Dan Gross in Asia--#1 April 2012 
Jean and I left home at 8:00 AM and she took me to the bus stop in Racine where I caught the bus to O'Hare. It was a slightly more exciting bus trip than usual due to a lady who missed the bus. Her husband caught up with the bus and pounded on the door while the bus was stopped at a traffic light. The bus driver was very cooperative, pulled over into a parking lot and let her board. Then, as we were about to go on our way, she yelled, "Oh (expletive deleted), I forgot my purse!" She ran out and got her husband's attention and got the purse. Anyway, it made for an interesting start to my trip. 
All went smoothly and quickly at O'Hare and I flew to Montreal. I sat next to a middle-aged man who is a pilot, but studied meteorology. I told him my wife and kids will roll their eyes when I tell them we talked about weather for two hours. He said, "When I call my wife from Montreal and tell her, she'll say, "So, you finally got to sit next to a fellow-dork." I was only in Montreal for an hour and then boarded to head to Frankfurt where I am now. The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful. I did a lot of reading. It has been 16 hours of traveling so far, but there's a good deal more to come. 
I read some statistics about the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, which demonstrate the weird mix of old and new often found in developing countries. For example, there are more TVs than toilets in the state. That is true of several nearby states also. Seventy percent of the population still defecate in the open. But about half the population own cell phones. Only 10% live with covered drains and filtered water. Yet 90% own their own house. 
I will email again after my flight from Frankfurt to Chennai. 
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--#2 April 2012 
After 4 1/2 hours in the Frankfurt airport, I boarded a Lufthansa flight to Chennai. I did get some sleep, but it was a long and tiring flight. The time passed a little more quickly because I was able to talk with a Sri Lankan lady who now works in Canada and was coming to India to visit her sick, elderly mother. In any case, we arrived in Chennai a few minutes before midnight. It was 90 degrees when I arrived. Packiyanathan and Prasanna met me at the airport. 
After arriving in Chennai, I learned that, while I was in Frankfurt, there was an earthquake in Indonesia. It was an undersea earthquake and measured 8.6. So far as I know, there was no loss of life and no major damage to buildings or infrastructure in India. However, understandably, there was some panic in Chennai and other places due to fear of a tsunami. It was an earthquake in Indonesia that caused the disastrous tsunami in 2004. Packiyanathan and Prasanna had arrived in Chennai about 4 hours before the earthquake, so they felt it. India has a better system in place now than they did in 2004, so they issued a tsunami warning and cleared some areas near the coast. Tomorrow we fly to Kolkata (Calcutta) where there also were tremors and some cracks in buildings. 
It has been more than 35 hours since I have been able to lie down and sleep, so I had better do so now. 
Dan 

Dan Gross in Asia--#3 April 2012 
After getting 4 hours of sleep, Packiyanathan, Prasanna, and I headed for the airport in Chennai. We flew SpiceJet to Kolkata (Calcutta). We stayed on the plane during a brief stop and then proceeded to Bagdogra in North Bengal. From there we traveled for about 4 hours by car to the site of our first meeting. I have been on many bad roads in my travels over the years, but this one was right up there with the worst. For almost the entire four hours, the road was so filled with potholes that the driver had to weave from side to side continually to try to avoid the biggest ones. Added to this is that some of the journey was through windy, mountainous roads. Usually, Dramamine gets me through, but this road was too much even for Dramamine. After about 3 hours, I told the driver to stop and barely got out of the car before vomiting. Fortunately, it was a fairly remote area and was getting dark already, so I didn't cause much commotion. Needless to say, I was very happy when we finally arrived in Jaigaon. I didn't eat anything this evening because my stomach is still very unsettled. Our first meeting for this trip begins tomorrow morning. 
I won't be able to send this email until later because we have no internet connection here. The infrastructure is very poor here--roads, telephone, electrical, internet, etc. To add to that, it rained hard during our journey and that knocked out some lines. Jaigaon is right on the border of Bhutan. I can actually see the border from the window in our lodge. Bhutan is an official Buddhist kingdom and very closed to the gospel. It is estimated that .33% of the population is Christian and evangelism is not allowed. I may try to enter Bhutan briefly, but there's a good chance I won't be able to get in. In any case, we have invited some Christians from Bhutan to come to our meeting, so we hope to introduce the gospel of grace in Bhutan, one way or the other. This area is mostly composed of Mongolian people. In some respects, it seems sort of like an ancient mythical land. There are many tribes throughout this area, each with their own language and culture. But Hindi is understood by everyone, so we will have a Hindi translator tomorrow. 
Well, I'm exhausted and will attempt to get some sleep and get my stomach settled down. 
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--#4 April 2012 
After my bout with travel sickness yesterday, I didn't eat anything the rest of the day, but I had a good night's sleep and felt much better this morning. We began our first meeting of this trip here in Jaigaon. This is the first meeting we have held in India that is organized by an Assemblies of God Church. Another first for me today was that this was the first time I have entered one of our meetings to the sound of "The Hokey-Pokey" (they call it "The Boogie-Boogie"). The meeting was well-attended, including several attendees from Bhutan. That was really exciting for me because Bhutan is very much closed to the gospel and has only .33% of the population that is Christian. Even though we are close enough to walk to Bhutan, it was easy to tell who was from Bhutan due to their appearance and dress. 
As I expected, there were a lot of puzzled looks during my first message. Not all of those attending were from the Assemblies of God, but most of them were, no doubt, expecting that I would prophesy, speak in tongues, heal, shout, etc. I could tell that it took some time for them to adjust to simply being taught the Bible. Also, my first message was designed to demonstrate to them that the Bible can be greatly confusing, if you don't rightly divide. It seemed clear during the second message that their mentality had changed and they were giving their full attention. This was even more so in the afternoon and evening. 
Although we did have a few from the northeast states attend our meeting in Calcutta a few years back, this was our first real opening in this part of India, and an added joy was having attendees from Bhutan. I expect this area to change a great deal in the next few years, if Myanmar continues to open up more. So, it is a strategic time to be here. (Again, I will have to send this later since there is no internet connection here.)
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--#5 April 2012 
The food here is quite different than in south India, as I expected. Since Muslims and Hindus don't eat pork, you cannot find any in most places in India. But here there are more Buddhists and a Mongolian population, so pork is commonly eaten. I was glad that there is a segment of the popluation here that uses a good amount of chili peppers, so I appreciated the heat in the food at our meeting. 
We concluded our meeting today in Jaigaon. The response was very positive. As is usually the case, I could see the joy on the faces of those attending when I talked about the dispensation of the grace of God revealed to Paul. I know they didn't all grasp everything, but it was a good beginning and we plan to follow up on the meeting and stay in contact with those attending. I also had an opportunity to briefly meet with those attending from Bhutan. As I had expected, since our meeting was in an Assemblies of God church, we did have some lively discussion about healing. 
After the meeting, we drove about 1 1/2 hours to Alipurduar, which is near the Dooars mountains in the foothills of the Himalayas. Our second meeting will be held here. There is a fairly decent internet connection here, so I was able to get caught up on sending the emails. 
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--#6 April 2012 
Last night, we decided to order room service for dinner since the prices are reasonable and the options outside are limited. I went to the front desk and asked for a Room Service Menu. In a few minutes, there was a knock on the door and, when I opened the door, there was a man standing there with 2 rolls of toilet paper. I thought, wow, the food here must be really bad! I think he heard the word "service" and missed "room" and "menu." Anyway, the man who brought the toilet paper immediately understood the actual request I had made. 
On my trips, we try to fill every day with all-day preaching, as much as possible. However, sometimes due to necessary travel we are not able to quite do that. We usually try to plan long trips for Sunday because it is not a profitable day to have meetings since pastors have to be in their own churches. This time we had only 1 1/2 hours to the next meeting, so we traveled on Saturday evening. This morning, I spoke at the church where Prasanna's brother-in-law is the pastor. It was fairly typical of most churches I have spoken in here, with everyone sitting on the floor--men on one side, women on the other. Several of those in church this morning will be attending our meeting tomorrow, so I spoke on I Corinthians 1, emphasizing that the power of God today is in the preaching of the cross. 
After lunch and some time of fellowship, we went back to the lodge because we were all tired. Usually, no matter what time of day or night I arrive in India, I immediately flow right into the schedule. This time has been a bit more difficult, in part I'm sure because of my bout with motion sickness. I was completely exhausted and slept for several hours this evening. I was concerned that I may not sleep tonight, but I feel ready to go to bed now. Tomorrow we begin our meeting in a good-sized tent arranged by Prasanna's brother-in-law. 
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--#7 April 2012 
We learned in this morning's newspaper that there were protest rallies throughout this area yesterday. We saw a very small communist rally, but nothing notable. This state has been under communist control for about 40 years, but recently elected a non-communist Chief Minister. However, the Communist Party is still strong and protests and strikes are common. So, most of the major cities in this area had large protests yesterday and police were out with water cannons in some places, including Bagdogra, where our flight landed a couple days ago. 
From our lodge, it is a 30-minute drive to the meeting place. We were within 5 minutes of the site this morning when we encountered protesters blocking the road. The driver went off the main road onto narrow, dirt roads winding through farms. There were several forks where we had to decide which way to go, so we got directions and tips from farmers along the way. I'm fairly confident that I'm the first white person to travel on those roads. I enjoyed seeing the farms and smelling the crops--rice, corn, bananas, and several others. It finally became clear that we had to return to the main road to get to the meeting place. We were closer, but the road was still blocked by protesters, so we could not get through. Leaving the driver with the car, we walked through the protesters without incident. (We didn't know what they were protesting, but later found out they were protesting the poor road conditions. I must say, they have a point.) After walking through the protesters, my translator and another man came to get us on motorcycles. (By evening, the protesters were gone and the road was clear.) 
Immediately, when I began my first message, I could tell this was a bright and alert audience. The first two messages were translated into Hindi, which is the main language in north India. In this state, the main language is Bengali. Then there are many local languages. It is common for people in this area to speak 4-6 languages. The translator got some feedback that most people attending could better understand Sadri. He took an audience survey and then translated in Sadri the rest of the day. The protesters caused us to get a late start, but we went a bit overtime and I covered most of what I had hoped to get through. We should be able to extend the meeting time a bit tomorrow to make up the time. As I said, they are a bright group and attentive, so I can move along in my teaching. Usually, if the response is reasonably good the first day, it is highly encouraging on the second day. So, I'm eagerly looking forward to tomorrow. 
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--#8 April 2012 
There were no protesters to delay us this morning, so we got an earlier start. As is usually the case, there were, at least, as many people as yesterday, and probably a few additions. Despite the late start yesterday, I was able to get through all the material. There were many positive comments yesterday, including one young lady, who, after the first message, said, "What I understood from your message is that salvation is in the word of God and not in any denomination." Today, comments included, "everything you are teaching is new to us;" "this is very important teaching for everyone to hear;" "I didn't think anyone would dare to teach these things here;" and "we need more sessions like this." There were invitations for us to come to several other places in the northeast. The translator was very positive and expressed several times that he struggled to keep up with me because he found the teaching so interesting that he wanted to just think about what I was saying and had to remind himself to translate it. 
As I mentioned, we scratched the idea of visiting the world-famous tea plantations in Darjeeling when we learned that it was a 5-hour drive over windy, pot-hole filled roads (I'm not sure my stomach has quite recovered from the earlier trip), so we were hoping to, at least, get to a tea shop today and purchase some. But the tea shops were on strike today. We rode a rickshaw searching for one and we did find one not far from our hotel that should be open early in the morning. We leave in the morning on a 12-hour train ride to Nagaland. 
I find the cultural habits and customs of people endlessly fascinating. When we had to stop on the road the other day because I had to vomit, while I was vomiting, Prasanna came up behind me and covered my ears. Later, I asked him what that was about. He said the common custom where he lives is that whenever someone is vomiting, he covers their ears. When I asked the reason for this, he said several reasons are given, including the belief that cold air will get into your ears while you are vomiting. He said some even believe that vomit might come out your ears, if they are not covered. Packiyanathan said they don't have any such custom where he lives. 
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--9 April 2012 
We quickly stopped in a tea shop this morning before heading to the train station. We had breakfast at the train station. It consisted of a bean curry with roti (an Indian bread) served in a small bowl made from the leaf of a local tree (I don't know the English name of the tree) and a cup of tea. The train trip took about 13 hours, so we had plenty of time to talk, read, sleep, etc. (I only slept about 30 minutes). Prasanna and I played a trivial game on his cell phone for a while. The plane connections to the place we were going are not good and it would have taken about as much time to get there by plane (and more money). The roads are terrible. So, the best option was the train. It brought back memories of the many trains I took in India years ago. 
When we finally arrived in Dimapur, Nagaland, Prasanna's friend met us at the station. They recently eased up on some travel restrictions, but I had to report to the police station and give them my passport information before leaving the station. I didn't eat anything after we arrived because the 13 hours of constant bouncing left my stomach a bit uneasy. Tomorrow morning, we will begin our first meeting ever in Nagaland. 
The people in Nagaland were previously head hunters. Missionaries from Germany and England influenced a change in that part of their culture, for which I am grateful. I can already tell that Nagaland is culturally very different from the rest of India. It is said to be the only Baptist state in the world--supposedly about 80% Baptist. Many in Nagaland do not feel a part of India and want to be independent. There are dozens of tribes in Nagaland and that is usually where their allegiance lies. I'm anxious to see how things go tomorrow. 
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--#10 April 2012 
I have heard about Nagaland for many years and desired to visit it for many years. Finally, I am here, and we held our first meeting here today. Culturally, religiously, and politically this is much different from the rest of India. It is claimed that about 80% of the people in Nagaland are Baptist. In most of India, Christians are a small minority, and in some places barely exist. Pork is seldom seen in India since Muslims and Hindus don't eat pork, but here it is the favorite food. (It wasn't difficult for me to prove to them that they are not obeying the law of Moses.) I could also tell that many of the people don't really feel like Indians--they identify with their tribe and with Nagaland. Politically, some here consider Nagaland a sovereign state and point out that they never signed a treaty with the British. 
The meeting had a lot of young people in attendance. Many of them understood English, but about 20% did not, so I had it translated into NagaMix--this is a mix of Hindi, Bengali, and several more local languages. We received a lot of positive comments about the teaching and, again, the translator was especially excited. Half a dozen times through the day, he told me the teaching was "mind-blowing." He attended one of the best seminaries in India, but repeated over and over that he had never learned so much as today. I was humored by something I had not experienced before and that is that the translator had a little notebook on the podium and he wrote down every verse or Bible passage reference that I gave. 
There is no internet connection here, so my emails will be delayed. There is, however, television, and we sometimes catch a little cricket when the meetings have ended for the day. Prasanna's team is not doing well this season. Packiyanathan's team started a little slow, but is on the rise. Tomorrow we will conclude our last meeting of this trip. 
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--#11 April 2012 
As I mentioned, pork is nearly absent throughout India, but certainly not here in the northeast. However, many of the pork dishes we have been served contain mostly fat and very little meat. That was the case, again, here, but along with the fat, there was also skin and Packiyanathan observed that there were also many hairs in the stew. So, I shouldn't be deficient in collagen at the moment. 
As is usual, many unanswered questions from yesterday were answered today and the response was very positive. We received many good comments and invitations to come back here and to hold meetings in other places in Nagaland. There were also many interested in signing up for the correspondence course. Many of them understand English and can start the course immediately. The Christian meetings here, as in many places in the world, are usually dominated by "praise and worship" times. Since I have a certain amount of material to cover in two days, we don't want time taken away from the preaching time. So, we had to gingerly influence some schedule changes and it all worked out well. I'm sure those attending have never had so much preaching and so little time in "praise and worship," but, as I said, the response was very positive. Especially today, the audience was very attentive and responsive throughout my teaching times. 
We took a few minutes after the meeting to see the city of Dimapur and see some of the local crafts. I could have purchased a headhunters necklace for Jessica and Jean, but thought that might not be their cup of tea. Tomorrow we wrap things up here and begin the long journey to visit the orphanage. 
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--#12 April 2012 
We drove about 30 miles out into the countryside this morning and had a picnic with some of our new Nagaland friends. Then we headed to the airport in Dimapur and flew to Kolkata (Calcutta). We only had about one hour in Calcutta before Prasanna flew to Bangalore and Packiyanathan and I to Chennai (Madras). Prasanna will take a bus from Bangalore to his house and will get home about 4:00 AM. The temperature in the northeastern states during this trip was from the low 80s to the low 90s. Here in Chennai the high temps. now are over 100. So, it was noticeably warmer when we landed here. 
My news about India or the world has been rather sporadic, but I know that early in my trip the failed North Korea test launch dominated the news for a couple days. During the last part of my trip, the successful test, by India, of a nuclear-capable long-range missile has been headline news. The newspaper I saw the day after the test referred to the missile as the "China Killer." Subtle. 
Tomorrow Packiyanathan and I fly to Madurai and will then visit the orphanage. As always, I'm eager to see the children. 
I do have an internet connection here in Chennai, so I can get caught up on sending out emails. 
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--#13 April 2012 
I slept for about 4 hours and then had to get ready to head to the airport. They are building a much-needed new terminal in Chennai, which they are projecting to be ready within a couple months. Packiyanathan and I made it through the process just in time to gulp down a small cup of coffee before boarding our flight to Madurai. Upon arrival, we went by car to Sivakasi--1 1/2 hours. 
Since I leave for the USA tomorrow, I had to do some re-packing, etc. Then we went to the orphanage. The children were all gathered outside when we drove up and shouted "welcome" to me. After some enthusiastic, individual greetings, we went inside and gave all the children candy (I got a lot of positive comments about the chocolate--children after my own heart). Then the children recited memory verses, sang songs, and did traditional Indian dances (including one boy who, much to the delight and hilarity of all, did an unrehearsed, spontaneous dance). 
We had a meal together consisting of idli (small fermented, steamed rice cakes) with three delicious chutneys (mint, coconut, and tomato), sambar (a lentil stew) and chicken curry. Afterwards, we compared notes and most of the children, including several girls, out-ate me. I could only handle three idli, but some of the children had four or five (one of the small girls, somehow, ate five). 
Then we I chatted with the children for quite a while, talking about many subjects, including, cricket, Joshua's pet snake, clothing styles and colors, favorite Bible verses and books (I was amused that one of the small girls said that her favorite book in the Bible is I Chronicles), and, of course, food (several were delighted that I stated my favorite food as Chicken Briyani). The girls even coerced me into singing a song for them (undoubtedly the worst version of Amazing Grace ever). 
It was then time to let the children get some sleep, especially since some of them have exams tomorrow (yes, on Sunday). Packiyanathan then took me to visit briefly with his family. As always, it was a delight to talk with his children and wife, but it was nice that his father-in-law was also there. (I was concerned that I might be taking his son away from the cricket match, but he told me it was delayed due to rain in Bangalore.) Though it was late, Packiyanathan and I had to get everything from the trip settled, so we went back to my hotel room and took care of those matters. 
Dan 
Dan Gross in Asia--#14 April 2012 
After getting four hours of sleep, we left the hotel this morning before they were serving breakfast. Packiyanathan drove me 1 1/2 hours to the airport in Madurai. All went smoothly in the airport and I soon boarded a SpiceJet flight to Chennai (Madras). A short one-hour flight later and I was in Chennai. Having been in the Chennai airport many times, I know the routine and quickly got checked in to my flight to Kolkata (Calcutta). I had time to drink a bottle of water and have a cup of coffee and, surprisingly, even found an open chair, so I could sit and read until boarding time. The flight on Indigo airlines to Kolkata was two hours. Most of the domestic airlines in India, like in the USA, don't serve food for one or two hour flights, but do have snacks available for purchase. Since it was now mid-afternoon and I hadn't yet had anything to eat, I purchased Masala Potato Sticks and a "Health Chocolite Bar" (as though it has to be stated that chocolate is healthy). 
The transfer in Kolkata from the domestic to the international airport and getting checked into my Air India flight to New Delhi was surprisingly uncomplicated. (I set a new personal record for the shortest wait ever to get my luggage. Since I was seated near the front of the plane, I was one of the first to disembark. The moment I walked into the airport I spotted my luggage on the nearest conveyer belt.) I was glad, though, that someone told me that I shouldn't wait to get checked in at the row of empty counters with "Air India" signs, but should instead walk around the corner into an isolated area with more empty counters with "Air India" signs. I was the first to check into the flight and had plenty of time to relax and read. The flight was delayed an hour, which concerned me a little due to the fiasco I had in New Delhi the last time I departed India through that airport. Since the Air India flight departed from the International Airport in Kolkata, I had hoped that I could go through immigration there, but no such luck. 
One reason for some optimism was that my flight to New Delhi was supposed to land at the international terminal, so I wouldn't have to transfer airports (though this was the claim last time, also, and proved not to be the case). This time I did land at the international terminal and was delighted to realize that I had forgotten that a new airport had been built since my last visit to New Delhi. Many memories, mostly unpleasant, of the old airport flooded back to mind, beginning with my first experience in 1978 when my flight was delayed 8 hours and the friend who was to meet me was nowhere in sight when I arrived at midnight for my first experience of life in India. I survived the major culture shock of that trip and came to love India. This new airport is another world compared to that airport. Check-in took awhile as I was shuttled from line to line due to a computer glitch, but immigration and customs was quick and I have plenty of time now to relax before my flight leaves for Frankfurt. It is now midnight and my travel time has been 16 1/2 hours with my long flights still to come. I'm presently passing the time by reading an article about the primary mob family in Mumbai (Bombay). 
Dan 
Dan Gross in Asia--#15 April 2012
With the new airport in New Delhi, it was not nearly the ordeal I had last time, so I had quite a while to drink some water, relax, and read before boarding my Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. We departed at about 2 AM, so I was tired and hoping to get some sleep on the plane. I did get some, but not much. The seats were cramped and I was seated in a place where the seat back could not recline. I slept only a few minutes and would then awake with pain in my knee or back or neck. It was not a pleasant flight, so I was glad to get it over and land in Frankfurt. My stomach, also, was a bit disturbed during the flight. Things went smoothly in Frankfurt and I, again, had time to kill, so spent most of the time reading.
I had a chance to read more about Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Bengal, the state in which Kolkata is located, and where our first meeting was held during this trip, has been dominated politically by the Communist Party for about 40 years. This hold on power was broken when Mamata was elected Chief Minister. She was recently named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine. She is, also, quite eccentric. While I was in Bengal, the police arrested a University professor and his neighbor for circulating anti-Mamata cartoons on the internet. She has, also, decided to paint blue all bridges, lamp posts, public buildings, and cabs in Kolkata. House owners who paint their houses blue will receive a tax break. 
Finally, I boarded my last flight for this trip--Frankfurt to Chicago. Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, my stomach quite suddenly got much worse and I felt like I was going to vomit soon. I quickly got up to go to the bathroom, but just then two flight attendants wheeled the duty free cart into the aisle, blocking my way. I touched the flight attendant on her shoulder to get her attention and was going to ask her to please let me pass because I needed to get to the bathroom immediately. The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back in the middle of the aisle with a flight attendant staring in my face and excitedly saying something in German. I realized then that I had passed out. By this time, four or five flight attendants were there and helped me get up and sat me in one of the fold-down seats usually used by the flight attendants when the plane is landing. There was a doctor on board, so she took my blood pressure and pulse and said everything seemed normal. My conclusion, with which she concurred, is that the passing out was due to a combination of dehydration, exhaustion, and ongoing stomach problems since I vomited on the bad road in India. They moved me up to first class and gave me a large bottle of water. The rest of the flight, I was fine. I drank the whole bottle of water and got a little sleep. Before landing, I returned to my original seat to gather my belongings and fill out the customs card.
I asked my seat-mates if I had just fallen like a tree or what happened because I didn't have any bruises or pain anywhere. They said they were both sleeping and weren't aware of anything until I was lying in the aisle. Just then the flight attendant whose shoulder I had touched came by, so I asked her what happened. She said that I slumped on her and she was able to ease me down to the floor. I joked with my seat-mates that I was pleased with myself because, even in that state of mind, I had enough sense to grab a pretty girl to protect me. 
In any case, I was very glad to land in Chicago. I have never seen so few people in the immigration area at O'Hare, so I was done with that in 5 minutes. After the usual wait for luggage, I had no line when going through customs. Jean was there to meet me. Just in case there was still a problem with me, she drove home. It felt very good to get out of the van when we got home and know that I could stay out of moving objects for a while. This was a record-setting journey for me. The previous longest journey Jean and I had was 36 hours from the time we left for the airport in the USA until we arrived at the house of our friends in Singapore. This time, from the time Packiyanathan and I left for the airport, until I stepped in our house in Racine, it was 45 hours. I had almost no sleep for about 48 hours, so that is what I'm going to do now. 
Tomorrow, I will send a concluding email about this trip.
Dan
Dan Gross in Asia--Concluding email April 2012 
For years, I have desired to visit the northeast states in India to preach the gospel. This trip allowed me to do so. The response was very positive with many requesting more meetings in these states and many expressing interest in the Bible correspondence course. We have many good contacts in these states now, including the men who translated my messages. This also opens several new languages in which we have opportunity. If Myanmar continues to open up, I believe that could have a profound effect in the northeast states of India--in a positive way economically. I expect this area to become more strategic and have greater influence in the years to come. It is also an excellent chance to reach out into Bhutan (which we already did on this trip), Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and even China. 
My visit to the orphanage was, again, a joy. The children are being well taken care of and doing well. The staff has served faithfully and lovingly for several years now, so there has been a good stability in the orphanage. 
We are grateful for your prayers and encouragement regarding the trip and our ongoing work in Asia. Also, we wish to express our gratitude that the financial needs for this trip have been met. I do want to mention some immediate needs regarding the orphanage. The children begin their summer school break in early May (school resumes in early June). Each year, during the summer break, we purchase new school uniforms for the children and get other school supplies for them, such as notebooks and stationery. The total cost for these items this year will be $1800. Also, during the summer school break, we want to sign the children up to take courses, so they can have a more interesting and productive summer. This year we hope to sign them up for classes in swimming, computers, piano, and basketball. The total cost for all these classes is $1720. The funds for the summer classes is needed within the next 10 days, so that we can get the children signed up for the classes. The funds for the school uniforms and supplies is needed within about two weeks, so we have time to purchase these items for all the children before school begins again. 
Again, thank you all so much. We continue to be excited and, frankly, amazed at the opportunities and positive responses in India and other places in Asia. We are mindful every day that we could not have this ministry without your support and encouragement. 
Dan Gross