SHE SAID YES!!!!!!!

Praise the Lord! I'm getting married! "It is not good for a man to be alone...." yup, I agree :)
Well I am so very excited to be able to broadcast to the WORLD that I am the most fortunate one who gets to call Alison Anne Korock my fiance', and soon my wife!! It's also so very exciting to share without shame or hesitation, my intense LOVE for this beautiful woman! Proverbs 18:22He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD! This is very true, and what's more is that I have found not only a wife but an AMAZING wife...which makes me realize that I am receiving more than favor but also favortism from God! :) It's quite amazing to think about all that God has blessed me with and how He gives freely and without reservation to those of us who don't deserve it.
God was so good in coordinating the timing and details of my acceptance to med-school, return to CA, obtaining a ring, and making the proposal to my love, I couldn't have planned all, or any of it as well as it turned out. I'll try to give a quick recap of all that has transpired over the last (wonderful) week of my life.
After being trapped in a 5 star hotel in India for 3 days, Willie & I finally were able to squeeze into a couple 1st class seats back to O'hare and then direct to LA. This was simply amazing and actually a direct answer to prayer because we landed 12 hours earlier than our original plan which allowed me to spend the entire day choosing and purchasing Alison's (gorgeous) ring. That was pretty funny because we went directly to Robbins Bros from the airport, Willie & I were in the same clothes that we had been in for the 3 days we were stuck in Delhi, my shirt had stains on it, my hair was messy (greasy), I hadn't shaved in days, and I smelled like the better part of a dirty laundry hamper! The sales guy asked who was getting married and had a funny smile on his face when Bryant said I was the man. It was great, they had several options of the exact style ring I had conceived in my head years earlier. After picking the ring, and choosing the diamond I finally got to go home to shower and change, then Bryant, Boogs, and I went to see "Transformers" and then pick up the finished ring! Shortly after that we drove to LAX to pick up Alison, whose luggage was also lost. So now Ali & I are both back in Simi without any clothes of our own! :) The point is we didnt' get home till after midnight, but before going to sleep I told Alison that I wanted to watch the sunrise from the cross which overlooks Simi Valley. Our entire trip together was so planned out with who we were to be with and where we were to go that the only option for a time alone was before the masses were awake. It was such a perfect morning! We went to Fourbucks and got tea and then walked to the cross. We got there around 5:30 am and talked for 2 1/2 hours while enjoying an incredible sunrise. At about 8 o'clock I asked if we could pray together. I knelt at her feet as she sat at the foot of the cross and we prayed for nearly 20 minutes. After we finished I decided not to waste any more time so as I reached into my pocket I said, "oh, there was one more thing I wanted to ask you about, (no pause) will you marry me?" It was great! After a couple coin tosses and a quick consultation with her father she said yes! Actually she took the oval marble box I purchased in India, and hugged me and said yes! I finally told her that she was supposed to open it! haha, it was very funny. And that was it! Since then it has been a whirlwind of excitement, story telling, parties, and planning!
There are stories to tell, and so many pictures to see but I'm going to leave you with you have here! My life has changed completely, and it's about to be altered again :) I move into an apartment in Louisville, KY next week and then Med-school starts August 13th. Thanks for everything, for those who contributed to the kids in India, for the prayers offered for me & Alison, and the love you give to both of us!
Love,
BJ
For engagement pictures please see Pappa-Rock's blog (that's my father-in-law-to-be Ron Korock) http://www.ronkorock.blogspot.com/

Trip to South India

Barak & Willie are currently traveling through the southern region of India. They haven't had much time for blogging, but Barak asked me to post the following e-mail in the meantime...

"Please pray for me (Barak) during your work day, I am really sick. I feel awful and now we are in the middle of a very long week of intense traveling! I got some sort of a cold and flu. Not queasy but very week with chills and a fever. The mother here sent her son for some medicine so i hope it works. I just am really, really weak and my cough is pretty intense. Sometimes i think i'm going to vomit simply because my cough is that much. However i'm excited about where we are and what we are doing. We flew down to Bangalore today and I never went to sleep b/c the mosquito's were that bad. I only had 4 hours anyhow but truly never slept. We leave for Madurai on Monday night for an all night train ride then onto Kanyakumari or some other coastal city. Then we attend an Indian wedding on the 7th before our flight back to Delhi on the 8th. I am out of time and have to return to my place of lodging so i must go and then tell you more later. Please use this as a small blog for me."

Please keep praying for Barak & Willie. They will have a full week of traveling before returning to the US on July 11th.

Thanks!
Alison

Dear family & friends, greetings from the roasty-toasty land of India! Delhi has decided to imitate the climate of Death Valley, however we are doing rather well despite the drastic change in our environment. In fact I think we are getting acclimated quicker because the duration of our play times with the kids has increased. The more we can stand the more they want to play! I have learned how to play the incredible game of Cricket! All the students say that I look like some famous cricket player…it’s really only because I’m taller than they and I have a pale face! Cricket seems to be the favored game by all, young and old alike. So when they finally understood that I was telling the truth that I don’t know how to play they were astonished! Today in fact was our first experience. The thing the students enjoy more than anything is when Willie & I learn new games from them and play with them. It’s really fun especially because they are so competitive! They like the fact that I don’t just let them win and that I really “get into it” with them! They really love to pit Willie & I against each other. A new game that they taught us is called “kabati”. I guess this is a common game that Indian children play, kind of like how we have “tag” and “hid-n-seek”. This one is difficult to explain but pretty fun. They have a dividing line like a hose, between two groups of kids. When one kid crosses the line to the other side he attempts to tag one of his opponents and get back to his side, or at least touch the dividing line, all of this is while he is saying aloud “Kabati-kabati-kabati” as fast as he can and over and over again all in one breath. One breath is the key, because if the opposing side can catch or tackle him and hold him back just long enough for him to run out of breath without him touching the line or his safe side then he is out. So it’s really fun because I play with a different tactic than they do. I like to see how many students I can carry back to the line, only it’s not that easy and they’ve learned to each tackle a different part of my body at the same time! Usually I get dog-piled! Anyhow it’s a fun game but the heat can take you down much faster than the kids.
Well many of you may now know that I was accepted to the University of Louisville School of Medicine. It’s been nearly 3 weeks now since I heard the great news and many of you may have wondered how I reacted and how I feel now. It’s actually very funny how it all happened and still some of my family thought I wasn’t very excited. Let me set the stage for you. It was Friday morning and I was still not completely acclimated to the time difference and so I hadn’t been sleeping well. Pappa (Daniel Raj) pops his head in our room at 7am and asks me if I can give the messaged this morning to the teachers. This is the last day of our long week of Summer Camp VBS, and now I had a half hour to prepare a “sermon” which I’m not acquainted with doing in the first place! So I get to the school, prepare the keyboard and my guitar for a couple of songs in the event that I draw a blank while talking and need to have an impromptu time of song! :) There are now about 60 teachers all waiting for the service to start and so I begin to play the keyboard only to feel the phone vibrating in my pocket. I quickly give the phone to Pappa Raj because I didn’t immediately recognize the number. That was humorous because he couldn’t understand who was on the line so he hands it to Willie, who then stands up and says it’s for me. I told him take it for me and that I couldn’t speak. He keeps insisting and so I finally take the phone and hear dad on the line, so I quickly ask him if he can call me back in an hour. That was funny! He emphatically told me that was not an option! So in front of all the teachers, the room has now gone completely quiet except for the sound of my short responses to dad’s comments. I ask him what was so important and then he tells me that I had been accepted to med-school! I was shocked, excited, unbelieving, confused, not fully comprehending, and embarrassed. So I tried to explain to the crowd what just happened, but that only made them more confused, the excitement fell on deaf ears! :) So I finally had to walk out of the room and ask Willie to take over. It was weird because I didn’t know how to respond at the moment. The best way I can relate it is that it simply didn’t register. I know this would happen, because it’s the way that I usually respond to huge things like this, I have a less than acceptable reaction and then over time it really begins to sink in. I told Alison that night on the phone to try to understand this about me, and that my reaction (lack –thereof) was only intensified by my being in India and all of the emotions that I had been dealing with, as evidenced by my previous blog entries. It’s true my reaction was quite blah. However because of how God has been working in my life and the things I was realizing, my life, my plans, and entry to school was not the most important thing in the world. In that room alone were people with needs greater than anyone I had ever encountered in all 27 years of my life! And I was asked to speak to them? What did I have to offer them? How could I speak to them and give them encouragement on leaning on the Lord for their needs and tell them to trust in God through their pain? And these were the teachers, to venture beyond the walls of the school would expose the needs of countless others. Thus I think you may be able to partially understand that even though this was an answer to many prayers… truly a dream come true, something I’ve been working towards for over 10 years without the certainty that it would happen…that my perspective had been completely turned upside down. However there is a flip side to this experience, that is it has made me even MORE excited about using this commission in Medicine as way to serve the Lord! My prayers during my first week in India had become quite specific regarding medical school and to have them answered in such a way only after being in India was quite providential! I am certain that God wanted me to undergo this Indian Transformation before he would give me an answer to if, and where I would go to school. I needed to be reminded that this life is not about me and my own dreams and desires but about Him and how I can use my talents, time, and life for His purposes. I am filled with gratefulness that I have been chosen to attend med-school. It’s really exciting because I’ll be minding my own business and it will come to me, “you’re going to medical school when you go home!” WHOA! Yeah, then my stomach will drop and I will say it out loud to Willie, “dude, I’m going to med-school!” Then he says his typical, cute, funny saying, “dude, I know! That’s crazy!” So yeah, I’m excited! It’s just been a different path for me to reach the same level of excitement that Alison and my family felt for me the night they found out :) Well I need to go now, Willie has been finished for quite a while and is sweating for me, I mean waiting for me (I wish he could sweat for me!) The A/C is usually really nice in here at the café but tonight it went out and so now typing feels more like trying to pin down watermelon seeds than pressing specific keys!

Our A/C went out so we are having slumber parties in Mamma & Pappa's room! :)

Willie Is my new singing partner! Notice my cool outfit! it's called a "corta", i don't have any better pictures of it.

The kids love, LOVE my camera, and they love America so they wanted to pretend they were on a "ramp". L--> Purnima (my star student), Mamta (other star student), Krishna (not quite in the star catagory, but still a student)

The boys had to do it too! Sikander, Santosh T., Moshin ( my translator)

Our new Indian "Cycle" They don't know what a bike is.

Having fun with a group photo.

The die hard students. A great group.

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Nesa, Bency, & Nayana, are our lunch mates. They eat with us every day and we have so much fun making them laugh!

Sikander was so proud of this photo! They love to practice marital arts, though they have never had any instruction.

Sunil

Santosh S.

Donations for Guitars in India...

Hi everyone! This is Alison again, on behalf of Barak...

The school that Barak & Willie are serving at in India (see Barak's blog entries below) purchased several guitars for the kids to take lessons by using funds that had previously been designated for something else. This, coupled with the high cost of building a suitable storage unit for the guitars, has totaled $5,125.00 in costs that were originally intended for other uses at the school. This school mainly serves children who are very poor and live in the slum areas of New Delhi, and so Barak and Willie would really like to be able to cover this entire cost through donations and support from friends and family back home.

If you would like to sponsor one guitar, the cost is $62. Or please feel free to make a donation of any amount... it is all greatly appreciated and will go directly towards the cost of these guitars for the school!

Simply make checks payable to"Friends of the Good Samaritans" and write "Guitar Fund" in the memo line. Please mail checks to the following address and you will receive a contribution receipt:

Friends of the Good Samaritans, Inc.
P.O. Box 328
Stanford, KY 40484

On behalf of Barak, Willie, and all the grateful children at the Good Samaritan School in India, thank you so much and God bless you!

(Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions: alisonkorock@hotmail.com)

Maybe There's Indian In My Blood!

heLLo AgAIN!
Wow, it's wierd how time can go so fast and so slow at the same time!! It's only been 2 full weeks since we arrived and it feels like we've beeen here for months :) I miss Alison!

Teaching has been one of the greatest learning experiences i have ever had! I have always known that you can learn in any situation however i didn't know that when you are given the charge of imparting knowledge to those considered "simple" that you are truly the simple or "small minded" one! That the teacher (me) becomes, without question, the student! I have been forever blessed by the opportunity to share my love of music, and specifically the guitar, to these very, VERY grateful children. Understanding has not always been the most faithful attender in our classes, but desire to learn comes early and stays late every single day! I am very excited and extremely impressed by how much the students have learned in one short week of instruction! I have been joking with Willie & others that I have been putting these kids through a "Musical Boot Camp"! This joke is not too far from the truth. I have been very firm and strict in enforcing good behavior and cramming as much information into every session as possible! I have had to be hard nosed at times, just imagine 25 guitars all out of tune and all being strummed (actually beat upon) at the same time! Then try to regain control of this class. If even one person out of 25 decides to get that last measure banged out, then you cannot continue! But now they all understand and they have a lot of respect so that even when they are all in the open courtyard area practicing if i request with hand motions that they stop playing they all stop. And those that are tardy in their obedience are chastised by their class mates!! Now we just have to work on their respect for Willie! hehe ....it's too funny, when I turn the class over to him for Crafts or games and walk out, it gets a little out of hand.

So we finished the first week and there were some changes made. We had 30-35 students, however there were 10-15 that were not interested, to young, or simply misbehaving. So the Manager made the decision to limit the class to those above the 5th grade. This was a good decision because we had come to find out that the younger ones were coming for free baby-sitting, and those that remain definitey come to learn. We now have a consistent 22 students, all are large enough to hold the guitar properly (this was a big problem with the smaller children), and have a fair understanding of English even if they can't speak it.

God has been so good to me and giving me ideas and ability to convey the difficult concepts involved with basic guitar music theory. I didn't come to India with an agenda or specific curriculum. We purchased a basic "Easy Way to Guitar" book that i use as an outline and spring board to other concepts. One example is that of strumming. This is one of those things that when you know how to do it, it seems so natural and when you play a strum pattern you expect the student to just get it! But they don't! Not even one of them. So i had to develop a method of diagraming and dissecting the art of strumming that could be explained on the chalk board. It's cool because Willie is learning right along side of the kids, and he acts as measuring rod for the effectiveness of my teaching. After i was able to break the strumming down to it's necessary parts and introduce different aspects of timing, they TOTALLY got it! Some of the kids understood it so well this way that i was able to draw any variation of strum pattern and they could play it! That was an amazing experience! There are definite times or experiences that occur while teaching that can act like a reservoir of fuel which keeps your fire of excitement for teaching burning bright and strong. Standing there in front of 15 students who finally understood (my english and the concept) and played in time me, was simply amazing! And the smiles they would give to me when i got excited and clapped while saying "bahoot acha" (very good), were some of the most beautiful smiles i have ever seen!

The determination of the children is very inspiring. We start early and it is very hot yet they come every day and stay late.

7:30am - sing and learn new songs and pray

8:-9:00am - Group I Music class, Group II computer class

9:-10:00am - Crafts, games, or large guitar class

10:-10:30 am - break, snack

10:30-11:30 am - Group II Music class, Group I computer class

11:30-12:00pm - Review

1:00-3,4,or 5pm - personal practice and tutoring

It's amazing how many students will stay late and want to continue to learn. One Wednesday one the most enthusiasic and fun students, Santosh T. brought his "mouth organ"or Harmonica and asked me to teach him how to play. We were the last ones to leave the school, then he would joke to me in his very broken english, "I stay 24 hour, you teach me! haha." He is a real joy, he never stops smiling even when he doesn't understand a word you are saying! Wait, i take that back....ALL the children are extremely competitive and they get so angry if the other team is cheating. It's quite funny! I tought them to play "ultimate frisbee" minus the frisbee :) We use a tennis ball. But on one game i wasn't paying very close attention, i was sipping my indian tea (hot tea) while trying to refferee, it was nearly 115 f and as i was trying to sip without burning my tongue the blue team had discovered that passing the ball hand to hand was the easiest way of moving up the field without dropping the ball! LOL. I didn't see this and so when i saw the touch-down catch i called a point. But the red team was indignant! They were chanting "DEY CHEAT! DEY CHEATING! HE IS LIAR! HE IS LIAR! " I couldn't help but laugh! Anyhow Santosh is wonderful student and he loves to learn, he attempts to translate for me in class. Some of the other children don't like this becuase even though they cannot speak english, many times they can understand it better than Santosh! So when he translates they rattle off in Hindie protesting his interpretation! This is so humorous, but i still have him or someone give a translation becuase at the begining of the class i told them that this was not only a Guitar class, it was an English Class, Music Theory Class, Guitar Class, and Hindi Class!

Yesterday, Saturday 5-26-07, we went sight-seeing. I always have mixed emotions about going on these adventures, because I almost always get car sick! The traffic and driving conditions are like nothing you have ever experienced! There is not even one place in America that can compare to the driving here in Delhi! All i can say is WOW! So it's really hot and the pollution is so very bad that when we go for more than 15 minutes i just want to get back to our appartment.
However the most difficult thing for me is dealing with the beggars! So many times i don't know what to do! It's so, so very heart wrenching to have a child come up to you at a stop light and ask for money or food. Sometimes I haven't had any money or food, then there were times when all i had were large bills. The people who take us around seem to be unaffected by it, but can hardly bear it. We had just come out of this place called "Red Fort", which was absolutely amazing but we didn't have our camera, and three children came up to us, they quickly realized that Willie & I were the only ones that would even look at them. We had paid 100 Rs. a piece to walk through this place and coming out all i had were 100 Rs. bills which is like $2.50 US and we were going to anther place which required payment and so i didn't want to give them this bill. The boy was trying to sell us post cards, but there was this girl that looked about 10 (yet she could have been a malnourished 17 year old) and she was carrying a very small baby. We were waiting to be picked up by the driver and so for nealy 10 minutes which felt like an hour this girl begged to us, and the boy would not give up on the post cards! He was actually very very funny, maybe that's why he wouldn't leave us alone, because he kept making Willie & I laugh. He spoke english very well and when he could get us to buy is post cards he tried a humorous technique. First he was asking for 100 Rs. / post card booklet (he had 7 varieties). Then after a while he was offering all 7 for 100 Rs. ! Then he came back and with his cute accent and a smile he said, "ok, special deal for you, 1 post card for 1000 Rs." And he kept raising the price rather than bringing it down and this only made me laugh more. Finally Anand (our driver) arrived and i couldn't stand it, so as the girl followed us into the very busy street all the way to the car i gave her the 100 Rs. bill that i had. I gave something that time, but i can't tell you how many times I have had to walk by or ignore, or say no to those begging. Only two weeks and i can feel myself changing, when you have to pass by those in need without giving aid you begin to "get used to it" or become calloused to it. So i guess i can understand how those who have lived here all thier lives could pass by without a glance, but i think it will always gnaw at me. In America it's different. Sometimes it's easy to ignore those that pan-handle because they have options in America that they choose not to take advantage of, they want to live a life of drugs and sin, or they would rather do their own thing,even if that's begging, than be under another person's authority. But here! So many don't have another option! Some may perhaps, but here there is a poverty that is true and absolute, not self imposed or the result of poor choices and sin! So i ask the question, "how do i deal with this?" Do i carry large amounts of small bills to hand out everytime i leave the house? Are my prayers for these people worth anything if i have done nothing to ease their pain? Why was I chosen to be the one who gets to pay the man with out shoes and only one shirt tohis name 50 cents to peddle me & Willie back to our appartment where we can turn on our air-conditioner and sit down to a warm meal with a cold drink? It's absolutely amazing how selfish and ungrateful i have been, and even continue to be! Seriously! What do I really believe will give me true fulfillment, joy, and happiness? Francis has been hitting the nail on the head! We, I, Americans, are the rich man Jesus spoke of! How hard it is for the rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, surely it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle! My prayer now is that as I live my life I use my talents, my simply being an American, my wealth for the glory of God rather than wholly consuming it upon myslef and that which i desire. Please pray for me, that what i am experiencing, the struggles of emotion, heart, and soul, truly will be my Indian Transformation!

I miss Alison, I miss home, I miss pasta, I miss burritos! Oh, and i miss ice in tea (although i think part of my transformation is that i will be drinking hot tea in place of coffee!).

Love to ALL!
BJ

Uncle & Auntie Raj have now become "papa" & "mum". They are definitely our Indian parents! They have decided to learn the guitar mum's quick learning has been a competitive motivator for papa! :) They practice every night, sometimes even after i go to sleep.

This is the blue team. We were playing games and i couldn't keep track of who was on each team so i had the office buy two rolls of ribbon- Blue & Red. From left to right and down: Nousha, Moshin(best student and great translator), Sagar, Santosh S., Krishna, Purnima, Jay, Hanz, Sunil, Santosh K., Mamta, Vivek, the last 4 are no longer inthe class.

The red team! Tepan, Santosh T. (Mr. Enthusiasm), Sagar P., Sagar R., Jebesh, Nassrulla, Yoshan, Saurav, Gulshan.

This is what the kids call the Lobby. This is where i have them practice after class, they can spread out and there is usually a constant breeze (hot) and they can all practice separately.

Santosh T.

This was Friday, these 5 children practiced for nearly 3 hours straight of their own accord. I kept asking if they wanted to quit (i was exhausted) and they would say it was ok. They were here in the hall because the wind began to blow so hard and there was something burning nearby that you couldn't open your eyes in the Lobby area and when they stood up all the chairs blew out from them! :) Yet they continued to practice!

We only had the camera for our first to places of sight-seeing. This was at the Pilar, i don't remember what it was called. Some king wanted to make the tallest tower in all India, it took the lifetime of 3 kings to complete.

These are pictures in the ruins around the tower.

Willie the Giant.

The intricate carvings on every pilar and on every wall were mind boggling!

I'm supposed to be leaning on the tower :)

We could have gotten an even better picture on the other side of this massive structure but the workers got mad at us. there were windows on the sides that were near the top that we could have climbed up to, oh and there were green parrots flying around inside!

This is standing in front of the presidential palace and looking toward what is called the "India Gate", the small arch far off in the distance directly above the yellow line.

Here is at the India Gate. It was funny there are so many people trying to get Willie & I to buy things from them, you can't view anthing like this without getting bombarded by these people selling everything from fresh cucumbers to post cards. There was a man selling these toys that you shoot with a rubber band into the air and then they twirl as they parachute down. I told him no, but then after he walked away i thought i would buy one for each student. When i asked Nessa to aks him how many 25 would cost there came out of nowhere another man selling the same things. The first man got furious and when he told me 200 Rs for 20 the 2nd man offered 20 for only 100 Rs.! and a fight nearly broke out! It was crazy he started throwing punches! So i told the first man to give me 25 for 200 Rs.

This one just cracked me up! If you don't get it, I'll pray for you!

The Indian Transformation

Hello everyone, and thank you for you prayers!

Life is so different here in India, much more than I had anticipated. Even though I've been in Mexico and had times where i had no means of communicating, i never felt as lost as i have here! The language is so different, and their are so many (over 500) that my ear has a very difficult time hearing sounds that are common to them. I'm attempting to learn some Hindi phrases, but I seem to make more people laugh than I am actually communicating with! I learned a Hindi song which they were all supprised by! It was fun because Newbegin (that's his name) the song leader taught it to me and asked me teach it to the children because he thought theywould get a kick out of that :) I think the teachers got more enjoyment out of it though when i sang it with them before i gave a message.

One thing that has been the most life changing things has been seeing the total and absolute poverty that is prevalent. The mixture of life and lifestyles is hard to grasp. We have poverty in America, but not like this! And it does not mix as homoeneously as it does here. It is very sobering to see the conditions that these people live in. It literally kept me from sleeping, and sometimes I wake up thinking about it. It's more striking considering the harsh weather conditions here! The temperature has only dropped below 100 degrees F once in a week and has many times soared above that to nearly 125 (some estimated even higher). We get to go back to the appartment and cool down and drink some cold water, and sit under a fan, or in my and Willie's room we even have a window A/C unit! But so, SO many of the people here live in these mud or brick, or metal huts covered by canvas or tarps! These structures remind me of a fort that i would have built in my back yard with materials i could salvage from the wash. And if they are lucky, they have set up where they were able to pigtail off of a power line and rig a light bulb. I know when David went to Africa he came face to face with some of these same thoughts....but it's one thing to tell another of your experiences or emotions, but when you feel it yourself it's the difference between someone telling you that a glowing iron is hot and them branding your chest with it! I know that it is good for me to be here, my most earnest prayer now is that when i return to America that i will not simply return to the typical comfortable American mindset and lifestyle. I may not be able to cure all illness and eliminate all poverty in Delhi, but I most certainly can live off of less and have a have a heart of compassion for a universe that is larger than my personal interests.

The people here are very wonderful! They are beautiful both inside and out. I have never seen such large group of children with such beautiful faces and INCREDIBLE smiles! And they are so attentive, so sweet, and so generous though they have nothing. They all recieved a gift box at the end of the week of VBS, and both Willie & I had children offer us thier candy with such persistence that we had to take it! These are children that take a bus ride, some over an hour both ways, from the "under privileged" areas! You can imagine what that means after what i described above. They come from the slums. The school was first called the Delhi Slum School for "Auntie" Ananthi (a Ph.D in Linguistics) started it in the "toilet complex" of the slum. The school is now called the "The Good Samaritan School" and it was built by the supporting funds of "The River Foundation"! It is truly an amazing school as you may see from the picture below. It is a beautiful structure and a haven of rest and excitement for all who get to work and attend it. The layout of the building is that of a Sweedish Hospital so they say, and even in the extreme climate all rooms are able to remain at a comfortable (well, bareable) temperature without the use of any A/C. When the electricity goes out, which kills the many many ceiling fans, and you are in the middle of a praise song where 1000 bodies are jumping and dancing then it gets closer to the un-bareable side of things. Without exageration this exact senario occured and you could visibly see a cloud forming over the crowd from all the perspiration! It was laughable! :) I also had to sit for I thought i might faint!

We purchased 30 guitars 2 days ago. I have nearly 120 children enrolled in my "Summer Guitar Class"! And they will be devided into 3 groups. One small problem is that most of them do not understand english very well (or at all) and i have to communicate some difficult concepts like music theory! :) The Lord will be with me. However the guitars were quite nice for the price as compared to US $. They were all full size, cut out (meaning you can play very high on the frets), with pick-ups and volume adjustments! And they came in 3 styles: natural wood, blue, and black. They are called "Givson" guitars, the makers were creative because many Indians think that it is the same as the very expensive American made "Gibson" guitar because the font is the same and with the Indian accent givson sounds the same as gibson!! :) Anyways theywere 2500Rs. Which is almost $60.00 US. Each one came with a carry bag, a pick-up cord, and a strap. The scary thing is that the school purchased all of these because of an idea i had months ago when talking to Auntie that i could teach as many students as had guitars in hand! Then when i arrive, she tells me i will be accompanying them to the purchase of 30 guitars to ensure their quality, and then try to teach 120 kids with a language barrier! I still laugh when i think of it. Anyhow, the guitars were purchased with funds relegated to other needs in the school however Auntie thought this was more important! Thus i am not going to stop talking to people i know until i get the entire purchase of the 30 guitars covered twice! For now they have to use more funds to build a storage unit where they can safely house and lock the 30 guitars, and i am working on getting their PA system to a practically functional state! It is ABSOLUTELY amazing what they make-do with! They currently have an old tape deck as the amplifier, every button is broken and the tape deck is bent and stuck protruding outwards. This they connect to a switch board with a whopping 4 channels and the screw attachments for the speaker leads fall into the housing if you are not gentle with them! It's quite funny, but they get more use out of that and give more praise to God with that than an American Mega church's sound system! So please, if you read this and want to sponsor one or more guitar please e-mail Alison: alisonkorock@hotmail.com

I need to go and i hope that the next entry will not be so long from now as the last one was, however it is very difficult to get to the "cyber cafe" and the connection at the school is via mobile phone.

Please keep me and Willie In your prayers and may the Lord's gracious blessing be with you.
With much love,
Barak

This girl was so precious!! All i would have to do was look at the girls and they would start to giggle and cover their face and wisper in their friends ear and point back at me...i think they were flirting with me ;)

There were nearly 700 kids and they all sat at attention on the concrete floor. These kids here are so well behaved it's amazing! It makes American kids look so pathetic.

Willie & I are starting to "dig" the Indian toilets! They are flushwith the ground. You place your feet on those ribs and...well...squat and get-er-done! Everything seems to flow better in that position! We're getting so good that we can even do it in the middle of the night without falling in!!

Willie Was the STAR dancer! So many complimented him on his good dancing! None of the men would dance, and the ladies just couldn't get over Willie gettin' down!

This was simply amazing. Next to the school there is a large building project going on, but the amzing part is the woman fron & Center....count the bricks! Mind you, it's 105-125 in the noon day sun!

This is the "flat" that we live in. The tan door on the bottom below the green covering is our door.

This is a very common scene, and it can be in an alley or on the main highway with heavy traffic!

Precious Auntie Dianna Raj! Uncle & Auntie Raj have become our Indian parents! They live with us and us with them and they take care of us. Every morning Uncle brings us tea!

This is one of the workers children! She is so beautiful, well i think she's a she indicated by the make up under the eyes.

Here the senior boys were helping me learn Hindi. We had so much fun for nealy 2 hours!

Our wonderful sister Nesa (left) and Nana(right). Nesa is a civil engineer and Nana is an Electrical engineer...yes they both have the "Nack"! Nesa cooks us takes care of ALL of our meals! She is a wonderful cook, and she is the one that helps us around Delhi or with anything we might need. They both are office staff at the school. There is one more woman, Bency, who we are good friends with as well. The three of them usually always have lunch with us every day.

"Uncle" Daniel Raj in our flat.

The Good Samaritan School. Front view. And that is the Toyota "Qualis" that we are chouferred around town in.