Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Dear Family and Friends:
“Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit”. This is what we would hear if we were at home taking calls. Somewhere along the way it got started as a way of being first to recognize the new month. We haven’t seen any rabbits here or even tigers. Fortunately they don’t roam the campus and impede walking in the dark to the meeting.
The Last Day Events Seminar is doing well. We hear that there are about 20 attending who are not SDA. That presents the challenge of covering many items in some detail that could otherwise be assumed as background. Some questioned spending time on the Sanctuary rather than just the timeline leading to the Second Advent of Jesus, but Glenn reminded them that it doesn’t matter if we know the details of events to take place prior to His coming without having the heart experience the Sanctuary illustrates so vividly. Also the Investigative Judgment is certainly one of the chief events taking place right now. We didn’t have time to present the 2300 days in detail but summarized their import in identifying that we ARE now in the “time of the end.”
One of the churches, the first one in Aizawl from the early 1900’s, is too far away for most of the people to be able to attend our Seminar. That Zemabawk church supported our first evangelistic series here in 1998 by bringing a bus full of people each night, as described before. They are also very interested in Last Day Events, so we are closing the Seminar here at the Conference headquarters church on Thursday night and will spend Friday night and Sabbath at Zemabawk giving what we can. It may be we will also do something on Sunday even though we need to get ready to fly on Monday back to Calcutta to restage for the flight to USA via New Delhi. These days are going very quickly now. We have needed every one of them to prepare for each day’s meeting.
Our translator for the series has been the Conference President who had to leave yesterday for important meetings in Shillong and will not be back until Sunday night. So Biaka translated last night. His voice is improved enough that he felt he could do that. We don’t know who will translate tonight. All of them have been good in their own way. That makes such a difference! We remember times in Ukraine when the translators barely understood English and some did not have a Bible background. In one meeting near Cherakassy, the translator was an English teacher in the local high school. When Glenn referred to the Apostle Paul, she quietly asked, “Who is Paul? What is an apostle?” So the “sermon” turned out to be a study for her in front of the audience. But the Lord can bless even that.
This has been a time of final exams for students in the Lowry School right next to where we are staying. They have 1260 students. Yesterday we saw them all lined up in the large play area doing drills which we photographed and took video to show the action. They often greet us as we come and go trying to use the English they do know. And we greet them with “Chebai” or “hello”. (Different from “Namiste” down in Andhra Pradesh in “the Plain” where Telegu prevails)
Tomorrow is the 60th anniversary (Diamond they say) of the founding of the Lowry school. There will be special celebrations for students and alumni. We are invited to attend either or both and will try to do so. That means some midnight oil previous to be ready for our meeting that night. We learned this from the English teacher who is from Belianchip. We visited there in a previous trip to Tlangsang and Glenn preached in that church. She looks like a girl who was SS Supt then and we had photographed. When we get back to USA and those photos we can compare. Then we were concerned that her new job with the government might lead her away from the church. It turns out that she and the English teacher are cousins.
Yesterday several of the students came to our room requesting to take their photo with us on their camera. Some of them do have a digital camera in spite of the down economy. So we can identify a little with celebrity and Paparazzi and are glad we don’t have to live that life back home. It is good to be one of the normal people as we move about
Our food here has been very good, coming from the kitchen of the Conference President’s home just upstairs. Even though we have things from home and market and could do most of our own meals here in the room, it is good to get more warm food once or twice a day. We won’t have a lot left over to bring home anyway. It may cover the two days in Calcutta when we are on our own.
Another blessing has been Internet connection direct from the Conference line, in the office of the Communication people. That way we can email directly from our computer and not have to try to transfer files or compose on their computer with the variables. The one variable is whether or not the Internet will be available and it is slow even when it is. Using our computer avoids the potential software conflicts.
It is good for us to hear from you whether our “heavy coverage” of daily events is what you like or whether it is “overkill”. Some have expressed that they read every word and over and over again. (They are retired and have the time). At least we are glad we found the time to put it all down for our own future reference. The problem will be what to use and what to leave out in public presentations of this India Mission.
Biaka , though his voice is improved, still needs time to really heal. There is a doctor coming to the Hospital in Aizawl who specializes in such things so it may not be necessary for Biaka to go to Silchar for additional treatment. He is delighted with the new (for him) video projector we are leaving as we return to USA. The previous one we had left last time five years ago he says has “caught many fish” in his evangelistic meetings. He notes that the people give full attention when the visuals are accompanying the sermon. They see the Bible in their own language and see how the message is right out of their Bible. In our previous evangelism sermons here we made Mizo texts, but did not have time this round to produce the new texts.
Mary Alice is diligently keeping up with our laundry. There were offers to do it for us but she has always done our own and feels the clothes are cleaner that way. We do have a space here where we can hang them outdoors in the sunshine using ropes we brought along for that purpose. She is also doing a little writing of cards but we don’t have addresses with us for many we would like to send to. We left Gentry in haste, like the Israelites leaving Egypt at Passover time. We are thankful for all that we could foresee and bring the right things we would need here.
Our friends in the adjacent Guest Room, the Nussbaums, are away for a few days to take her mother to the border of Myanmar where she will be met by a Jeep and return to her home. So now we can come and go to the bathroom without feeling the necessity of the bathrobes we could not bring because of space and weight limitations. The only robes we brought were those of the High Priest and they are hardly suitable for bathroom wear. It would have been so good to bring more Sanctuary books, but they are heavy and take room needed for other things.
Last night we gave Zosiama the video projector that was Biakas and he is delighted with it even though it is missing some cords that got lost. The remote control which Biaka had left in his pants pocket went through baptism in the laundry. We guess that doesn’t count as one of the “fish” he told us about.
One benefit of being here right now is that winter is just coming on and the air is not really cold. Our jackets feel good sometimes but would not be sufficient right now in Gentry. We hear that it was 19 degrees there recently. Tomatoes are still in season here and have a great flavor. Sometimes we get potatoes also. They look a little different with turmeric flavor and yellow color but are delicious. Steamed rice with topping of dahl or other things is a staple.
Today we went with Biaka to the Police again to deal with an extension of our time here beyond the normal 10 days of the permit. We didn’t have any problems. Glenn noticed that his name was David and told him we had a son by that name. He smiled and said “no problem with our staying the extra time.”
Zosiama spent yesterday getting his car repaired. It needed a new wheel bearing which accounts for some of the noise we heard when riding over those roads with him. He walks most of the time around Aizawl rather than drive because of the difficulty of finding parking places. The traffic is heavier now than when we were here before because of some added affluence. Traffic jams are frequent as many vie for the same little space. When they pass on the narrow streets with severe twists and turns there is very little space between vehicles. Glenn thinks that wax paper was invented here to help the cars get past each other in tight places. Often their outside car mirrors are turned back to be parallel with the car. Otherwise they would be contributed to the general trash of the street.
Mary Alice noticed something moving on the top of our window near the ceiling. Standing on a chair she took video of it. Seems like it is something emerging from a cocoon. Maybe she will later get the finished product, but we may be up at the office sending this and checking on any recent emails.
Glenn still has much to do in preparation for the evening sermon. By request the subject will be “The United States in Bible Prophecy.”
With love, in His love,
Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma, Glenn and Mary Alice