Redemption Ministries

Krishna River Island Meeting

2012-02-16T23:36:00.000-08:00

The mental prep for this meeting was, again, a bit over exaggerated by my imagination. We were heading to an island to do a meeting. In order to get to this island we were taking a tractor over the water, well that is depending on the height of the water. Once we actually got there all we saw was sand and a "puddle" of about two feet. The river is so far down that the water never came to this part of the island, which is bad news for the dry, hot season ahead. However for us it meant we didn't actually have to use the ox cart but we did, if even just for the experience. It was very exciting. Once over the puddle we got back in our car and drove through fields of corn to the other side of the island which lies along the Krishna river. We got to point where we couldn't drive so we got out and walked through the corn fields past a house and a mud hut with two little boys and our guides leading us to the spot seen in the pictures below, it was beautiful.

Fishing Nets

Fish Traps

On our way back as we passed a little hut these little chicks crossed our path. The lady below clucked at her chickens and they came out for me to take pictures of them. Then a man climbed a huge coconut tree, it would have been awful if he would have fallen out! He stayed in it for like 5 minutes cutting down coconuts to share and the shimmied his way back down the tree. It was unbelievable! Then he chopped off the tops and one of the little boys ran and got straws from the mud hut. I think it is the second time I have had coconut water. It is a little hard to drink down because it is a bit "thicker" then water. But it keeps you hydrated and is good for your stomach. Especially after you have been eating curry for the last three weeks. So really it was a great treat! After we finished those we finished our walk with a stop at the little house seen below. Two rooms, and two families live in this house. They gave us some good tea, some cooked corn which was really good! Even with the language barrier the time spent with these people is so precious and wonderful. We prayed a blessing over their house and got back in our car to head to the meeting which was at the church on the island.

This meeting went great. It was a little slow to start. Typically when you do a meeting people hear the sounds and music and out of curiosity will come and sit. This happened here as well, except since it is an island there isn't that many people! But God still moved and the message was great. We prayed afterwords with practically everyone, and got fed some curry chicken with rice.

xo, Carissa

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Thanksgiving Service

2012-02-16T04:45:00.001-08:00

Day to day activities in India can get pretty exciting. We are blessed to have a working washing machine, otherwise we would have to beat our clothes on rocks with water and soap. After they wash we hang them up to dry either in the backyard or on the roof, as seen below in my pictures. While I was hanging laundry I almost grabbed this clothes pin with this lovely looking spider on it. I ran inside to grab my macro lens in fear that he would flee. He didn't. In fact he stayed there the entire day, I decided not to use the clips near him to hang our clothes though. Later when I showed Ben he said it most likely has got a little poison in him and that this bite would have hurt pretty darn bad. You can barely see the hairs on his legs with a naked eye (or maybe just I couldn't because I didn't want to get too close).

The last pictures on this little one below or of the goats. My favorite picture from last year was a goat picture of the herds. We were driving to a meeting and a huge pack of them were crossing the rode. I grabbed my camera and shot just a few of them. Once we got into town we saw the cutest two baby goats sitting on some steps. I had wish I had my camera out and ready because that picture would have been amazing!

Our Monday evening was spent attending a Thanksgiving service for a pastor and his wife/family. They were recently in a pretty bad motorcycle accident. Once upon a time there was no cars or motorcycles but now they are every where in India and most families have a little motorcycle as their family vehicle. So, the thanksgiving service was being held at their church, which is actually the very first brick Redemption church. They had it all prettied up!
We got to spend sometime with the children's home that Pastor Job and Ludima run as seen in the sequence of pictures. We talked with them, joked with them and pretended to "check behind their ears" to see if they were keeping clean". The kids though it was too funny.
The cute little chubby baby sitting on the cot is actually the same baby from a shot I took last year. She is another pastor's wife little girlie names Blessie. She is two now and so big! If you notice she has 20 rupees (50¢) in her hand and two "chocolates" (sweet candy).
The last shots are of the meeting. There is a shot of a birthday cake with a big fiery candle on it, it was Janie's birthday, she is the Pastor and his Wife miracle baby that they had in old age. So the service was also geared towards her in rejoicing in her birth and her day (she is pictured below with Jan, who she is named after, all in pink). The church was so full that the kids sat on stage with us (we are always placed on stage in church) and even outside was full of people. It was a wonderful service, which ended with a salvation prayer.

Trip To Bellary

2012-02-09T10:03:00.000-08:00

We had a very exciting trip. It feels like it lasted much longer then it really was, we left Wednesday night and got back this morning at 3:30 am.

We got on a sleeper train (pictures below) at 8:00 pm. It was described to me as a cushy board to sleep on, not so bad they had said. I thought the worst but was pleasantly surprised. We had an AC cart with two top sleeper spots, and the rest of the family was off in a different cart. Once we got off we had an 1 1/2 car ride to Bellary where we got to sleep for a bit and clean up at the local hotel. Let me take this moment to explain an India hotel. It is not like any American hotel you have experienced. Most are dirty. They mop the floor with dirty water, don't wipe down the walls, were not 100% sure they wash the two sheets especially when you find hair, a couple of ants and a piece of rice (this was one experience), and flying mosquitoes everywhere!

Back to my story, we were elated to be in the hotel, to have a western toilet (they go to the bathroom in a whole in the ground so to have an actual toilet is a joy), and a bucket of water to shower with. Then off we went to a church/bible training school building dedication. It lasted about 3 hours, filled with great words of praise and worship. This pastor had gone to one of Redemption Ministries bible schools many years ago. It was great to see how God has used him in this village and blessed him with this building. We are so excited to see what is to come. All of this was followed with a good meal of goat and biryani. Then we were on our way to pack up and start our trip back. On our car ride back we stopped so I could snag a couple of pictures of the sunset. The two little kiddo's below were at the building dedication service. That night on the train was so much better, slept almost the entire ride. But with that said was so happy to be in our own bed at 4:00 this morning!

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Night Meetings & Guests

2012-02-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

Last night we experienced the first of this trips night meeting. It was so very exciting. The "kid's club" has been going to certain villages weekly to set up a kid's club. They tell fun bible stories, have a big bird all dressed up to entertain, do puppets, play games, give treats and a little take home bible sheet. At the very end they pick names out for winners and they get a little extra something special. Tonight it was little plastic bins (as you can see below). We had a couple of visitors from the States come to spend the day with us in Guntur. You can see them, so excitedly participate in everything we did. After the children's club the meeting began. With lots of Indian singing, then they honor their guests (us) by throwing little petals in the air as we walk past and giving us full lays of flowers. My wonderful husband spoke for a bit and did such a great job! With Harley finishing off the night strong. A call for salvation, from Pastor Wilson and then those who needed prayer came and we got to pray. All of this was finished off with a delicious meal at 11:00 pm, it was good. It was a perfect night, God moved and we were honored to be their and I was happy to capture it.

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xo, carissa

First Sunday In Guntur & Wedding Celebration

2012-02-07T08:13:00.000-08:00

Where to begin with such a busy last two days. Sunday was church, which starts at 10, scripture at 11, the chance for testimony then all four of us get up and say a little something. It lasted four hours long, with communion at the very end. It was a great service, and seeing them do communion was so cool. They had a special type of juice and Pastor Wilson's wife filled all the cups up right before. Everything was in Telagu, the language barrier can be difficult but it helps to increase your other senses. Even though we couldn't understand what was going on we could feel the presence of God and see him moving. A nice big curry lunch, and then off we went on a four hour drive for a Monday morning wedding.

On Monday the wedding was supposed to start at 10:30 and didn't start until 12:00 but we got there at 10:30. Then it lasts about two hours. I would have to say the most entertaining part was the photographers/videographers. As you can see in my pictures below they were all in front of the stage with all their lights set up nice and big AND right in the way! Then they would go up on stage and have the bride and groom look at them in mid sermon, it was nutso! As things happened they would pause and all look at the calendar (mid-ceremony) to snap a 30-60 second image. It was very entertaining, and educational. Moral of the story in India the wedding photographers get in the way and in America we stay out of sight and in secret. The wedding itself was very nice. It was very different from any type of ceremony we have in America, typically they exchange bibles but in this case they did use rings. There was two different messages, three different prayers, four songs, and 3 different vows finished with a big thank you from the groom's father. At the very end they cut cake and then walk through us throwing flowers in the air (or directly at their faces if your kid with flowers in hand). I can only hope that the images tell the story of our crazy weekend better then my words. God granted me the gift of photography not of writing!

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xo, carissa

Home In Guntur

2012-02-03T08:18:00.000-08:00

We have made it "home", safeand sound. Home is: in Guntur, has an American bathroom, has a fridge that wefill with water and Thumbs Up, and a bed we call our own. The journey to gethere started at 5:30 yesterday morning, so 5:00 pm. MN time. Which wasn't bad due to the fact that our sleeping isno where near normal. Our trip began and as the sun rose it was a deep orangealmost red, due to the pollution that covers India. We stopped to eat at alittle rode "hotel" and got our classic breakfast, puri with coffee.Then started our journey again. We drove through the Nagarjunasagar Left EarthDam (pictured below), which used to be the largest dam in the world and aswe climbed up the little mountain we saw monkeys! Like crazy, moments ago inthe car I had said I wanted to see more monkeys this trip. And then they appeared, tons! So we slowed the carand I took some super quick pictures. Six hours later we got to Guntur, droppedour bags off at the little house we stay in, and head over to the bible school.All the students and almost all the local ministry leaders from surroundingvillages had come to welcome us. We got two roses each, and all got lays fullof flowers, gave hugs and then headed to lunch. Lunch was at the wonderfulpastor's house, his wife is an amazing cook. The meals here are 2-3 timeslarger then 1 meal in MN, at least for me. But if you tell them you only want alittle (which is a normal portion) at least 4 times, they will listen. Therewas two different types of curry chicken, with fried chicken (not what youthink, but the best), green bean with goat, and scrimp curry with white rice!After we finished our delicious meal we headed home to unpack while the manwent to some business. After cleaning and changing sheets, plus unpacking,which felt wonderful, we took a little nap (still trying to get used to thetime) and then ran to the little store. We got some juice and a couple oflittle snacks, along with eggs and other necessities. then off to dinner, againat the bible school, where we had chicken curry and potato curry (which is myfavorite). We went to sleep last night with ourwindows open and the fans blowing. Listening to the little white yappy dogbarking outside the window. And woke up this morning to the sound of thetemples singing the good morning prayers on the loud speakers. We are waitingfor today to begin. It will be our only day around the house as we have lotsplanned for the upcoming week.

The Beginning of our 2012 Spring Trip

2012-02-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

We are safe and sound. Our 14 hour plane ride from Chicago to Abu Dhabi wasn't as painful as we had thought. With our own little screens and a wide selection of movies. We got to sit in the Abu Dhabi airport for several hours, and then hopped on our 3 1/2 hour flight to Hyderabad. Arriving in Hyderabad, off to a little guest house (pictures below). Recovering from a bit of jet lag has been a bit difficult. But slowly but surely we are adjusting. It is so wonderful to fly into Hyderabad before going to Guntur because we have a little down time. We got in at 4:00 am India time, which is around 3:30 pm MN time and tried to sleep as late as we could.

We got to enjoy a little restaurant breakfast (below), chutney, puri, & coffee for $3 each. And have had a little time to adjust to the time zones and plan our month ahead. We did a little shopping and exploring as seen with all the images below and then had a little coffee and a sandwich! Now we are relaxing a bit more and are off to Guntur in the morning, a six hour drive.

All the pictures are just from my phone, hipstamtic. Once we are in Guntur the big camera's will be taken out!

Welcome!

2010-09-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our new website. We are in the process of getting our information available. Keep watching for new posts and pictures. Feel free to check out the About Us section or to Contact Us. The Gallery has been update recently as well!