India/Nepal Report #11 (really #12): Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012 at 5:20 p.m. from Saiha, Mizoram
Dear Family and Friends:
Soon we leave for meeting but I’ll get this started at least. The challenges continue with rain, power outages, etc. but on Friday night we had more than 400 in attendance for “How Sunday Came Into The Church.”
Sabbath was a full day. I taught the SS Adult class for English speaking people. Then presented “The Gospel In Priestly Garments” for the 11 a.m. service (which began at 11:50) and went to 12:30. After the sermon ended at 12:30 and the usual photos were taken, we went without lunch to visit a village (Bualpui) about an hour from here on rough roads where we have a little church that was built just two years ago and has about thirty members. In the past three years our workers have opened six new church groups in the hills surrounding Saiha. They are working diligently to reach the remote areas where people of various subgroups of the Mizos live. We got back just about an hour before the evening meeting and so had a late lunch at our Lodge before that.
Once again the people were out in large numbers in spite of rain to hear “The Truth About Death.” I shared with them how the early missionaries brought their pagan ancestors who worshipped evil spirits and placated them with food offerings and sacrifices, to understand God’s plan of salvation. It was a great work, but did not give all the truth of the Bible. They did not share what the Bible teaches about death and so left them still vulnerable to the influence of evil spirits.
CONTINUED MONDAY, NOV. 5, at 6:30 a.m.
Sunday morning at 10 there was a baptism at the hall where our meetings are held. Forty-two were baptized including three that came down from beyond Bualpui for the rite. They were late because of the distance over a very difficult road. The rains have greatly increased the difficulty of travel on these roads now because of the mud quagmires. We hear that there was a cyclone in Tamil Nadu (south India) that has caused these unexpected rains for this time of year. It also affects the roads by reason of the landslides and mudslides that follow the rains.
The pastors had expected only ten to be baptized this soon, but God’s Spirit has been working on many hearts. There are many more in preparation. I was asked to give a fifteen-minute talk to the new believers before the baptism. Of course, I didn’t hear about that appointment until at the service itself. We have photos and video of the baptizing in the makeshift tank inside the hall. As at Lunglei they put together the wooden benches to make a square and filled with water the plastic tarp contained within the benches. This time it was big enough for the candidates and the pastors who baptized in succession. Also they heated two large containers of water to make the baptism a bit warmer for the candidates. Maybe that is why there were more happy faces as they came out of the water.
The baptism was not announced previously at the public meeting because the pastors (and we) didn’t want any to seek baptism before they were properly prepared. Last night at the meeting we showed a few photos of those baptized and announced that there would be another baptism for those still preparing. Once again, our meeting had a full house to hear “Will God Punish Sinners For Eternity?” They listened intently even though it was long on top of their preliminaries with lots of singing. We appreciate the enthusiasm with which they sing the hymns so full of meaning to them. Once in a while we recognize a familiar tune and know what the words are. Otherwise, we just enjoy their zest for life expressed so enthusiastically.
This morning we are to move from our comfortable quarters here at the Tourist Lodge because the Prime Minister of Mizoram and many of his Cabinet are coming for the dedication of a new building and will occupy all the rooms. We think it ironic that the people who are coming to promote tourism are displacing the tourists who are here in the building now. We hear that all the rooms available in Saiha have been booked. Last night we learned that we are moving in with the pastor for the last three days we are here. That should be an interesting (and cramped) situation. That is to happen in two hours so we must get on with breakfast and packing. I’m not sure about an Internet connection there so want to get this on its way if possible before that move.
Because of the rain the weather here is chilly now so our morning pour was very challenging. There is absolutely no incentive to linger at the bath because both the water and air are colder. At least that saves time during the experience unless the extra time is consumed with the rubdown with towel to restore circulation and turn our skin color from blue to pink. We experience the water therapy of cold mitten friction without choosing to do it. The choice is to be clean or not to be clean.
There is a strong desire to build a little church in the area of town near New Saiha East Hall where we have the meetings. We made inquiry and discovered that they are looking at a piece of land suitable and it will cost about $12,000 but the nice church they plan to build on it (similar to the one we saw on Sabbath at Bualpui) will cost only $6000. We decided to use the remainder of the last minute special gift to our India Evangelism fund (after paying for the nine laptops for pastors and evangelists) to build this church. Those donors wish to remain anonymous. We are assured that the Mizo Conference will help with the land purchase and there are some Mizos here in business who will help pay for the rest of it. All are eager to see this new church planted there. It will help the few SDA who do live in the area already who now have such a challenge to get to the church on the other side of Saiha. They are also building a larger facility but we do not have funds to help there too. They now meet in a house owned by the first SDA family in the area that have two businesses and let the church use one house without rent.
We have emailed Eva Heavener, the Gentry Church treasurer, to forward those funds to the General Conference as soon as possible in the hope that they will go to the Southern Asia Division and on to the Mizo Conference sooner and be at work in building this new church very soon while the momentum from the meetings is still strong. Sometimes those transfers take a long time it seems. Our emails to all entities concerned will keep before them our sense of urgency.
Depending on the roads we may be driving all the way from Saiha to Aizawl on Thursday rather than overnighting at Lunglei on the way. This would give us Friday to catch up and repack a bit for the flight to Calcutta on Sunday. We changed our flight from Monday to Sunday to give double opportunity of getting out in case of bad weather that would cancel a flight and make us miss the connection to Kathmandu.
Biaka has scheduled us to preach on Sabbath, probably at the Zemabawk church. They were the group that sent a bus load of people to our first tent meetings in Mizoram in 1998 that led to the establishing of the Maubawk church you hear so much about from us. They speak of our being old and they are trying to take special care of us, but they keep right on scheduling us to speak whenever we are in an area. After all, that is what we come here for.
The pastor of Saiha and another came to see us this morning to apologize for their not finding any other place for us to stay than the pastor’s house. We let him know that we are very contented with that and appreciate his hospitality. We just hesitate to crowd them so much. They are more than willing to do it in recognition of “all that we have done for them.”
One good thing about it is that we will have a big breakfast with them (their usual big meal besides the big supper) and then care for ourselves for the noon meal. And we will still skip supper in deference to health and doing well at the evening meeting. Also, they have a spare room that is now being used by pastor Sabbathanga from Laungtlai and he will be moving into the place being vacated this morning by another evangelist who has to return to his station today because of a wedding. So it is somewhat like musical chairs.
Satan plays all his tricks, of which there are many, to discourage the progress of the work, but the Lord is one step ahead of him in planning to work it all out for the good. We like the song the kids sing, “Jesus is a Winner Man…Satan is a looser man…” It is always nice to be on the winning side.
With love,
Glenn and Mary Alice, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma