Preparing

I decided I should back track a little bit to our preparations for our trip.  Once we all had our passports and visa’s and the tickets were purchased, the main thing we had to do was prepare lessons.  We all prepare a little differently. Tyler studies and types up & prints all of his lessons, nice and neat, and makes only small changes while speaking in India.  I study and type, but usually just put mine on my tablet, and I use most of what I prepare, but I frequently add/skip on the fly as I am speaking.  Josh had some lessons prepared ahead of time, but on the flight over, he created a couple more, and then once we got there, his notebook seldom left his side because he was often writing lessons and reading scripture while driving to a meeting.  Even what he had written out, what he was speaking was often not found anywhere in his notes, so it made it difficult for interpreters who were trying to follow him on his notes. Josh is going to try to have his lessons typed out and printed next time, and I am going to try to do the same, but I don’t know that either of us will be able to just stick to what is on paper without adding or skipping as we feel appropriate at the moment.

One of the things we tried to stress to Josh was the “always have a lesson ready” reasoning.  Things are always subject to change, and Raja has new opportunities come up all of the time, so even though he may say that one or the other of us is not speaking, if he can find a way for all of us to speak, and has enough interpreters, he will.  Case in point, on our ride from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, Raja asked “Sister, would it be ok for you to speak at a Woman’s Conference for 2 days, only 300 women each day”.  Now, having spoken at a woman’s conference the last time, I knew these women are travling 2-4 hours, so it would require ore than what I had planned for my normal lessons, those were only 30 -45 minutes. And since Kumari & I would be the only speakers, and Kumari would have to pick up any time I was short, I knew I had to either edit what I had and add to it, or create completely new lessons for the conference.  I opted to do a little of both, but the point is, I hadn’t planned on speaking to that many women at one time who had traveled such distances, but Raja saw the opportunity and God provided.  Now Raja has already told me that next year when I return, we will have another Woman’s conference, and there will be even more women, so I have plenty of time to prepare 🙂

Blessings,

Michele