Our last Sunday in India. Three churches visited.

This morning like last Sunday we split up into two groups to visit two different churches. This time Dave, Lauren, and I went with Bishop to one of the churches. Elton, Sarah, Amanda and Heather followed Keren and Promoth to their church where it also happened to be the church's anniversary.

Keren and her family had presented the women with beautiful sarees and for church we decided to wear them to be in our "best". The day before it seemed to be a hit with the kids when we wore it for the last day of VBS. This time we decided to be brave and try to attempt to put on the sarees ourselves without our professionals from the day before. The other girls did fairly well with the help of Lauren's lead. I tried to bring it back with previous saved folds but utterly failed after 30 minutes and just started all over; thankfully we all passed when the pros saw us.

 

Last time I went with Promoth and didn't have to share at the worship service, but legend has it, if you go with Bishop, be prepared to share something. Although we thought we had 45 minutes to prepare on the drive, maybe 20 minutes had passed and we had arrived. I jot down a few bullet points and had an idea of what to share. I was a bit nervous having never shared in front of church formally before. Lauren and Dave were pros at this point.

There was a surprise welcome when I felt a few pinches on my toes from some tiny red ants, but a warm welcome when we recognized some of the kids from VBS and coincidentally, they were also on the bus ride that Amanda and I went on the previous week. We followed the Bishop in and sat humbly in the front of the church trying to look formal in our sarees and necktie ready.

 

The kids shared what they learned from camp, with a summary of S.O.A.P. using the verse "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind. Lean not on your own understanding..." Then a boy who was maybe 3 years old recited about 50 verses in 2 minutes! I thought he was going to say a verse or two and then it kept going! Very impressive.

The Bishop prompted that the ladies would share first, then Dave. Luckily, Lauren went first and shared about her life this past year and the struggles she's been going through and how Jesus heals. Then I shared some of my testimony on how God spoke to me one night about missions and how I ended up in India. The kids shared earlier the same verse that I used about trusting in the Lord and seeing where he'd take me in this life. Thankfully for the translation time, I was able to gather some thoughts to figure out how I would transition part of the story together. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be (except for the guy falling asleep in the back) and it actually felt really good to share. It was Dave's turn next and he talked about his journey and how he made it to India. He also shared something new about a fear he had and had a similar message of trusting in the Lord and his future. The Bishop then summed up all our messages and then they blessed us with a yummy chilled green coconut to drink. Nobody got up to leave until we finished our drinks and left the building. I would have liked to stay and talk a little to everyone, but it was our time to go. They walked us out and stood by the gate while they bid us farewell.

 

Our group was the first to arrive home and had some extra time so we learned about Dave and how he wooed his wife. Very interesting stuff, but I'll let him tell you the details. It was about an hour or so until the other group arrived tired and drained. Everyone had shared and Promoth had to keep sharing until the food for the anniversary was ready. Since we had to leave for the evening church service at 5, three of us decided to stay in our sarees through lunch and the afternoon to not attempt to wrap, fold, and pin the outfits all over again. Thus, sarees all day. Lauren would say, "Yes, my Christmas ribbon," because of the stiff and plaid material. Heather had "extra" material because she was so petite and it was another challenge because hers was so soft it was bunching up and poofing out under her. We managed.

It was a long, dark bus ride to the church that met in the evening but we arrived safely to the sound of drums and singing. It was the first time our whole group was able to attend a service together. The church welcomed us with open arms and even had a few well-prepared performances. The young girls had beautiful white dresses with scarves over their heads and even glitter makeup on their eyes and cheeks. They danced gracefully in a circle around a boy who was portraying Jesus. Then the boys danced to a local song cheerfully shaking their hips with their hands on their waists and stomping their bare feet. Everyone was very impressed. Elton spoke his message about God remembering His people in India, and how He'll never forget them even when He doesn't seem to be around. We were able to talk to some people afterward and one lady came up to me gladly sharing how she was a teacher too at a local school. The girls giggled after their pictures were taken and we shook hands with a few of them. As we got on the bus, a few boys ran up to us to say a few last words, and everyone smiled and waved goodbye as we waited for the bus to leave.

All in all, it was a lot of church to have in one Sunday, but it was an honor to be accepted the way that each person did. Our sarees made it through the day temporarily, but the memory of the warm smiles and handshakes from these people will remain forever.

>> Children's Camp: Day 2 of 3

Dear Readers,

The week is coming to an end and I am proud to say that we have survived numerous mosquito attacks and 12 straight hours of kids camp. Though it was long, tiring, and some parts brutal, it was still an awesome and enriching experience. Which parts were brutal you ask? The ARTS AND CRAFTS! Don't get me wrong – I love arts and crafts. I actually crafted all of Russell's badges from UP out of felt for a friend's Halloween costume. I also give Sarah props for her creativity in putting all the arts and crafts together. It was more the chaos and lack of control that I didn't like, which I admit was my fault.

The first craft was making a piñata (yes, we're bringing a little Mexican culture to the kids in India). I basically just dumped all the material into the middle of about 20 kids and let then go at it. Let's just say it wasn't the best idea since kids don't really understand the concept of sharing. The second craft consisted of creating a puppet sheep out of a white paper bag and gluing photocopied sheep parts (the face, ears, arms, legs...) cotton balls, and googly eyes to it. Since we only had one bottle of glue and I needed to gain more control, I decided it would be best to hold onto the glue and give it to the kids as needed.

- "Ma'am! Gum! Gum!" (They call glue gum)
- "Ma'am! Please! I beg you!"
- "Ma'am! Eyes! Eyes!"
- “Ma’am! I only have three legs!”

Now just repeat that for an hour straight and that sums up all of our experiences making the sheep puppets.

For those of you who know me and know of my “special” speaking skills, you would be pleased/surprised to know that through God's empowerment and with Elton's help, I delivered my first ever teeny-weeny mini sermon about Jesus feeding the five thousand and being the bread of life. Lauren gave hers on Jesus healing the sick. Speaking only for myself, it actually wasn't nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be and felt good in the end. Although, I'm not sure if I would jump at the next chance to preach given the opportunity.

As kids have much more energy than the old geezers that we are, we took them outside to play amoeba and sharks and minnows. You would think that after running around so much they would be pooped and tired, right? They actually came back in with more than enough energy left to put on a talent show for a full hour. I was pretty amazed by some of the performances, especially by the kids in my group (coming from a biased view of course). Two of my girls who would always giggle and hide their faces every time I ask them questions actually volunteered to sing! Another performance that really surprised me was the Michael Jackson performance led by Jibin, also part of my group [see video below]. This boy had all the Michael Jackson moves and totally melted my heart when he started to moon walk across the concrete floor. I want to take Jibin home with me.

We ended the night by watching Chicken Run on the projector and drawing thank you pictures for each kid's sponsor. Watching Chicken Run with the kids was great. Even though they didn't understand all the words, they still understood the movie and cheered when the villain fell into the pot pie machine and got a taste of her own gravy. I was also a little worried that some might turn into vegetarians because of the movie, but all fears were subsided when I saw them eat chicken for dinner later that night.

All in all, it was a fun day and it was such a blessing to be with them for 12 hours out of the day. They are always so joyful and happy to see us that it really touches our hearts. There are about 93 kids total and whenever we split into our small groups, my kids always rush into our meeting corner shouting, “Ma’am! Sit here! I got a chair for you!” while placing the chair next to theirs. It’s also really cute when they try to scoot in their chairs from behind to sit next to me. Elton was right: even though I don’t have a whole lot of knowledge to offer these kids, just the simple fact that I am here is enough.

That's all for now!

- Heather

>> Day 2 Video

Children's Camp 2 from Elton Lin on Vimeo.

It's been a long day... so let's begin.

Wednesday AM - Pastors' Training
I led a 4hr training session for the local Bible Faith Mission pastors [about 50 persons]. We did something similar last year on our first trip and made numerous cultural errors and did not present all too well. But God redeemed the time [thankfully]. And we learned a lot about the struggles of our new friends and what it means to be a Dalit Christian pastor. This year I felt like God was laying a simple message of encouragement to my brothers, to remind them that God has not forgotten them, that he won't leave and that he's doing a work through and in them. I took some time to encourage my brothers and was able to present some simple material on church-planting movements and discipleship. We'll leave the rest to God and see how He'll bear fruit from it.

Like last year, the pastors asked heartfelt questions. One pastor stood up and shared that there is a group in the US that is funding the construction of a large Hindu temple constructed here in Kerala; upon it's completion, it'll be shipped back to the US. He then asked, "How can we sustain when even the Christian countries are funding Hinduism here in India?" It was a very sobering moment and I was at a loss as to how to respond.

But the Holy Spirit was gracious to give me a simple response – that though the powers that oppress free movement of the Gospel seem insurmountable, the Gospel was meant to flourish in the margins, in places that seem least viable, in the midst of persecution, oppression and poverty. Maybe a reason we have not seen significant revivals in the United States?

In the end, it was another opportunity to learn more about the struggle of my brothers laboring to lead churches while working against government, extremists and caste. Please pray for these pastors and leaders – there is so much working against them and they teach us every time what it really means to take up our cross and follow.

Wednesday Afternoon – Children’s Camp Prep
We started looking at the VBS package that we purchased and realize that it was garbage. There’s not much more to say about it. So we began the process of writing our own stuff the night before. Yes, ambitious. We’ll see how it turns out tomorrow.

Wednesday Night – Dinner Debacle
So we decided that we’d cook for the Bishop and his family as an introduction to Chinese food, but primarily to give them a break. They’ve lovingly served us and it’s not easy to feed 7 people, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

It began with us taking stock of what we could cook. It came down to green beans, fried rice, stir fried chicken and green onion pancakes. Seemed doable. We started and things just took longer than we  expected. A few things that were working against us: foreign kitchen setup with stoves equivalent to camp burners, unfamiliar ingredients and not entirely understanding the preferences of the Indian tastebud.

When we were ready to eat, we were almost 45 minutes late [they normally eat at 8:15p], kitchen was a mess, food didn’t look quite right and we didn’t even have time to finish the fried rice. There was this feeling of impending doom.

When we finished praying, the Bishop’s wife scooped some green beans that we stir-fried with some Hoisin sauce. And as she put the bean in her mouth, she immediately spit it back out and quickly moved  [by hand] each bean to Bishop’s plate. I had to stop my mouth from dropping to the floor. I looked at Dave and he had this expression of pure dejection and later quipped, “Tonight, I’d rather have been a coward than a failure.” We were pretty embarrassed!

The chicken and the onion pancakes had a better reception. But it was hard to ignore the pain of green bean “FAIL”. Bishop’s daughter Keren said it well, “My mind says yes, but my mouth says no!” We were able to really laugh it off as we finally made it to the end of dinner. Keren even joked that they would take a picture of the dinner and put it on the fridge as “inspiration” to other foreigners who want to volunteer to cook! Bishop’s family were good sports and they appreciated the gesture even though they had to supplement that night’s dinner with some leftover Indian food from the night before.

Again we learned a lot and shared a very memorable moment with Bishop’s family. And hopefully our week doesn’t continue on that trajectory! God has still been good to us and we’ve been learning a lot. We look forward to sharing more soon.

Today we met the children. All 850 of them. They greeted us at their morning assembly with a reading of a Bible verse, their pledge of allegiance, a song, a prayer, and a current reading of the top news and then Elton gave a quick introduction of our team. We then got the chance to visit their classrooms. Some of the kids were extremely shy while a couple others sang “Bah-Bah Black Sheep” at the top of their lungs. We also visited the highest grade level (equivalent to 10^th grade). To get the conversation going by asking them who their favorite movie stars were. And of course..Brangelina was mentioned. What was even more striking however was when we asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. We got the following 5 answers: doctor, engineer (software specifically!), lawyer, teacher and pastor. Through my own personal lens I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of originality, but what makes their answers significant is that they are children of the Dalit caste of India.

The Dalit caste are also called the untouchables or the no-caste. The other 4 castes of India don’t even acknowledge them as a caste because their “duties” in society are to be the sewer cleaners, garbage sweepers, and laborers. Many Dalits are uneducated and don’t have the money to attend a school and if they do, they are undermined by their teachers and classmates. Their plight is very much equivalent to the plight of the Black Slaves in our American history. The hope here in this school is that by giving them an education, they can move past the societal stigmas of uneducated Dalits and be major influencers in the world. We’ve  celebrated the first African American doctor, lawyer, engineer and teacher in our own country. Martin Luther King himself was a pastor. The hope is that one day in India these Dalit children will also be celebrated for their achievements.

The other highlight of our day was seeing the children off. All 850 of them piled into 9 school buses (you do the math.) We were again greeted by big smiles and ‘hellos’. I had my camera in hand and that was an automatic hit with the little ones. They all crowded around to see photos of themselves on the preview finder.

The rest of the day consisted of prepping for our upcoming children’s camp and the medical clinic that we are going to host for the staff of the mission. Dr. Lauren (DL as I so aptly like to call her) gave us all a crash course on prostate and lice detection. I kid. But in all seriousness, we realized that we have a possibility of seeing at least 60 staff members and their families in one day. To give you a current idea, American doctors usually only see 40 patients at best in their practices per day. So we will see what is to come and we are praying that our Father will give us the divine intervention and the healing powers to heal the sick.

We finished off our supper with Bishop telling us his conversion of how he became a believer which is a medical miracle in itself. But the even bigger back story is the story of the founder of this mission. The founder of this mission was originally from the highest caste, Brahmin, (Hindu priest caste) but became a believer. His story is that one day he and a gang of people were ready to persecute a bunch of Dalit pastors in a church and he was appointed to murder the pastor of the church. As he was about to step foot into the church he was immediately hit by the Spirit of God and God said to him, “He is my servant, do not harm him.” He was stuck paralyzed on the ground for a whole hour and was not able to move. After that experience he came to know Christ and repented of his sin.

However because his family was Hindu they disowned him and took away his wife and he was left homeless until a missionary took him in to share God’s love for him. As he was being taken care of by these believers he realized the need to love and educate these Dalit people and so the beginning of this mission was planted.

What really amazes me about these stories is that Bishop Moses has reiterated again and again, God has a sovereign plan. Sometimes we may not know what he’s doing in the midst of serious pain and trial, but God knows what he’s doing.

I’ve been wrestling a lot with how do I reconcile with injustices like these in the world; enslaved people unable to get education, own land and have personal dignity just because of skin color and caste. I realize that I myself have been born into a privileged “caste” even though we may not call it that. I have the ability to get an education, I’ve been blessed by the financial stability to own my own property, and be a free person. I can choose to keep on living this way and not acknowledge the brothers and sisters around me that don’t have these privileges, or I can do something about it. We don’t live for ourselves in this world, our God has put us here for the world.