India Report #7: Sabbath, Oct. 22, 2011 at 10:20 A.M.
This morning at 11 Paulson will be here with a car (we understand) to take us to another baptism in a remote village. We will eat there but not the food they prepare in large kettles over open fire—a mountain of rice and then dahl or some kind of curry for on top. Shyla prepares food for us, knowing that the water in which the food is cooked does make a difference in health for us.
The baptism we witnessed in Mubarakpur village was interesting. There were eleven ready and we walked a long way on a very narrow foot path through the rice paddy to get to the tank or lake. When there it was so shallow that the baptizing pastor and the candidates had to wade a long way out to get sufficient depth for immersion. Afterward we got photos of them and at the meeting that night gave them Bibles. It is such a special occasion for them to get the Bibles. Then last night we showed a few of the pictures before the sermon for the group to identify. There are well over 1000 in attendance now each night.
Paulson thought it would be good to tell them some Bible parables along with the sermon. They do respond well to that, but it adds more time. Also, one village wanted to garland us again last night and it was a nice gesture but time consuming.
The pastors have moved the children from the front right where they sometimes got very rowdy, to a place on another side where they can control them much better. It did seem to make a difference. I think the children are not disciplined at home. We noticed in Korea that the parents let the children get very spoiled expecting the school to straighten them out. Maybe India is like that too. One of the pastors believes the proverb “spare the rod and spoil the child” and was exercising that authority to drive the children to where they should be when they didn’t want to go there. He may not have hit any with the big stick but his message was very clear to them. We cringed a bit seeing it but rejoiced with the quieter result.
Friday was a low key day here with nothing special planned except the usual noon meal with Paulson and Shyla. The food is very good and we are getting a little more accustomed to it. The walk from where we stay to their 3rd floor apartment in the building we moved from to here, is good exercise and helps build appetite (if you disregard the sights along the way). We never quite get used to all the manure about everywhere and the trash. We collected our trash in a bag and asked one of the pastors where to take it. He took it to the field just across from our apartment and threw it there. Must have thought we were lazy since we didn’t do that. Now we do separate the garbage from the other trash and put the food leftovers on a spot where the herd of pigs or goats make quick work of getting rid of it.
The other night we had a rat visitor but scared him badly enough that we had not seen him since. But then last night he visited Jeff’s room. Guess he just likes variety. We have readjusted a drain in the bathroom with a large rock on it. Perhaps that rock was there to prevent that entrance and we just caught on to it. We had noticed that the rat or mouse has not dined on our exposed food. Perhaps because it does not have the strong chili flavor he is used to. But then we discovered some tiny teeth marks on something in the food area. So, many things we think we know do not prove to be true. Our largest food threat comes from the tiny ants that march in columns on the floor and up the walls to favored destinations. The can of “OFF” we brought has been a line of defense.
It has been so refreshing to see the strong response to our invitations to accept Jesus. Night after night they respond well. It will be so good to see them again in the Kingdom when Jesus takes us home. It is hard to realize that now we have already had five of our regular meetings plus the small one the first night.
We love you all and appreciate your continued prayer for the success of the meetings reaching deep into the lives of the people who hear. We bring them hope and many other blessings. How we wish that the same openness and desire for spiritual things were evident back in USA. There are some, but here there are so many eager to respond.
When we went to the village today where people were baptized, they welcomed us with a percussion band. It seemed the whole town was out to welcome us. We didn’t appreciate all the noise but their enthusiastic welcome was so nice. I thought it was so much better than if we were met by a mob of radical Hindus who didn’t want us there. We feel we are at the right place at the right time to reap a rich harvest for the Lord, just as the people here right now are gathering in their agricultural harvest of rice, corn and dahl.
In His love,
Dad and Mom (Glenn and Mary Alice)