India/Nepal Report #17 (really #18): Started Thur, Nov 15, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. from Kathmandu, Nepal
Dear Family and Friends:
Today we were met at 10 a.m. by Bhaju Ram Shrestha, an SDA layman who lives near this Office, and taken by taxi to meet Pastor Umesh at our church where the meetings will begin tomorrow at 12 (12:30 Nepali stretch time). We had pictured the church as much larger since the membership is about 130. However, it is actually a house where they have one of the larger rooms for a church auditorium on the third floor. On second floor there is another room they use for the children. First floor is presently unoccupied. The Mission owns the building and will develop other ministries in it later.
Pastor Umesh was going to repair their P.A. system, but I told him it is not necessary since the room is so small and the walls, floor, and ceiling are hard surfaces. There are two benches and three plastic chairs. The rest is carpeted floor with sitting cushions. We will see how many can crowd into it. We will reverse the seating because the best white wall to project the PowerPoint slides onto is at the back. We will have the pulpit next to it by one door that will have to be closed. The raised area where the pulpit usually is with chairs behind it will become a low balcony of sorts. Fortunately there is a power plug close to where the projector will be. The line between projector and computer will have to be among the people. Adaptability!
Our day began early but breakfast was late because we were warming water in the microwave oven for our morning liter to drink and must do it in sequence. Also we wanted to get our morning warm shower and squeegee the walls and floor before Mary Alice did the laundry to hang out on the roof to get the benefit of good sunshine, while I watched the things cooking. (Last evening she took some photos of the mountain peaks in the distance with the setting sun illuminating them.) At the airport we saw signs indicating that there are more than 300 peaks in Nepal higher than 18,000 feet. Many tourists come here to trek the mountain trails.
After our “family worship” we went to the kitchen to cook breakfast. Mary Alice had soaked red beans all night and pressure-cooked them to put over our rice that was just boiled. We also tried to boil potatoes again using the propane stove. Potatoes are about the size of an egg as are also the tomatoes here. The gas flame was not consistent but up and down with yellow flame mingled with the blue. We wondered what that was telling us about the gas supply. The beans cooked well as did the rice, but the potatoes never did come to a boil so I finally took them out and used the microwave to finish the job. The meal was tasty enough with just a little salt sprinkled on it to add flavor. We supplemented with crackers from home. The leftover rice was given to the dog that apparently is used to eating it. Later today we felt sorry for him and cooked two small potatoes for him. As yet they have not been touched, but he did eat a slice of bread we found in the kitchen. Since we do not know anything about the bread we chose not to use it for ourselves. The bakeries should be working tomorrow and we will buy fresh for us.
Because of the tourists from all over the world, the hotels in Kathmandu are very expensive. We are especially glad to have a room at reasonable cost here at the “Field” Office. It is not a Conference here because that is determined by number of members and churches with the ability to be self-sustaining and not need subsidy to exist. Kathmandu has three million people of the thirty million in all of Nepal. The houses we have seen are predominantly made of brick covered with cement. Some are very expensive with marble floors and spacious rooms. The main roads in town are smooth and nice—made by the Japanese we are told. However, the secondary roads are just like we experienced in India.
They had first talked of having us conduct the meetings in a village about 25 Km from here, but decided against it because there is no proper place we could stay there and would have had to make a roundtrip each day over bad roads. They decided to use us here in Kathmandu because we are “a little bit old.”
After seeing the church Pastor Umesh drove us in his little car to the home of one of his sisters. There two of his sisters and the husband of one along with two teen-age children were celebrating the last day of Diwali. They compared it to our 4th of July or Christmas/New Year celebrations in USA. We photographed them and the rites that were in progress when we got there. It is a time when relatives get together and paint one another’s forehead with seven colors (dots) representing the rainbow. There was a special plant representing Vishnu, one of the Hindu gods, but the main goddess being worshipped is Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and consort of Vishnu. The dots represent various things that could harm the person and the symbol on the forehead is supposed to prevent that. I thought of the rite as Satan’s counterfeit to God’s Seal on the forehead mentioned in the Bible.
At the entrance to the house the sidewalk is decorated with a special circle of many colors representing Lakshmi and has a line from that to the front door. This is to invite the prosperity Lakshmi can give into the house. The rites we were watching included dishes of fruit and with an accompanying RS 500 note. I asked about what happens to all that and was told that it is given to the temple afterwards to feed the priests or to the poor. Works are part of the salvation process.
The Hindu husband told us about the meaning of the dots and warding off bad luck and said they didn’t have any way of knowing if it worked, but it is their belief and they follow it. I thought of how many Christians also follow things in belief without any practical knowledge of how or whether it works for them. We need an experience with the Lord that is clear and definite.
After the ceremonies they fed us at a table rather than on the floor where they usually sit to eat. They also had spoons for us to use rather than our fingers as they did in eating the rice, dahl, cooked greens of some kind (bitter), fried cauliflower and potato. They ended with a sweet ball of something that they used with Gee, a milk product. We refused the Gee. When we left they sent a bag of fruit and nuts with us as their gesture of hospitality.
Pastor Umesh goes to the celebrations but does not take part in the Hindu painting etc. When he first became SDA at Spicer College in Pune, his parents turned him out. For seven years he did not go to see them. But then he gradually won his way back into their favor and is also included in the inheritance. He told us that if he had not joined the Mission and now works for them, he would have had a good paying job with the government. The father is the Minister of Agriculture in Nepal with good pay. Also there is a good house inherited from the grandfather. The husband of one of Pastor’s sisters is high up in the Central Bank of Nepal. Pastor’s wife works at a Private School with 8000 students in the large system. She has a big salary and that is what keeps them going well and able to own a car.
The car is very small and is a challenge to get in and out of, but it takes him where he needs to be. He is just learning to drive we think because he is so cautious when meeting another car or trying to back up. He would have a very hard time driving in Mizoram where inches or fractions of them are important in passing. He has a hard time coordinating the use of clutch, brake, gas pedal and steering wheel.
I asked him about origins of the people in Nepal. He said that there are few Dravidians from South India. He described them as “black, tall and with huge noses.” Then there are those “with chinkey eyes who are from Mongolia.” His family is “Aryan” and lighter in complexion with origins in Persia (Iran). They are from the Brahman class. Yes, there are castes in Nepal but even Dalits (lowest caste) can get government jobs if they can pass the entrance exam and the personal interview that determines if they are persons of quality. Pastor has his M.A. degree from Spicer College. His English is good but heavily influenced by the Brits in accent.
At the church the music will not be loud. Hindu neighbors have requested that. The accompaniment will be a melodian with a keyboard and bellows pumped by the “organist.” It is somewhat like a horizontal accordian. They may have guitar also. This will be a relief to our ears. They used to have a big drum but pastor removed it to his house after reading and partially translating a book by Doug Batchelor of Amazing Facts. One chapter dealt with music and he was convinced that drums should not be used in sacred music.
Bhaju, the layman who brought us by taxi to the church this morning, is very sincere and helpful to the church in many ways. He is a Librarian Consultant and has two sons in USA. One is from Virginia and the other is in Cleveland, Ohio where we began our ministry. He has married an American girl that he met while attending school there. Bhaju has visited USA five times. Pastor told us how helpful he has been to the church. He translates our adult SS lesson quarterly into Nepali and showed us a copy.
One challenge we have right now for the meetings is that the Bible verses we sent via email to be translated into Nepali so I could insert them into my PowerPoint sermons are not in view. Pastor Jenson who got them and had them translated is in the Division Year End Meetings now and left no word about the texts. He will not be back here until next week when the series will be about one third over. No one else seems to know anything about it. The texts in my sermons now are in Mizo and the Nepali translators do not know Mizo. I’ll just have to quote the Mizo texts in English and have them translate them into Nepali on the spot. It would be so helpful for those who can read to have it on the screen in Nepali. My computer does not have a Nepali script so cannot generate them—only import them as graphics. If anyone thinks the mission trips where we go are easy, I’d be glad to discuss it with them. The Lord blesses and that is what makes it all work.
Today we have not been able to get on line for some reason, maybe because of Diwali. We will send this when we can once more get and send email. I know we are sending too much material too often for most of you to keep up with, but it is our diary that we are letting you look at if you are interested. I have to put it down when it happens or it will become part of the mists of the past. Maybe that would be ok anyhow.
We just had a phone call from Karen Lovitt. Apparently they were in charge of caring for the dog here and forgot to come and feed it today. She said that the refrigerator (which we do not use or check out) has some rice and ground beef for the dog. Here we were trying to turn it into a vegan and it was only partially working. Maybe with a little beef flavor even the potatoes will disappear from its bowl. It seems that every day has its own drama to keep things interesting.
We feel sorry for the dog because he needs more attention than we are able to give. Petting him occasionally and feeding him is not enough: he wants our full attention. While we sympathize with that, we have to realize that the Gospel Commission does not say “Go ye into all the world and entertain the dogs.”
With love to all,
Glenn and Mary Alice, (Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma)