India Mission #5

     It took two days to finally get the last message posted so now we are a couple of days behind. The days run together a bit as time here seems to function in another dimension. I am pretty sure that today is Saturday.  Yesterday and today we held medical clinics in two different villages. The villages are very different from the city.

    The first village was made up entirely of one family and the matriarch the village, who is also a Hindu priestess, was very gracious to us from the moment we arrived.  She made sure that we had everything we needed and thanked us many times.  When we packed up to leave she hugged and kissed several of the ladies.  On the way back Mary commented on the fact that if this woman was to accept Christ that many in the village would also since she had so much influence.  We prayed for her salvation and believe that the believers from the home church that were working with us will follow up with her.        

    The village’s livelihood comes from fish farming. They have acres and acres of pond with dams around them that they must build by hand. We prayer walked through the village and it was very clean and open, especially compared to the slum we had worked in for three days before.  The people are very warm, hospitable, and gracious and the Hindu’s do not have any problems with Jesus, they just have a problem with Him as the one true God. Some will even say that they have Jesus in their hearts but if you discuss it with them you will find they also have many other gods in their hearts so adding one more is no problem.  We try to emphasize Jesus as the only God, Jesus as the living God, and Jesus as the only way to the Father in our discussions and witnessing opportunities.  The pastor we are working with, calls Jesus the Living God when he preaches. 

     After the medical clinic as we were driving back to Calcutta (about a 2 hour drive), we stopped in a little town to purchase some bottled water.  The people were very curious and gathered around us.  Soon we were surrounded by 50 or more people.  Bill shared the gospel with them as we handed out salvation tracks written in Bengali.  They listened intently as Bill shared with them that Jesus was the one true God and that he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man can come to the Father except through me.”

     The second village grew rice, hemp, and many other crops that we could not identify.  This village was primarily Muslim.  While we were doing the clinic one young man shimmed up a coconut tree and cut off about 20 coconuts and dropped them about 30 feet to another young man.  Once they were all on the ground they opened them with a little machete and gave them out to drink.  The coconut milk is warm and sweet.  After we drank it they opened the shell and gave us the meat. 

    At the second clinic we registered 20 patients and then stopped for a program.  Christie shared her testimony and gave a gospel presentation through an interpreter.  The rest of us sang.  We learned one Bengali song before we came, “This is the Day that the Lord has Made”.  I would write the Bengali title but I cannot locate the paper it is printed upon right now. 

     Bill and Alison see all of the patients while Mary and Christie fill the prescriptions.  It has varied some with the rest of us, Ellen, Cheryl, and I are doing the registration, taking temperatures, and doing blood sugar checks.  The person doing the registration has an interpreter, as do both Bill and Alison.  We also try to have someone for the pharmacy, which Christy has dupped the “Mary-Chris-Mess” pharmacy do to the fact that it is manned by the two of them and due to its limited space and other challenges, it is very hard to keep straight.  They both do a great job and Mary is especially good at reading Bill’s handwriting.  Once the registration is complete, we have learned that we have to cut it off at a given number, Alison and Bill see the remaining patients, Mary and Christie fill the scripts, and the rest of us circulate and interact with the people.  Our host, from Nebraska, speaks Bengali and does whatever it takes to help out.  He moves from place to place and we often have to call for him or go get him to help us understand or to help us explain something.  One of the many blessings we have received has been our driver.  He has become a very important part of our team.  He drove a taxi in Calcutta for 25 years and he may be the best driver on the face of the earth.  I will not even try to describe the traffic here.  I am not that articulate and even if I were, you would not believe me.  He weaves in and out, going from the right, to the left, to the center of the road.  He also knows every shortcut and the traffic patterns.  We all feel very safe with him driving us. 

     Many people here speak English and some very well.  Many that we have met can only say “hello”, and they call that out to us when we walk through the villages or the markets and smile when we respond.  Some speak English but with a Bengali accent.  While it is a little hard to understand each other we can converse.  Some of us brought Shutterfly photo albums with pictures of our families, friends, and home.  They love looking at the pictures with us.

    After the clinic Saturday in the Muslin village our driver took us to a restaurant that he knew on the way home.  It was air conditioned and the food was excellent.  It seems that he also knows where the best restaurants are.

     We had to do a quick turnaround when we returned to base.  The ladies had to get ready to go in two groups, Mary and Ellen in one, Cheryl, Alison, and Christie,(in the other) to two different Henna parties in different parts of Calcutta.  Nothing is close by in Calcutta.  There are 16 million people living here and it is hard to travel through the city.  Many of the streets are narrow.  The streets are shared with cars, trucks, trolley cars, buses, these little vehicles that operate as cabs that look kind of like a cross between a golf cart and the old Good Humor Man ice cream trucks.  There are also motorcycles, motor scooters, bicycles, bike pulled rickshaws, people pulled rickshaws, people pulling carts, and people walking all over and across the streets.  Imagine all of that and then some cattle, dogs, goats, and chickens all sharing the same road. I drove with our host to pick up two young ladies who were going to help at the Henna parties so we had to take one to each party.  It took an hour and 45 minutes to accomplish that task. 

    At the location of the Henna party they threw flower petals on us when we arrived and then gave each of us some red flowers, kind of like roses, attached to a stick about 24” long.  They also gave us two beautiful flower arrangements, one for the men and one for the women.  The ladies shared stories from the Bible in Henna paintings on the hand.  As the painting is made they share the story of the woman at the well.   Our host and I briefly went out into the neighborhood to pass out tracks with the male host, and the owner of the house, which is also where their church meets.  Everywhere we go in public we create a spectacle.  People go get their friends and families just to look at us.  This gives us opportunities to share the gospel.  They are very friendly and most willing to engage in conversation. 

After a busy day we head home and believe it or not, we ordered Subway subs delivered to the compound where we are staying.  The subs are pretty much the same as home but everything is chicken or turkey.  At that time, about 10 o’clock, we were just looking for some fuel.  After eating we all shower and hit the sack.  We are blessed to have hot water and an air conditioned sleeping room!