India Report #27, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011 at 6:40 a.m. from Aizawl, Mizoram
Dear family and friends:
Yesterday, we waited for the breakfast Biaka had offered, but it never came. He had a lot on his mind and we had things here in the room to make do, so no problem. It only illustrates that either the communication isn’t working or that overbusyness leads to neglect of some things. Also it illustrates that we can’t really count on anything promised as to time, place, or conditions. That’s what makes it more of an adventure than we counted on.
I did get Report #26 sent off at the Mizo Conference Office just before recording for TV the first sermon of our Lawngtlei series to replace the lack of sound on the original one. We would have gone on and recorded the 2nd and 3rd also, but the man from Manipur also needs to record in the same studio for Adventist World Radio one hundred sermons. That is their minimum before they release a new language on air. He had done only seven thus far. He will be around here for quite a while at that rate.
It worked out well for us because I went from the studio to the Hospital where they had set up an appointment for me to get a FULL body massage (including eyes, nose, ears, and mouth) by an excellent masseur with eleven years practice. Then came the hydrotherapy (fomentations) on the back, chest, and feet in water at the same time. This was followed by 15 minutes in a steam bath unit with a little eucalyptus in it for inhaling the treated steam into the lungs. Felt great when I left. They did give me a drink of water before the steam bath from a bottle that may not have been original purchase. The hospital has a water filtration system and I didn’t drink much of it. So far, no bad effects followed.
From there we walked to the house of a SDA family where Sabbathnga stays when in town. They have a very nice home. He used to be a publisher, but is retired at 75 and continues writing books, tracts and papers that he sends out along with cards to families he learns about via radio and TV who have just lost a loved one. His wife is younger and knows English well. So I plan to give him a copy of my Sanctuary book in English. We shared one this morning also with the man from Manapur who knows 7 languages including English. We’ll give out the rest carefully at the Sanctuary Seminar on Dec 4.
The meal at the publisher’s house was very good. We could not eat even a bit of everything they offered. Again, on general principles, we avoided the raw salad. We don’t know how they can eat so much rice. We return to the pan most of what they first put on our plates, before adding the curry or dahl or delicious red beans as yesterday. They also gave us a small bag of tangerines when we left that always come in handy for our in room meals.
Zosiama and his wife came to the room last night to go over the itinerary for our trip to Tripura on Thursday morning. It should be very interesting and very primitive so far as sleeping quarters go, at least for part of the trip. We think we will not take our video projector because of the difficulties with electricity along the way. They may be able to get a large TV to run pictures through from my computer to illustrate some things. Zosiama especially wants me to show the scientific findings about pork and the effect on humans that eat it. This is a big problem among the Bru tribe.
Zosiama wanted to take the mattresses from our beds here at the Conference guest room, and carry them on the top of the car so we would have that much comfort down there. We, of course, vetoed that idea. We will do our best to sleep on the bamboo beds with a very thin pad on top. And, of course, there will be no western type toilets. At least we have had some experience now dealing with the lack of that. We will take what food we have left from home and piece our way along if what is offered there is suspect as to its cleanliness. We surely don’t want to face a trip home with the results of bad food or water. We vividly remember Danny Shelton’s description of his trip from India with “Delhi Belly.” Thus far we have not had to face that in any of our trips.
The purpose of our trip is to show us the wonderfully fruitful results of the Tlangsang School that has opened up the “heathen” villages to preaching the Gospel. They have resisted all other Christian attempts to penetrate there, but now are welcoming SDA with open arms. There may be hundreds of baptisms we will see on this trip resulting from that. We will meet some of the very powerful people whose influence will reach far and wide if they become SDA. Apparently, they are considering that seriously and Zosiama wants our input to them as they struggle with the decision.
We will appreciate your specific prayers for our health and well being on this trip. We may be able to conquer the colds that are now trying to take hold on the two of us from the fatigue and chill we are not adequately prepared for here. All this makes us feel more like front line missionaries. But we haven’t yet had to endure anything like what many do in some places.
Mary Alice is doing one last batch of laundry before home so we can coast on out from today without drying problems. The weather on this trip has been great. No rain which would have made the roads almost impassable. We will have to make some adjustments on this trip because of previous rains and what they did to the roads. As we rode up from Lawngtlei we noted several huge boulders just barely hanging onto the earth partially around them and wondered what it would be like if one let loose just as we passed by. When they do come down it provides work for the local people who hammer and chisel them into small blocks of stone used in building or road repairing. Nothing is wasted here.
Sabbathanga is needing a root canal for his teeth. Fortunately, that will be covered by Conference insurance and our help will not be needed. He wants to get that done before heading back home at Lawngtlei on Friday. It will save another trip to Aizawl and a lot of pain prior to that.
We are so glad to see the joy and happiness he and his wife show now with our coming and the things we have been able to do for them. We saw the sadness in the photos just after they lost their son last year. The contrast between facial expressions then and now are striking and satisfying.
Our waiting for meals time here is not lost. We have been catching up on our devotional readings and will maybe go beyond, knowing how hard it may be to do it on the upcoming trip. We will need to save computer battery as much as possible for the public presentations without electric connection. I don’t want to expose the computer to the unstable current if we can avoid it.
Some students from the Lowry SDA school next door are practicing basket ball before it is very light outside and school begins. Last year we attended one of their assemblies and were greatly disappointed in the music and competitive spirit that was evident. We were happy to hear this year that many of the Mizo church members also objected to it. We walked out before it was over. I hope the faculty addresses or has addressed that problem. We surely don’t want the Tlangsang school to go in that direction. Even if Zosiama allows the Conference to take over the school, he will be on the board and have strong input (also representing us) on what happens there. He hopes it will stay a comparatively small school and avoid the problems of much larger attendance.
Must close for now and have this ready to email when I get to the Conference Office again this morning after breakfast. Biaka did bring breakfast and it was delicious. And Mary Alice is scheduled for the health treatments and I may get some more also. They insist on our not paying for it because of what we have done and are doing for Mizoram.
With love,
Dad and Mom (Glenn and Mary Alice)