India/Nepal Report #1: Started Oct 4 (Thur) in the airport at Amman, Jordan
Dear Family and Friends:
We do not have access to the Internet here in the airport at Amman, Jordan but I will start this and add as able. We are waiting for our flight to Dubai and on to Calcutta (Kolkata) in time to catch our flight to Aizawl Friday morning.
We didn’t fly from XNA (Regional airport near us) until 5:30 p.m. and so were able to get a few more things done (never enough) before Don Gilbert picked us up at 3. Gilberts have been so faithful in getting us to our mission trip flights when they are in town. We connected in Chicago with the Royal Jordanian flight to bring us here to Amman. We had to change terminals and so had a good walk as well as a train ride to that building.
In Dubai it will be a short time to connect and we have to change terminals there also. So we have been advised to have a wheel chair (since we are officially Senior Citizens) to take us to the right place and within the time. We trust it will happen ok. The Lord is in charge of all our affairs and that takes away the normal worry about such things. We also appreciate the good services of Brent Mullins, Neil’s son, who worked through the ticketing for us. He considers many important details we would overlook.
Since there was a 3 hour wait here in Amman, I typed notes for my Vesper talk in the Conference Church in Mizoram (Aizawl) for Friday night. We arrive at 1 p.m. and will keep busy getting the money to the Conference for the Saiha series, getting settled, and ready for that 7 p.m. meeting to be followed by preaching next morning at the Republic Church also in Aizawl. (So much for getting adjusted to Jet Lag!) But then, that has been the pattern of our life.
Part of the last minute details in Gentry included getting my computer updated with some programs we will need in India and Nepal. Thanks to the expertise and patience of Larry Crews at the EGW Estate, we got that downloaded again and are able to access all her books and the KJV Bible away from home. That program had crashed when we were in Peru in June.
CONTINUED FROM KOLKATA AIRPORT AT 11:45 p.m. Gentry time. (10:13 a.m. India time, the 5th) Getting this far was a miracle of grace. The plane from Amman, Jordan was late in arriving and there was a holding pattern in Dubai before we could land so we had less than an hour to connect with the fight to Kolkata and had to get our boarding passes also in that time. Since it was a different airline we could not get those passes earlier. We were met with wheel chairs and rushed through the necessary clearances and Security to an electric carrier cart that did the “Dubai 500”, honking the slower people out of the way and using all the shortcuts and tricks to get us to the gate as our flight was boarding.
On board we were pleased to find the seating much more comfortable than the super cramped seating on the eleven hour flight from Chicago to Amman. Sleep came easier, but the flight was only three hours to Kolkata and so was short.
In going through Security in Chicago, my suspenders made the bells ring and I was “frisked”. But I had to take off those suspenders and send them through the Xray before I could go on through again. I don’t know how suspenders could contain anything dangerous of use to any terrorist. The bullet-like weights in the Ephod of the High Priest Garments were in the check-on luggage so I could not have used the suspenders on board acting like a sling shot to propel the bullets anyhow. Mysterious are the ways of the Lord and also the security agents. Mary Alice’s “metal knees” always ring the bells and prompt a detailed frisk, when there is no scanner, or it’s not on as in Chicago! It is one of the lesser joys of travel by air these days.
We met some very interesting people during the long wait at Amman. One lady from the Philippines had retired from a University job and has spent much of her time traveling here and there ever since. Her husband is tired of travel and so stays home. They had a private real estate business in California.
Another was a newly wed Muslim Arab girl from Los Angeles that was coming to be with her husband who is a student in Yemen. She will have to return to USA after only a brief visit. We are thankful that most of our 58 years together have been TOGETHER and continue to be even in mission trips.
We also met a young man, Rifie, from Albuquerque , N. M. who was on his way to Kabul, Afghanistan to try to visit his parents. He had heard that they had been bombed out by the Taliban and he wanted to learn of their condition first hand. His wife is still in Albuquerque. RIfie said that if the Taliban knew he was coming from USA he would be immediately killed. I gave him a power bar and had prayer with him and he seemed to appreciate it even though I ended the prayer in the name of Jesus. Rifie is Muslim. He said he would also pray about our connection. He believed that we both worshipped the same God, but the Taliban would not agree with him. He had an Afghani passport with US visa stamp.
Most of the Muslims we met and engaged in conversation were very friendly and did not seem to object to our being from USA. When you find people unspoiled by politics and war, they are basically friendly and appreciate participating.
Here in Kolkata we had the usual problems getting through to our ticket window. We were harassed by people who want to help but every one who touches your luggage expects money for it. They are very pushy even while trying to be friendly. We paid off several with dollar bills and still had to reject others. At the window getting our boarding passes to Aizawl, Mizoram, they wanted to charge us RS 3300 for extra luggage. We finally convinced them that since our whole trip originated in USA with American Airlines and were allowed two bags each to be checked, that this continuation should have the same arrangement. With the help of a supervisor (and the Lord) we were exempted from paying the extra $80. That saved money will buy all our drinking water for the entire trip.
Prior to that we had a confrontation over the Ephod in the High Priest robes. Those weights look like bullets on Xray and the clearance people would not accept our explanations without seeing the item itself. Some of it is curiosity on their part, one agent admitted. But we are this far and trust the rest will go off as scheduled. I’m glad I’ll be preaching and therefore standing rather than sitting for the next two appointments before the long sitting again over the rough roads down to our meeting site for the evangelistic series. We are both suffering from “appendaSEATus. “ It has been 33 hours since we went out the door in Gentry to head for the airport and most of that time has been sitting. And we have more yet today. We can assure you we don’t make these trips for our own pleasure even though we enjoy the results of them very much—more people closer to Jesus.
I’ll close this for now since we board the last plane (if it is here) in about half an hour and then have the twenty mile ride from the airport up the mountain to Aizawl and our first appointments. We appreciate your continued prayer for the meetings and events surrounding them.
CONTINUED SABBATH NIGHT AT 8:15 (OCT 6) FROM AIZAWL, MIZORAM:
We did not get to Aizawl in time to leave the money we brought with the Mizo Conference, much less to send this report via their connection to Internet. We did manage to get to the Police Station in time to register so we are here legally. They know Biaka very well having heard his radio series and his having other conversations with them. Some even remembered us from our visit here last year. They were very friendly.
One of our suspicions was confirmed—that the Central Government of India in Delhi has been wary of so many Christians coming into the country for evangelizing Indians. Hindus make up 85% of the population and want to protect their people from being exposed to other concepts. Mizoram is officially a Christian state but pressure from Delhi makes them take various precautions too. Our photo will not be on the large banner advertising our meetings so as to not arouse opposition. Word of mouth is the chief way of calling attention to the series. That works best anyhow and we are fully in agreement with it.
God’s intervention and protection over us is very evident. The smaller plane bringing us from Kolkata to Aizawl does not fly well in the rain. It is especially dangerous to try to land on the limited airstrip in the mountains. There is very little level land around here. Biaka met us at the airport and eased our getting through with all of our luggage. Shortly after we landed and got into the waiting car, the rain came down hard. Biaka told us that if it had started to rain fifteen minutes earlier that the plane would have turned back and left us at some other airport. We would not have been able to fill the speaking appointments on Friday and Sabbath and who knows when we would have arrived for the others also. Biaka once had that happen to him and he was especially aware of the Lord’s hand over us this time. You remember that Biaka is our “Mizo son” even without adoption papers.
We settled hastily into the Mizo Conference guest room and managed a short nap stretched out on the hard bed rather than sitting up. The bed is still a thin mat on top of a wood frame, so sleeping on your side does not have the distribution of weight all along rather than on just a few pressure points. However, the sleep of exhaustion has few requirements. The “pour” of water over body with less than really warm water was great even if it didn’t match the showers we enjoy at home. Fortunately we are close to the large auditorium of the Conference Church and we can walk to it in just a couple of minutes. That is important because I was the Vespers speaker at 6:45 there. The audience was large, filling the entire lower seating with overflow in the second floor balcony. Most of them were young students from the nearby Lowry SDA School, but we remembered several of the older people also there. They really make you feel at home among them.
My topic was on Deceptions of the last days. One story I told was about Jim and John Hayward, dear friends from our previous ministry together. John is now dead, but his words live on in the telling of their story. They are twins and both were pastors. Jim was in New England and doing a series on Final Events for his church. He invited his twin brother John to come and present a sermon on “Deceptions of the Last Days.” So John wore Jim’s suit and used his bible to preach that sermon. At the close John told the people that they knew he had a twin and wondered if they would know if his brother came and preached to them. Oh, yes. They would know their pastor. Just then their real pastor Jim walked out and most realized that they had been fooled even with their accurate knowledge of their pastor. The point was made: “If we can deceive you so easily, how much more can Satan who knows so much about each of us.” The only safety is in truly knowing our Bibles and just what to expect when Satan comes and personates Jesus just in the end of time.
Our audience paid close attention even though the speaker must have resembled a zombie because of so little rest on the airplane and the disruption of the time of our natural body rhythms. It was then 8:30 a.m. Gentry time. After the meeting we met one lady who had been praying for several days that I would speak out against the dangers of uncontrolled viewing of TV. She was delighted that I did refer to that in the sermon. Her prayers were answered.
On the airplane I did not watch much of their videos but did see one documentary on the human brain. It was an excellent exploring of how the brain focuses on some details while rejecting the multitude of others surrounding us all the time. People who think they are doing well at multi tasking are really only fooling themselves. Precise experiments have proved that they are doing less well at each thing than they think. For example, driving while being engaged on a cell phone makes us less aware of dangerous things that may come up in the path of the car we are driving.
The video showed a magician in Las Vegas who illustrated how he can lead people to focus on something he leads their attention to while picking their pockets. On camera he removed the subject’s watch, wallet and cell phone without it even being noticed until he returned them and told just how it works. The point of my sermon was that Satan can and does so easily lead us to concentrate on trivial things while he removes our values and resets the course of our lives in his paths. The Bible warning about false prophets and false Christs is needed so much now.
After the meeting we slept well in spite of the differences but I woke up at 2 a.m. Mizo time (3:30 p.m. Friday in USA) and sleep was over for me. Finally I listened to wonderful Christian music, Bible and a sermon on my Ipod with earphones so Mary Alice could continue to sleep.
Our worship this Sabbath morning in the Republic SDA church brought back precious memories of our first visit to India in 1998 when our series of meetings for Quiet Hour helped bring into being the present Maubawk church in Aizawl. They are now a strong church of 250 members in a beautiful building carved out of the side of the mountain. The Republic church was the sponsor of those Maubawk meetings. Republic also spawned two other congregations and so have a smaller congregation now. However, the attendance today was large because many came from other places to “hear the American once again.” I preached on “Precious memories, precious promises, and precious acknowledgements.” One story I told to illustrate the previous memories was about Dr. Phillips. He was a freedom fighter for 30 years against the Central Government of India when Mizoram was trying to become a separate nation rather than just a State of India. They didn’t accomplish their goal but did get concessions to become a Christian state in India.
He had an earned PhD and was director of education for the State of Mizoram, but when we were preparing the tent for that evangelistic series that began the Maubawk church, he had a little broom and was sweeping the dirt floor before the tiny benches were put down. He was totally unaware that PhDs do not sweep floors usually. After the service we saw that his widow and son with other family members were in our congregation and carefully listening. They wanted a photo with us and introduced us to one of Dr. Phillips’ grandchildren named Glenn after me. He is now 2 years and 1 month old. They were so pleased to see me holding him and his curious response. I didn’t tell them that two other children named after me had met tragic deaths. They didn’t need to know that. One other, also named after me, is still alive and going strong as a Pediatric Cardiologist, internationally know.
After lunch with Biaka and family we attended a special youth meeting in the Conference Church close to our guest room. It featured several choirs of young people including one from the Maubawk church. We were impressed with their enthusiastic singing and with very proper accompaniment. There was no applause after each song but a spirit of joy and appreciation. We were so happy to see their music tastes were conventional but not devoid of enthusiasm and spirit. One song in particular, “Does Jesus Care?” left both of us with tears streaming down our cheeks. We later learned that all of the choirs were rehearsing for a presentation at a huge Daniel’s Band gathering scheduled for Oct. 19 just two hours from where our meetings will be held at Lunglei. I have been invited to preach to that group and we will get to hear the choirs again and hopefully video some of them to share with those of you who might be interested.
It is now 10 p.m. Mizo time and Mary Alice is trying to sleep so I’ll close this long letter and try for sleep also. I hope the length of the letter does not scare you off from trying to read this beginning of our 2012 India Reports. Use the delete button if your time is short or interest is lagging. I hope we can send this tomorrow before we get more that just must be shared.
With much love,
Glenn and Mary Alice (Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma)