometimes we had to
wait more than 6 hours. |
 The
mangos were heavenly. We learned some of them are best eaten by cutting a
little hole in one end and sucking out the juice. Oh, it tastes so good.
We were privileged to have several every day during the middle section of
our 2 months in India. The papaya was almost as good as those we had
in Mexico and Borneo. |
  These
red fields are full of drying chilies. The curry and chilies and poppy
seeds were used in so many food preparations that we soon decided it
was better not to eat than to burn for hours and days from the pain. We do
not use any irritating spices in our food. These lead to ulcers and
eventually can contribute to cancer. If felt like the fire was coming out
of our noses and out of our ears. If felt like our whole body was flushed
and on fire. Even cooked breakfast cereals were spiced. |
|
This
is a banana plantation. The man on the right is pushing a typical cart up
and down the streets selling his bananas. There were so many new and
different foods to try. I have pictured a few of them for you. I was not
always able to get their names. The children grew very tired of
white rice. They made their father promise that he would never fix white
rice again or buy them another banana. We heard many Indian people tell us
they could not find a thing they liked to eat in America. The food styles
are so different from ours. Eating with fingers seemed such a health
hazard. The hands can never be boiled and sterilized as one does the
silverware.
This
fruit on the right was given to us by one who did not speak English. I
sure liked the flavor. It was soft inside and juicy. There was so much
fiber, we just sucked out the juice.
We
visited 4 states in India and covered thousands of miles. It was a
great opportunity to see many different sub culture groups and
hear many languages and taste different foods. There were times we
were fed all we could eat. We discovered Indian people are very
hospitable and would share more than their budget could even
afford. At Neena's orphanage we were served delicious, special new
foods. In Nuzvid hospital we had real good food though sometimes
they forgot and spiced it. They worked hard to please us. We were
treated very special there. We enjoyed so many new foods. The
sweet business manager's wife fixed food most every day in
Bangalore. One school teacher in Bangalore Lowry college had a
table heaped with delicious foods. He was so careful to only use
salt. We wished we could have been able to eat more, it was so
delicious. Some times during travel I ate little so the children
could get all they needed. Over all our 2 months in India we all
lost weight but God sustained us. If God asks us to go again, we
will go willingly knowing from experience that God will provide
all that His servants need. Our 55 days was not much longer than
the 40 days that Jesus fasted. Even though the children were not
used to the food, they ate. They seemed to be hungry all the time
as usual. All the children survived the experience and even grew
during that time. During that 2 months one teenager grew a whole
inch. They pray they made a difference by their work,
sacrifices, and prayers for India.