Feel pretty good this morning, even though my throat is a bit tight.  Read for my devotions about how the Pharisees rejected the purpose of God for them by not repenting and being baptized by John.  (Luke 7:30)  How sad!  After a lifetime of searching for one’s purpose, how sad to think that one might reject their purpose simply because they refuse to surrender something to God.  I don’t want to reject God’s purpose for me.  “Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”  Proverbs 19:21

Ate lunch in the restaurant one more time.  I gave the waiter a side-ways hug.  He seemed sad to see us all go.  I think he will read the book.  I hope we get to spend eternity with him!

At our meeting site the ladies took us girls aside and dressed us in saris.  Mine was so tight around my ribs I could hardly breath.  And they are much hotter than they look with that under skirt and all the layers of silk cloth wrapped around and around.  The top half is pretty bare though and I felt “naked” there.  Pr. Kelly could have felt just as awkward in his long “dress” looking outfit; but he took it bravely, so I tried to be brave.  While we waited for the oxcart to be decorated, a man brought us each a 2 oz. sized “ice cream” popsicle.  Bacteria or no bacteria, it would be rude to refuse such a rare treat.  (I wonder where they had a freezer to make them?  Must have come all the way from town!)  The popsicle was made from bison milk...  it was actually cold!  But I tried hard not to taste it; I gobbled it as quick as I could in front of the crowd of envious looking children.  How I would have loved to share it!  It was strangely salty and slightly sour tasting - would never make a Baskin Robins flavor for sure!  That was really nice of someone though to treat us to such a delicacy.  While we still waited, the children brought us orange-red flowers from the locust trees.  They like to put the petals on their fingers like long red finger-nails.  We laughed a lot as we tried them on each other.

Pr. Kelly playing with the kids.

The kids putting locust flower "fingernails" on Rachel.

Rachel seemed to enjoy being dolled up for the night's events.

As an honor to our team, we three girls and Pr. Kelly were put on an ox cart and paraded through town.  Almost the whole village followed all around us, and those who didn’t looked out of their houses as we passed.  It was dark by now.  Some men had torches, and a few flashlights and streetlights kept us in the spotlight.  The streets were so narrow that we got stuck a few times.  The one “seat” of the ox cart wasn’t exactly nailed on, so we had to spread our weight evenly and keep our balance when we came to a big bump (usually a rock - someone’s front steps).  The whole procession was very slow and loud.  Men went ahead of us with drums and everyone chanted and clapped to the beat.  Even though it was requested that people not dance in front of the cart (as in their idol worship) they had a few boys who “got into it.”  At a few points along the way, some shot off loud fireworks which always frightened the oxen.  They couldn’t bolt, of course because of the crowds of people; but men would hang onto their blue-painted horns just in case.  One of our team was waving like she was the homecoming queen at a parade.  I felt like Scrooge and would have humbugged the whole thing.  I didn’t see what good such attention would do at the end of the meetings, and I couldn’t help but think that such a crowd could switch from “honoring” to mobbing in just a minute.  It was a cultural thing that I couldn’t appreciate I guess.  The whole thing felt like a nightmare.  Maybe if it wasn’t so incredibly hot and loud...

Locksmaya helping to decorate the oxcart for the festivities.

A long 45 minutes later, our ox-cart arrived back at the meeting site.  The last meeting consisted of many formalities.  One of them was to present us with several more garlands of flowers around our necks (as if it weren’t hot enough already! the garlands piled up to the tops of my ears - whew!).  Pr. Kelly spoke for the final time - about Heaven.  We said our goodbyes and prayed.  Then the festivities really began.  The church people must have spent all day to cook a 35 gallon pot (no kidding!) full of rice and two smaller pots full of curry.  It smelled good, but everyone was using their hands of course; and after one person ate their plate-full, the plate was passed on to someone else.  There were at least 350 people eating.  I think Pr. Kelly was given some.  (I never heard that he got sick from it thankfully!)

We girls had our own set of troubles though, as the village boys were getting quite forward with these white girls.  Pr. Ravi came and escorted us girls into the church building to “rest” (didn’t have to tell me twice!).  It was slightly quieter in there with the reed blinds covering the windows.  Just as we were leaving, the forward girl brought her Grandma and mother to meet me.  I didn’t know they had come to the meeting!  We didn’t have a translator so I couldn’t say a thing.  But the girl put my hands on the heads of her Grandma and Mother for me to “bless” them.  Oh, and at one point on the oxcart ride we stopped in what appeared to be a “town square” where there was an obelisk with Hitler and someone else painted on it!  So that is what the forward girl was doing when she did that strange wave - her family was communist and she was doing the “hail Hitler” salute!  It was so out of step with the culture that I didn’t recognize it until I realized that communism had inroads in India.  And I had been trying to imitate her “wave”!

The girl from the communist family with her Mom and Grandma.

Was so exhausted tonight that I didn’t even take a shower before going to bed!

Couldn’t wake up until 7am.  Did my steam treatment and read my Bible.  God was convicting me that I preached what I wanted to preach last night; not what He asked.  I finally repented and quit making excuses.  It was a painful realization, but I’m glad God doesn’t leave me to my stubborn self... I don’t want to be a brat like that Vyisha girl the other night!

In our team worship, Pr. Clark reported seeing the Muslim man again, walking slowly by his meeting with the little girl in tow.  He’s interested!  Some of our team looked so tired today.

Washed my shoes and skirt (in a bucket) and packed up my suitcase.  Tried to package up some of the dried jasmine flowers the girls had put in my hair, to take home.  Got gifts ready to hand out to the children on Friday night.

Jasmine flower among the tinsel of a garland.

All of us were invited to Pr. John’s for lunch.  It was a welcome and delicious relief from the rich hotel food.  By this time I wasn’t worried about getting sick from the food, as I was told that we would probably have to eat something at the village tomorrow!!!  Still, I avoided the raw things except for one bite of cucumber that seemed worth getting sick for (It was something fresh!  And no, I didn’t get sick from it, thankfully!)  They had the ever-present rice and dahl, an eggplant dish, potato curry, boiled eggs, some sort of burrito looking thing with eggs and cheese inside, and a tomato and green pea curry.  For dessert there were mangos and orange pop.  I was seated right in front of the fan, which isn’t as pleasant as it sounds as it could only blow hot air.  But I still felt sorry for everyone else - it was SO hot in that little cement room.  This building was an apartment on the back of a building in a seeming residential area.  It is the future sight of the conference office in that district.

The feast at Pr. John's house.

The conference office (far bottom left door and upstairs).  Not fancy!

People in this neighborhood stared at white people.   A neighbor lady was ironing clothes with an iron pan with a lid that opened to put hot coals in for heating.  How in the world can anyone iron like that in this heat?!  Sat in the front seat of the Sumo Tata this time and got to see a lot more... a lot more trash.  : )

Ironing day!  The iron is at top right by the flower pot.

At the hotel I e-mailed Mom and Dad, did another steam treatment (using a pan on the hot plate Pr. Kelly bought), and slept an hour or so.  Took two charcoal tablets as my throat is very sore today.  I didn’t share anything at the meeting tonight.  Just sat there I guess.  Don’t even remember it.

Only three of us went to breakfast this morning.  I tried Masala Dosa for the first time (those who had been here before avoided it, having had enough their first visit).  It all tastes the same to me now - greasy and spicy.  I decided that the first thing I was going to do when I got back home was eat a very, wonderfully, bland bowl of oatmeal!

After worship I worked on the Bible study about the millennium and slept for awhile.

We left early tonight (5:30pm) to visit the village of our young Bibleworker/pastor (not the long-prayer pastor).  The old man who plays the drum and sings so loudly also lives here.  Their small church is next door to the village cow barn/feed lot.  There are 47 members, but only about 20 who come regularly.  As we shared a Word with them and sang, the microphone kept going out.  I asked the translator, Pr. Ravi, how much one costs.  It was 650-700 rupees.  (If I remember right a months wage for them was 160 rupees)  Our team split up to visit as many homes as possible.  Rachel and I went with Pr. Ravi as translator.  Some very poor homes in this village.  We prayed with one Christian family whose simple request was to know God better.  Visited some people who are coming to the meeting and hearing about God for the first time.

The Pastors traveling ahead of our taxi to lead the way to the village.

The village church

People creating a goodbye line as we left.

We got to the village late and the projector over heated but restarted later.  Tonight we talked about brushing your teeth and gave everyone a toothbrush.  They were pleased.  I was horrified to see some lay theirs on the ground...  tried to explain why they need to be kept clean and off the ground.  Many Indians are missing lots of teeth by the time they hit middle age.  They can’t afford toothbrushes of course.  It was my turn to preach.  We didn’t get done until 11:15 and then had to drive home.  Was so tired, but had to take a shower first - the visit to the village made it an absolute necessity.

Some proud toothbrush owners in Lisa's village.

Skipped breakfast today to do a hot and coldish shower, steam treatment, and sleep an hour more.  I felt much better after that.

During worship we all signed a book called “Steps to Christ” to give to the waiter as a thank you for how kind he has been as he serves us.  At lunch I got to give him the book.  He spoke little English, so I showed him all of our signatures, told him how it is one of my favorite books, and that we were excited to find it in Telugu language.  He accepted the book with a serious look on his face.  I was afraid that he was offended by the Christian book.  He wobbled his head Indian fashion and folded his hands and bowed his head at me in a proper thank you.

After our meal, as I left, I waved goodbye to him across the room; he smiled really big and nodded.  So he wasn’t offended after all!  I know if he reads it he will find it to be such an encouragement through the trials of life.  I was happy that he understood how much we appreciated his kindness.

Back in my room I prepared for the health talk I would give tonight on charcoal and how you can use it to absorb toxins and infections, etc.  I washed some clothes (by hand in a bucket and hung on the curtain rod to dry).  Then watched Lisa getting dressed in a sari by a pastor’s wife.  It is more complicated than it looks, and there are more layers than I thought!

As we drove into the village tonight, 5 giggly young women pulled us 3 American girls into the pastor’s house and had us undress and try on the bra type of shirt thing that they wear under the saris.  This is the only part of the outfit that must be “fitted.”  The rest of it is a simple drawstring skirt and the long silk cloth that wraps around three times and drapes over your shoulder - both of those are a one size fits all.  My “shirt thing” was so tight!  I made faces as they made it fit, and the girl made faces back that it is supposed to be that way.  Ugh.  Their saris are unarguably beautiful, but my American clothes are way more comfortable.

The big scorpion came out on the tarp again tonight.  This time I got a good look at it.  Pr. John tried to kill it by throwing his sandal at it.  But it didn’t seem to phase it.  An older man got a big stick and pushed it away off the tarp.

During the health talk a gust of wind kicked up and there was lightening in the sky at a distance.  People were getting uneasy as it started to spit rain drops.  Pr. Ravi suggested to me that we go inside the church.  I looked at the crowd and asked “will we fit?!”  He replied “No.”  Pr. Kelly decided we would stay outside as long as possible.  Rachel had pre-chosen for the children’s story: how Jesus calmed the storm - how fitting!  And “Small Toni” prayed that God would keep the storm away from us as she began her Bible study.  The power was off at least half the time.  Rachel held Toni’s computer for her so she could read her notes (since there was no power point to work from).  As the rain became a drizzle, Pr. Kelly got up and held his plastic chair over Rachel and the computer to keep it dry.  The people laughed and someone came up with two umbrellas.  At the end Pr Kelly did the quiz quickly.  As soon as it was done, the rain poured down.  I think this was the only night that the people didn’t gather around us to be prayed for.  Everyone scattered.  And as we tried to drive home we had to wait for three trees to be moved off the road.  That gust of wind had done some damage, but the meetings were not stopped.  It was an adventurous night!

At the hotel that night something went haywire with the electricity and there was some sort of power surge, I guess.  I was using the steamer for a breathing treatment when it happened and the cord caught on fire!  Great... no more treatments and I would have to buy another steamer for the lender.

The phone was brought to me with a call from Hyderbad - Alfred (who was like a Grandpa to us there in India, one of the conference workers and a translator for us), called to wish me a Happy Birthday.  I was 34 (wow, I’m finally getting this put on my blog almost two years later!).  This morning I ate breakfast in Pr. Kelly’s room with him, Nathan, Yissy, and Pr. Clark.  We ate leftover rice with honey and soy milk on it, peanut butter and jelly bread (their bread there was dry and... like it was made with baking powder instead of yeast or something), and mangos.  It was a royal breakfast!

Survival food or delicacy?  Peanut butter and jelly on India's version of western bread.

Went to the building where the Bible Worker Training was being held.  All 80 some of them had slept there on the floor.  It was HOT in there today.  I heard it was 120 in the shade.  It was downright miserable.  At one point in the training, they announced that it was my birthday and brought out a 14” x 14” iced and decorated birthday cake with a large pink plastic flower that “bloomed” open as they lit the candles and it played “Happy Birthday.”  And they ALL sang Happy Birthday in English, with two added verses I have never heard before.  It was beautiful to hear all of them singing.  It is definitely one of the birthdays I will never forget for my entire life.  Now came the challenge to cut the cake into 90 pieces!  They told me to just share it with the Americans (they bought it I am sure), but that seemed rude to me.  So I counted off rows and tried my best.  Pr. John said it will have to be like the five loaves and two fishes.  Everyone ended up with a postage stamp piece of cake.  But it was appreciated, and it was fun for me to share.

For lunch we went to a restaurant and ate Thali.  It’s a large plate with rice in a pile and 5 little containers of curry around it and a space left for you to mix a pinch-full of rice with whichever curry you choose to dip it in.  And Indians don’t use forks and spoons, so we all tried to do it “by hand” as they do.  There is an art to scooping up rice and getting your curry mixed in (most of the curry is too spicy to eat by itself so this mixing is most necessary) then forming a bolus out of the mixture and using your thumb to flip it into your mouth.  You can only use your right hand because the left one is “dirty” (if you are not an American who brought your own toilet paper with you, you use your left hand for other purposes - therefore this “dirty” hand is never used to eat or touch anyone).  I managed to eat my whole plate “by hand” and almost had it figured out by the time I was done.  But the little dish of water that is brought out at the end to wash your fingers was not big enough to wash up the mess I had made in the process. : )

"Small Toni" eating her Thali

During the final bit of training with the Bible Workers/pastors it was obvious that we were losing their interest.  It was so hot in there and they probably just wanted to get on their ways home.  But they all revived and got excited when they learned that they were each getting a 500 rupees bonus.  That was quite a nice sum of money for them, and I am sure they could think of many, many good uses for it.  We took a group photo with all of them before we all departed.

Went home to prepare for the meeting tonight.  It was my turn to speak and the subject was what does the Bible say happens to a person when they die.  Everyone listened well tonight.  At the end of all our presentations Pr. Kelly has a quiz for review, and whoever raises their hand first and answers the question gets a prize.  For the adults it is a picture.  For the children it is a small toy.  Tonight Pr. Kelly had fun with the quiz and when he asked what happens in the end when the trumpet sounds he made a trumpet impersonation that was so accurate and out of character for him that all the people laughed.  Somehow we have crossed the bridge from being white speakers from America to real people like them.  It feels nice to be close to them in this way and I hope that one day many of us will be together in Heaven, without a language barrier, reminiscing on the day Pr. Kelly made a trumpet sound...

This man was listening so intently and was baptized on the final Sabbath there.

Meanwhile in Lisa and Steve's village, hundreds of people listened surprised at how AIDS is contracted.

Coughed terribly on the way home tonight and Locksmayah (the driver) coughed too, and has obviously caught my cold.  I patted him on the shoulder and said “I am sorry.”  He replied, “thank you.”  Back at the hotel I wanted to try a hot and coldish shower, but there was no hot water today.  So I just did the eucalyptus steam treatment, and felt like I could breath a little more freely.

Ate onion utapom for breakfast in the hotel this morning.  Only two of us went down for breakfast.  I was so hungry that the greasy onion/hash-brown thing tasted good.

Today was the first day of the Bible Worker Training.  Pr. Kelly did a talk about Elijah/Elisha and the importance of our calling to ministry.  Pr. Clark taught how to prepare a sermon.  Mr. Picket on personal devotion, I think.  And it was my turn.  Just before I went up someone told me to shorten it up because it was so hot and the men were all hungry.  I tried to shorten it up on the fly and ended up giving them a “buckshot” splattering of what I had intended to share that probably made very little sense.  Afterwards, as I was lamenting my failure, Pr. Kelly said, “At least it was real (my experiences).  How can you go wrong with that?”  That helped some.

Pr. Clark teaching on how to prepare a sermon (translator Pr. John concentrating hard).

A partial view of the 80 plus Bible Workers being trained (they slept here on the floor two nights).

We went home for an hour and I was asked to take Vyisha down to the lobby.  She was the 8 yr old daughter of one of the drivers - a very disobedient child to say the least.    Her Dad was supposed to be coming soon.  But in the meantime she ignored my hand motions to stay here and ran off to the elevator and ran away.  I figured she was headed for the other girl’s room (they had sent her down with me).  Sure enough I caught up to here there.  I took her hand and made her come back downstairs and tried every game without words that I could think of to keep her occupied.  When I saw her Dad come into the lobby I was so relieved... until I found out that today we were going to the same place!

Vyisha in front of the "screen" at Pr. Clark's village site.

Setting up the projector for the meeting (high tech we were with out projectors, power cords, and box!).

Today I went with Pr. Clark to his village since Nathan wasn’t feeling well.  Vyisha had never been here before; so the little girl who had just run away from me was now glued to me!  The power went out just in time for my health talk, which was fine as I didn’t have slides for it anyway.  Pr. Clark spoke about the meaning of baptism.  Several people raised their hands when the call was made for anyone who would like to study to be baptized.  This group is much more studious than “my” village.  I wondered if they were more educated, or if it was because Pr. Clark is such a good teacher.

I was coughing so much today (a choking cough made worse by the smoke in the air).  One of the translator’s wives brought me some eucalyptus oil and a little electric vaporizer.  It gave me such relief that I used it every chance I got (when we were at the hotel).

My lungs were burning and I coughed up something this morning, but I was able to rub my eyes open rather than soak them open.  So that is improvement!

Excited that it is Sabbath today.  I appreciate, more than ever, the fact that the Creator God has set aside this time to spend with us in a special way.  Being in a place where most people don’t even know about God made me realize what a blessing it is to be a Christian and what a responsibility we have to share these truths with everyone.

As my routine had become, I sat Indian-style (now I know where that expression comes from : )  on the cool marble slab floor of my hotel room and arranged my bib to keep the mango juice from getting all over my clothes.  I still had some almonds and prunes from the States.  And the Indian mangos were SO good. 

We went with Pr. Clark to one of “his” villages today.  It was a small, unorganized group.  We were draped with the usual garlands.  Each of us did something for the church service.  I shared an object lesson about how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly and how that is like us humans becoming God’s children.  Pr. Kelly played his guitar and we sang (but I had to lip sing most of it because I couldn’t get my voice to stay on the notes - a laryngitis type of stuff).

There were 8-9 baptism today (people that had been taught previous to us coming).  They have to use a big bucket to baptize people, and dunk them straight down instead of laying them back.  Not much pomp and ceremony.  Some people seemed afraid to go underwater - an experience they probably never have any other time in their life.  A “splash-water bath” from a bucket is about as good as it gets unless you live near a river.

As part of the celebration we were each given 8oz of fresh coconut water.  It was warmish, as thick as whole milk, and clear except for the floating bits of rubbery coconut.  There wasn’t a whole lot of flavor and I couldn’t even describe the taste now, but the texture was really hard for me to handle.  I tried not to think of it and just chug it down, chewing the chunks as they came.  I was doing pretty good and almost done when Pr. Clark said under his breath that it was like drinking spit.  Disgusting but true!

Then we went into the church to a table where they gave us banana, chapati, grapes and cold pop.  Everyone was leery to eat the grapes as we were warned not to eat uncooked foods unless they had a tough peeling.  I took the plate of grapes over to the baptismal candidates who were lined up against the wall, eating on the floor.  One young man was really polite and took only a few grapes, recognizing the number of people there were to eat them.  One greedy girl snatched a whole bunch of them...

Went home for a couple of hours before the meetings that night.  E-mailed Mom and Dad for the second time.  The internet didn’t always work.  It was funny to see Google come up as “Google India.”