Dinner with Brother and Sister John

Friday night we were invited to have dinner with Trija John, her husband and their two children.  Trija is the office employee that handles the mission expenses.  Financially their family is considered to be above average.  Both she and her husband work and have good jobs by India standards.  They live in a normal apartment of about 400 square feet consisting of two rooms roughly 15 x 10 feet and a small bathroom and a "turnaround" kitchen (that's a kitchen where you go in turnaround and come back out).  One room functions as a bedroom for the family and the other room is the living room, tv/computer room, kitchen, study and anything else you can think of.  The apartment is up 4 flights of steep stairs and is un-air-conditioned.  The family is the ideal church family.  Trija works with the young women as a counselor in the District Young Women's organization, and her husband, Gagan, is a district high councilman, responsible for providing leadership to the congregations in New Delhi.  Both of their children are great kids and are doing well in school and church.  Boomika is looking forward this year to being 16 and San is a typical 9 year old (10 in May as he reminded us).  We had a great meal of India prawns, dahl (lentils), salad, and papad (a spicy crisp bread that is fried).  We ate at 8 pm (late for us, early for them), and of course Angela and I had indigestion all night, not because the food wasn't great, just because we can't eat that late. The Johns are the type of family that will help the Church grow and flourish in India.  We really enjoy working with Trija and being friends with her and her family.