India/Nepal Report #5: Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012 at 8 a.m. from Lunglei, Mizoram
Dear Family and Friends:
I may not complete this and send it today, but will write the latest now. Yesterday the sun came out and clothes were on lines all over town. The Lodge where we are staying is putting some sheets on the tarmac of the parking area and when we see them on the line later they bear the marks of absorbing the dirt they were in contact with. Perhaps they make a difference between linen for guests and that for housekeepers and other staff who stay here. At least, we are choosing to not have our linen changed until absolutely necessary.
Mary Alice’s washing dried somewhat better because of the sunshine, so she is venturing to do more laundry today. We have to balance it out with when we will be leaving here and when the clothes will be dry enough for traveling. We hang ours on line we brought by stretching it between any two anchors in the room or bath area. The problem with the bath area is that there are no outside windows and it only gets the air from our bedroom through the door. So we move the clothes around from line to line to catch any sun or wind advantage. It is our “musical chair” pastime and the music is from the sun and wind.
Sunday night the sermon was on “God’s Fence” (His eternal law) that is to protect our most sacred relationships. The attendance rose yet again to 342 with overflow people on benches outside the hall. Last night I preached on “God’s Gift Of Love” (The Sabbath) and the hall was full once again. Against the predictions of the pastor, the attendance is building rather than diminishing after the heavier subjects. (Those most different from their current belief). Tonight I will preach on “How To Find Peace”, showing God’s grace that enables us to keep His law. I remember how last year at Laungtlai, the town leader who welcomed the group on the first night said, “You SDA have stronger wills and are able to keep the ten commandments. The rest of us who are weak in will must have grace to make it to heaven.” I didn’t get the translation until the next day and so could not respond to him by telling that we ALL need God’s grace and only with it can anyone truly keep God’s Eternal Ten Rules. Tonight we will tell the story of Martin Luther and how he discovered salvation as a GIFT from God and not an earned condition.
We have had more rain here than usual and yet the people come to meeting. The Committee chose this time for the meetings because last year October was ideal. Weather patterns are changing all over the world it seems. It shows up in smaller crops also.
Yesterday we began the Week of Spiritual Emphasis at the Southern Flower School here. It goes from pre K thru level 10. Both have to use the same auditorium. So I talk to the older ones first and then they bring in the younger ones for Mary Alice to “preach” to. They give good attention through most of it, but attention spans are shorter and we must make allowances for that. Today they plan for us to talk only half an hour to each group. They really love to sing and do well at it. Today I plan to take the video camera and capture some of it to share with you if the opportunity comes.
The enrollment at Flower School (not run by the Mizo Conference) is 449. Only 77 of them are from SDA homes, so it is really a mission school. They have some students that are only three years old. Those do not stay in the Hostel but come every day from home. They are really cute and well behaved usually. We love to see their sparkling eyes and bright (sometimes toothless) smiles. They are so happy to have an American come and talk to them. Our challenge is to connect with their different culture. They do know the Bible stories and that gives us a good starting place.
Yesterday I told my group about my early life when I did not appreciate the church or God. I thought of Him as exacting and not approving. This changed when I went to Mount Vernon Academy and learned of “The More Abundant Life” in that first Week of Prayer. Many of the students here are Buddhist so we try to bring out things that would appeal to them also. Human hearts are human hearts that all need Jesus for completeness. Our message must come to them in a form they can understand and appreciate, so it keeps us in prayer.
My voice has held up well in spite of the disadvantages. It is so humid here that I feared more congestion, but maybe it works best with more humidity. All the buildings of concrete show the mould until they are painted over or scrubbed down. We marvel that there is not more sickness here. They do get good exercise by just walking up and down the streets (few sidewalks here for lack of room). As in Aizawl, the buildings here are perched atop pillars to give support on the mountain slopes. Most of the roads and streets are what we would consider one way, but they take traffic from both directions. When cars (and trucks and buses) meet, one of them has to stop while the other backs up to a somewhat wider spot where they can manage to get by without scraping. The motorbikes are the easiest to get around in because they can and do dart here and there as any little space opens. They seem to have an instinct telling them just when there will be just enough open space to fit into. They get back in “Just in time.” We marvel that there are not more accidents and deaths. One bonus is that they do drive slower (of necessity) than most in USA.
With Biaka and Mahoo gone, (our usual vehicle for travel is with them), we are picked up for appointments by various people with various cars. So we are getting a cross section of what is available here for travel. Those with the best cars would not do well on the road back to Aizawl because of the mudslides and deep chuckholes. It requires four-wheel drive to get through and also enough clearance to spare the underside when going over raised up mud and stones. The most used vehicles on those roads seem to be the Land Rover that was designed for such.
We finally found some tomatoes at roadside markets and bought several to supplement our usual meals. They are not the best in appearance, but have flavor much better than what we buy in the stores in USA, unless we can find homegrown and vine ripened there. The ones here are usually picked a little green, but we still enjoy them. Now I can leave off the tomato soup with our usual noon meal.
The latest (I think) is that we will not be going at all to the Daniel’s Band Convention. They think it would be too much for us to travel there and back the same day so we do not have to miss a meeting in our evangelistic series here. We heartily agree with that. It would not be a pleasure for us to just sit around on makeshift seating amid 2000 that all are speaking Mizo rather than English. We would appreciate the varied choirs, but we got to hear most of them in Aizawl at their youth meeting (practice for the choirs before going to Daniel’s Band). We may be able to get a CD of some of it to share with you. Some Mizos have beautiful voices, but lately they are following the lead from USA and using tracks for accompaniment. Those tracks are often very loud and drown out the beauty of the voices and words. It seems that we are exporting from USA our worst (tobacco, cola drinks, rock type music, lurid entertainment, immodest clothing styles, alcohol, and the obsession with contact sports that leave most of the players injured for life in some way) instead of our best.
We got an insight into the dangers of the USA contact sports when before we left USA there was a news report of the dispute between professional referees and the substitutes. The coaches stressed the dangers to football players and their need for high compensation. The average professional life is only three years and EVERY ONE OF THE PLAYERS is injured by brain damage and/or broken bones and joints. They must live with pain for the rest of their lives. Their longevity is also shorter and susceptibility to disease is greater.
Must get ready to leave for the meeting at the school so will continue this later.
BACK AGAIN: The car that takes us to the school and back is driven by the husband of one of the teachers. We noted the variety of sounds that are like metal scraping on something, and asked if the sounds were produced by insects as we had experienced in Andhra Pradesh some years ago. The driver said no. They are the sounds of a loose fan belt and the brakes that wear out quickly on these Mizo hills. That news was not reassuring.
The school children were really wired for sound today. Their singing is definitely enthusiastic and their motions are also. We have some of it on video now.
The Southern Flower School is self-supporting. It is not funded by the local church or the Mizo Conference but SDA leadership gives it direction via the Board. Most of the teachers are SDA but not all. The Government provides four teachers and pays their salary. They teach the general subjects but the Bible classes are all taught by SDA. After our meetings, the Principal and her husband who both translated for Mary Alice’s health talks, wanted to show us around the school. The husband has served as architect and building supervisor for the projects. They have done so much with so little. The hostels are not ideal but do provide a means for many students to get an education when they could not otherwise. There is much yet to be done and we wish we had the means of helping them significantly. This is always our problem—not enough funds to do what is needed in giving help.
They also showed us the church they have been building since 2010. It will take more than 2 years to finish it even if they have enough money to do it. They borrow a few thousand dollars at a time and build with that until it is gone. When that is paid back, they borrow again and continue. It will be a very good church that will seat as many as 1000, Indian style. Long range plans point to this as a Conference Center one day and they will need the room.
Also, they did not want to build just large enough to accommodate their present congregation (which is growing more now from our meetings) but to allow for future growth. They will get that growth because they are moving ahead in a careful way. The money we brought for our meetings included funds to have paid for feeding and housing the pastors involved in the preparation and during the series. Liana, the Circle Pastor here, decided to use only laymen who live here to be out giving the Bible studies etc. so there was no extra expense for their service. That will leave some funds for follow up evangelism too. We like that. It is the first time they have relied only on the lay people to do this work. Maybe now it will become the standard.
WEDNESDAY: The meeting last night had slightly less in attendance but the hall was very full anyhow. More are watching it at home on TV. The pastor had had phone calls from surrounding villages inquiring about some points of doctrine. We hear that they especially like the illustrations we use to clarify Bible verses.
This morning after our school presentations, they want us to be photographed with the faculty and students. They also want us to shake hands with each student as they line up and come through systematically rather than rushing at us from all directions for that prized handshake. We get lots of upper-body exercise! It is so rewarding for us to see their appreciation beaming from their eyes and smiling lips.
With love,
Glenn and Mary Alice (Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma)