It is 2:30 A.M. and we are sitting in the airport in Calcutta waiting for a 4:10 flight. The last few days of our trip went by very fast. On Tuesday we rode a train to a village to do a medical clinic. We met a local man who is a church planter and the clinic was for one of the house churches he was working with. We set up inside a building that was used for a church and saw about 40 people.
Mary and Christie went to another location to give a sewing clinic and to give an electric sewing machine to a lady in the church who has a sewing ministry. They had eight ladies attend the clinic and about five boys and men attend. The people here are so gracious. They offer us chairs constantly and if possible have us sit under the fan.
The clinic went very well. The hardest part has traveling to and from the village. It was very hot and the vehicle was crowded. At the clinic a young man who was helping us as an interpreter expressed to me, “This is the greatest day in my life because you (meaning the team) are here”. Our host was doing some training with the church planter for some people working in the field. When we got back to the building where the training was held I was overheated and had to lie down in the floor. One of the local women who had been attending the training invited us to her house to cool down. Most of the houses here are not air conditioned and the few that are usually only air condition the bedrooms.
When we arrived at the house we met the woman’s husband and daughter. They had us go into the bedroom and they turned on the air. Then the husband took me to the other bedroom, his daughters, and insisted that I lay down on the bed. I was sweaty and dirty and did not want to lie on the bed but finally did. I immediately fell into a deep sleep in this cool room. While I was sleeping the man came in and turned out the lights. I slept for about 30 minutes and awoke feeling disoriented and refreshed. As we were leaving I expressed to them that what they had done was about the nicest thing anybody had every done for me.
Riding the train was an interesting experience and allowed us to see some of the large open, rural areas of India and see the contrast between those and Calcutta. Calcutta is a city of 16 million people of which 2 million live on the streets. The roadways are extremely overcrowded and that makes it difficult to get around. The simplest task, like going out for lunch or dinner can easily turn into a 3 or 4 hour ordeal. A friend told us a quote he had been told about Calcutta that is most appropriate. The quote was, “You can do anything you want in Calcutta as long as you do it slow”. Boy is that spot on. Calcutta has its own time and pace. It is impossible to gauge the traffic so people often run late and everybody just knows and expects it. Restaurants also have their own pace and you never know how long you will wait. The trains however seem to run on time.
From the train we could see miles and miles of rolling farm land broken up by an occasional village or town and dotted with cell towers. It seems that India operates on cell phones. Even in the remotest village, people living in mud or bamboo huts, and even in the slums, where many huts are made of a bamboo infrastructure covered with discarded plastic and old tarps, the people had cell phone. They are especially vital in Calcutta as there is a constant need to touch base, compare notes, and modify plans.
The rural areas are much cleaner and the air more pure than in Calcutta. Calcutta has thousands and thousands of cabs, buses, and trucks, all of which operate on diesel fuel. Combine that with fumes from the coal and wood they burn to cook and for industrial purposes, and the trash that is burned openly on the sidewalks and streets, and the air becomes a near toxic mix. The vehicles are jammed so closely together that you could reach out and touch people in other vehicles sitting beside you in traffic. The soundtrack outside on the streets of Calcutta is a constant honking of horns. Sometimes, in extra heavy traffic, the sound is overwhelming.
The conditions are very harsh in Calcutta. Our entire team went to serve at one of the locations that had been established by Mother Theresa. It is named Daya Dun, and it is a home for children with moderate to severe handicaps who are either orphans or had been abandoned by their families. Our service was from 3 to 5:30 one afternoon and we played and entertained the children. The building, like many in India was made of concrete and the floors were some type of stone. The men served with several other men, including 2 or 3 young college guys from the states. I spoke with one of the young men from Colorado and we agreed that everything was hard in Calcutta. People who live here have to spend inordinate amounts of time just taking care of the basic necessities of life. Going to the store or market, shopping, going to and from work or school, going to the bank, all not only take huge amounts of time, but also an indeterminable amount of time. The only mode of transportation that is somewhat predictable is walking.
In spite of the crushing poverty and the harsh conditions we were all surprised to find that we felt very safe walking around, even on the streets in the poorest areas and in the slums. We always tried to be wise and took precautions but we never felt threatened. In fact, we were made to feel very welcome by many people. They would call out to us as we walked by, “Hello” and then smile when we responded. English is the second or even third language of many people here. Some speak English very well. Almost all of the signs and billboards are in English, a remnant of when India was a British colony.
In all of this chaos and extremely harsh conditions, we found great faith and a strong network of churches. It is hard to be a Christian here. Converting from either Hindu or Islam to Christianity has both personal and professional consequences. If you change your designation to Christian officially with the government you stand to lose out in the many quotas that are used in placement for both college and employment. We met young people who had been disowned and put out by their families because they became Christians. We saw and participated with people who put forth great effort and endure many hardships to worship God in the most meager of conditions. We had the opportunity to twice worship with the Church (that provides hope) that meets on the roof of a two story house. The first Sunday rain forced the service inside into a cramped dimly lit room. The second Sunday we had a beautiful relatively cool night on the roof. In both services we were struck by the joy on the faces and in the voices of the people while they sang hymns and praise songs in Hindi, Bengali, and English. We saw people from this church time and again share their testimonies with large groups. They are on fire for our Lord. We gave them a couple of evangicubes, devices that help to share the gospel and they quickly mastered them and we saw them using them all the time.
In the villages we met pastors and church planters all working together to build the kingdom of God. They interact, interface, and share resources, all coordinated by cell phone. They treated us like honored guest and willingly shared their meager resources with us. Constantly making us sit in the few chairs available while they sit on the concrete floor or the ground. They place our chairs under or in front of the electric fans. Several times they fanned us with hand fans. It is very humbling to accept such great gifts from these people but they are so genuine and sincerely that it would be wrong and hurtful to them not to allow them to do so.
Bricks are a primary building material in Calcutta. They will use rebar and concrete to establish the corners, ceiling, and floors of a building, using bamboo for temporary support until the concrete dries. Then they take bricks that appear to be handmade, and brick up the open areas between the corners, ceilings and roofs. After the openings are enclosed with bricks, the brick walls are sealed both inside and out with concrete. The result is not only a strong structure but the concrete and brick make for a thick wall that helps keep it at least a little cooler inside than outside.
Calcutta appears to be undergoing a construction boom and we saw new construction all over the place. The location of the church is called New Town and from the roof of the church, for as far as we could see, were numerous high rises residential building being constructed. It is estimated that this area will house an additional 5 million people in the new five years in modern housing. The boom is from massive growth in the technology sector. If the projections are correct, in five years, the population of Calcutta will be 21 million. Right in the middle of this construction is the church with a vision and a strategy to reach these people.
We went with the pastor to an empty lot in the middle of the construction to allow him to share his vision with us and then to pray. As we left the site Ellen suggested that we all take a fragment of broken bricks lying around to remind us to pray. There was some concern about taking even pieces of broken bricks as they have value. Everything that can be reused is reused. However, just do to the sheer volume of construction in the area, and the abundance of broken brick, it was decided that it was okay for us to take the pieces.
Bricks appear to be mostly manufactured in small local companies and the face the brick has something, a name or initials, which identifies the manufacturer. Sometime after we acquired the brick fragments we were driving and on one of the many stacks of brick beside the road, we saw a stack that was stamped “India”. Ellen said that we should try to procure some of these “India Bricks” to take home. Since they looked like the weighed between 10 to 12 pounds each and were fragile, and due to the fact that we have weight restrictions on our luggage, I was too sure about the idea. However, on one of our final days driving through a neighborhood, we saw a stack of India bricks in front of a house and we were able to negotiate the purchase of three with the wife of the household after she called her husband and received permission to sale them to us. She, her daughter, and her neighbor, who had been instrumental in getting the wife to come out to speak with us all, seemed amused that we would want to purchase these bricks but seemed genuinely touched when we told them that it was to remind us to pray for India. We offered them 100 rupees for the bricks (a little less than $2) but they insisted on only taking 51 rupees, 17 rupees a piece, which I suspect was what they paid. We left them with well wishes and some gospel tracks written in Bengali.
On our last day we wanted to go by the school one more time to say goodbye to the children since the school had been such a sweet place for us. This was Bill’s suggestion and a very good one. He said that he wanted the team to leave with that image in our minds. Someone suggested that we purchase some small pieces of candy as a treat for the kids. Since we did not want to be late and travel is so unpredictable, we were concerned about adding a new stop to our trip. Ellen offered to allow us to give some candies that she already had. On the way to the school Mary and Ellen both counted the candies and found that we did not have enough. We decided to leave them with the pastor’s wife to give out later. When we explained our dilemma to her, she suggested that we give them to the younger kids which we did. After giving the younger kids one each we found that there was enough for the older kids and when all had received one, there were 8 left over. We were reminded of Jesus and the loaves and the fishes. Our God is more than sufficient and I believe that He gave us this sweet reminder of that with these candies.
After some last minute shopping and a lunch/debrief with our host, we went to visit a major Hindu temple on our way back to the hotel. Walking up to the temple I was reminded of how Paul had angered the silversmith at the site of the temple of the goddess Diana because those who converted to Christianity would not have purchased the little silver scale models of the temple that was a staple of their income. Besides offering over 300 million separate gods to the people, the Hindu religion is also big business. Everywhere you look you see trinkets, pictures, and items, large and small with various Hindu gods on them. The roads leading to the temple are lined with merchants selling all types of items, incense, and food. The roads and temple area are also filled with beggars, some very insistent. Our host has us buy small packets of cookies and when approached by a beggar instructs us to open the packet, present it to them, and say in Bengali, “In the name of Jesus, I give these to you”, or something like that.
Our guide at the temple was one of the higher ranking priests at the temple. They supplement their income but giving such tours. The tour ended at a large pool which he said was holy water from the river Ganges and that people would come there to wash and be blessed. At this site our host began to engage the priest, who was 57, named B, who said he had been a Hindu priest for 37 years in a conversation about Jesus. At one point our host looked at our team and asked one of us to share our testimony with this man. Bill pushed me forward and as I began to engage this man I felt the fulfillment of God’s promise not to worry about what we will say when we step up to testify, and I literally felt the Holy Spirit fill my mind with God’s thoughts and my mouth with His words.
After I told this man how I had become a Christian at 9 years-old and shared the gospel with him, I asked him who Jesus was to him. He responded, “He was a good man, a very good man”, and added that he respected Jesus. I asked him if he believed Jesus to be a truthful man and if he believed the things that he said and he responded affirmatively. I then asked him if he knew that Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and he life, and no man can come to the Father except through me”. He said, “Yes, I do believe”, to which I responded, “Then how do you reconcile that truth with the belief in many gods and may paths to heaven”? I could tell that he was getting very uncomfortable and he tried several times to divert or even end the conversation but God was not done with this man. I spoke with him using the logic of C.S. Lewis’ essay, “Lunatic, Liar, or Lord”. In this essay Lewis makes a very compelling case that from the very words from Jesus mouth that a person can only have one of three options on deciding who Jesus is, he professed to be God. Either that is true, and He us God, our He was a lair, our He was a lunatic. One cannot simply accept Jesus as a good man, or a good teacher, or as just another prophet. If He is not God then He lied and deceived people. A person who would do that is neither a good man, a good teacher nor a prophet. If He professed to be God and did not lie then He would have had to have been crazy and therefore not lying, because He would have believed what He said, but in correct - and again, neither a good man, great teacher, or a prophet. Jesus purposely created this logical trap for those who would try to accept Him as anything less than what He is.
I quoted some more scripture to this man and told him that since God created us to have a relationship with Him that we had a void in our hearts, a “God shaped piece”, that only God could fill. I told him that no matter how hard we tried to fill that void with other things and other gods that only the one true God, the living God, could fill that void. At some point during that conversation the man stopped trying to divert or end the conversation and was engaged. Never in my life had I ever felt so fully the power of God moving in me, though me, and out of me. At one point this man then professed that Jesus was God. I asked him if he believed that to be true. He said he did. I asked him if it were true that if you believe something to be true then you have to believe that things contrary to that truth are untrue. He said that was correct. Then I asked him what 2 plus 2 equaled to which he responded 4. I asked him if that was true, that 2 + 2 = 4, to which he responded, “Yes”. I said if the truth is that 2 + 2 = 4 then it means that it cannot equal 5, or 6, or 10, or any other number and he acknowledged that to be correct. Then I reminded him about what Jesus said about Himself being both the one true God and the only way to the Father. I told him that if he wanted to know the Truth that he needed to look to a person and Jesus said, “I am the Truth”, and He also said, “You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.” I reminded him that Jesus had paid his sin price also and wanted him to be free and receive eternal life like I had. We ended with a promise from him to read a Bible that our host would bring him. I will continue to pray for him and hope that the seeds of truth that the Holy Spirit planted will take root and flourish. This is a very influential man at the temple and within the Hindu faith. If he were to accept Christ it could make a huge impact. One big obstacle for him is that everything he has and values, his position and stature as a priest, his livelihood, and most likely his relationship with his friends and family would be lost if he accepted Christ. My hope and prayer for him is that, like the Apostle Paul, he would come to understand that these things are nothing compared to the riches we have in Christ.
We had so many divine appointments this trip that they cannot all be recorded here and even those recorded cannot be fully and accurately described. Here are a few from throughout our trip:
On the first Sunday Mary shared her testimony at the church in a crowded room we occupied after leaving the room because of rain. Mary was the first one to share and also shared through an interpreter.
Christie sharing a Bible story with the kids at the school and then her personal testimony to a large group when we were out at a village.
Cheryl sharing the gospel story and other Biblical stories using Henna body-painting. Cheryl and the other ladies had several former Henna parties and training sessions but Cheryl also had many informal sessions and talks with people. The pastor at the church is very excited about the possibilities of using Henna to share the gospel and the young ladies in the church are excellent at Henna painting. Even in a McDonald’s Cheryl had a chance to share with an Indian lady sitting close to her.
Bill and I prayer walking through the slum village and being invited to play a game of skill with the locals and then sharing a testimony.
Alison giving her testimony during the church service on the roof and having it interrupted but some goats that wandered up on the roof and started chewing on our bags and backpacks.
Stopping at a small town to purchase water and drawing a large crowd. When they all gathered around us Bill began to share his testimony through an interpreter to about 50 to 75 men, part Hindu and part Muslim. They listened intently and then eagerly accepted the Bengali gospel tracks we passed out.
Having three new women come to the church service for the first time and two of them pray to receive Christ.
Seeing Ellen interacting with many young people and seeing that her gift of working with young people transcends culture and language.
I started this final blog for the trip Sat. 2:30 A.M. this morning Calcutta time, worked on it during our 20 hours of flight time, and am finishing it as we sit at Dulles airport waiting for the last flight of our trip. It has been an amazing journey and I am sure all of will need time to work out everything that we have seen and experienced and all that God has taught us through this experience.
