This Week

Nafisa is learning sign language for these words among others:
Drink
Cat
All Done
Eat
Please
Thank You
Help
Apple
Boat

Her favorite word this month is “NO!” (Now where did she pick that up?)

Joseph and Danielle got their bicycle tires repaired at a shop about ½ mile from our apartment. They are eager to use them now that the rains have ceased.
This is the season for Hindu and Muslim festivals and fireworks so, in anticipation of Danielle’s BIG 10 Birthday (Oct 31), I purchased some fire works and we lit all of them off tonight from our roof. It was great. No burns and lots of smoke but it was fun.

We are leaving for a week’s holiday at the beach in celebration of Danielle’s Double Digit birthday. One of Maria’s special friends, Alison, will be joining us. This trip is sandwiched between very busy work days. I actually signed the lease on an apartment tonight (28th)! Painting will begin on Monday and we’ll begin moving in the week of November 18 (Happy Birthday Amy!).

We’ve been missing family. Wish you all were here.

Some events of the day: Service center did not have the hardware for the TWO car door handles that broke this week. Flat tire this morning. Headlight went out on our motorbike as I was riding it the evening.

Book I’m reading this month: Failing Forward by John Maxwell.

Love from the Flip Side,
Bill for the family.

Away . . .

For the past week I’ve been in Nasik with visitors from South Carolina. Nasik is 5 hours north of where we live. We have been very fortunate that it has not rained at all while our guests are here! Our translators have been such a great help as well. While I’ve been having a great experience with our visitors, meeting and talking with local people, Merrilea and the kids have been battling pink-eye, congestive illness and home school. Danielle came home from school with pink-eye two weeks ago and it’s been making its way through our family. Having called Merrilea today, things are looking better. Here are some of the team with our translators as we are about to enter into the community.
On the home front: Due to pollution problems, we’ve been searching for a different apartment. We are grateful to have found one just before I came to Nasik! It will even be closer to our friends here. If all goes well, we will move the last 2 weeks in November. We hope that the lease agreement negotiations go well. Before we move my schedule is pretty full: traveling to Bangalore for a training, to Goa for Danielle’s birthday on the 31st and then back to Bangalore for another training. After that I’ll be meeting with some local friends for a weeks’ long training back in Pune. ….Life goes on.

Maryland Friends Gone, South Carolina Ones Coming

We have had a wonderful adventure with our friends from Mount Airy, Maryland!
They explored areas of the city, interviewed local people, even went into a Mosque just before the local Muslims broke their fast that night. Merrilea was able to show proper hospitality to the ladies who came over by offering several rides on our motorbike! They were able to see first hand the needs of the surrounding communities and we brainstormed about businesses that could challenge local people to do what is right in the eyes of God and man. We cherish the time we could spend with them and their participation in our work here in India. We said goodbye to them today. They are going to see the Taj Mahal on Saturday. On Monday we welcome another group of visitors from South Carolina to do similar cross-cultural project in Nashik, just north of where we live about 5 hours. They will be here through mid October.

Maria’s leg is doing better. She goes in for an X-ray on the 10th so we are hoping this will show good progress. Danielle got pink-eye last week so she was stayed out of school 2 days and now Joseph has it. Nafisa had her first fall and has a good bump on her head from 2 stairs she missed. Gravity is hard.

There are a few guys here who I get together with weekly. We knock around some ideas and we challenge each other to be more than we are, holding each other accountable to be who we know our Creator has made us to be. I am so grateful for their input in my life…as is my wife!

More when I get a chance to update. Our ISP was off for 3 days this week so we are not able to be more consistent in e-mail.