India Report #3: Sunday, October 16, 2011
Dear family and friends:
Yesterday was interesting for its illustration of “who knows what comes next and when.” We heard that Sabbath School would be at 9:30 a.m. in the little chapel here in Sangareddy by the West Andhra Section Office, followed by the Sanctuary Seminar at 10. This was all supposed to happen at the local Catholic Church which has more spacious premises. But that got changed because they did not want to have a tent for serving food set up on their grounds. So the venue changed and I’m not sure how they got the word out to those who had been invited. We learned about it only a few minutes before the official time to begin.
Well, at 10:30 with no sign of many present, I walked over to our nearby guest room at the Section Office and took a nap. Then word came that they had begun singing so I went over prepared for the Seminar. Preliminaries, (singing and various introductions of all important people in attendance) was completed and garlands presented to four of us in time for me to begin the Seminar at about 12 noon. I reminded them that since time was of little importance to them we would go right on with the Seminar presentation until it was complete. That happened at 1:30 p.m. when food was given in a separate tent adjacent. We were fed by the Paulsons in their rooms on 2nd story of the Section Office. And it was as we had expected from previous visits, very good and to our liking without so much spice.
A nap would have been welcome since we are all still struggling with jet lag and not sleeping well much past midnight, but the people were waiting for the second part of the Seminar to be illustrated with power-point. Setting up the projector and connected to the computer took some time. We also had to use a makeshift screen since the 8 x 8 rear-projection one we brought at such pains would not work in that little building. They had put chairs outside to accommodate those who attended. The screen would have to be so far away from the projector that it would have taken up half the space for seating people. They had hung up our Sanctuary backdrop painting (over 100 years old and painted by one of our pioneer workers—given to me just a few weeks ago) by pinning it to the drapes at the front of the church. Now they pinned a white cloth (the reverse of our welcome banner) over the painting so we could project onto it closer. The slides were small on the screen even then and the projector stand had to be put as far back as the cords would allow. We have since learned how to enlarge the pictures by adjustments in the computer—just in time for the opening of our evangelistic series tonight at Pitlam.
But the people were very attentive and appreciated the Seminar very much. We did not have my book still in print in Telegu to give them so did not mention it. The few copies we brought in English will be needed for our next Seminar in Mizoram in November.
We dressed up Pastor Francis, Secretary of the Union, in the Priestly garments in the morning. Though getting along in years he was able to stand for the whole time and made a good model. He was in charge of our Seminary in India at one time and had studied deeply into the Sanctuary, but said he had never understood it so clearly with the practical applications as yesterday. Maybe wearing the clothes helps a bit with that.
Serving the fellowship meal between services enables them to stay through. If they had to go elsewhere for food, we would not get them back in time for the 2nd half.
We got up early this morning and I worked on putting the Mizo Sanctuary texts in place of the Telegu ones in the computer so we will be ready for that seminar whenever it comes. I also went over much of the sermon for tonight because we may have very little time between when we arrive and settle into wherever we will be in Pitlam or nearby, and when the meeting starts.
Mary Alice started early putting our stuff into the suitcases and it was a good thing. Before 8 a.m. the men came to the room to take down the beds and haul them to Pitlam where we will use them again. They belong to the Treasurer of the West Andhra Section. He moved from a larger house into the small apartment here at the office and his overflow furniture is now part of the guest room and the extension guest room at Pitlam. They also will take our suitcases (minus the two smaller ones where we have the video projector and computer) via truck. We would not dare expose the electronics to the bumpy truck ride over those roads. We know them well from our experience here last year.
The plan is that we will have breakfast here and do some necessary shopping for water and food and get our cell phone chip recharged so we can communicate in that way also. The number when phoned from USA is 011-91-89-7835-8585. You may want it in case of emergency. Then we expect to move to Pitlam in the early afternoon. We shall see!
In His love,
Dad and Mom (Glenn and Mary Alice)