(October 31, 2010)
The internet was not open when we went on Friday so this will have to wait till we get to another place with one available. In the meantime in our room we were able once again to get the video projector to be brighter and the computer to do what it is supposed to on the two screens. We trusted it would hold for Friday night’s presentation and it did. Things went so much better with the brighter screen pictures. We learned that we have to go to the SETTINGS area on the computer and change on the display which setting should be used for Keynote and which for Power point. Live and learn! We sometimes wonder if we will live long enough to learn all that we should for these trips and be able to anticipate the troubles likely to come. Friday night’s topic was about giants and one of our big giants is the equipment to be mastered.
Friday night offered another awareness opportunity. The rat(s) we wrote about returned. Mary Alice awoke to hear something gnawing but could not find it even with her flashlight. In the morning we noted that the pillow case we had brought to put over their pillows (for obvious reasons) had been gnawed by our astute visitor. Glenn is usually the light sleeper but never noticed the rat chewing away right by his ear. We are just glad that our “guest” settled for cloth rather than a piece of ear or nose as we hear and read about in mission stories. Thankfully we do have one area of the closet that is really tight and rat proof. So we put all our food there and now our pillows and pajamas when we are not using them. We don’t want any invitations to attract more of the same.
By the way, we did solve the riddle of the screen reversals and were able to correct it. We just have to remember which program is to be projected and change the computer settings accordingly.
You would love hearing the children sing in unison in English or Telegu. Sometimes the special music is accompanied by a drummer who puts enough energy into his part that the soloist’s voice is totally overwhelmed. When we do have a solo without the drummer it is so very refreshing. I’m glad that in our Decatur church service we don’t offer the opportunity to obscure the real message in song.
Our jet lag is waning now much to our relief. It along with the preventive pills for Malaria control left us a bit light- headed. Some might think we are that way all the time just naturally. But at least we notice a difference. Glenn’s voice is improving here when we get enough rest—a rare occasion it seems. During the worship hour in church on Sabbath his voice was as he remembers it from quite a while back.
They tell us that there is no Malaria in this area and that is good news since we have both had mosquito bites. We did not bring netting and none is provided here.
With all that our hotel room here lacks (at $17 a night) we are still way ahead of most of the people around us. And our food is very adequate. Bananas are very good and not costly. We can get apples imported from the Himalayas that are quite acceptable. We make the most of what bread we can get accompanied by soy milk we brought from home, and nuts to restore the taste buds again after exposure to the typical hot hot food in our one supplied meal a day. We use bananas as a “fire extinguisher.” We do appreciate the cook’s efforts to give us the best she can and that means in Indian culture literally “peppered.” (and “chilied”) We hope that the bad germs don’t do well in that hot environment either.
Yesterday following church our hosts drove us to visit a famous large Catholic church 87 miles from here. It was part of our tourist responsibilities since we come on tourist visas. The tourist visa fits our reason for being here better than the other options on the passport application forms. We said we would go if we could be back in time for our last meeting here at the SDA School for the week of prayer. We planned to show them the full 2 hour Jesus Version in Telegu. We finally got it to work by unscrambling the computer-setting dilemma. This video is based on the book of Luke and we wanted to encourage the students to study that book again after seeing the enactment.
The scenery along the rough (and we really mean rough) roads was highly interesting. It is the time for harvesting dahl and corn. We thought of how we are also a part of gathering the India Harvest—souls for God’s Kingdom. They put the stalks on the road so that the traffic helps thresh the seeds. The corn on the cob was shucked and stacked in heaps to dry. The lentil-like dahl was raked over much of the road also in thin layers for drying. They tried to discourage the traffic from driving over those by lining with rocks the drying area. So it made for an interesting pattern of weaving around here and there to miss what we should and hit what they hoped we would, even while dodging the oncoming traffic. Our Hindu driver must be in the lineage of Jehu because he “drove furiously” trying to get us to the Cathedral and back before meeting time.No photo or video ops came because of the bumpy and weaving ride. Some Indians have a distinctive waggle of their heads to indicate affirmation of what you tell them. Our road experience suggests that the waggle practice developed out of rides on these roads. The head just naturally waggles from side to side and up and down. So don’t be surprised if we “waggle” our yeses when we get back home.
No photos inside the Cathedral were permitted but we did get the outside views after eating the lunch our hosts had prepared. The Cathedral is one of the largest in Asia and our hosts had not seen it before. We suspect that it was more than just their interest in OUR seeing it. The tower is 175 feet tall and the entire structure is of cut granite. Inside they have Gothic arches and a pipe organ. They say that 5000 can gather at one time inside the 100 ft by 200 ft interior. We would have loved to photo the stained glass windows done in rich colors depicting the nativity, the crucifixion and the ascension of Jesus. The tile floor in intricate design was done by skilled artisans from Italy. The building is immaculately clean. We all had to leave our shoes on the outside while touring the building. Yes, they were still there when we came out. Our Indian hosts said that no one in India now could make a building like that. They use lesser materials now and at lesser cost.
On the way back to the school it started to rain hard which made the driving more difficult with obscured windows. The heavy rains came from a cyclone near the coast. So in spite of all the “Jehu driving” we did not have the final evening meeting. The campus was and is now so muddy that the students would bring all that mud into the church on their feet and that is not acceptable. Also their sandals (stacked so neatly as they enter the church), would be out in the rain.
We managed to gather our things left at the school and get back inside the hotel without too much soaking in the heavy rain. We thanked the Lord for safekeeping and trust He will supply what the students need most.
We wish we could give a Bible to each student who doesn’t have one, but will have to wait until we see what else is needed from the available funds we were able to bring. Paulson told us they expect more than 1000 to be baptized from the ten villages that will attend our evangelistic series and we want to give a Bible to each of them. It will be essential for the follow-up planned for them following the series. We continue to be amazed at how God provided for that need without our having any idea of how it would happen.
Yesterday we were a little late for Sabbath School because our driver was late. He explained that on the way here by bus they were delayed because of an accident. A lorry (big truck) had a head-on collision with a car and the four people in the car were all dead. He didn’t know much beyond that.
The “Gospel in Priestly Garments” was highly appreciated in the church service by students and faculty alike. The Headmaster told us afterward that nobody in India knows those things. They have only a simple knowledge that there was a sanctuary and that the priests wore robes. The added details brought significance that would change forever how they look at that part of the Bible. We left only one copy of Glenn’s Sanctuary book because our severe luggage space and weight limitations permitted us to bring only a few copies for the entire trip. And tomorrow we have a Sanctuary Seminar in Hyderabad for the pastors and laymen in that area.
This morning (Sunday, Oct 31) we are waiting in our hotel room for the ride that will come sometime to take us to Hyderabad and the wedding of Paulson’s oldest son, Praveen,that we are invited to attend. We will have our meals here with our food rather than go back to the school campus in the heavy mud. Glenn has been up since 2 a.m. trying to transfer video clips to the computer and catch up on documenting the news here for email whenever we get another opportunity to do that.And to get an early start on our needed water intake because on the trip to Hyderabad there will be few if any suitable toilet opportunities. We intend not to go native if we can help it. And to head off any other intended visit by the rats. Like the wicked people the Bible speaks of, (John 3:19) they “love darkness rather than light because their deeds (in our view) are evil.”
SPECIAL NOTE: When we went to gather and pack our sheets that we bought especially for this trip we noted that the rats had chewed several places in the one next to Glenn up by where his face was. Either they find him especially attractive or are spewing out their vengeance for our having removed the food supply out of their reach. We suspect it happened earlier than 2 this morning when Glenn got up. If their kindred follow us in our continued travel in India we may have to buy a machete and sleep in shifts while one watches for an opportunity to send a “reincarnated Hindu” on his way to another existence.
Thank you for your prayer support and for wading through (if you really are) all the details we are sending your way.
With our love, in His love,
Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Glenn and Mary Alice