Kottayam

First, I do not know if I spelled that correctly on the title but that is how it sounds. Where do I begin? Well, we had a wonderful dinner with a few of the seminarians at TTS before we left. One of the other students is doing his thesis on Interfaith Dialogue and a Christian perspective, and we discussed that topic for a long time. I gave him a few suggestions on books to read and he shared with me the research which he had already completed. What a wonderful discussion. He is on facebook so we intend to continue the conversation and I may send him some books since they do not have the access which we do. The trip from Mandurai to Kottayam is about two and a half hours, and we stopped at a spice field and were able to ride the elephant which was fabulous, and I got pictures. Amanda turned a year older yesterday so be sure to tell her that I say Happy birthday. We stopped at the tea plant. it is funny to watch tea being made. I will write later as soon as I can since I have people waiting to use. it was a very long day. Today we visited it another CSI church which was very high church and we were able to receive communion. This was a great experience for me. We visited the Dutch Palace today, the oldest Synagogue, and the crooked cross. the last brings a story with it. It is said that when the Portuguese came to force the Thomas church followers to Catholicism they tied themselves to the cross and they pulled the cross so it would not lean towards Rome. Fascinating story yet I saw no lean to the crooked cross. I will try an update again tommorrow. God Bless.