India/Nepal Report "#8" (actually #9): Thurs, Oct 25 at 6:15 a.m. from Saiha, Mizoram (Praise God)
Dear Family and Friends:
“Be anxious for nothing, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God…” We know a little more about that now.
We arrived at Saiha just after midnight rather than the anticipated early evening. Good thing we didn’t plan to come on the same day the meetings began! David Sailo, our translator for the Saiha series since Biaka got sick and had to go back to Aizawl for treatment, arrived at Lunglei to pick us up just after 11 a.m. They, (he and the driver, Mahoo), needed a good meal and for some reason went out to eat. We had lunch at Pastor Liana’s house with their usual good vegetables tastily prepared. It was rice, dahl, pumpkin, squash from their hanging vine, mixed steamed vegetables, fresh tomatoes, and a banana to finish if you still had room.
Prior to the meal there was the baptism of two students from the Southern Flower School where we had the Religious Emphasis Week. Also they had attended every one of our evening meetings at the hall. During that time they came under conviction that they should be baptized like Jesus was. Both of them faced serious problems. The mother of one is the Choir Director for a Baptist church and when he asked permission to become SDA she took serious offense. It would shame her before her Baptist church etc. The father was indifferent since he was not religious anyhow. The Principal of the school and her architect husband went out to the village where the parents live and presented the student’s case and then left him alone with his mother to make the decision. He firmly decided to be baptized whatever the consequences.
The other student comes from a divided home in serious conflict. (His home is near the principal, so she has known him for some time and will be able to encourage him.) At school his behavior was such that they almost expelled him, but gave him one more chance. At the meetings he also came under conviction and his attitude changed completely. It may be that my telling of my background in a divided home and the divorce of my parents that made such an impact on me at age four, helped him to identify with the potential solution to his own problems. He is a changed boy and now his behavior improvement is noticed by all. It was very touching to me to see how the Lord used our meetings to work in these young lives. Many more of the students are preparing Hfor baptism later.
The SDA churches in Lunglei are so happy to see 82 new members from the evangelistic series now swelling their ranks. They say this is the best result from evangelism they have ever had in one district in Mizoram. We don’t know those details but praise the Lord for what has happened. They are determined to keep on with outreach in their community. Some lay members are now out giving bible studies when they have never done it before.
With these unexpected delays we did not leave Lunglei at 10 a.m. as expected but at 12:45 p.m. The road from there to Laungtlai (where we had meetings last year) and on to Saiha is beyond my ability of description. Even if I could describe it you would probably not believe it. There were mud sloughs and tire ruts that were knee high in depth. Only a four-wheel drive with the help of angels could have gotten us through, and did. There were landslides on the main road to Saiha and it was closed. We kept inquiring about its status along the way and were assured that it would probably be open by the time we got there. So we elected to not take the very long detour around via another road. At the point of final decision we learned that the road was not open though they had been working on it since the previous morning when the landslide came down and would not be for several days. That left us with the choice of going via a “detour” that is really not a road. The chuckholes were bad enough but the extended mud sloughs were almost too much. And if your car starts sliding sideways there is a long way down to the valley floor-if you can call it a valley. It seems that another mountain begins where the previous one ends.
The detour option involved driving across the riverbed with swift water flowing. We found some fishermen near the river and inquired about the crossing. They gave directions and we were off. Mahoo is a good driver and we trust his driving completely as he deftly maneuvers around the S curves and gets past oncoming trucks and everything else on the very narrow roads with no forgiveness if you misjudge. But this time his judgment failed him. He turned down what looked like a crossing and Mary Alice and I knew it was a mistake as soon as he did. We saw the big rocks sticking out of the water right in our driving path. So, we got hung up in the middle of the river on a large rock and tried many times to either go forward or back up to where we had been. The water was deeper than expected and began coming in under the car doors on the passenger side. The steering wheel here is on the right side of the car. It rose to about six inches on the car floor and my shoes and feet got wet. As soon as I noticed it I held them up and we picked up the fruit we had on the floor in a sac.
David got out to inspect all sides and options. He was nearly swept away by the current, but managed to stay on his feet. He is very strong and with sheer bruit muscle and the help of the current he moved some of the boulders out of the way. Of course, Mary Alice and I were “praying without ceasing.” I knew the Lord would get us out but did not know how or when. The prospect of spending the night in the middle of the river was not comforting. Nor the possibility of a flash flood (if it rained) that could have sent the car down the river to an unknown destination. I offered to get out and help push, but they would not hear of that. They thought I might be more valuable as a speaker for the meetings.
Then some more men showed up from somewhere and with all working together, including the angels, the car was able to back up and onto the bank we had just left. We must have been in the river for half an hour before the help came and we were out. They pointed out that the real place for crossing was a little further down the river. We found it and crossed without incident. What Mahoo and David feared most was that the water would go up the tail pipe and make the engine unable to start again.
Now, safely on the other side, we still had many challenges of the rough and almost impossible road. I wish we could have taken video footage of the whole thing. We were bouncing around in the car from side to side as we hit deep trenches in the road from water action, not to mention the almost continuous chuckholes. I should not call them that because it implies that it was a normal road with a few irregularities. The road itself was an irregularity. We now know how clothes in a moving dryer would feel if they had senses. Even Mahoo with a firm grip on the steering wheel was bouncing around from side to side it seemed.
Mahoo and David had come the 160 kilometers from Aizawl that morning and we were with them for another 200 kilometers from Lunglei to Saiha. Nearly all of the road we were on was very bad with very brief moments of normality.
We reached Saiha just past midnight, about six hours later than planned. Our fellow workers were waiting for us and showed us to the Circle House for a room. We had expected to stay at the Tourist Lodge we had seen last year and that was part of our favorable decision to return here for more meetings. We didn’t want a rerun of the rat-hole with so much mould everywhere as at Laungtlai last year. Well, our room now was not much improved over that, but we had no choice other than to stay or else remain in the car for a few days.
The workers here had planned to book us at the Tourist Lodge, but ran into a problem. They have added a new section and are waiting for the government Minister of Tourism to come and cut the ribbon or help dedicate it. He can’t get down because of the landslides and is probably unwilling to brave the roads we were on just to dedicate a building. As a result, we have no idea of when that can happen and we will be able to move into the better room.
I won’t waste much more space telling about this room we are in now. Suffice it to say that the linen and pillowcases and towel looked like they had not been cleaned. We decided at that hour to just sleep in our travel clothes (minus the wet shoes) under the one blanket each for the bed. A quick look at the bathroom squelched any idea we might have had of a warm “pour” before retiring. We needed what rest we could get in the remainder of the night before tackling the logistics of living here for a while.
One blessing is that there is a clothesline behind our room and it was empty. We would soon fill it because this morning we discovered that the river had soaked much of our suitcase contents including the beautiful shawls they gave us at Lunglei and the Mizo clothing Mary Alice has been wearing here, brought from home. The sun is shining hot and bright and so our clothes are nearly dry again and also the shoes and suitcases where the river left its deep impression.
One thing that was spared the soaking was the Mizo special shirt they gave me as they gave Mary Alice a beautiful skirt wrapping. Mine was in a plastic bag and kept dry. It is special because they said the shirt represented the conferring of a high honor as in knighting in England by the Crown. This shirt is reserved for tribal chiefs who distinguish themselves in various ways that benefit the general population. No, I don’t expect to be addressed in USA as “Sir Glenn.” Not even as
Honorable Glenn.” Being a faithful servant of the Lord is plenty for me.
One reason for our late arrival was that when we got to Laungtlai on the way, we stopped at the home of Sabbathanga. He was not there because he is in Saiha helping prepare for our meetings. The only way he got here was to have someone take him and his belongings by car to the landslide place. He left his stuff with someone near there and walked across the landslide and was picked up on the other side by another car that took him here. Our group thought of doing the same for us but learned that even crossing on foot the landslide without belongings was most difficult. It must have had more come down since Sabbathanga crossed.
Mahoo and David were hungry and needed substantial food. So Mahoo had to take Sabbathanga’s wife to the distant market first to get some fresh vegetables to prepare. In the meantime David began cooking the rice. We told them we would settle for just one of the bananas we had brought since we usually don’t eat supper. We did, but it took a long time for them to steam and fry what they were to eat. Consequently, we lost probably two hours there and that made our arrival here at 12 rather than 10.
One blessing of stopping there was to see and photograph the new school building Sabbathanga and his wife have built on rented ground next to their house. We had given them the money to build it when here last year. Now they have 104 students rather than the 46 they had last year in the old school arrangements. It is so good to witness fruitage of the work and gifts.
While supper was being enjoyed a man came who had heard we were in town. He was baptized out of our meetings last year and wanted to see us again and tell us how he has held firm against all the efforts to dissuade him from his new SDA faith. The Laungtlai company has now been upgraded to a Church because of its increased membership and financial stability. These things make us feel that all the effort and expense was well worth it.
We learned from Sabbathanga’s wife that the reason why the electricity is going out in Mizoram these days is because the Hindus of lower India are celebrating their Holiday for Duvalli. That is the Festival of Lights and requires more than usual electricity to celebrate properly, so they cut off some to Mizoram to meet the Festival needs elsewhere. Mizoram is Christian basically and does not celebrate Duvalli. There are still a few days left to the Festival and it will affect our meetings for a while but we bought a new generator in Aizawl and have it here now. It runs by gasoline rather than kerosene that is harder to get. We should be ok. (Nice try, Satan!) The Lord overrules so often but Satan will think of many other ways to try to disrupt.
The High Priest robes got wet too but are now dry once again. When Israel’s priests went through the Jordan River, it opened and they went by on dry ground. That did not work for us.
Today some of the workers here took the Conference Car we came in and drove to the landslide where they picked up the luggage Sabbathanga had left there. (The luggage of some others who had attended Daniel’s Band meeting was also brought back.)They report that the road is now open enough for a small car to get through but may close again and more dirt and rocks keep falling down. When the landslide first began one man in a car saw it coming and jumped out of his car and ran. He saw the car go down over the mountain but he was ok. We trust the road will be open when we need to go back over it to Aizawl and on to Nepal on schedule.
Another drama took place when we were still in Lunglei Wednesday morning waiting for the ride to Saiha. We looked out our upstairs window from our room at the Tourist Lodge and saw a beautiful brown Brahman cow with the identifying hump. It was quite an attraction to adults and children. I taped on video some of the children feeding it grass and other green plants as it ate its way along the road as far as the tether would reach. The children would cautiously approach and touch it with one finger and jump back squealing with delight as children do all over the world. I watched it for some time and then Mary Alice and I began reading our worship book copies that we brought along for personal devotions. We then give the copies to the pastor who can read English and get something out of it.
Things seemed quiet out there, but Mary Alice got up and looked out the window again and the cow was on the ground with many people surrounding it. Closer examination revealed flowing blood. They had used their long and sharp Mizo knives to kill the cow and were cutting it all up, apparently for the local butcher. They used an axe to get through the bones and tougher parts. It was gruesome, but then I realized I was looking at (and taking photos of) what was done at the Sanctuary with sacrificial animals. It was intended in the Sanctuary to show how horrible sin is that it causes so much death and would ultimately take the life of Jesus on the cross for our sins.
I also thought of how the Mizos a hundred years ago used those knives to take off human heads in battle before Christian missionaries came here and “civilized them.” The human heart is still capable of severe cruelty in any land. I thought of how the cow was eating away the vegetation that cleared the land to became its killing place by the side of the road. That is somewhat like wartime prisoners that were made to dig their own graves before being shot so they would fall into them and save as much work as possible for their murderers.
We had our breakfast this morning in our room using the things we had brought with us and supplemented from the Lunglei market. Then after drying the wet clothes and suitcases we went out to get more supplies from the market here in Saiha. We also had lunch with the pastor of this district in his house. All along the way people would approach us for photos together. They warmly welcome people from USA who are rare visitors here.
Our meetings will be in a smaller hall than they had planned because the larger hall had a bad echo (eecho) and the Mara and Lei tribes here speak Mizo but have some variation and the echo would make it more difficult for them to hear clearly and get the meaning. Above all we want them to hear correctly. Here we will get the full benefit of the large rear-projection screen since there is more room behind on the platform than at Lunglei. The hall here will seat 350 or 400 they say and it is in a part of town that may attract more of the Mara tribe people. We will see what kind of response we get.
A visit to the police station today got us properly registered and assured they will be on hand if we have any kind of trouble.
We were able to get back to our room here in time to get a little nap and pour before going to the meeting. We bought a pair of flip flops to wear on the less than clean bathroom floor.
As always, we appreciate your prayers for our safety and for the success of the meeting. We do our best but only the Holy Spirit can really reach the people for the Lord.
With love,
Glenn and Mary Alice, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma
P.S. Late breaking news: The attendance was good at our opening meeting, but not up to that of Lunglei yet. Also, the Tourist Lodge postponed its opening celebration probably because of the landslides. Now we can move into their better room tomorrow morning and have it for ten nights before having to return here. The cleanliness difference there is worth the move. Another plus is the better mattress that may allow a little more sleep.