Touchdown!!!

We finally landed in Chennai airport at about 7:30 am, grabbed our bags, and exited the terminal to the bright and smiling familiar faces of some of my favorite people on the planet!  Standing and greeting us were Raj and Prema (Raj's wife), their two kids (Bruce and Clarinda), Anandraj (another Life Mission staff member), Pastor Anbuannan (a "SuperPastor" from Vellavedu), Diako and Stephen (additional friends and volunteers), and a handfull of others who were new to us.  We snapped this picture before piling all our gear onto a huge bus and heading to the hotel for some refreshment time.  

And in case you're wondering what those gigantic flower garlands are that are hanging around our necks?  Well, that's a traditional Indian greeting, and the hospitality-driven nature of our Indian brothers and sisters does not disappoint.  Each team member is greeted with a fresh "lai" (erm... or at least that's what they call them in Hawaii, right?) that weighs about 2 - 3 pounds, and the flowers are so fragrant that they fill up your room with the scent of fresh flowers!  

Snoozin'...

This is what happens to you when you travel for 40 straight hour and still aren't finished yet.  Steve Holt (Technical Team) shown here racking out (for the better part of 2 hours) on hard marble, and, when he woke up, said, "wow... never knew marble slabs could feel so soft!"

Alternately is Amanda Harris (Justice Team) sprawling across a couple of seats and doing a very good job looking, for all practical purposes, as though she's genuinely resting.  When i snapped this photo, she cracked an eyelid for an instance, gave me that "what ARE you doing?" look that i see often (she IS my sister-in-law, after all), and then promptly slipped back into unconsciousness.

Cutting Through Customs...

Video posted by Ben Sanders

Here's a quickshot of us exiting Customs.  Surprisingly, we were able to get our "1,000 pounds of love" through without too much hassle.  The big issue was that they just wanted to make sure that we weren't going to resell anything, or that it didn't require any tax/duty.  It was kind of funny, actually, and they had a hard time understanding why 26 Americans would fly 9,000 miles with a bunch of sand and gravel for rural Indian villager from whom they were not going to profit or benefit.  

"When I Start Levitating, You'll Know I'm Done..."

Ted Bryant demonstrates Yoga relaxation techniques on the airport floor.

Posted by Ben Sanders

Digital Postcard: Greg Schermeir

Posted by Ben Sanders

In Country!

The teams have landed in Bangalore, India! They are hanging out at the airport, awaiting their last short bit of the journey, a 40 minute flight to Chennai. Everyone is doing well and in good spirits! They will start blogging again once they get a good internet connection!

Digital Postcard: Ben and Vanessa Sanders