India Report #22 (November 28, 2010—Sunday at 4:30 a.m.)
Dear Family and Friends:
Yes, we just got up after sleeping (more of less) since 6:30 last night following a full day at the Mawbawk Church. Nature demands repayment when you borrow and borrow from the sleep bank to meet the urgency of preparation. Today we start the Last Day Events Seminar at 10 a.m. in the Conference Headquarters church. That is just a brief walk from our guest room. It will continue until 3 with a lunch break and then resume in the evening at 6:30.
Friday Glenn submitted to a Mizo haircut. He had planned to get his hair cut in Gentry at the last minute so it would last longer, but the waiting time at the Barber Shop cancelled that thought. Now it was either get a haircut or buy a fiddle and pretend to be a longhaired musician. Biaka took him to the shop and let him out while seeking a parking place. So the haircut was without adequate translation first. Glenn wondered as he saw the scissors and comb flashing in the mirror along with the electric clippers if he would end up with a crew cut. Not quite! But the barber took twice as much hair off than usual in USA and at only 66.6666 cents (30 Rs). When Glenn checked it in the calculator and saw the 666 he thought of the Mark of the Beast in Revelation! He IS marked for a while now.
Sabbath day began and ended at the Mawbawk Church and flooded us with pleasant memories. We recalled that January in 1998 when we were planning to go with the Arkansas/Louisiana Pastors to visit the Holy Land. We had saved the required $1500 to cover those expenses and looked forward to pleasant fellowship and a spiritual refresher in walking where Jesus walked.
Then came the call from Jim Zachary at the Quiet Hour asking if we could conduct an evangelistic series in Aizawl, the capital city of Mizoram in N. E. India. Someone at the last minute couldn’t go and a replacement was needed. Could we come? Prayer and evaluation of priorities yielded a “Yes” and we were in the rush of preparation.
We remembered the ten-hour bus ride from the airport in Silchar, Assam to Aizawl over that really narrow road with steep cliffs on the right side and high-rise walls on the other side. Now, there is an airport at Lungpui, just 28 Km from Aizawl which makes it much easier.
There were several groups from USA conducting meetings at the same time in different parts of the city. Ours turned out to be in the Mawbawk district where there were no SDA and no meeting halls. It was an outreach effort of the Republic church, an older congregation in another part of Aizawl. The leaders had found an elementary school that had a playground large enough to pitch a tent. Competitive games were going on there at the time, but the leadership closed those three days early so we could rent the space and start our meetings three days late, a real handicap in a short series.
We will never forget the effort that went into preparation of that spot. It was a big tent with some holes in it that did not resist the rains. Underneath was bare ground. Dr Phillips had been a freedom fighter when Mizoram was seeking independence from India, a contest that went on for 25 years. He was a key figure in the settlement and had become the Minister of Education and was highly respected. Now he was using a small broom to sweep that dirt floor and make it as presentable as possible. He had the equivalent of several Ph-Ds.
Somewhere they borrowed or rented wood benches that were about ten inches from floor to seat. Advertising was a few handbills posted in prominent places, like walls by the roadside and even on private toilet enclosures. Then a sound car went through the district announcing the meetings. We wondered who would come.
At 7 p.m. the people began to flow down the steep hill into that tent like a river from out of nowhere. There was a busload that came from Zemabawk, on the opposite side of town, and how they found a parking space on that narrow road remains a mystery. People filled that tent from wall to wall, about one thousand of them. We had no computer or video projector or even 35mm slide projector to illustrate the sermons because we had heard that electricity would not be dependable. We had only the Bible and good translation. But the people came every night and listened attentively.
The series ended with 48 baptized including some from the Zemabawk church that had sent a bus load each night with interested people. We thought it was a small showing for 1000 attending each night. Then we did not know that the Mizo people are very shy and slow to make decisions, but when they do make them they usually stay with that decision. Later we learned that our series had yielded the most baptisms of all.
Before we left on that bus back to the Silchar airport, Zova Renthley, the Mizo Conference President asked if we could leave another $1100. We had already spent the $1500 plus another $800 for extras not included in the budget and asked what they would use it for. He said they would rent a house in the Mawbawk district and had 5 Bible workers who would stay there and continue to visit the interests. We agreed and wrote the check, but cautioned them not to cash it until we could get back home and cover it in the bank. They were faithful to that.
Soon the reports came through that every month they were baptizing more of those interests until they had more than 200 and needed a church building. We were heavily involved in that also. To generate funds we taught English in Korea for a while and gave the money toward that church. Others joined us in the giving and the new SDA did much of the work themselves. On subsequent trips we saw them clearing a place to build, right out of the side of the mountain. No large earth-moving machines could get down there. They had built 55 stone steps from the narrow road at the top down to the site and carried the dirt up one bucket at a time to a truck waiting at the top to haul it off. We have a photo of Glenn with a block of stone on his head, like they do, getting those stones to the building site.
Fast forward ahead and now they are worshipping each Sabbath and during the week in the beautiful Mawbawk Church with one of the best buildings in the Aizawl region. (There are 12 SDA churches now in Aizawl). The Conference President now, a twin brother to Zova who had asked for the extra money, was asked by someone which is the best church in Aizawl and he said it was Mawbawk. They are very active in outreach and helping others. They have a very strong youth department. Some of the older ones have now gone to their rest, but the church is still growing in numbers. Yesterday one of the leaders was telling some of the history and said that they began with 20 members (some of the 48 originally baptized are members of Zemabawk church) and now there are 239. For a time it was the fastest growing SDA church in the Mizo Conference. Maybe it still is.
In the “Divine Service” Glenn reminded them in his sermon that the church is not the building but those who worship the Lord in it. He stressed the need for growth in our relationship to Jesus along with numerical growth. And the “exercise” of outreach is needed to continue healthy growth.
Mawbawk has been doing that. They helped build the Tlangsang church later down in Tripura. We can still visualize some Mawbawk members driving down that old and awful road with a “tank” on the roof of the vehicle to hold water for building the new church to the glory of God. They also helped build the newer Siphir church where we worshipped the previous Sabbath. And they have other outreach projects too. We can’t detail them all here.
In the afternoon meeting yesterday at Mawbawk Glenn summarized the rich harvest that has grown out of that simple decision in 1998 to “walk where Jesus walked” in the Mawbawk district of Aizawl rather than in the Holy Land of Palestine.
It is so touching to see and hear them refer to us at their Mother and Father in America. They give us credit for their existence although we repeatedly tell them that we were just a small part of it all, joining many others who made it all happen under the blessing of God.
The lineup of photographers after and before the services reminded us of celebrity. Many wanted photos of themselves standing with us. We are so happy they value us and remember what we tried to do for them over the years. Gratitude is one of life’s graces that carry so much blessing. We hope that we never lose it ourselves. We think of what our lives could have been and what they have been under God’s guidance and blessing.
Now in our “sunset years” we see God’s hand still at work. The EGW book, Retirement Years p. 39 reminds us: “The true minister of Christ should make continual improvement. The afternoon sun of his life may be more mellow and productive of fruit than the morning sun. It may continue to increase in size and brightness until it drops behind the western hills.” This reflects David’s words in Psalm 92:14 about bringing forth fruit in Old Age. Glenn also notices the last part of the verse that talks about “fat and flourishing”. Back home a little more exercise may help remedy that!
We met a couple of newly-weds who are staying in the guest room across from us. She, Biakthangi-chhakchhuak, is the sister of Zova Rentley’s wife and has worked for Adra in Myanmar. She met by email and married a man named Ashley Nussbaum from Medford, Oregon who is a driver of a big logging truck. In Myanmar they do not recognize a marriage to a “foreigner”, so they will probably eventually live in Oregon. In the meantime he will have to return to USA while she remains here. He is so interested in the projects we have been involved with here including Mawbawk Church, Tlangsang School, and now the Chhimlaung village of Brus who have just embraced SDA faith and need a school and church. He wants to copy our photos and take them back to his Medford church. He thinks that there are people who might want to help financially to make more growth possible. We see the Lord’s Providence at work in so many of our recent contacts.
The new Mrs. Nussbaum is the one we heard about in earlier trips who carried on her back her five year old niece the long miles through dangerous territory controlled by Guerillas from Mizoram to Myanmar so the grandmother could see this little girl. We remember her describing how sore her back was after that trip. Now people can enter and leave Myanmar (the old Burma) officially and easily. She described it as the safest place in the world now that the troubles have been settled.
Eric Hare was an early missionary to Burma and we have enjoyed his books and stories for many years. Our children grew up on those stories.
Now at 5:50 a.m. it is time to quit writing memoirs and do more preparation for the Seminar at 10 with three meetings during this Sunday. Our trip has been a great blessing thus far and we think of how easily we could have just said “NO” when the obstacles seemed so great (finances, preparation time with all we had to do at Gentry, and the rigors of international travel in today’s world.) But the Lord opened the door and made it clear that we should come. Here we are now and enjoying the fruitage of previous labors.
In the sermon yesterday Glenn read from Philippians 1 and told how we can identify with Paul as he revisited churches he had helped raise up in his previous missionary journeys. It is so satisfying to see the new growth and the energy in their worship of our God. It will take a huge Mango tree in Heaven for us all to meet under. At least they get the point of that illustration and invitation.
With love, in His love,
Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Glenn and Mary Alice