India Update Weeks 22 thru 25

If there is a measurement of how busy I am right now, it would be how difficult it has been just to sit down and update you on what's been happening here and update you on why I am so busy.

I just got back from Sri Lanka. I had to go there, because I cannot be in India for more than 6 months at a time due to my Indian visa, so I had to go to the closest country and then return. I went there with 8 friends, so we went ahead and called it a mini vacation. I was truly was suffering for Jesus on this trip let me tell you. 3 days of being on the beach, watching others shop (no clothes or shoes fit me) (I did buy a small chair though), and I also played with elephants. The first day after we got our money exchanged into Sri Lanka Rupees and passed all the security check points to make sure we were not terrorists, we headed into the central part of the country to visit an elephant orphanage. Yes, this was a home (Village) for elephants. This orphanage cared for more than 100 elephants. We got to hang out with about 30 of them while they were taking their bath. These animals were huge and it really was something to see when you are among all them without bars or dividers to protect you. I was able to pet 2 of them and take a several photos of them, then just sit down in the middle of them and just enjoy this beautiful place that God has created for me to enjoy.

After we left the riverside and the elephants, we were walking back through the village and there was a Snake charmer there. Not 2 weeks ago, I told a team member that was from Oklahoma that was doing children's work at HBI, that I had not seen a single Snake charmer in India, and here one was in Sri Lanka. I am one of those weird few that actually likes snakes, and my friend from Columbus (Mike Russell) has a python, which playing with his python has helped me get past my fear of snakes. I felt comfortable taking the snake from the charmer, and as soon as I did many cameras came out and me and the snake became one photogenic couple. I must have charmed the snake, because I put it to sleep. After we had our fun with the python, the charmer asked if I wanted to pick up a real snake. I love challenges, so I said sure. He pulls out 2 King Cobras! Wow, what a snake. Everyone around me plus our guide were scared and were yelling, " do not to go near the snakes". The charmer started to wave his fist and the snakes started to get angry and tried to bite him several times and were hissing at him. After he Calmed the snakes down it was my turn to hold one of the cobras. When I initially put my hand out, the snake tried to bite me, after I calmed down a bit, I tried a second time. Success! This achievement defiantly is too high on my smartest things to accomplish in life list, but a cool story none the less.



Our second day was rough as we spent the day on the Galle Beach at the southern tip of Sri Lanka (3 degrees from the Equator). If you are planning a beach vacation and don't mind a 26 hour flight to get there, wow what a beach! It was off season because of the high surf, so the beach was basically ours along with about 25 other people. We spent the day either swimming in the Indian Ocean, or in the hotel pool. I got tan/burned, but it was a great day enjoying the sun and the water.
This photo was taken out of my hotel room.... my 30 dollar a night room!







We spoke to the hotel owner about his experience with the tsunami that hit Christmas 2004, and what had happened to him. He told us the entire event took place in about 20 seconds. He was attending to his morning duties in the kitchen and he said there was no warning or anything. It got eerily quiet and all of a sudden a wave came in that was about 30 ft high. We were on my room balcony when we were talking and he said that the water was the hight of the room and there was a small boat lodged through our bedroom window and into the room. He said when the water came to him, the hotel kitchen quickly filled with water and he was trapped inside and was lodged against the door until the water receded. He also said this happened early enough that all his guests were asleep except one couple that was having breakfast and they were trapped with him. No one at his hotel was killed, but the hotel next door a few people lost their lives and the village that is a half of a mile away, there were many many people that lost their lives when the Tsunami came. The Hotel owner said it was not the water that killed so many that day, it was the debris from the buildings that were destroyed that killed so many. The buildings on the right in this photo was completely destroyed and was recently rebuilt. The blue building on the left was my hotel. It was damaged, but not leveled like the other buildings.




Ok, back to the trip... We rapped up our trip by going shopping in Colombo, then dining at a 5 star hotel in Mt. Lavinia. Defiantly the nicest hotel I have stepped foot in, but the food was not the best, but OK Italian food. The cool thing there, was the Indian cricket team was there having dinner also (the Sri Lanka and Indian teams were playing each other). This was a great 3 days, and praise God we were safe and had no issues. There were military everywhere, so at no point did I feel like I was in danger. My friends felt more at risk than I did, because Sri Lankins are not, let's just say, friends with Indians, so military check points were always a little nerve racking for them. I felt guilty leaving Sri Lanka as there was more security in that air port then anything you could imagine. 4 security check points and every one's carry-on's were hand checked after going through 2 X-ray screenings. After all that security I had to have done something wrong, and that why I at least felt guilty :) I thought it was hilarious that the duty free shop on the way out only took US dollars. Some of our guys tried to spend the last of there Sri Lankin cash and could not because they only excepted the US Dollar. Bt the way, I have uploaded more than a Gigabyte of photos to my photo site http://swaggsphotos.shutterfly.com and if you are bored, you are welcome to sift through my Sri Lanka photos as well as all the photos that I have taken here in India

On a Sad note, My Camera lens was damaged while I was there, so I am needing to replace my Canon lens. If anyone is thinking of a early Christmas gift, or you have a spare canon lens lying around, think of me. I am looking at about $500 to get a comparable lens to the one I had. So sad, but it got scratched on the plane as we were trying to take a photo of the Indian coastline. My camera is a Canon EOS D30 if you were wondering.

Other than getting out a little on my scooter, my time since my last update (besides my 3 days in Sri Lanka) has been ministry. The bike riding by the way is really going well. Now that I have my International Driver's License, I am getting out a lot more and getting used to driving as well as going to friends houses and meals at Sparkie's. I have gone as far as the Airport which is about the same distance from Gahanna to Grove City (if you know where those places are) I went that direction once to Colin's house and once actually to the airport to go to Sri Lanka. And yes, I had my 2 bags with me on the scooter (one carry-on and 1 checked bag) ( am becoming more and more Indian everyday, whats next a rack of chickens on my scooter???? who knows... stay tuned). I am actually getting quite comfortable in traffic now and I figure that if i can drive here I can drive anywhere in the world.

OK, back to the ministry. One of the places I drove to on a few occasions, was a friends house in Anna Nagar, which in the next suburb over to discuss a young adult beach camp that I am helping to lead worship for. This camp will be in Mid September and it is my job to come up with 3o worship/rock songs and have the band ready to go. A lot of my evening spare time has been devoted to preparing for this camp and practicing. Pray that the camp goes well and that I pick the correct songs for this camp. This is a camp for Non Christians mainly so this will be a great ministry opportunity. Please pray that we are effective in this ministry as well as the need funds come in to pull off this camp effectively. This is a camp that in not part of HBI, but is part of WAC (We Amplify Christ) a ministry here that is trying to reach the young adults of Chennai.

A lot has been going on at HBI in the last month as well. One major portion of my time has been spending time with 23 teenagers and 4 adults from Tulsa Bible Church in Oklahoma. I played the role that I did while the New Life India team was here in November as Camera guy and help with the setup of the equipment. This was fun as the kids were a blast to hang out with and the ministry they did was very effective. They did a lot of children's music in several schools throughout Chennai as well as held 4 music concerts while they were here. The most effective ministry tool they used was a drama that they did. I remember Dave Emch playing Jesus about 9 months ago at New life. If you remember this, it was the same drama. There was a person that was given a great gift from God and she enjoyed the gifts that God gave her as well as being near and with Jesus. Satan came into the picture and distracted her from the goodness of God by offering her money, fashion, as well as drugs and alcohol. After the person enjoyed these momentary enjoyments, she became empty to the point at which Satan tempted her to take her life. As soon as she started to pray to Jesus to protect her and break her from these addictions, Jesus came and saved her. This is difficult to put into words, but I was in tears the first time I saw this drama when it took place at New life, and this Oklahoma team did this drama literally in front of nearly 20,000 children and adults. What a testimony to God's greatness and His power to break bandages in our lives, and the message was received well by all who saw the drama.

After the team from Oklahoma went home, my gear switched from Video Guy to Computer Guy. We started our first computer project that was planned. We have been working on implementing a hardware firewall that will improve the the security of HBI's network as well as give them much more capability to add improvements to the network in the future. We are working to bring there web sites, email and FTP sites all inside HBI's network and the firewall is the first vital step. I donated the firewall, or I should say you donated the firewall, so thank you for your financial help to purchase this equipment. We should have the firewall up and running within 1 or 2 weeks.

Switching gears again, I have been in several meetings with the different department heads to discuss ways to promote there ministries through video, and lets just say after the firewall is completed, I will be doing video for probably a year to come. We will be producing videos that will benefit everyone from short term teams that are coming from across the globe as well as benefiting them as they leave. We will be producing videos that will explain how HBI is being effective in ministry and mission areas like there hospitals, in there schools, and, orphanages. How they are ministering in Villages that were affected by the Tsunami that hit nearly 4 years ago or poor farming villages throughout India. We will be promoting various college courses Indians can take here at the Hindustan Bible Institute, to further there biblical knowledge, and allow these transformational leaders and pastors to be effective in shaping the people around them as they go into the field to do ministry. And we will be updating some of the videos Bobby Gupta travels with to get the word out on all the ministry that HBI is doing around India and South Asia. As I said, I am going to be busy for quite some time. Pray please that I don't get overwhelmed with all that I am involved in and that I continue to be effective in all the areas that I am doing ministry. One more side note on ministry, I am going to be training several students and faculty on the fine art of running live sound. I will be conducting several weekend classes over the course of the next few months to help improve the technical side of HBI and New Calvary Church, so pray for those efforts as well.

I had dinner a few weeks ago with Amirtharaj Solomon (John). He is a guy from Chennai that has lived in Columbus for a number of years and is planning to return to India. He worked with Jim Visgaitis, a friend and member of New Life Church. They hold a bible study at there office and have been praying for me there in their Columbus office since before I came to India. It was really nice to get to know John and to hear his prospective of visiting and living my country and seeing his point of view of the US from his eyes. He said it was nice and COLD! We spent some time in prayer and enjoyed a few hours together. Jim, thanks for introducing us. John, I am looking forward to seeing you again real soon. I am praying for you and your family.

I have already mentioned a few prayer requests that I have, continue to pray the needed ministry funds come in for me so I can be effective in what I am doing here. I will soon be traveling quite a bit, so pray the money comes in for that as well as pray for my safety as we travel to get video footage for HBI. If you are interested in supporting my ministry, please go to this online giving page HERE and say the donation is for me. You can also send a check to HBI Global Partners office at there Virginia address:

HBI Global Partners
Bob Swaggerty Ministry Account
P.O Box 584
Forrest VA, 24551

Again, say on the check somewhere that the donation is for me.

Please continue to pray for my safety here. With bomb threats going on around me, and with me getting out on my own more and more within the city on the Scooter, pray that I am safe from harm and that I am not going into dangerous areas of the city. Please continue to pray that my time is being used the way God is wanting me to use my time and that I continue to be effective for Him. And pray for my attitude. I am feeling really home sick and there are days that I wish I was home and there are days that I am loving what God has called me to do, so pray that my Joy meter stays in the red and I stay on fire for God and the opportunities he has given me to serve my Master and His kingdom. I hope to talk to you real soon!