Quite a Trip with an Accident at the end

Thank-you to all or you who followed our travels to India during the last two weeks. Everything we hoped to do was accomplished, even though there were several schedule changes along the way. I trust you have read the other blog that was also being shared for our group (see last post).

As a group we traveled in five states in India. We experienced the poverty of the country and even more the wealth and beauty of the country. We likely experienced some things there that we would not be able to experience in our own countries in terms of seeing the growing presence of an upper middle class in the nation. These things were actually not so much planned for this trip, but happened because of changes in our schedule.

We saw people actively engaged as followers of Jesus who are sharing the message of Jesus with their own people. The Church is alive and well. People are responding. The Christian Church is uniting in many sectors as they face opposition from others. I had a great conversation with a Catholic Priest as we rode a bus about some of these things. Gratefully we were able to move freely in each area where we visited. This has not been the case in other recent trips.

The Saturday before leaving India we planned a trip to a beach. Half of us went in a vehicle and the other half went on scooters. On the way we stopped to see the remains of a Portuguese Fort. After seeing the fort we were driving on to the beach on scooters. I was next to last in the pack. For some reason I was not able to make a turn in the road and slipped off of the brim of the paved road.

You can likely picture it. My front wheel immediately made a sharp left turn as it left the paved road and hit the incline of the ground beside the road. The front wheel stopped going around and instead came to a rapid stop against its flat surface. I was thrown forward and my rider the same. Fortunately she was not severely injured. I knocked the wind out of my lungs and found out later that I broke four ribs on my ride side.

We were greatly blessed by a fellow believer, Antonio, who came by in a vehicle and was willing to give three of us a ride back to town. Later I received the attention of two wonderful Indian doctors, first for ex rays and then for the care of my injury. In the midst of the accident we realized how great the hand of the Lord's protection was on us as we knew of so many other things that could have happened. We are all grateful.

The next day was time to travel home. First a short flight to Mumbai. Then a seven hour transition and a fifteen hour flight back to Newark, NJ. I was blessed with sleep for much of this journey.

Now we are all home and getting back into the rigors of life here. I had to cancel three appointments this week, but trust to be able to be back to my appointments next week. The doctor here at home tells me that he concurred with the treatment plan and medications I received in India. He also tells me that it will be quite a few weeks until I am actually back to "normal."

Thank-you again to all who followed our trip. I deeply appreciate your ongoing prayers.