One Handful of Rice

For some time now there has been a political movement in A.P. in which ten of the districts of the state have wanted to secede and become their own state. They are called Telengana and take in the area around Hyderabad and further north. The rest of the state is opposed to their secession and so the stage is set for all kinds of demonstrations and acts of violence. Schools and businesses have been shut down much of the time since we left India in November. Right now a friend from Bainbridge Island, Elaine Colvin, is there with a team of people from the Seattle area. She has a niece who lives in the area, so she is relatively safe, but on a trip yesterday to Operation Mobilization they experienced the invasion of a group of about 50 demonstrators who told them to evacuate the premises or their tires would be slashed. It is a time of trouble in A.P. Please pray for safety for Elaine and her team. There are some pastors who are being attacked during Christian services, and businesses and all public places are experiencing the turmoil. Pray for an end to the unrest and for safety and protection for Christian people in the area.

Sending a big thank you to all of our Teams India partners. I know many of you pray for us regularly and for the work in India. That means so much as we know we can’t accomplish anything without God. We aren’t making new year’s resolutions, but we are focusing on the things He has shown us along the way and determining to be faithful to the vision given. We’ll continue to encourage the development of house church networks, support education and self-sustaining work projects that build dignity and pride in Indian workers, and we’ll continue to build relationships with the dedicated Indian people who give their lives for the purpose of bringing the news of Jesus to their own people. 

May you prosper in every way this new year!

Roger and I once attended a marriage seminar that must have been a good one because I still remember one of the illustrations they used. It was the picture of an onion and how our relationships are discovered in ever-deeper layers just like that onion. I’ve been thinking about the things we’ve learned in India on each visit and believe that the same illustration holds true for learning about a new culture. Each time we visit I learn more about Indian ways of thinking, how tasks are accomplished, and of special interest to us, how missions has worked in the past and the effects felt today in India’s Christian community. Sadly, to some, the word Christian means a person who doesn’t work, but holds out his or her hand for free money from Western countries. And, also sadly, some of us fall into that trap when we first begin to minister in a foreign country. We see the crying needs and we just want to begin to make it all better.
We have learned a lot about human dignity and respect for our Indian friends and have come to the conclusion that we need a clearly defined outline of those things we will support and those we won’t. In the middle of a busy trip it is easy to be swayed by personalities, dire circumstances and any number of sad situations that would all pull on our heartstrings if we weren’t mindful of using the money God has entrusted to us in the most effective ways possible. We’re learning that we are not honoring Indian people if we fund a plan or dream that is not yet up and running. We’re also learning that the responsibility for progress in ministry needs to come from the workers first, and then we can come alongside to provide training and support. I think I learned these things on the third or fourth layer of the onion when we realized that in spite of building relationships and providing quite a lot of oversight, we are still sometimes disappointed by ministry results. So we live and learn and with each journey we see what is fruitful and what is not.
We are tracking the strategic action plans of the TENT women we met on this trip. Some of them will begin to grow and produce fruit and then it will be time to join hands with them and fund specific projects. We continue to support the education of seven young people in different English medium schools in Andhra Pradesh and just set in place a scholarship at the Indian Mission School in Peddapalli which will help promising 10th grade graduates attend their “plus two” which is 11th and 12th grades. We purchased sewing machines for the five graduates of the Cherial Women’s Bible School which will make it possible for these women to support themselves as they serve God. We continue to encourage house church networks and their leaders as they share the Gospel along the lines of their people groups and beyond.  Education and goals of self-sufficiency will ensure that Teams India is part of the solution and not another part of the problem. Pray with us as we dig deeper into that onion, that we will be faithful to the calling God has put on our lives to spread the news of a loving God to the people of India.

I just finished reading a biography of Bill and Joyce Scott, who finished 50 years of missionary work in the part of Andhra Pradesh that we visit most often. Their first assignment in the fifties was at the Indian Mission School in Peddipalli which we have visited and where we provide a small scholarship for graduates. The Scotts are well-known in American Baptist circles, and after 50 years on the field have many stories to tell of the power of God as it is demonstrated in India. This book was written in 1999 so they have now been serving in India for 60 years. Their main work has been in Bible distribution, training of evangelists, childrens summer Bible clubs and in teaching adult literacy. They learned early on to live in the same circumstances as the people if they were to gain credibility and respect. They also treated the people with respect; selling Bibles and Christian literature at very low prices rather than giving the valuble materials away to be recycled with the trash, and always building self-sufficiency into their training and leadership programs. Bill talks a lot about having to come to grips with the power of the enemy and the amazing demonstrations of God’s power in that country. Here is one of the stories he tells about how God has shown Himself strong to those seeking Him.
There was a tribal group called the Yanadis. They were untouchables receiving Christ and the Hindu people across the river from them had heard that there was a new god over there. The Hindus in this area were very anti-Christian. One day a young woman became seriously ill and asked her husband to pray to all the gods they knew for her healing. Nothing happened. As she continued to become more dangerously ill she finally begged her husband to pray to that god over there across the river and see what would happen. Desperate, the husband agreed and said, “Oh God, that God, God of those people across the river. Heal my wife if you’re a true God.” Instantly the wife came out of their home and was well. They called over the river to ask the name of this new god. “His name is Jesus” came the reply. From that incident a new church was formed in a very anti-Christian village.
Even conservative Christians in India recognize the evil powers that overcome people in some of the festivals and gatherings of Hindu and animist people. Trances, self-mutilation, vomiting blood, and other gross things happen in these ceremonies. The power of these gods is real and it is interesting to me that in such settings our loving God will show Himself mighty. Why do these things happen in less scientific places and are not as prevalent in America? Do you wonder about that? Could it be that we would see more miracles if we identified the evils within our own culture and named them? If God was willing to show Himself to a couple who didn’t even know His name, won’t He respond to the needs we see all around us in America? Addictions, hopelessness, meaninglessness? What do you think?

I am actually writing this from the comfort of my own home. We lost internet connection at TENT for the last four days we were there and then in Hyderabad the internet cafes were not open on our last Sunday. Anyway we had a very long and unfortunately eventful (if you count diarrhea and vomiting) trip home. It took 38 hours. My bed literally felt like it was floating me in a nice warm web of comfort after the hard beds of India.

Back to our last days there. After I taught my last sessions I decided to have a bingo night for the women. They were done with their papers (strategic action plans for cross-cultural evangelism in their home districts) and were feeling like college kids after finals. So I made up the bingo cards and we used little boxes of raisins for markers. I had an assortment of little gifts and junk left from the trip and away we went. Not one of them had ever heard of bingo. They thought it was fun to win, but were too shy to call out “bingo” when they got five in a row. Roger roamed around helping them and it was really a hoot. They all had a good time and even losers were winners with extra prizes at the end of the time. One of the older women didn’t ever win and she was so funny sitting there with her little pile of raisins and not getting any of the numbers. I wish I had video of the expressions on her face. Women are the same everywhere I guess as the cosmetic prizes were the first to go.

Then it was time for their commissioning service which was a combination of a Christmas church service and a graduation type program. The men and women had combined to learn a version of the Christmas story so they can use it as outreach when they get home. The men really hammed it up as shepherds complete with a live goat and a real fire burning in one of the metal pans they use over there to move sand and gravel and things. The angel had a strobe light behind her to make her seem otherworldly and the lines were all given loudly in broken English.

There were two events related to this program that made me add the “preach it, Sister” to my title. Mary Vijayam, 75 year old wife of the director of TENT directed the play. She was unhappy at the last rehearsal because the men were late and somewhat unprepared. She said, “Do you know that 85% of the work done in the country of India is done by women? She looked the men in the eyes and after a long pause said…………… “So be nice to your mothers.” I wanted to laugh out loud, but of course I couldn’t. The men were duly chastened and the rehearsal went on. The speaker for the women’s commissioning service was a theology professor from one of the Theology colleges in Hyderabad. She was a smart cookie. She spoke to the women about leadership and their roles as evangelists to the people of their home areas. She said that traditionally a large majority of the work of evangelism has been done world-wide by women. She also said that India has been progressive in having women in political leadership roles. Right now the president of Andhra Pradesh is a woman and Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. Her question was, “Where is the church?” In her college there are over 200 students and only 14 of them are women. She scolded the churches for not encouraging women to take leadership roles.

Then it was time for goodbyes. The four women from Manipur had a four-day trip ahead of them, two days and nights on a train and two more by bus. It was remarkable to realize the strength of the bonds we made with those 14 women in only two short weeks. It will be interesting to see how many of the women keep in touch. Those who have electricity can use e-mail. Many are in remote areas without such luxuries.

So now we’re home and it’s sort of winter here. I just came from summer-like weather. I have to get into the holiday spirit. Honestly the best gift I received in a long time was the first night in my comfy bed.

There was word this morning from Orissa that the Hindu Extremists have called for another round of persecution against Christians in the month of December. Four of the women here will leave Saturday for their homes in Orissa, or for the place they now live since their homes were destroyed two years ago.  I wonder how they have the courage to face the dangers, the uncertainties and how they can go forward in ministry with the knowledge that they may be killed if they show their faith publicly. They endanger their families as well. Could I do it? I want to say yes, but honestly, I’m not sure.

Kumudini, who lost her aunt and uncle and her mother in the killings two years ago said that she will again be a target for the radicals because they know she identified the bodies of her family and fear that she may testify against them in court. This isn’t the kind of mild embarrassment I’ve experienced at home when someone makes a joke about Christians in the staff room or when someone ridicules believers in casual conversation–it’s the real deal. How would I react? If my life were on the line, or the lives of my family, could I do it? I can only pray for them and believe that God will take care of them. In Philippians Paul is talking about no fear of death. In fact, he says, he would rather die and be with Jesus which is much better. He saw Jesus face to face on the road to Damascus, maybe that is the key–seeing Jesus clearly. Will you pray with us here that God will intervene in Orissa and that the Christians there will stand in faith?

I had this post nearly finished earlier this afternoon and then the electricity went out. It goes out daily, sometimes numerous times. Now there is a big thunder storm going on which clears the air some and helps to cool the temperature, but doesn’t help the humidity. Roger is in Hyderabad and I’m not sure how he is getting back here. The roads are more dangerous when the roads are wet, so I’m praying him back in.

Today I taught the devotional hour and then sat in on the women’s classes. They are very interesting, but my tailbone isn’t used to sitting for three or four hours of lectures. Today an anthropologist spoke on Hinduism and some of the history of the people groups of India. I’m learning lots of things and also finding that the Christians here know their Bibles much better than we do, especially the Old Testament in which they find many links to Indian culture and history.

Again I’m going throught my usual trauma with seeing so much need and worthy projects all around me and then going home without being able to help very much. I think I am learning that I can pray and  though all the projects need money, they also need prayer. I don’t understand how God works through my prayers, but I know He does and at least I can do that. I can’t generate the cash that people need, but I can love them and pray for them

In just a few days I’ll be leaving the humid, hot weather, the bugs and lizards and frogs, the dark rooms filled with avid learners, the friendly smiles, the tea five times a day (and you’re in trouble if you skip it), the love and the dedication and the beautiful atmosphere of love here at TENT. I will miss these women so much.

Well, believe it or not, as I speak there are about fifty workers building an ark. It is a one-third model of the real ark as described in Genesis and is being built as a retreat center for the TENT campus. It’s pretty cool. Right now it consists of hundreds of upright poles which is the way they build here. On top of the poles is a layer of wood and the concrete is mixed, lifted up by big buckets on some sort of lift and then dumped and spread. It is one step up from mixing it by hand and lifting it up in small pans like they still do in some places. You should see the people work. They will work constantly for about twelve hours until the entire pour is finished. Women and men work side by side shoveling up gravel, pouring in the cement and water, moving the large buckets to the proper place and then dumping the cement in the right place, where other workers spread it out. There was a little prayer service this morning in honor of the pouring of the cement and all the workers were treated to a small piece of candy. By the way, Dr. Vijayam told me that the women workers working right alongside of the men receive less pay—nothing new under the sun!

Last night I took paper, markers, scissors and tape over to the meeting room and we made finger puppets and pop-up books like crazy. Many of these women will have children’s ministries, or teach Sunday School or VBS so they need simple ideas. My motto is “never throw anything away– it can be used in children’s ministry” and so I took over tp rolls and random paper and we had a good time together. Today Roger and the Nurses’s husband Suvendra, went into the nearby market and bought some more yarn, so tonight is crochet time once again. I can’t believe how quickly they learned, most of them just by looking at the samples I had made before the trip. Many of these women come from the northeast of the country, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, and these areas were introduced to Christianity earlier than other parts of the country. Thus, they have greater Western influence.

No T.V. here. We spend time each evening watching Halfback and his friend, Fullback catch bugs. We even try to send some in their direction, but we are afraid that Halfback may have some mental challenges. He is quite slow to intercept free food.

Today Auntie Vijayam met with the women and refreshed their memories on some teaching she had done earlier in the training. It was all about starting a women’s group in their chosen villages when they get home. They are being trained in how to start micro-banks amongst the women. They begin by making friends with one family, getting to know them and then inviting them and neighboring women to come to a meeting. It costs one rupee to attend the meeting, and the money goes into a “bank”. When the group of between 15-20 women has gathered 2,000 rupees (by meeting weekly)  the president (chosen by the group) accepts requests for small loans. The loans may be for small businesses such as selling vegetables, or some project such as making soap or shampoo and then selling it, or even something such as a childcare center. By concensus the group selects the applications found worthy and the loans are made. They are charged 1% interest per month which goes back into the bank along with monthly payments which then enables other applications to be filled. Careful records are kept because when the government inspects their records and finds them in good order the group can apply for government grants to really get the program rolling. It is all very interesting because all of this is done before sharing the Gospel. Interestingly, the same idea has been tried with men, but the government stopped their grants as the men didn’t repay the loans.

I am doing my teaching on inductive Bible Study. I have only given about one third of the lessons and the women are worried by this. I keep telling them they can do many of them on their own, but they have a sense of wanting to complete things together. I’ll do what I can.

We can’t wait to come home and see all of you, but we will be leaving a whole group of new friends that we’ll miss as well. Next time I’ll tell you about a young woman from Orissa and her proposal for a children’s home for 30 children affected by the atrocities in Orissa—homes, churches, pastors, family members all gone. I wish I had video equipment to tape some of their stories. We do have a tape recorder, and I am taking lots of notes. That will have to do for this trip.

Last night we returned from two days in Jangaon, which is abou 50 km. from here. We hired a taxi to pick us up and enjoyed the day drive there. It is greener than usual from the same rains that brought flooding to other parts of Andhra Pradesh. I never get tired of watching the people. The women’s clothing is always bright and colorful, the men, not so much. I like watching the working women carrying things on their heads. Everything from food, to wood, to clothing to bags of cement go up on top of their heads for transporting. Sometimes they have a little circle of cloth there to protect their heads and help with balance, but just as often it’s not there.

We enjoyed two days at Dayanilayam in Jangaon. Sadly we recognized just a few of the children there now. Of the 60 or more children I taught two years ago I only saw two or three. Of course many of those children were from the community and do not live in the hostel. The other component is that these children all come from extremely poor families who are often in upheavals of one sort of another and so they come and go. One little three year old boy just came there as his mother was beaten to death by his father and then the father committed suicide after coming out of prison. We enjoyed watching the children  give little performances for Children’s Day which is November 14th and celebrates the birthday of Nehru. They say he loved children and there is a national holiday in his honor. Children are allowed to make up songs, dances and skits and perform them–this is a big deal as usually they only recite or perform things in strict conformity. In the evening they also sang their songs and did their dances and honored us. It felt familiar and strange at the same time to be there. It has been nearly two years since we spent two months there. We still follow the progress of some of the older children who are attending high school,junior college, nursing training or other things. Often the courses they are taking are just a shadow of the kind of education they would get in the U.S. or some other developed country, but it is a big step for them. Just learning English will guarantee a better job and a better life for them. Dayanilayam has had an infusion of support and they are building a dining hall, a new boys’ dorm and an English Medium school. So time marches on and “progress” is coming to them as it does in our areas where an empty spot has another building put on it.

We were happy to return here to TENT as there is only one week left to be with the women and we enjoy them so much. This morning was their last Sunday before going home and many of them had songs to share in thankfulness for their time here. During the service one of the elderly teachers known as Uncle George, a retired English professor, shared that the man who killed the Australian missionary several years ago and two of his children by firebombing their car, had been baptized in prison. Everyone cheered at that news as a sinner was reclaimed by God. Then one of the women from Orissa got up and prayed for the salvation of the Hindu Extremists who killed her parents.

At lunch the director’s wife told how when the Tsunami hit the southern part of India and Sri Lanka they traveled down there and brought back 50 women who had lost husbands, children and homes, and thus their livelihood. They stayed here for six months learning a new way to make a living. One woman told how she had given her child into the arms of her mother while she went into her hut to cook. When the wave came, she watched helplessly while both her mother and child were swept away.

Do you wonder why we seem to have an easy life in America? I do. The topic of teaching this morning in church was partly from James, suffering for Christ and being courageous as you go. Will there be persecution? Yes, for these women there most likely will be. They are going into their homes and into nearby communities with the truth of Jesus who wants to reconcile people to God and they may need to turn the other cheek as they go about their work. I feel like I’m on holy ground here.

We’re anxiously looking forward to Thanksgiving with our family. Today it is probably in the low 90’s, partly cloudy, a little windy and very humid! We’ll come home to typical Northwest weather I’m sure and will probably freeze for a few days.

I’m getting some excellent interviews with various women and hope to turn some of them into “real writing.”  Thanks to those who comment and e-mail, it is so great to hear from you.

I just wrote an e-mail to our daughter, Sara, telling her that the women here listen to everything I say and soak it all in. Well, everyone but one, who is 16 and long ago decided that she isn’t going to participate too much. There are language barriers, cultural barriers, all kinds of reasons that we might not understand one another, but they are fully engaged and seem to understand nearly everything. Today we talked about prayers of submission, what they are, when we might want to use them, how to teach about them and it was very good. Then we began our study of Philippians, Chapter 2. It is definitely an ego-booster to a person who loves to teach. Dr. Vijayam’s wife, Mary, is their usual teacher but she has been home sick with some sort of virus. She is in a lot of pain, but she showed up today to finish her syllabus and so she took part of the morning. She is a lovely woman who pours herself into these women. After this group leaves there will be another group that stays for only one month. They have a very well-written curriculum that prepares them to go home to evangelize their areas, meet the needs of the people in their home villages and then also begin a “technology” to earn a living. Later on, they share that technology too. They teach sewing, make Bible covers, also with a sewing machine, make candles, soap, laminated pictures and also learn tree grafting, compost making and other things. I am in awe of the work Dr. Vijayam has done here and the success he has. He loves his people and is giving them opportunities to move out of the crushing poverty they have suffered with for so long and become self-sustaining and strong in the Lord. If you are interested in reading about him and his life work, there is a new book out called In the Presence of the Poor by Kay Marshall Strom. I found it on the internet.

We will have a visit from Susie Reddy, who visited our home last spring. She is the daughter of missionaries from Canada, grew up in India not too far from here and has married an Indian man. They have three grown sons and she oversees the Cherial Bible school that we visited last week. She also helps oversee a network of churches that began as a house church in her home some twenty years ago. She is busy with women’s meetings in the nearby town of Ghatkesar. She will ride in on one of those crazy pedicabs this afternoon.

Roger has been going into town sometimes as he doesn’t have as many responsibilities here as I do. Tomorrow we’ll leave for a two day visit to Dayanilayam. Roger has already been there and notes that they are building a lot of new buildings and there are a lot of new students whom we don’t know. Often the guardians of the children move them to another hostel or take them home to work or get married. They come and go.

I am tape recording our interviews with all the women. Asking them about their hopes and dreams after they leave here. Every one of them has plans and the desire to serve God. some are very young and others have family responsibilties to return to as well as their new ministry. Others already have ministries and just came here to learn more Bible, leadership skills, outreach techniques and the like.

I am missing my home and our familiar routine. It is very humbling to be here and have people caring for us. The dhobi woman came and washed our clothes today. She washed for us two times and only asked for 75 rupees, which is less than $2. We gave her more. She is a tiny little thing. She goes and fills big buckets with water and hand washes things and then hauls them up on the roof to dry. Sometimes she hangs them on fences and they come back with little weeds sticking out of them. But they are clean and we are happy. We supplement the meals of rice, curries and hot vegetables with packets of chips and cookies which are very cheap to buy. Sometimes there is an egg or some fruit which we have been diverting to one of the women who is pregnant and sick. We drink Chai at least three times a day and sometimes five. I love it, but always try to estimate how many teaspoons of sugar I am drinking with each cup. Jenny Craig, here we come!

We are relaxing into the rhythm of this place. Yesterday we toured the part where they teach worm compost making. We had seen it before, but it was good to see something so simple requiring just a few worms, some cow dung and leaves to produce in 90 days a salable product. They sell a lot of compost and teach both the men and women to make it with just a minimal cost to begin and then it is entirely self-sustaining.

I finished interviewing the four women from Orissa. I mentioned before the atrocities committed against them and the government camps that some of them still live in. Several of them came here with no clothes or possessions but were given what they needed. One is going home to a hostel for 90 children that keeps being destroyed and rebuilt. Another is caring for 30 children in addition to her own son and three cousins after a horrendous experience with deaths in her family and going from one family member to another searching for a safe place to live. Most gave them some food and sent them away to protect their own families. It reminded me of the Nazi attempts to eradicate Jews and how some people stepped up to help and others turned their backs on them.

Today Roger has gone by bus to Jangaon to visit Dayanilayam . Our friend Gordon Goering from AIM in Kansas is there and Roger wanted to visit him. He also will pay the English Medium School tuition for Krupa, a girl we support and who was Akanksha’s best friend. She is a very bright girl. She was going to be married at age 15, but her elder brother was murdered in the forest and for some reason related to that she was allowed to come back to school.

Today I taught the women on Psalm 23 and ways to make it come alive for women and children as they teach them. I have some little books on Psalm 23 and Psalm 139 given me by David and Helen Haidle of Seedfaith Books. I will give them as presents to the women at their commissioning service on the 21st. We are also doing inductive Bible Study on Philippians. I thought I was going to teach every day, but that isn’t turning out to be true. However I find that I need to be ready to jump in whenever they say I can. So today I had three hours and some days none. They are all finishing up a strategic action plan which they must complete before graduating at the end of next week. It is crunch time for them.

Tonight I will interview two women from Assam who have a ministry to women. You should hear them pray–right from their heart. I seldom see such dedication and resolve in America. Not to be critical of our own bad selves, I just think our life is too easy to be as desperate and driven as these women are. I want to learn from them as I teach them and come home with a new resolve to serve too.

Both Roger and I still marvel at what we have been allowed to do and how we came to be in India. It is a constant source of both joy and pain. We learn more each time we come and I think it takes time to be effective in a new culture, getting ourselves out of the way, seeing clearly and knowing how to come alongside and support.

Last night it was cool enough to turn off the fans. As I drifted off to sleep I heard lots of birds, trains off in the distance, the guard who blows his whistle as he walks the circumference of the grounds, it reminded me of when I was a little girl and I heard the trains far away in the night. We are at peace here and are just living day by day seeing what God will teach us before we come home in two weeks.