Saturday, August 4th

The English portion of the sign said: “laenach ready, homely cooking.” What message have I actually conveyed?

We like things to end with a bang – a climatic emphasis. We like to see that we have served some purpose – something has been accomplished.

Well, these last days of teaching have certainly had a bang. The other day we were teaching in a village and a drum corp started practicing nearby. A drum fanfare to our teaching? No, a neighbor to our church there was retiring from the railroad and they were having a celebration. OK it was loud but it seemed we could shout over it. But then it came nearer and nearer. And then bang! Bang! Bang! I literally jumped. I really thought it was large calibre gun blasts for a moment. They were fire crackers but larger than any I have heard in the US, more like to the loud, deep bang of the professional 4th of July fanfare. Not only were fireworks now going off but the drum corp stopped right next to the patio we were meeting in. There was no way we could continue teaching. It was amazingly loud, like having a full drum corp playing their loudest in your living room. After about 15 minutes they moved on through other parts of the village. So soon it was more in the background and we could continue. Yet, after a while we could hear the drum beat crescendo as they returned. Soon the jarring reverberations were again, in a sense, shaking the patio and every sense and thought. Once again they stopped adjacent to our patio and drove out all alternate communication for about 15 minutes. So the bang of Mt Sinai was very apparent. Any drum corp, any worldly celebration can provide it. How easy it is for man, for the world, to out shout the gospel. A momentary thrill and a lot of noise that sooner or later dies. Their celebration is always of something that ends. What can these bangs accomplish? The wind, fire and earthquake can finally only threaten and destroy. But returning to the gospel we could share the still, quiet voice of God’s word, the message of the forgiveness of sins in the blood of Jesus Christ. He alone gives the peace that passes all understanding.

I have been traveling with Missionary Ude for just six weeks. My passing through will have little effect. But God’s word is obviously having a great impact, a silent but hell shattering bang, in all the places I have had the chance to visit. What a privilege to share for a short time in this gospel teaching. Your support of our missionaries is carrying on this ministry of reconciliation in many places and times. The world will often not even notice nor listen to the message. But in this quiet message is the real bang. For here the Holy Spirit is quietly working to open the prisons, set captives free and usher them into the eternal jubilee of our Lord. To Him be the glory.

Sunday July 29th

There is no place like home. Yes, it is really good to get to Matthew’s apartment and a more regular life. For Matthew it is a home. For me it is a chance to see what his work is like at that home. There are so many advantages in being at home. It reminds me that it is just one week til I come home, God willing, and there is no place like home.

Saturday we started to make rounds in the districts of the BELC. Each day we will drive to a different district and present studies to the pastors of that district. DPaul expertly translates for all of them. Saturday there were about 60 pastors, normally about 30. They are eagerly attentive and appreciative. It takes about an hour just to get out of Chennai each day. So we spend 2-4 hours in the car before and after the conference each day. I am so thankful that it is not the buses of Nepal. But that of course is one of the advantages of being at home, our own transportation. Kumar, the driver, expertly ferries us through the maze of roads and crush of traffic each day in the CLC’s air conditioned Chevy. But without car and driver it would be impossible to visit the districts in this manner. But, oh my it is still a lot of time commuting, a whole lot of blasting horns, and a lot of bumps in the roads. It is astounding how we move from 6- lane well paved highways surrounded by gleaming high rise buildings to a dirt one lane road through a bazaar of rag-tag shops with, what at least seems like all the previous traffic trying to squeeze through it. Yet, there is more for now there are also the bicycles and pedestrians. OK, I am obviously not at home yet, but it is great to see how well Matthew handles it all, at home with it.

DPaul is amazing: translating, attending all the districts, pastoring his own congregation. All of the pastors are showing their love for the gospel, their dedication to the Lord.

May the Lord bless our work with the gospel here to bring many people to their heavenly home.

Monday July 23

We arrived at the CLCI Seminary in Nidubrolu today. Joythi met us at our entry into the area. How great to see him once again. He remembered many details about when he was attending ILC – shared memories in a shared faith. He asked about many, many of you individually. His Father was feeling strong enough to greet us. Pray that he be strengthened, according to God’s will, for his surgery. We were welcomed with flowers, photos and love. What a privilege to be among these brethren in Christ, of whom we have heard so much for years.

The hotel we are staying at has a complimentary breakfast, your choice of either poori, dosa, or idly and vada. So I tried one each day. I started with the poori, pretty good, maybe like a fried crepe. Next I had the dosa. Apparently most people here would eat it with a spicy potato hash mixture or other spicy toppings. But for me it was plain. So it was like a pancake, just one made out of rice and with nothing on it. So that brought up the idly and vada today. Matt warned me the vada is a donut with onions and peppers in it. I like onions and peppers so I tried it. A small bite first though just to see, I almost jumped out of my seat. Spicy hot! Small wonder that we were told this area produces the most chilli peppers of any area in the world. The idly, a rice cake, by contrast, was so bland it was like eating paste. The people here of course are putting those spicy toppings on it. De gustibus non disputatem est. Well, I never had any illusions that I was coming here for the cuisine. I did give it a try but I am not much of an adventurer in that realm.

By contrast the Benjamin’s have been serving us a delicious chicken fried rice at noon. And undoubtedly aware that we may not be used to their spices, they have not made it real spicy and serve pop and ice cream with it to further aid us. Delicious.

We taught at their Pastoral Conference for two days. The mixing of law and gospel destroys the comfort of the gospel. Many teach Jesus as just an example for our life, others that since God is love he will not require of anyone more than they can do, others that Jesus died for our sins but we must now add our own qualifications to be saved. We may wish God had said, “Do the best you can.” but He did not, He said, “Be perfect, holy, in attitude as well as action.” And that pins me to the wall. Only when we see that the law always damns us are we turned by the Holy Spirit to rely on the grace of Christ alone. He is our Substitute, perfectly obeying the law for our righteousness and completely paying the debt for all our sins.

Wondanalu! Praise the Lord!

So Wednesday evening the orphans and Sunday school children put on a program for us. There were about 120 children there. The power was out so everything was in the dark but for the lanterns and flashlights. But group after group of children came forward with smiling faces to sing their praise of Christ, some were in action songs. They had even learned a few in English like Shine, Jesus, Shine. The Sunday School teachers were also leading them to learn other songs singing them responsively. They then shared a gift packet with each child. They asked me to distribute these. That was quite a privilege. However, there we so many children in the courtyard it became very difficult to carry out the distribution in an orderly way.

We were supposed to have supper there after the program and then go on to one of the congregations for a worship service. However, because of the power outage they could not fix supper and everything was also delayed because they had been waiting for the power to return. So we went on to another village, Machuvalem. The prayer was that the power would be on there. However, it wasn’t, which meant they could not start up the loudspeakers to invite everyone in the village to come and worship. We got there about 7:30 PM. We waited praying and talking until the power came on about 9 PM. The pastor there then used a loudspeaker system to invite the village to come for worship. He and various congregation members prayed and sang songs over the loudspeakers for the next hour while members gathered. So at 10 PM the service began. Songs, prayer, liturgy, teaching the word all done over the loudspeakers so others could also hear and believe. Then we had individual prayers for each member. For example the pastor there and his wife have been unable to conceive a child. After seven years the Lord answered their prayers and it is now the 6th month with her who was barren. So we joined in a prayer of thanks and requested the Lord’s blessings on the rest of the pregnancy, birth and life in the Lord. So now it was 11:15 PM. But the hosts wanted to show their love for their Lord by still serving us a meal. So about 11:45 we set out for the hotel and got there about 12:45, rather tired but filled with rejoicing in the work of the Lord.

The next day we visited two congregations with similar gatherings in word and Spirit.

Wondanalu! Praise the Lord!

Tuesday July 17th

Dickens writes about how every heart encompasses a secret, every heart is secret to the other, the dreams of one may be a secret of another, every house, every hearth, every grave holds a secret treasure store. In this regard every pauper is as rich as the prince.

We traveled by train Sunday and Monday. The stations teem with people sleeping on the cement, huddling in conversing groups, and rushing on. I’ve never seen them before and probably never will again. How many secrets passed me in the dark, stared right at me in the light, even looked with suspicion at me as the unknown, intruding “white” man?

What secrets are treasured in the Taj Mahal? The romance of their love? The daily retinue of their life? The loss and destiny of her 14 children? The decline and fall of the Mughol empire and culture, even as European settlements first came to American shores? What about the secrets of the thousands of servants mining, hauling, shaping, placing, carving every marble block?

What secrets are treasured in the Agra fort? What led them to built their forts with such great open spaces, so unlike European castles and forts? What secrets blazed in assaults on those walls, or died about those walls?

Among all those secret hearts, where was the secret of the ages? A secret not hidden but made manifest for God’s heart revealed the gift of His Son so that all might know His secret, His love, His life.

Wednesday July 18th

Clean – or actually the lack thereof, I have found, is one of the greatest discomforts in all our traveling. I have never really been paranoid about cleanliness. We’ve often camped “roughing it.” But with the heat and humidity in which we have been traveling, even when we have the facilities to clean up, I feel Grundy again so soon. I am here in the rainy season so what should I expect? Besides the heat and humidity, dust and fumes are blowing everywhere. I would think that dust and the rainy season would be a contradiction. However, one person explained that the rains wash dirt out on everything which then dries and is blown everywhere. And the traffic of every kind stirs and casts it everywhere. This combines with all the fumes so many are wearing masks. Quickly, “grimy” is the only word to describe me.

In Agra the government had erected a small monument: “Green Agra, Clean Agra.” Yet, ironically that monument was surrounded by a refuse pile! There are refuse piles everywhere, yet the one at that spot is quite a commentary. Where there is the collective will, green and clean can be achieved. No combustion fumes are allowed anywhere near the Taj Mahal. Neither is food or trash. Similarly, the Dehli freeway and airport are models of green, clean.

We are now in the Nilgiri hills national forest and the air is clean. The bamboo forest creaks in the wind in a very peculiar manner. The birds are singing. The deer are out grazing. The elephants left fresh evidence of their passing in bamboo pulled down so they could graze on the fresh growth on top. A bear left his markings where he had been eating janan fruit. Even the tiger had left his prints where he came and went from the creek. On the next day we saw a mongoose, a wild bore, an elephant with rather large tusks, a malabar whistling thrush which whistles a melody just like a human, and multiple bears, a pair of which apparently had a cub because one of them charged us.

Unfortunately, our souls have a greater lack of “clean” which perpetrates grime everywhere so quickly. But the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. His blood not only gets us clean. It preserves the same now and eternally in that paradise where there will be no pollution and the lion and the calf will lie down together.

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Saturday July 14

Wow! Yesterday AM we were at the bus station to go on to Butwal. “I am not pushing you,” was the next line in the picture pusher’s lingo. I had not said he was. I had not in fact said anything, but was simply ignoring him. But then he singled me out and neither my ignoring, my “no thank you,” nor my turning away, dissuaded him. Rather I now received his whole push: “I walked three hours to bring this picture here just for you. The gods want you to have it to serve them. My family is starving. You Americans come here to see our country and do not help anyone. The gods promise you at least 120 years of good luck for buying this picture. If not, they will punish you,” I should have done a better job of witnessing that there is only one true God, who in grace sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. He paid the price for us. So nothing we do or buy can earn or bring good luck. Jesus bore our punishment for us.

Wow! Raju had booked this bus trip on a tourist line so that we would have a bus that actually has working shock absorbers, seats wide enough to fit into, decent cushions, and room for our luggage; and so we would not have two people / seat, more standing in the aisle, and continual stops wherever people want to get on or off. They sold us the tickets. We were there well before the scheduled time. They simply cancelled the bus and we could not even get a refund without going back to the place we had purchased them. So the bus we found fit all the bad categories above. Our luggage had to go on top. They assured us it would be well protected by a tarp. But especially one bag and most of my clothes were soaked when we arrived.

Wow! The bus ride from Pokhara to Butwal was literally one continual S-curve which went on and on for over 7 hours. Up a mountain til we were looking out over a vast valley picketed by mountain soldiers. Down the mountain til pressed between two cliffs with a river gorge escorting us on the way. Again and again. Yes, there are countless mountains in Nepal. Well, they would not call them mountains because there was not snow on the top of them.

Wow! On Saturday AM we worshipped with Emanuel Lutheran City Church. This church has a main church and four satellites. We were at one of the satellites. We got there early and it was a room 10 feet by 15 feet, so I assumed it would be a small group. But soon there were well over 50 people in the room and all calling on the name of the Lord. They showed their abundant joy in the word of His grace: Jesus came down to us to obey the law in our place to give us His righteousness and to bear the punishment we deserve to give us forgiveness. Pastor Heman is the head Pastor. What a delight to meet him, his family and congregation.

Wow! So we left for India this afternoon. The border crossing outside of Butwal, Matthew said was one of the worst he has ever seen. It was the worst I have seen but that is a short list. It was a river of water, mud, other refuse of every kind, and vehicles of every kind belching their fumes and jerking at any instance to squeeze into a gap. The only things really moving we’re the mud and refuse splattering over everything, pulsing up through the same. We had to walk through this giant mud pie, I wish it had been just mud, carrying all our luggage. Matthew’s conclusion, “I’ve learned to always fly in and out.”

Wow! We hired a taxi to take us into Gorakhpor and to the hotel Matthew had planned. We had to make formal agreement with the management and told them the hotel we had to go there. But we got to the city and the driver did not know where the hotel was, spoke no English, and for some reason could not find directions. After driving around most of the city, Matthew just had him stop at another hotel. For a long time they would not talk. But finally we find out they did not have a room. They did give directions for our driver to get to our planned hotel. Still, the driver could not find it and asked directions again and again. We finally got there and found a brigade of people carrying everything out of the hotel. It was flooded. We told the driver goodbye cause he was no help, and set off on foot, carrying all our luggage. I really was feeling all my weakness by that point and after all the fruitless driving, feared that we would be vagabonds wondering in the streets which also here were water, mud and every kind of vehicle. I was rather desperately praying that it would be according to the Lord’s will to enable us to find a hotel quickly. And praise the Lord, He answered our prayers. It was only about 10 blocks we walked and found the Shivoy. Wow!

Thursday July 12th

Why do we speak different languages? That is my introduction, which leads into the Babel account and the joyous glory of our unity in Christ Jesus with one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Pastor Lekh serves the congregation we were at today. The seminar started slowly, only four there at the time we were scheduled to start. But they kept coming so there were 50 by the time Matthew started teaching. As all needed to be saved from the flood, youth and mature, Cainites and Sethites, so 1 Peter 3:18-21 all need to saved through baptism in Christ, baptism which is Acts 2:38 for the forgiveness of sins.

Pastor Lekh has been a Christian for 45 years. He is 68. Christianity in any form, preaching, evangelizing, sharing tracts etc was illegal in Nepal at the time he was converted and until 1990. He indicated that before he was converted he was a heavy drinker. One night a man from Chennai took him home and put him to bed at his place. When he woke up the man did not preach Christ, cause that was illegal, but Pastor Lake described it as kind of talking about it symbolically. Pastor Lekh kept coming back and has not drunk alcohol since. During the 70’s he endured heavy persecution with the other Christians.

There was an 81 year old there who has been a Christian 55 years, thrown in prison and more for Christ. He was quite eager to tell us all about his life. The Biblical vision of Christ as the ladder to heaven has had special meaning for him. He leads the congregational prayers for healing for the sick.

On the way back to our lodging, an artist from Canada accosted me. His pitch: “I am selling my paintings to help Nepal and its people. My impressionistic drawings are meant to help people see its greatness. I have been featured on the Letterman show. Soon my paintings will be worth millions. You can buh one now because I have seen you and talked with you in my visions so I know you are worthy.” Obviously I invested all I had. Language without Christ remains a confusion but in Him we hear the voice of heaven.

Wednesday July 11th

We are in Pokhara for a seminar tomorrow. So we have some time to get laundry done, catch up on blogs and other work, mend and prepare.

I read over Matthew’s blogs and his reference to my attempt to buy a shirt last week for the pastoral conference led to think that I should expand on that adventure. I thought it humorous and perhaps instructive for anyone planning on traveling in this area.

The situation was that Matt and I had only taken cloths for three days. Raju was bringing the rest of our luggage. Because of his visa application, so he can attend ILC this fall, he met as at the time for the conference not the day before as had been planned. But my shirts were all completely “pitted out” from hiking.

So I ventured out to buy a shirt with no knowledge of Nepali, their currency or their shirt measurements. The shop owner spoke only a little broken English. It was no problem to point to a shirt. But he was totally baffled at “large.” He pulled one out for me, undid all the pins and forms, saying the whole time: “You’ll like, fit fine.” Even when I was unable to pull the sleeves on, he continued saying: “fit fine.” Ok so I showed him it did not fit fine saying: “Not fine, larger.” We went through the same process with three dress shirts, each larger but too small. The largest was 54, whatever that is measuring. So then he was trying to sell me a t-shirt which I intended to wear for teaching at Pastoral Conference. “You’ll like,” he says handing me one that says “superstar” in glittering letters, then one with a female singer on it and so on. Meanwhile I am looking around for anything, which might work. I finally spotted a polo shirt which seemed conservative. It was also 54 so I tried my “larger” request again to no avail. But I tried it on and because it was short sleeves and knit it was fine. So I had a clean shirt for PC.

Pokhara is beside a beautiful Mt lake. There is a German bakery across the street. When we first got here I didn’t even know Matthew had gone out when returned with cheesecake and a very satisfied grin.

Tuesday July 10

So on Sunday we set out for Shaktikhor. And Monday AM we started on our “7 hour” hike to Rajbhog. We started at an elevation of 1000 ft and climbed to 4600 ft and then back down a 1000 ft on the other side. About 80% of the ascent part was @ 60% incline or more. I am told people are warned not to ascend in altitude more than 3500 ft in a day. With all the warnings about this climb and after the difficulty with the previous Mt hike (though that one was only 700 ft. Increase overall in altitude) I was a little concerned about how well I would be able to handle it. However things were going fine and my apprehension was decreasing. Then after a break, my calf muscle ” froze up”. I suppose I should have known to keep moving and not rest like the others – the susceptibility of an old man. So the rest of the climb I was kneading my calf, stretching and limping.

Pastor Ramchandra who lives about two hours up the Mt was guiding us up the Mt. We did not go to his village and church though we saw them from a distance. he came to faith about 10 years ago. A lady was distributing gospel tracts and he was curious. He thought there must be some “secret” to Christianity and so came down the Mt and attended a church to find out what it was. He kept attending and eventually started a congregation in his own village. One of the people he shared his faith with was Bir Bahadur who then started a congregation in his own village, which is Rajbhog where we went. By God’s miraculous grace, his whole village has come to faith, about 250.

So when we got to the village we were ready to relax but the only place to sit or lie was the cement floor of the church and the flies were swarming all over us, no screens. Sleeping that night was also on the cement floor.

The Lord blessed the seminar abundantly. There were about 200 people there. They started as normal with an hour of singing with some readings and prayers between the songs. We then taught from 10 AM -1PM with some song interludes. The people were very thankful. What a delight to share the word.

Two teenage girls asked if we could take their picture with one of us. When we then showed them the picture that started a line of people wanting their picture taken.

Raju wisely arranged to get bamboo sticks for walking sticks going down the Mt. That really helped keep our balance on steep slippery slopes and to relieve the strain on knees going down. We had gotten some leeches on the way up. One I had, had been their a while and as a result I assume of an anticoagulant they insert it was bleeding for hours. So on the way down, they had us but water our feet and then rub salt all over them. That kept the leeches off, none on the way down. however, the course salt also was a frictional irritant between the outside of my feet and the sandals. Very quickly my little toes were rubbed raw. They are quite a sight.

Today then we continued on to Pokhara. The bus was to come at 6 AM. We were finishing packing when at 5:30 we heard the bus going by. Well it wasn’t late but the effect was even worse. We finally then ended up riding on the back of motorcycles with all our luggage to where we could get ,a tuk tuk and then a bus etc. We spent the whole day traveling. One bus broke down and we had to wait in the intense heat to get another bus. The buses were absolutely packed and hot. There was a goat on the bus with us pooping all over the floor. Matthew and I had just commented that at least we have not been stoned like Paul. But the bus ride today felt like being stoned. We were continually for 7 hours bouncing into the ceiling, each other and on the hard seats. I admit I have never been stoned, but it feels like it. But we made it, thank you Jesus.

Saturday July 7th

We spent last night with the Pastor and his family including four orphans at Hetaudo. I asked him what led him to Christianity and to recognize the errors of Hinduism. He answered, the mess, namely the mess his life was in and as a result his families until Jesus found them. They had a great meal for us.

This AM I preach in their church service and Matthew conducts a seminar afterwards. Then we leave for Shaktipur. Sunday we set out on a 7 hour hike up the mountains. No roads available. The congregation is tribal people with little if any formal education ( that is the adults there is school now for the children). Since there are no roads there will be no bottled water anywhere so we have to backpack in everything we need. My blisters are all new skin so probably more susceptible to more blisters. Mess. But thanks be to God that He turns our messes to joy in Christ.

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