urgent, please pray

This is an e-mail that Houser has sent out to many people regarding our friend Toshi. Please pray for him.

"I'm sorry that I haven't written an update for so long. I was about to write an update about my wife and I. And there is so much to tell.But now I have an emergency prayer need to share that takes priority over everything else that I can communicate.

One of my dear friends, named Toshi, has been having serious health problems for the past few months, and today the doctors gave the worst news yet. He has had health problems for as long as I have known him. In the past few months, he has had several surgeries, including the removal of his gall bladder and part of his colon. His recovery had been slow and painful, and there was a lot of confusion why he was continually getting worse. Recently, he and his wife traveled to the other end of India to go to a really good hospital to get a thorough analysis.

Today he was diagnosed with colon cancer. The doctors said they can't understand how it was missed during his surgeries, but there is a tumor and they say the cancer is spreading. His physical condition is too weak for any kind of radiation or treatment. They said there is nothing more to do. They said he might live for another three or four months.I don't know what else to say. I met Toshi for the first time a few weeks after I moved to Shillong. We became friends quickly, and we worked together a lot during my first few years here. He helped me host teams and he led the outreaches of all our Mission Adventures teams. We were partners. He is now married and has two young children. They have had a hard time understanding what is happening.

Please pray for him. He needs a miracle.

Thank you. David Houser"

Matt 18:19
“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”

Gangtok,Sikkim

We went to Sikkim (a Northern State of India) for a few days before Houser was to teach in a nearby city. We were there to celebrate his birthday and to visit this State that we had never been to before. It is one of the few states of India that you need a permit to visit. We had such a lovely time there. I am posting a few blogs about our visit to this beautiful place.

This is a picture of a ropeway that flies through some of the hills of Gangtok, we saw some amazing views from this little red car in the sky. There are so many Buddhists in Sikkim and the hills are full of prayer flags. We found out that when we see groups of white prayer flags, it means that someone has died. Someone hangs 108 white prayer flags when someone passes away and the flags will stand until the material decomposes or they fly away.

Gangtok is quite clean and beautiful. It was a good time of refreshing before Houser taught this last week. We are happy to be back in our home now. He will be teaching again this week in the Discipleship School in our town. This will be the last week of the school and they will be going to two separate locations for outreach, one to a state in the Northeast of India, and another team to South India.

Lake Tsomgo

This is as far north as we were allowed to go on the road to Nathula Pass, the old Silk Road. This Lake Tsomgo is about 18 km (around 11 miles) from the India-China border. It was such an incredible place.

As soon as we got there, we took yak rides (that's right, yak rides) around the lake. Houser had done it before while in Tibet, but for me, it was a first. It was similiar to riding a horse, but somehow a bit different. At this lake, snow remains there most of the year. I was a little nervous the yak was going to slip as it climbed through rocks, snow, and mud, but it did a very good job navigating us through the elements. I couldn't get over how big their heads are. Houser asked if they put the socks on their horns to keep them warm, but they said it was just for decorations.

After riding the yaks, we had momos and some chow mein and chatted with a few of the people who work in the stalls. We found out that most of them stay up there until the snow comes and then they go down to Gangtok, a bigger city, lower down the mountain. All of their vegetables and goods have to come up from Gangtok as well.

For his birthday, we bought a Bhutanese coat, and a Sikkimese hat. We bargained with them for a while and got a greatly reduced price because it was his birthday. They also asked us for some chocolate, so I bet that helped too. It was definitely an adventure at Lake Tsomgo.

Houser's 30th Birthday

April 6th, 2007, we woke up with great anticipation as it was a very special day, Dave's 30th Birthday!

As soon as we had reached Gangtok, Sikkim, we were trying like crazy to find a way to get to Nathula Pass, the Indian-China Border. We talked to several different trekking agencies, and the answer became clear, foreigners were not allowed to go the border. We were however allowed to go to Tsomgo Lake, which is about 18 km from the border. It turns out that there are all sorts of military things set up near the border and our guide told us that is why foreigners aren't allowed to go to the border. Supposedly the Indian Govt. is worried that foreigners would report things that they have observed from the military and possibly take photos that would jeopardize the safety of the border.

So we woke up early and made about and hour and a half trip up the mountain to Lake Tsomgo, which is 12,400 ft high and covered in snow. Though we didn't drive far, there was a marked decrease in the temperature and the scenery was completely different. It was so beautiful.

After we went to the lake, we went back to Gangtok, walked around and had a delicious dinner. It was a good day. An interesting thing about Gangtok is that they take a lot of pride in their city. They have the only "litter-free, spit-free zone," that I know about in India. It is quite clean compared to most cities that we have visited. There are also a lot of visitors that go through this city as Sikkim is well known for trekking. Sikkim is the home of Mt. Khangchendzonga (28,156 ft.), which is the third tallest mountain in the world.

Tibetan Refugees

We visited a Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Center in Darjeeling and it deeply impacted our hearts. The Center was started in 1959 following the escape of the Dalai Lama into India, during the invasion of China. Thousands of Tibetans fled into neighboring countries during these days with little more than the clothes that they were wearing and what little provisions they could carry with them as they began the long and difficult trek over the Himalayas.

Today this center is home to over 650 Tibetans and many work there doing various things like weaving, painting, and making all sorts of handicrafts in order to support themselves. They make things like scarves, blankets, paintings, shoes, etc., and sell them in a showroom nearby where the proceeds go back into the Tibetan Community there to provide for their basic needs.

We spoke to a couple of them and were touched by their lives. One lady, L. Wangmu, gave me a multi-colored wool blanket that she had woven. I didn't know what to do, because she has so little, and yet she offered something so precious. I was humbled by her generosity.

the roads

We are safely back home again. The past couple of weeks we were on many different roads in many different places and I just wanted to share some pictures of our journey.

The roads that we were on had many different signs with corny phrases. I was trying to imagine what team of people wrote these signs. Basically every single one of them was encouraging safe, slow driving. In the hills, there are often accidents and so these signs are meant to be warnings of safety with a bit of humor and they are always different. One said "If you are married, divorce speed."

I also took this picture of the paving process here. It's really interesting to see how they make and repair roads.

Houser's Birthday

Dave's Birthday is this Friday, April 6th, he is turning the big "30". He is going to be teaching in a different city and so we leave tomorrow to catch a train. Since we were going to be gone, we had a special dinner for him tonight with some of his favorite Northeast foods, smoked pork with axone (fermented soybeans), rice, cucumbers, and mustard leaves. I didn't think to take any pictures so I'm posting a couple from our trip to America. We had fun tonight as we ate, sang happy birthday, and prayed for him for this upcoming year.

One of his dreams has been for a long time to go to the India-China border of Nathu La in Sikkim. Since the place he is teaching is not too far from there, we are going to try and drive there for his birthday. We have been praying and praying for the border to open up so that there will be an easy and cheap way to go to China and to help Northeasterners to go there as well. We have tried to research and make phone calls to see if it will be possible for us to go and we keep getting mixed answers. Some say that it it not possible for foreigners to go, others say it may be possible, and so we are hoping and praying that we will be able to make it. It is over 14,000 feet high and among the tallest motorable roads in the world. If we get to go, we will definitely have lots and lots of beautiful pictures to share. We know for sure that that the border will be closed to pass through, but we are hoping that we can get to the actual border and see the hills and snow-capped mountains of China with our eyes.

We will be away from home for about ten days and so we are trying to wrap up some loose ends before we go. There are so many different things going on these days. The DTS outreach teams will be going to South India and Arunachal Pradesh, very opposite corners of this nation.

Please pray for my husband that God will richly bless him on his birthday and that we will be able to make it safely to the border. I'm so thankful for his life and to be married to him. He is truly a gift of God to this world.