Welcome to our first update on our 2008 India trip! We had our final meeting tonight for the team and certainly we are all concerned with the events as they have unfolded today in Pakistan. We ask you to pray for our work, our safety, and for our witness to be faithful in the midst of whatever we may face.

You may follow us along by coming to this area daily. We hope to be able to update you as we go and maybe even give you a picture or two of our work. So visit often.

If you would like to e-mail the team, you may do so at india08@seedsministries.org, Just click on this link! We hope to be in touch. Below are a few pictures of our preparation meeting!!

DATE..SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2007

We are headed to the airport soon. I don't know when we will have access for an update, but keep checking, and keep praying for our safety. The tensions in the area are increased, but we feel it will be okay and we are in God's will. Know we will be praying for all of you too. - dcl

DATELINE..WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM INDIA!!

We have arrived in India at our location and we are about to start our first clinics. All of us are healthy to this point. There are some increased tensions in the area due to some religious protests. The police are delaying our start of the clinic but we should be able to start soon. We just don't want to cause any problems.

Hopefully tonight I will be able to upload some images. E-mail is now working and we thank you for the contact. Please continue to pray for us as we pray for you. More later. --dcl

LATER... We finished our first clinic late this evening. We truly saw beautiful children and adults today and hopefully help many heal in body and spirit. Unfortunately, the bandwidth where we are is not large enough to allow for updain pctures. Hopefully we can get this corrected soon. More tomrrow --dcl

THURSDAY NIGHT, JANUARY 3, 2008

As you can see below, we are still having trouble with all the pictures we are trying to upload of what is happening. Again tomorrow we will try and correct this problem.

We finished our second camp. So far we have seen over 500 persons. The team has been excellent, working in some rather difficult situations. Today we treated a mother and child. The mother was very poor and very enemic. The child had a club foot. After examination, it was determined that the foot could be surgically corrected but the family had no funds to do this. Further, this is considered elective surgery here. I was thrilled when we called a team meeting regarding this and it was unanimous that we pay for this surgery. Whatever SEEDS cannot afford from this trip expense will be covered by our team. That my friends is a clear demonstation of the ourpouring of love and support on this team and from you at home. As soon as we get our pictures working we well get one posted of this beautiful family.

Friday we go to a very large village. We have been able to recruit some Indian doctors to assist. Pray for our safety and the necessary quantity of our medical supplies. I hope to be able to post the results asap.

Our team is healthy except for some sinus irritation and a bit of the expected "stuff." All the team are working. Our prayers remain with you and yours with us. ---dcl

FRIDAY, JANUARY 4. 2008

Today we worked in a village with the poorest of the poor and with their children. We have seen well over 500 persons so far. The team is tired, but functioning. Tomorrow we will travel to a remote area to conduct a clinic. We will try to upload more images tomorrow.---dcl

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2008

We just completed another day of clinics. Today we were in a very poor village a considerabe distance from here. This community is outside the normal abilty to get medical care. But of all our clinics so far, this community welcomed us royally and were extremely cooperative. We saw some very sick people, but we also saw many who just wanted to be near the Americans. That is wonderfully humbling experience.

Tomorrow is church first, a clinic in the afternoon, and rest time. Please keep us in your prayers as we keep each of you in ours.---dcl

SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 2008

We went to churh today and celebrated the Lord's Supper with the local congregation. Following church we conducted a clinic for members of the congregation. We also redressed a wound we cared for in one of the village camps. It was a pretty nasty abcess. We will check it again tomorrow.

Today our team will be teaching at the school and hopefully going to another village to conduct a camp. Unfortunately the political climate here sometimes gets in the way of our work and such is today. We hope to resolve the issue and go about our work, but that is to be seen. I have not had time to upload more pictures due top power outages and the slowness of the connection. If I can I will tomorrow. Pray for our day as we pray for your nights rest. ---dcl

MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2008

Today our day started as usual with breakfast and devotion time. We then traveled out to the ministry center to teach in some of the classes and then to go to a village for our final camp. Unfortunately, one of the Hindu neighbors complained that we were not tourists, but rather were trying to convert Hindu's to Christianity. We always leave that to the local ministry, but the police came while we were teaching and we had to withdraw. So we did some follow-up wound care and went back to the hotel to pack for our trip to New Delhi by train tomorrow. In many ways it was a good reminder of just how fragile and tenuous our work is in India. We pray to do no harm and I think we are leaving the local relationship in good order.--dcl

TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2008

We have finished our work here and now are about to finish packing and head to the train station. More tomorrow.--dcl

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2008

We arrived in New Delhi this morning and have been cleanng up, re-packing and getting ready for our traditional last meal here of pizza and soft drinks. We will then say goodbye to Rajiv and Amol and head to the airport for the overnight flight to Amsterdam.

I apologize for not uploading new pictures, but the bandwidth of the local internet connection just doesn't permit it. Maybe I can from Amsterdam tomorrow.

Please pray for our safe trip and for restful day in Amsterdam tomorrow. ---dcl

THURSDAY, JANUAY 10,2008

We are in Amsterdam and tryng to get rested. More later. PS...Yes, Phill IS with us!!!!! --dcl

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 2008

Well, we will head to the airport for our final leg of our journey in just a fe minutes. We will arrive in Memphis at 4:50 p.m. In the luggage area we will have a time of devotion before we go our ways and we invite friends and family to join us. Pray for our safe jouney and return today.---dcl