Friday just disappeared so there was no Feb. 23rd….. it was spent in transit. Somewhere over Central Asia…

Our flight brought us into Hyderabad just after 3:00am Sat. morning. Baggage handlers are “hand” tossing luggage on to a small luggage carousel. It was comical to watch the line back up as there is not nearly enough room for all of the luggage that was checked ~ and I only checked one for this trip. It is a manual process for unloading the bags. I keep thinking, boy these guys are really working hard. One of them pulls off luggage that appears to have stayed on the carousel too long to make room for additional bags. Once it gets moving, there does seem to be a science to how baggage is offloaded as it all works out. One would think the entire place would be deserted at this time of the night, but hundreds of people are standing just outside of the airport awaiting the arrival of their loved ones. We meet Pastor John and then are transported to a “Comfort Inn” in the city for a few hours of rest and refreshing before we board the final flight to Mandapeta. I’m thanking God for the arrival of all the luggage.

My first impressions of Hyderabad are written in my journal as: Smells of Oil, Curry and mothballs?

The oil comes from the many, many rickshaws, small motorcycles and mopeds that burn oil….. Curry, well that’s obvious and a fine aroma to smell (makes you hungry), the mothballs…. that were placed in the sinks to keep the cockroaches out of (or down the drain).