On the train from Bhimavaram
We found an internet cafe in Bhimavaram and managed to download all our emails and respond to some. I was looking forward to posting several days' worth of blogs, but the Opera site was down for maintenance. Oh the joys of trying to communicate in a foreign country! Perhaps in the next day or two we will get to get some stuff up on the net.
Our time in Bhimavaram turned out pretty well in the end after an uncomfortable ride on the train. It was a fairly relaxing time all in all with mornings pretty well free. John Christian would collect us from the hotel at some apparently random time which usually bore no resemblance to the time he had promised to come- this casual connection with chronology is apparently a part of the culture.
The two evenings we were in Bhimavaram we spoke at prayer meetings. The first was at the church founded by John's father, Happy Christian. The second evening we were at a sort of home meeting at John's own church. The people spilled down a path at the side of a house, sitting on mats on the concrete. It turns out that the house is owned by one of John's converts, as is the house next door. Part of the house where they meet is let out cheaply to some tenants who understand that the house is also a church and they have to put up with noise, preaching and people.
I felt led by the Lord to not speak as such but rather to declare a blessing on the people who were there. John did the translating for us, and it mostly went pretty well. But when I instructed the people to stand and hold out their hands as if to receive something from God, the Telugu translation went on for several minutes. John later explained to me that the people are often reluctant to do something new. He had to explain that I wanted them to hold their hands out like when you go to a tap to get a drink of water and you are really thirsty and want to catch as much of the water in your hands as possible, so you can drink in the full benefit. They willingly complied then, and Michael said he felt that it was a powerful blessing released into their lives.
One of the highlights of our time was meeting John's bride Prasanthi. She is a teacher of English at the local Catholic school. The school goes from Kindergarten to Year 10. The normal class size is 60 children- so all you teachers and anxious parents who think Australian class sizes are too big have something to compare it with!
Prasanthi and John live with John's parents Happy and Susilla. Happy is 78 and has suffered several heart attacks over the last couple of years. John and Prasanthi have taken loans from the bank to pay for his medication. The custom in India is to give a couple gold bars when they marry, so John and Prasanthi have effectively mortgaged their wedding "nest egg" to care for his father. Thank goodness for our more advanced social security and medical insurance systems!
John like Vincent and Premnath is a great net-worker, bringing together pastors from all kinds of churches and denominations. He does a great job of preaching the Good News and caring for his people.
So what did we achieve in Bhimavaram? I think we gave some great encouragement to a young couple in ministry who are doing a great job in a difficult situation. We prayed some good prayers and did some effective teaching.
We were able to give John a sizable gift for his ministry... I gave him R3000 (just $100- but it will go a lot further than it would in Australia), and Michael gave an additional amount.
I am amazed at the low prices of so many goods and services in India. Of course incomes are tiny compared with ours. For example our two nights in a good quality hotel with separate rooms came to a total of R2200 ($75) which included plenty of cups of coffee and Coke. A five minute phone call home would cost about R100 or about $3. By comparison a labourer would probably earn about R500 (less than $20) per month.
Our sleeping arrangement on this train looks a lot better than it did on the way up. I made sure that I packed my suitcase so that it would squish under the seat this time. I will get the whole bed to myself without having to share it with my suitcase. Yay!!!!
Tomorrow in Chennai will involve an early arrival and then attending a lunch-time meeting with the pastoral staff at Calvary Church. We will be staying with Premnath and Priya on Thursday evening. On Friday morning we will fly out to Myanmar via Bangkok for the next stage of our adventure.
Blessings
Keith
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