I have just returned from Kolkata, India (formerly Calcutta), located on the eastern edge of India, the third largest city in India with population reaching 19 million. The launch of this new network went very well, with pastors who eagerly received our Pathways material and worked to incorporate the concepts into their preaching.

Kolkata is in the West Bengal region of India, so instead of Hindi they speak Bengali. Hinduism is still the primary religion, thus you see cows and other animals walking down streets being given preferential treatment.

As is true of all the large Indian cities I’ve visited, there is a cacophony of stimulus at any given moment. Horns on vehicles function like antennae that allow drivers to detect where other vehicles are around them. Click on the following video for a brief glimpse of the sensory experience of Kolkata.

Drivers will squeeze by allowing a couple inches between them and other vehicles, and then suddenly brake, stressing out Western passengers not accustomed to such behavior. Indians love bright colors, so the downtown areas offer a cornucopia of visual stimuli as well.

I was joined by Pastor Larry from Arizona. One of the challenges we faced on this trip was that it appears he developed some intense medical conditions on the flight over that affected him significantly for the entire trip. As a result, he was not able to train much, and we had to change his tickets so he flew back with me to Seattle and then he was picked up by his wife and flown back home where he went straight to the hospital. Please keep him and the family in your prayers. The other westerner who was visiting the training ended up with Dengue Fever!

As always, I find it a tremendous joy to work with pastors of various cultures. Pastor Gus, our field director for this network, was a champion, and his gracious hospitality and kindness deeply blessed Larry and me. I’m only home for a few days this time before heading down to San Diego to train a group of pastors, equipping them to take Pathways to Zambia.

Pressing on by God’s grace, Eric