Traveling to India: Part Two

OK It is T-4 and counting! I just made a list of all that needs to be done and I'm pretty sure I'll be ready by next Friday. Uh Oh we leave on Wednesday. Oh well! It always looks that way when you make a list of everything that needs to be done before a trip, doesn't it. The list seems larger than life and "nigh unto impossible." However, what I have also discovered is that everything that needs to be done always gets done. Once something is on the list then I have two choices. I can decide that it is truly necessary to do and do it or I can decide it isn't all that important and I just cross it off the list. Either way, the list keeps me focused and I see progress as things are either checked as completed or crossed off as not necessary.
So,what are some of those truly important things? Well the most important thing is to remember why I am going on this trip. When I remember that it puts everything on the list in the right perspective.
My reason for going on these trips is because I have been touched by the passion and commitment of people I have met. First there was Gary, who shared his love for the people of India and a man named Peter whom he had met there. Then I met Peter and I knew I also wanted to go to India to get to know the wonderful people he told us about. I wanted to meet his family and his friends and I wanted to see the beautiful tea gardens, ride an elephant and see the Himalaya mountains with my own eyes. Then there was the young woman, Kanjan, I met at one of the schools we visited on my first trip. We talked several times while I was there and she expressed her disappointment when people came to visit but never came back and didn't stay in touched. I made a promise to her that I would come back, and that I wouldn't forget her.
This time we will be there for the opening of Immanuel Academy, the school that Gary and his founders have built in Siliguri. We will hold a 3-day teacher workshop for the staff before their very first day of school on Wednesday, March 31, 2010. This will be a real thrill! I first saw the school in November of 2008 when they were just starting to pour the footings. Now the construction is completed and opening day is less than 2 weeks away.
There is still much to pray about: 1) enrollment is lower than expected and less than is what is fiscally required to operate in the black. 2) Classroom set up isn't contracted out to a local mover, it is done by Peter's employees in addition to their regular duties. 3) The health and welfare of all of our visiting team to stay healthy and energetic during the visit. And, of course, be thinking of us as we ride our first elephant. WOW who would have thought one day I could show my grandkids pictures of "Gramma Barb" on an elephant!