Coming Home

Friends and Loved Ones,

Jenny and I, with sadness, are coming home. Her beloved Aunt Carole passed away from injuries she sustained while sailing on a boat with friends in the Adriatic Sea. Many of you may remember her from the wedding. She was quite a woman, and will be sorely missed.

The trip has been amazing, and we have learned much that we are excited to share with all of you. In the mean time, please be in prayer for us and for Jenny's family. Jenny is very sad, as is the rest of her family. We are leaving for India this afternoon, and then catching the first thing smoking for LA. We should hopefully be in LA by Sunday, and then you can reach us on our cells if you need to. Pray for our travel safety and for all those grieving the loss of this tremendous woman.

Love,
Jason for the Ballard's

River of Life

We are finally in Nepal and Jason and I could not be happier. We were giddy with excitement, not only because we have really been looking forward to this part of our trip, but also because of the craziness that it took to get here. Our driver dropped us off at the train station at 11:00pm in Agra India and we took the overnight train to a border town in India, but then we had to hire a jeep to take us the alleged 2-3 hour drive to the actual border. We were the first ones in the Jeep and then came 3 more, and then 2 more, and we had to wait a long time and it was then that we realized the goal was to fill the jeep to the maximum capacity, which was 2 people for every legal 1 seat. Needless to say, we were cramped and after 4 hours with dust and sweat and wind wreaking havoc on our bodies we decided we definitely needed to get a flight to Kathmandu. Exhausted, starving (we hadn't eaten all day) and feeling like India had beat us up, we were offered mercy and just randomly picked an excellent hotel to stay in Kathmandu!! You know you have had quite a journey when the Nepali Manager looked at me and said..."you look tired!!"

We are very very content now, Nepal is not nearly as demanding and more relaxed than India. We are really excited to get about more and see Shanta and just enjoy the country with which I fell in love. Even though we left India behind...India did not leave us behind.....both Jason and I are struggling through intense diarreaha!!

Jenny for the Ballards

Midnight Train from Agra

Namaste from Nepal,

That's right, we made it safe and sound to Kathmandu after a very epic overland border crossing into Nepal from India. We took the midnight train out of Agra on (what day was it?..) Friday for Gorakpur, India which is 30km south of the India/Nepal border. Let me just say this: second class sleeper cabins on a train in India are every bit as amazing as you would expect them to be. I didn't know whether to ask for Jenny's forgiveness, or giggle with joy. I don't think I can explain it with words. When the two India men next to us weren't snoring, we were actually able to sleep pretty well. It was everything that I'd hoped it would be.

After ariving in Gorakpur in late morning, we hired a jeep to take us as close to the border as possible. The jeep was the same size as all the jeeps in America, and there were 12 people inside, Jenny and I being the only crackers. It was a hillarious and difficult journey all at once. After four hours in the jeep, we finally made it to within 1km of the border, and hired a rickshaw to take us the rest of the way. At long last, we crossed the border at Sunuali. Our original plan was to overnight there at the border and take the bus to Kathmandu the next morning, but after scoping things out hotel wise and realizing how cheap domestic flights are in Nepal, we went ahead and caught a plane from Bhairawa to Kathmandu that very afternoon and were sitting comfortably in the Fuji Guest House in Kathmandu that very (Saturday) evening. After a shower, some Tiger Balm, and you know what, we were as happy as two puppies with two tails.

We are calling our overland journeys across India a success and a learning experience. We are very glad we did it that way. We feel we have a sense of India and its culture and customs because of our chosen means of travel. It was a once in a lifetime (and quite epic) trip. It is hard to believe we actually did it. That said, we would not recommend India to the faint of heart or those looking to relax for a while. We are very happy to be in Nepal where we can breath and enjoy ourselves. Our room is up on the top of the building by the rooftop garden with a view of the whole city of Kathmandu. It is a real blessing.

The next few days we are going to meet up with Shanta, explore Kathmandu, get an idea about what life is like here, and hopefully hook up with a Nepali church planter for whom we were just given the contact info. Our next stop in Nepal (probably next week) will be Pokhara. I've got a nice case of the runs from our last two days in India, but a big smile on my face. Hope all is well with you guys. Be sure to keep in touch.

Namaste,
Jason for the Ballards

BeautifulCrazyFascinatingIntimidatingIndia

India...where the roads are rivers of seething masses of chaotic humanity making use of every form of locomotion known to man for the last thousand years: camels, elephants, horses, donkeys, and carts pulled by all of these, rickshaws, autorickshaws, bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, strange cars, and trucks. It is a paradoxically wild and beautiful place, but it is not for the faint of heart. There are a more smells than my nose knows what to do with: perfume, trash, food cooking, fires burning, insense, exhaust, livestock, and the strange Indian body aroma. All mixed together in different ways, it makes for amost inumerable olfactory permutations. I will probably be seeing children begging for food or money for many nights to come in my dreams. Once you get over the initial culture shock, it really is a beautiful and fascinating place. The people are kind, and those that are not have usually become that way because of crushing poverty and desperation. The history is rich, and the weather has been kind. All in all, we are very fortunate to be here.

Jenny and I arrived in Delhi on Monday, and because of a lack of trains, were unable to proceed directly to Nepal. We hired an India man to drive us to Agra, with a two night stop in Jaipur on the way. We arrived in Agra today and will catch the train to the India/Nepal border tonight. From there we will take a bus to the border crossing, walk across (hopefully without event) and then either take a bus to Kathmandu or take a bus to Butwal and fly to Kathmandu. Which one will depend on cost.

The highlights in India have been the Red Fort, the Jaipur City Palace, Taj Mahal, a national park we visited, and Agra Fort. Surely there can be few things built by men that are as beautiful as Taj Mahal...all for the love of a woman! Yet, perhaps our favorite thing in India so far was the Ayurvedic treatments we recieved for two nights in a row in Jaipur. Ayurveda is an ancient Indian healing art involving massaging oils and herbs into your skin very vigorously. It ranks in my top five most physically pleasurable experiences of all time.

Please keep us in prayer. Nepal seems to be in reach, and we have much to consider there regarding our future.

Lux

What city offers the second highest quality of living to its residents, preceded only by Zurich, Switzerland? That's right, Geneva, Switzerland, which also happens to be where Jenny and I arrived today. So far, I can't dispute the number two rating, though, as a small aside I must say that it will probably be close to bizzare to go from here to New Delhi, India which I don't think they even bother to give a quality of life rating. It was sad to leave Montreux, but the train ride went smoothly, and we have a new city to explore.

We are staying at the City Hostel, which is good because I have never stayed at a hostel before and it seems like a small adventure, but very bad because for one night Jenny and I have to sleep apart. They are all booked up except in the dorm rooms. We would get a hotel somewhere else, but besides being on the top ten list of places to live, Geneva is also on another top ten list...top ten most expensive cities in the world. I think the average price of a hotel room here is something like three million dollars. Something like that.

After getting settled into our accomodations, we hoofed it over to the International Museum of the Refomation in old town. For a history and theology nerd like myself, a museum that helps one discover the reasons for the Reformation, follow the course of its development, evaluate its impact on civilization and imagine its future was something not to be missed. It was quite fascinating, and if you are in Geneva, you should certainly not miss it. After buying some John Calvin beer in the gift shop, we walked across the street to Saint-Pierre Cathedral where John Calvin pastored his church while in exile here during the reformation. They still have his chair of all things! It was moving, in a strage way, for me to be here where all these men that I have looked up to lived and worked (John Calvin, John Knox, Theodore Beza, and others), and where all these world changing events went down. Having first visited many of the Christian sights in Rome just a week ago such as the catacombs, St. John Lateran Cathedral, St. Peter's Basillica, etc., this has been not only a romantic honeymoon, but also a bit of a spiritual pilgrimage and learning experience for Jenny and I.

After leaving the church, we found some grub, and then feeling a bit like relaxing, we went and saw an English movie in a movie theater (Booyah!), for no less than $35. Unbelievable. It might have been a sin.

Now, we are back at the peaceful hostel (which almost sounds like an oxymoron), and getting ready to head to our seperate (sniff-sniff) beds and get some rest. We send our love to all who are keeping up with us here, and hope to hear from you soon.

Keller on Risks for Evangelicals

Tim Keller spoke on "What are the risks for evangelicals?" at the EMA Conference in London, England recently. Here are the highlights:

--Evangelicalism used to occupy the middle ground between fundamentalism and liberalism. It was orthodox, pro-scholarship, and facing the world. Recently, evangelicalism has become more hostile and condemning of culture. A younger generation has given up on evangelicalism as a middle ground and are looking for a new consensus. This group goes by a number of names, such as post-evangelicals or the emerging church.

--A new gospel is being preached about the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ overcoming the evil powers forces of injustice in the world. The pendulum has swung the other way.

--To respond, evangelicals must understand and practice biblical repentance as a result of believing the gospel. This will allow evangelicals to admit their sins, even if they disagree with 80% of the criticisms from the post-evangelicals, and even if the remaining 20% is expressed poorly. To the degree that we understand the gospel, we will be able to freely admit our shortcomings as an evangelical movement.

--Don't ever think that we can respond to legitimate criticisms of our practice by defending our doctrine. In defending our doctrines, we have not responded to the criticisms of our practices. Orthopraxy is part of orthodoxy.

--It is necessary to draw boundaries. What really matters is how we treat the people on the other side of those boundaries. People are watching. We're going to win the younger leaders if we are the most gracious, kind, and the least self-righteous in controversy. The truth will ultimately lose if we hold the right doctrines, but do so with nasty attitudes and a lack of love.

--We need to approach the controversies with a repentant heart corporately and say, "Despite all the bad things that are being said here, there's a core of truth here and we need to deal with it."

Source

Almost Heaven

It has been said, "If you want to find peace, go to Montreux." Well, here we are, and it is peaceful indeed. Montreux is a clean, slow-paced town on the shore of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, and it has been a great place for us to "find peace" for our bodies as we have both been feeling just a bit under the weather lately. Nothing major, just runny noses and a bit of lethargy.

Imagine a very large lake with blue water, teeming with fish, surrounded by vineyards, rolling green hills, and soaring, snow-capped mountains, and you have an idea of Lake Geneva. Then imagine sitting out on a deck, drinking red wine with your lover, and soaking all of that in, and you have an idea about our time here in Montreux. Add in long walks around that lake, exploring the castles built on its shores, and praying in the medieval churches, and that pretty much sums up our time here. Almost indescribeable.

We leave for the city of Geneva on Friday, and then fly out for India on Sunday. Pray for the return of our complete health, and also pray for Jenny`s aunt Carole who broke her neck in a fall in Croatia a few days ago. She is having spinal fusion surgery today, and could use all the prayers she can get.

In the Shadow of the Matterhorn

Guten Tag,

Jenny and I have made it to Switzerland safe and sound, but not without a few adventures along the way. We left Rome on Tuesday morning by train headed for St. Moritz, Switzerland, but because of a missed train in Milan and getting off one stop too early in the boondocks of northern Italy, we ended up staying in Tirano, Italy for the night...which ended up being more of a blessing than a curse. It was a beautiful little mountain village, as well as the best dinner, breakfast, and hotel that we had during our time in Italy.

The next morning we headed for Zermat, Switzerland by train again, and after another eight hour day on the rails, we made it here to Zermat yesterdaz evening around 7:30 in the evening. We are going to stay here in the shadow of the Matterhorn for a few days in a very quaint little eco-friendly hospitality house and do some hiking and exploring of the Matterhorn region.

Traveling by train in the most amazing form of locomotion that I have experiened in my short, but very good, life. It is especially nice when that train spends all of its time in the Swiss Alps. I think, for the rest of my life, I will take the train if I am able.

Jenny and I are very much enjoying the trip, and one another, and I feel as in love and alive as I ever have. She is a delight to me, and is an absolutely wonderful companion.

I am reading a wonderful book on the Reformation right now and it has brought a whole new diminsion to my time in Rome and here in Switzerland, which was the headquarters of much of the mainstream Reformation in Western Europe. Devotional and prayer time has been sweet for each of us. Pray that it would continue to be so. Pray also for continued safety, and that God would be our treasure above all things...even each other.

Auf Wiedersehen,
The Ballards