We've just passed through a busy time of year here. So many activities took place, since we are now associated with 2 churches in Mohali and Chandigarh. We feel extremely blessed to see the Lord working in lives here, yet amidst the blessings there have also been oppositions.
In the midst of our busy season, Brian had a car accident. It was Sunday morning, and he was on his way to a village for an early prayer meeting, before coming to church at 10am. He had 3 teen boys with him that day. He was in a traffic circle when a speeding car entered the circle without slowing down. CRASH!! (No one knows how to drive in traffic circles here!) Thankfully, no one was hurt, but both cars were damaged. Because of the "creative" justice used here, even though it was not Brian's fault, the police required him to pay for repairs to both cars, unless he wanted to make a court case, which could drag on for years (literally). The cost to repair both cars came to about $800. We are so thankful to those who came forward to help pay for these car repairs.
After the New Year, things usually start to settle down, or at least go back to our busy routine! We started school again on January 2nd. The next day, after prayer meeting, Naomi jumped out of the vehicle to open our front gate (heavy, iron gate). When she shoved it open, it caught on something and swung straight back, hitting her in the head. Let's just say the next few minutes were "very intense"!! She got a deep gash on her forehead, but thankfully did not fall or pass out. We were debating which hospital to take her to, and decided on the "good" hospital, since the cut was deep and we wanted to cut down on a risk of infection.
(With some hospitals here, you feel infected just by walking in the door, but that's another story) It was a very difficult time, for all of us, but we saw God helping in every aspect of this ordeal. They waited a long time at the ER, and the nurse finally asked Brian if we wanted the General physician to stitch her up, or if they should call in the surgeon. While we were discussing this (he was in favor of the GP, while I was all for the surgeon!), my OB/GYN who delivered Kara walked into the ER for another emergency. She is an absolutely awesome, no-nonsense doctor, that we love. She asked what was going on, looked Naomi over and said "Get that GP out of here and call in the surgeon!" She explained that the general physician would just stitch her up quick and probably leave a nasty scar (in the middle of her forehead). They called in the surgeon whose name is Dr. Prabhu. "Prabhu" is a Hindi word that means "Lord", so if you believe in signs...I guess that's a pretty good one! HA! He stitched her up with multiple stitches, and told us that the cut was all the way to the bone! Thankfully, there was no concussion or other complications, and her wound is healing fine.
Sometimes it feels like, "it never rains, but it pours", as the saying goes. Please keep us all in your prayers.
For some reason, I couldn't post any photos today, I will try to edit this post later and add the photos.
The young people put on some great skits...
Many people have told us that this was the best New Year's Eve celebration ever! Happy New Year 2013!!
