30 Dec 2010 [Thursday]
Chennai
Praise God for keeping us through these few days of travelling! While long, the 17+ hours in the air, layover time, etc. have gone smoothly and we were blessed with an extra day in Chennai to rest and sightsee before taking the train toward Repalle tomorrow.
There are people everywhere. We went briefly today to the beach, letting warm water from the Bay of Bengal splash over our feet; to a zoo of sorts ot see the snakes; to the Saint Thomas Basilica and the mount where said apostle first preached. And inbetween was the adventure that consisted of our driver navigating the crazy traffic....
I hope our time at the school and in the villages will allow or at least help me understand rather than merely seeing to marvel, like a tourist I suppose.
31 Dec [Friday]
Train ride from Chennai
The restlessness in me for now is quelled and replaced by a joyful, active content. I am a child with wide eyes and wonder, trying all at once to take in everything—sights, sounds, smells and tastes—of this land and people, and wanting so dearly to understand. If ever I had any doubt about my calling, surely this living, stirring peace would give it away!
IREF school in Repalle, same day
How can I describe the land I saw from the train and van?
I saw a land of rich greens and rice fields where women crouched, harvesting. I saw towns crowded with people and buildings of cement, thatched huts, and shanties of anything else. I saw rivers where men and women dere doing laundry; ditches by the railroad tracks full of garbage; sections of land where the dirt is red with clay; desert areas where palm trees and cactus grow side-by-side. I saw beggars with twisted or missing limbs; water-buffalo and goats roaming around; great bales of rice husks standing aloof in fields like Monet's haystack paintings but against a horizon speckled with palm trees.
They welcomed us at the school like celebrities or royalty. We emerged from the van and walked up a street lined with men and boys. They threw flower petals at us (the younger boys often aiming gleefully at our faces) and lit fireworks in our path. When we turned the corner, the girls and women met us, putting large garlands of flowers round our necks
—two each, heavy and fragrant
—and they continued to throw petals so our hair, clothes and backpacks were adorned in yellow and orange. John was given a microphone and asked to pray while photos were snapped in our faces. And hundreds of children waved and smiled and called hello and "Happy New Year!" to us as we passed. Some of the brave little boys put out their hands for us to shake and asked hopefully, "How are you?" I doubt I was the only one so humbled, full of such wonder at this unbelievably loving reception.
1 Jan 2011 [Saturday]
Went to church late morning/early afternoon.
Then the girls on our team got some tubes of henna and brought it to the courtyard with all the nail polish and waited for the girls to come.
Again, it was all remarkably humbling. It began with only a few girls around each of us, putting the henna tattoos on one hand. Then more came, so three or four would stay, constant, and another 5-15 would come and go. They ended up putting designs on both my hands and wrists, feet, painting my nails, braiding my hair, feeding me candy and snacks because I couldn't move or touch anything...
Bharati (prounounced "Barti") was the primary girl I became friends with; she did most of the henna, stayed the whole time, and gave me her bangle bracelets saying, "This way when you go home, you will see them and remember me," and they match my punjabi. Then the girls complimented me to no end, excited to make me into an Indian, and started teaching me words in Telugu. They call me "akka," older sister, and I call each one "chelli": little sister. Sireesha and Rani were two other girls who stuck around; they are16 like Bharati and Rani's name means "queen." So I joked with them and told them they made me feel "like Rani." It was true.
2 Jan [Sunday]
This morning we went to church...for something like the fourth time in the last 3 days. Led a few songs...was struck by the faith and sincerity of the girls at the altar call and during communion. Only those who have been baptized may take communion. And those were surprisingly few. The decision to follow Christ is an enormous, life-altering, difficult commitment for the students here, whose families are mostly Hindu and do not understand; they may even cast them out of the family. So Dee and Emmanuel want to make sure they know what it means to be a Christian.
After lunch we went to a church in a village pastored by Francis, Emmanuel's brother. Materially the people are poor. They live in brick or mud huts with roofs of dried palm branches with one room for eating, sleeping, living, no matter how many children they have. Several of the children were wearing clothes that were torn, holes gaping wide open.
As we entered the courtyard of the church we were greeted once more with flower petals thrown over us and bright garlands of flowers placed around our necks. The plentiful children, women, and a few men beamed at us in greeting and escorted us to the stage behind the altar.
While the villagers crouched on the floor we were beckoned into chairs. The children watched hungrily as we were given bananas and crackers to eat and cups of Pepsi to drink.
There was a brief sharing time, as there has been in the church in Repalle. One woman described how long the rains lasted this year and how bad they were
—seven months, if I recall. They were afraid their homes would wash away. All their crops were ruined. Yet with joy she ended by praising God for how He provided amidst these overwhelming troubles when they prayed for help.
When the service had finished, the children crowded up asking for pictures and attention and many of the villagers asked individuals on our team to pray for them by gesturing to their heads, where we would place our hands to pray.
As I was about to leave the courtyard, a pregnant woman in a green sari approached me, pointing to her head earnestly. Francis's daughter Lydia was nearby, and she explained that this woman has not been able to bear children after trying for ten years. After praying to God, she is now pregnant.
I saw that her faith was so much greater than my own
—and yet she asked me to pray for her? What could I possibly do for her or give her spiritually when she knows far more of God's love and power than I do? Still, I thanked God for her and prayed for both she and her child.
Next they took us into a little hut where a man knelt on the dirt floor and we prayed for him. Dee told us later he has been sick for a while so they took him from hospital to hospital. He was finally diagnosed with tuberculosis. His young wife and beautiful little daughters watched quietly with sad eyes as we prayed.
We walked to another hut and sat outside it under the eaves of the surrounding homes. Dee pointed out water buffalo dung slapped on the walls of a few of these and explained how it is dried and used for fuel.
Again they gave us chairs while they sat on the ground. Dee kept the woman of the home from giving us rice we couldn't eat and the little girls led the congregation in some songs. The man of the home told us how last year he had wanted to have everyone over after church but couldn't because he didn't have room. So he prayed and bought a water buffalo and started making a little money. But, he said, when he had money in his hand he forgot about prayer. He got sick, and his children and water buffalo started getting sick. Then he remembered prayer, and indeed, he had us over to his house as he'd hoped.
Dee pointed to the corner of the "yard" where they go to the bathroom. A hen and her tiny chicks trotted around. The man's daughter went on the roof and cut squash off the vines to show us proudly, and flies swarmed around the ground at our feet. And the people were beautiful.
Once more, what have we done to deserve this special treatment? To accept hospitality and take gifts of food from people who have nothing? Why are we honored when it is they, rich in faith amidst their poverty who will be first in the Kingdom of God?
