India – Short Term
Mission Trip
Lake Forest Community
Church
Written by: Steve Brumm
October, 2003
Introduction
This is the
story of a mission trip that Pastor Mitch White and I took to northern India
from September 14-30, 2003. After a few
days on the trip, we realized that this was going to be something special and
that we needed to start writing things down, otherwise many of our memories
would be forgotten.
Why were we
going to India? It was a question that
we asked ourselves more than once. It
began when a young pastor by the name of Nandu Gurung came to North Carolina in
November, 1999. Pastor Gurung was 24 or
25 years old at the time. He came
primarily to attend a conference at Billy Graham’s training center, The Cove,
located in Asheville, North Carolina.
Nandu had always admired Dr. Graham and when he met a young missionary
from North Carolina by the name of Jonathan Grimes, he knew that this was his time. Jonathan is the son of Dave and Joyce Grimes,
ministry partners at Lake Forest.
During
Nandu’s trip to the U.S., I had the opportunity to spend a good deal of time
with him. I was taken by his gentle
spirit and intense desire to serve God.
He spent a couple of nights at our home. On the last night, he asked if he could pray for our family. He proceeded to ask God to bless each member
of our family in a way that I will never forget.
As he left,
I said that I would love to come visit him in India some day. I was only half serious. Not understanding that folks from the South
say stuff like that all the time without meaning it, Nandu started talking
about dates. We continued to correspond
by e-mail and, as God would have it, 2003 turned out to be the year to go.
Mitch was
apparently also up for a little adventure, so he said he would like to
accompany me. I think maybe he had just
finished the book Wild at Heart.
Maybe it had been Harrison Ford week on TBS. At any rate, having a trained pastor with me on the trip ended up
being a godsend. We planned the trip
with two fuzzy goals. The first was to
encourage our Christian brothers in a part of the world that experiences much
religious persecution. The second was to
learn how we could help spread the gospel in this part of India. About three weeks before we were to leave,
Nandu e-mailed our schedule which had us traveling to many areas meeting with
church leaders. He asked us to prepare
some “teachings”. What we thought would
be small group discussions ended up being full blown worship services of two to
four hours each. Mitch ended up
preaching twelve times and I preached five.
Not only was Mitch a great travel companion, but he really stepped up to
the plate in the area of spiritual leadership.
In typing
this journal I have edited out much of the daily routine and tried to focus on
the people we met and the interesting or entertaining aspects of our trip. In keeping with what I learned on an earlier
short-term mission trip to Bolivia, we made sure to start each day together
sharing a devotion and end each day (except one) in a time of debriefing.
I hope you enjoy reading about our adventure and I pray that by reading this you gain a vision for what God is doing in northern India.
September 14-16:
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Mick Moses
and Alex Madrid picked us each up at our homes to take us to the Charlotte
Airport for our 7 pm flight. Mitch and
his family were having a hard time saying goodbye. Somewhere in the back of our minds we were both wondering why we
were leaving our safe, comfortable environment to go to a place that we really
didn’t know anything about. Anyway, we
were going.
We had four
flights and one three-hour taxi drive ahead of us. The first flight to Washington D.C. went well. The next leg to Frankfurt had a slight delay,
but we ended up getting to Frankfurt in plenty of time for the flight to
Delhi. Neither of us was very excited
about getting on a plane for another eight hours.
We landed
in Delhi, and after going through customs, we were directed to a shuttle bus
that took us from the international airport to the domestic airport. There were a lot of armed military types in
Delhi. There is apparently a pretty big
problem with Muslim terrorists (sound familiar?). I guess we didn’t look like Muslims because they didn’t pay too
much attention to us.
It was
about 2 am local time and our next flight didn’t leave until 5:50 am. We were getting pretty goofy from the lack
of sleep, but were feeling relaxed having made it this far. We were definitely in a different world. We suddenly
stuck out. On the plane ride from Delhi
to Bagdogra, the flight attendants wore traditional Indian dresses called
Kuthas and served rice and curry with local music playing in the background. I’m not sure what I was expecting, steak and
Frank Sinatra?
We landed
at Bagdogra Airport at about 8:45 am on September 16 only a few minutes late. I had been concerned about flight delays that
might cause us to miss Pastor Nandu who was scheduled to pick us up at 8:30 am. When we came out of the airport, there was
no Nandu. After waiting around for
about a half hour, I tried his home number.
His sister answered the phone and said that he had called her from the
road and had been delayed by a mud slide.
He should be there in about an hour.
No problem.
While we were waiting in front of the airport, an armed military type came up to us and said he needed me to come with him with both our passports. I was sure this was a shakedown since I had just indiscreetly flashed a wad of Rupees when buying some orange drinks. Stupid. Both Mitch and I were about four inches taller and fifty pounds heavier than anyone there so I tried to look tough. The only problem was that there were three of them and they had guns. After inspecting the passports, he
| stamped them and gave them
back. I waited around for a second to
find out what the “fee” was for the stamp, but it never came, so I got out of
there. Nandu arrived at the airport at 10 am with another guy that was apparently a taxi driver. We drove to the nearby town and had lunch before the rest of the drive to Kalimpong It is impossible to adequately describe the experience of riding in a taxi in India with mere words. The best New |
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York cabby couldn’t hold a candle
to the skill, aggression andfearlessness of one of these
guys. Mitch and I vacillated between
shear terror and amazement as the autos, rickshaws, motorcycles, trucks,
pedestrians and dogs all wove a high energy dance without anyone banging into
each other. We really needed to mount a
video camera on the dash next time. Feeling just a little bit like John Candy and Steve Martin, we arrived in Kalimpong thirty seven hours after the start of our journey. We were tired, but adrenaline had kicked in, so we agreed that Nandu would meet us back at the hotel in a few hours. |
| The Cloud 9 Hotel was actually quite nice.
The proprietor, a man named Binod, was an interesting guy who reminded me of
one of those throw-back hippies you run into around Ashville.
We later learned that he had a bad drinking problem. His English was excellent and he loved
the Beatles, so he couldn’t be all bad.
Mitch and I cleaned up, rested for a short while, and met in the restaurant on the ground floor for a meal of chicken curry and rice. It was pretty spicy but tasted great. |
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Nandu showed up but didn’t eat. We talked about the schedule for the following day. At Nandu’s request, Mitch had prepared some information on the subjects of drug abuse and suicide. This was apparently a pretty big problem that the Church was dealing with in this area. The e-mail had said that we were going to be meeting with a group of church leaders, so Mitch had planned sort of a discussion type teaching. Apparently that was the original plan, but things had changed. Nandu informed us that he had rented the town hall and had invited all the Christian churches in Kalimpong (about ten small churches) as well as local politicians. He was expecting about |
three hundred people. Mitch took it in
stride.
September 17: Kalimpong
| I slept pretty well except for the monkey fight that woke me up. Did I mention that there were monkeys here? Anyway, after breakfast and tea, Nandu picked us up to look around Kalimpong. He wanted us to buy long sleeve shirts and ties for the big event. One of the remnants of British rule in India is that they still expect honored guests to dress kind of formal. While shopping, we ran into an American named Linda who was from Virginia Beach. She invited us to come to her house the next day for tea. We agreed to come to her house in the morning before heading to Pedong. |
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When we went back to the Cloud 9 to prepare for the big meeting, Binod informed us that a lady named Moneema wanted to meet with us to talk about her son who had a severe drug problem and was near death. She had asked Nandu if it would be all right if she talked about her situation at the big meeting and he asked her to contact us. Her story was heart wrenching. Before getting hooked on drugs, her son had been a gifted athlete, with good looks and intelligence. He seemingly had everything going for him. Mitch and I later discussed how people don’t worry about kids who appear to have their act together when, in fact, if they don’t know Christ, they are as lost as the worst drug addict.
She had
been praying and fasting for days asking God to save her son. We learned that in this culture, even in the
Christian Church, drug abuse was a major social stigma and that generally
people did not talk about it. She
didn’t care. She had enlisted every
Christian she knew, including making connections to prayer groups in the U.S.A.,
to pray for her son.
“Why won’t
God save him?” she pleaded.
Mitch’s counseling was right on, but I don’t think it was the answer she wanted to hear. He told her that Jesus was crying for her son and wanted him to come to Him as well, but that no one could make that decision but her son. We thought that it would be good to tell her story at the meeting if she
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was up to it.
When we arrived at the auditorium,
we were ushered to the front row. It
was like an old movie theatre with a high stage and lots of lights. After the formalities, a youth band started
up with a group of about fifty singers.
The band leader, a young man Kyle Dillard would have been proud of, led
us in a great time of praise and worship.
If it weren’t for the ties we were wearing, it would have felt like we were
back home at Lake Forest. About halfway through the music, the power went out. |
The leader didn’t miss a beat. We later learned that the power typically goes out several times a day around here. Not knowing that, Mitch leaned over and asked me if I thought they were going to get that fixed. He was obviously worried about it happening during his talk. We found out the answer
| about halfway through Mitch’s message.
We sat there in complete darkness for about ten minutes and I could only
imagine what was going through Mitch’s mind.
With the interpretation and technical problems, I could tell he was struggling. The points, however, were
delivered clearly and I think generally everything went well.
After the meeting we went back to the Cloud 9. Nandu, and one of his elders named Anup, came over for dinner and we discussed the schedule for the following day. We were going to a |
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town called Pedong and were going to have two sessions, one with church leaders and one with the youth. I agreed to take the first session and teach out of Timothy on leadership and Mitch would take the youth.
September 18: Pedong
After a
nice hike up the mountain to look at a Buddhist Monastery, Nandu picked us up
to go to Linda’s house for tea before heading to Pedong. Linda and her husband Harry are in their
late fifties and had been in the mission field for about nine years. Harry had taken early retirement from his
practice as an optometrist. It sounded
like India was maybe their third country.
Nandu knew Linda and Harry, but didn’t give us any idea what we were
getting into.
Being with
Linda and Harry was like watching a satirical training film on what not to do
or say in the mission field. Linda did
most of the talking. We cringed as she
delivered a series of one line insults.
“I hate Darjeeling.”
“The people here don’t understand the meaning of the word ‘character’.”
“The pastors here are corrupt.”
“They don’t
have a word for ‘table’ here. Napali is
a very limited language.”
I kept
looking out of the corner of my eye at Nandu to measure his reaction. If I didn’t know better, I would have
thought that he didn’t understand a word she was saying. No reaction whatsoever.
The house was decorated like a home in Virginia. Not one bit of local culture. Linda was an interior decorator and had hired a man to custom build furniture that she designed to make her feel at home.
“You must
bring your wives home some fabric. You
can buy yard upon yard of goooooorgeous fabric for one dollar.”
“So Linda,
what is it you are trying to accomplish here?”, Mitch asked. “Change”
That was her
goal. To make this culture look and
feel like the good ole U.S.A...
As we were trying to leave, Linda delivered her final request. “Please send me a Christmas tree from Walmart.”
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A nervous laugh and then the realization that she was completely serious. ------------------- We began our drive to Pedong in silence. After a while I asked Nandu how he felt about what Linda said. He quietly asked us how we would feel if he came to our country |
and said “I hate West Virginia”. He loved and was proud of his country. We made it clear that we thought Linda and Harry were way out of
line.
Up until this point, Nandu had been totally serious. In fact, I didn’t know that he has a humorous bone in his body.
Nandu
proceeded to imitate many of the insults Linda had previously hurled at India. We died laughing. “Please send me a Christmas tree from Waaaaaaalmart.” “Mitch, you look gooooooorgeous in those
sunglasses.” I will always be grateful
to Linda for bringing comic relief to our trip.
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After about forty-five minutes, I was out of material. I suggested that we move on to Mitch’s topic with the youth. Nandu nodded and as Mitch |
approached the podium,
Nandu said that Mitch should continue to teach on leadership. In one of the great saves of the trip, Mitch
flipped to Titus and somehow taught for another forty-five minutes. We had a short break, and then Mitch led a
fun session with the youth.
The pastor’s wife had invited us over for dinner. To get to their house we had to hike about a half mile up a fairly steep mountain. On the way he showed us their new church building that was
| near completion.
Nandu had spent much of his youth in Pedong and he seemed at home with Pastor
Jonathon and his wife Usha. As we talked, we began to unpeel the breadth of pastor Jonathon’s ministry. We learned that early in his ministry he and his wife hiked up and down the mountainside evangelizing non-believers and encouraging believers. He had recruited and mentored leaders throughout the region and was responsible for planting over fifteen churches. |
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While having dinner, Usha casually asked if we had seen the children. We were just a little confused since their only son was having dinner with us and their daughters had already finished college. After dinner, Usha showed us what she was talking about. |
We first went into the boy’s dormitory, and lined up were row
after row of bunk beds. In the beds
were seventeen boys sitting quietly doing their homework.
I took several pictures to bring back to my children. Mitch
pulled out a bag of candy and passed out the pieces. Each boy sat quietly and
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waited for their piece.
No one asked him for a second piece and they all smiled
and thanked him. I really thought I
was in heaven. |
It was
getting late so we said our goodbyes and Jonathon and Usha’s son, Allen, guided
us down the hill. Along the way he told
us that he was in love with a Hindu girl.
He knew that he couldn’t marry her, but his heart was torn. He had not told his parents that he was in
love with her because he knew how they would feel about the situation. We were glad that he was comfortable talking
to us. We reinforced his convictions
with some real life examples. He was so
much like his parents that we left feeling confident that he would make the
right decision.
As Mitch and I discussed the day, we came to two conclusions. One was that pastor Jonathon had been a big influence on Nandu which explained a lot of Nandu’s spiritual maturity and zeal to serve God. The second thing that became clear was that the most effective way to advance the gospel at least in this area was through local pastors. As the trip progressed we began to realize what a significant influence Nandu could have in evangelizing this part of the world and that it would be a blessing to our church body if we could be a part of this ministry.
September 19 & 20: Jaigon (Bhutan border)
Jaigon is on the border of Bhutan, a small country that is intent on becoming pure Buddhist.
| It is illegal to openly worship
God or build church buildings in Bhutan, but they tolerate worship in the
privacy of your home. Attempts to convert anyone to
Christianity will land you in jail or get you exiled. We later learned that there was an incredible spiritual battle
taking place in Jaigon that was in your face and quite disturbing. One of the elders from another church in Kalimpong, named Martin, joined us on the trip to Jaigon. He explained that he had been given a heart for the people of Jaigon and went there |
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about once a month to encourage them. On the way to Jaigon, we passed an area where Nandu said a medical team from Texas had come to treat locals. Nandu met some of the people from this Texas
| church when in seminary in
Kathmandu. While the medical team treated patients, the local pastors told
them that if they were interested in permanent healing to return later that
night. He said that the team
saw over 1000 patients in three days and that almost all of them returned at
night and heard the gospel. For
many of these patients, it was their first time seeing a doctor, as well as
their first time hearing the gospel.
As we entered the town, we passed several Hindu idols, |
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and a parade of idol worshippers came by our car. They had a crazed look in their eyes. We learned
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that it was common for Hindu’s to use drugs, generally marijuana, while worshipping their idols. I found it interesting that Hinduism was so
pervasive in a town that bordered a purely Buddhist country. The heat and extreme poverty contributed to the feeling of oppression in this city. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a short walk around town before heading to the church for the evening service. |
The church
was small, but packed in about 100 people.
You could tell at the onset of the service that this was a much more
charismatic service than we were used to.
We think they were speaking in tongues, but it was kind of hard to tell
since we didn’t understand the language.
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Mitch gave the message and, while he
was talking, I glanced out a little door to the stoop where we had left our
shoes, and noticed a small goat chewing his shoe lace. I managed not to laugh, but was glad that I
was seated behind him and couldn’t make eye contact. After the service, about a dozen people lined up at the front of the sanctuary and Nandu asked us to pray for them. Most wanted us to pray for healing, but a few wanted God to bless their ministry. |
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The following morning we checked out of the hotel and drove
down the block. We thought we were just turning around. The next thing we knew, Nandu had pulled up
to the security post at the Bhutan border and was talking to the guy waiving at
us in the back seat. I remembered
Jonathan Grimes saying, “Do not cross through immigration into Bhutan.” I thought we had talked about this.
I leaned
forward, “Uh, Nandu……, what are we doing?”
“Buying gas”, he replied. He said that the guard gave him permission to cross the border to buy gas
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because it was a lot cheaper in Bhutan. Great! We were risking an illegal entry into a country that did not want us there to save a dollar in gasoline. My dad would love this guy.
Mitch and I were a little anxious to buy the gas and get back into good ole India. Nandu thought that while we were in Bhutan we should stop for breakfast. At breakfast, Nandu said we could pray, but quietly in a conversational way, without bowing our heads or folding our hands. No problem. |
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We finished and moved on to the gas station, but stopped so Martin could buy some apples on the way. As we waited in the car, I noticed that Nandu was playing praise music pretty loud on the tape player and the windows were wide open.
“Nandu, if
they don’t want us praying in public, should we be blasting praise music out
the windows?”
“Oh yeah, I
forgot.”
Why don’t
we just start handing out Bibles on the street?, I wanted to ask.
As you
might have guessed, we made it back across the border without a problem. We drove back to Kalimpong and blew a tire
on the way. They actually still have
inner tubes in all their tires. I hadn’t
seen those in a while.
The Cloud 9 was actually starting to feel like home. Binod welcomed us back and we were able to rest a while before Nandu picked us up to take us to his favorite Chinese restaurant. The food was similar to what I get back home at Lotus 28, which for some reason made me feel good. We had a relaxed meal and then visited the other pastor at Nandu’s church, Pastor Jyuty.
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Pastor Jyuty and his wife and three month old baby boy live in a small place behind a phone call shop that the pastor’s wife operates. Since most people don’t have phones of their own, they go to small neighborhood shops and pay to make calls on a per minute basis. Nandu explained that because their church could not pay enough to support them, both he and Pastor Jyuty needed supplemental income to live. Nandu told us that he also had a phone call shop that his sister operated for him. |
As we drove
back to the hotel, Nandu asked Mitch to preach in the morning (Sunday service)
on the subject of tithing. After a
short pause Mitch responded, “I can do that.”
September 21: Kalimpong
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Sunday
morning. We went to Nandu’s house for
brunch before worship. His sister and a
young girl that lives with them served us.
That’s right, served us. They
did not join us at any point. This
practice, with one exception, was the way it was every place we went. The woman of the house would serve and not join
us in the meal. It was odd at first,
but we got used to it. Nandu’s house was very nice. He had a kitchen, dining room, sitting room and two bedrooms. Very clean and orderly. He told us that it was provided by the church. |
After lunch
we had coffee in the sitting room, and in a rare moment Nandu opened up and
told us his story and the vision God had given him for his ministry.
When
finishing divinity school in Kathmandu, Nandu received what he believed to be a
clear direction to go to Kalimpong for his ministry. He made a covenant with God that he would serve Him no matter
what his circumstances and no matter what the danger. He remembered thinking about Job and said that he wanted to have
that kind of faith. He did not know how
prophetic his words would turn out to be.
After arriving in Kalimpong with no money or job, he wandered the streets for five months praying to God to allow him to serve these people. He was able to find food and shelter most of the time, but he said that these were incredibly difficult times. He eventually told God that if this is where He wanted him to serve, He was going to have to take care of him.
| At the end
of the five months he hooked up with his current church, Apostolic Covenant
Fellowship. He found out that the
congregation had been praying since the time he was in seminary for God to send
them a young pastor. Their current
pastor was in his 80’s and was ready to slow down. This was the confirmation that he was looking for to know that
this was the place God had sent him to serve. Nandu told us that the church pays him 1500 rupees per month. That amounts to just under $400 per year. Now |
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money goes a lot farther in India, but he probably couldn’t
survive without the small supplemental income from his
shop. He has told the congregation that
if they can’t afford to pay him, he will still serve them.
Nandu’s
vision is to start churches in every village around Kalimpong, much like his
friend and mentor Pastor Jonathon from Pedong.
He also has a vision of starting a training center for pastors
throughout the region. Most of the
pastors were self trained. Nandu has
been collecting books and identifying potential teachers for the center.
Nandu also
has a desire to get a Masters Degree in Divinity. Later, Mitch and I discussed that he would investigate the
possibility of Gordan-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte approaching
Nandu with some type of scholarship offer.
After coffee, we walked next door to church. It was a lively charismatic service and Mitch delivered his message out of Malachi on tithing. We then drove up the mountain to a public park. The views were incredible. Anup came along, and although we couldn’t communicate very well, it was nice that he wanted to be with us. It was kind of funny because he would say something to us supposedly in English and, not understanding a word, we would nod politely. We would say things to him and he would do the same. We mainly just smiled and nodded heads a lot.
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We dropped off Anup and headed to
Nandu’s fiancé’s house to have dinner with her and her mother. The blushing bride to be is named Anupama
Mishra, Anu for short. It didn’t take long to see that Nandu had developed a
great friendship with both Anu and her mother.
You could tell that they adored him. Anu is 22 years old and seems like a perfect match for Nandu. Her father died when she was about nine. Consequently, she and her mother live on one level of a house with other relatives. We figured out that her mother was 39. Again, when it came time for dinner, her mother did not sit down and eat with us. She was a great cook and we |
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ate like Vikings. After dinner we started to go into the sitting room to talk and Anu noticed that we hadn’t eaten the desert.
“Oh no, we
couldn’t”, I told her patting my stomach.
“By the way, what is it?”
“Rice
Pudding”
Mitch and I looked at each other and nodded in agreement, “Bring it on.”
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September 22 & 23: Darjeeling We said goodbye to Kalimpong and the Cloud 9 and started on the three hour drive to Darjeeling. Anup again joined us, more smiling and nodding. The three cylinder engine on the vehicle Nandu had rented needed frequent stops to cool as we were climbing some pretty steep mountains. Women and children somehow remained balanced on the steep slopes trimming the bushes harvesting the world famous ‘Darjeeling’ tea. |
We learned on the way that our time in
Darjeeling would be spent with a group of high school and college students from
several churches that had come together for a sort of youth retreat. The retreat was planned as a result of our
visit.
We arrived at the church, an old building leftover from days of British rule. A youth band was playing and about fifty kids were streaming in. The music finished and Mitch delivered his teaching. We had some more music, followed by a break at which time Nandu said that Mitch should speak on another subject for another hour. Somehow between my laughing and Mitch’s reaction, Nandu decided that he would give the next message.
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One hour solid, no notes,
no preparation. Whatever he said, the
kids were hanging on every word. This
guy is good. The seven band members told Nandu that they wanted to get together with us in the evening so we arranged to meet them back at our hotel at 7 pm. We rapped with these dudes for quite a while. Their main issue was that they really wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, not just play music. As we heard more about their individual stories, we learned that one was struggling with drugs, one with alcohol, and that two were Buddhists. Mitch, having spent |
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nine years in college ministry, was in his element. He told them that to really make a difference and be used by God, they all needed to accept Christ. We talked some more and then prayed together. It was great to see their sincere desire to seek God.
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The following day started again with
music. I then taught out of Malachi,
and we concluded the morning session.
We walked around town during the break, and I noticed a guy in a barber
shop getting a shave. When Nandu told
me that it would cost less than 25 rupees (around 55 cents) I jumped up in the
seat. I ended up getting a shave,
facial, head and neck massage for 30 rupees. We went back to the church, and Mitch gave a message about something that I didn’t listen to because I was journaling. After all, how many times can a guy listen |
to Mitch preach?
After
Mitch’s message, we broke up into small groups and prayed. I was with four boys that looked to be about
eighteen. The way we did it was that
one person in the group would give their prayer request, then everyone in the
group would pray at the same time, out loud, for that person. When it was my turn, I asked them to pray
for Mary Ann and the kids. It was
really cool to have four young men sincerely praying for my family.
As we ended, one of the leaders gave us gifts which included a bag of Darjeeling tea and a picture of Darjeeling embossed on wood.
September 24: Rangpo, Sikkim
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Sikkim had
been an independent country until 1975 when the people of Sikkim revolted
against the King. India took advantage
of the situation and took control. We knew that this was going to be the most rustic place we would worship. Nandu pointed to the church building on the side of the mountain across the river. It was similar to a park shelter with a roof, concrete floor and no walls. The people of this congregation were incredibly joyous, and worshipping with them was one of the highlights of the trip. |
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We went to the pastor’s house for dinner. He told us that when he was called by God to enter the ministry, he had a very good government job. He was afraid to leave the comfortable place so he didn’t answer the call. He put God off. Time went by and then his wife developed a brain infection. The doctors told him that she was going to die. God then reminded him of his calling to the ministry. He asked God to please spare his wife so that he could enter the ministry together with her. This was not your typical “God if you do this I promise……” No, this was like Jonah saying to God, “Get me out of the belly of this fish and I will go to Ninevah.” |
We said our
goodbyes and went to the hotel. As I
laid my head down and tried to close my eyes I kept looking at the lizards
crawling on my walls and ceiling.
Finally, exhaustion took over and I slept.
September 25 & 26: Gangtok, Sikkim
Gangtok is
the capital of the state of Sikkim. It
is decidedly more sophisticated than the other places we had been. The church that we would be at for two days
was the largest in this region of India with around 200 members. The church was started by elders and they
had never had a pastor. (Mitch didn’t
think this was a good idea.) We learned
that two of the elders basically controlled the church and that they shared the
responsibilities of a pastor.
As we
entered the first service, a little girl came up to me and bowed her head,
waiting for something. We had learned
that the typical way Christian’s great each other, is to put their hands
together and say, “Jai Mashi”, (which means something like ‘glory to
God’). I tried that but it didn’t
work. Nandu told me that when children
do that we were to touch their head lightly and say, “God bless you.”
Just before
entering the first service, one of the elders showed Mitch a letter that he had
sent to the other churches in the area.
It announced our visit, and said that Pastor Mitch would be talking
about the subjects of suicide and drug abuse.
This was not the topic Mitch had been prepared to talk about. I think he was getting used to surprises,
because he just laughed and somehow worked the subjects of suicide and drug
abuse into his planned subject.
The following day was going to be jammed. We were going to be driving for one and a half hours each way to the China border to see Lake Tsonga, elevation 12,400 feet. We were then to return to Gangtok for an afternoon Q & A session, mainly with the youth, followed by a two hour service in which both Mitch and I were going to preach.
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The tour guide picked us up and started the 7000 foot climb up the mountain. It got colder and the air got thinner. When we reached Lake Tsonga, it was down right chilly. There were a bunch of yaks hanging around and guys trying to get us to take a yak ride around the lake. Since we had been cramped in the car for quite a while, we decided to hike. Along the walk, Nandu started getting a runny nose so he asked Mitch for some Kleenex. The next thing we know, Nandu has stuffed the Kleenex up his nose leaving 2-3 inches hanging down. He just kept talking and smiling like he didn’t know they were there. We couldn’t control ourselves and |
busted out laughing. It was great to see how comfortable he had gotten around us.
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When we returned to Gangtok, all three of us were wiped out. It turns out that we were experiencing something called ‘elevation fatigue’. At any rate, all we wanted to do was go to sleep, but that was not going to happen.
We struggled through the afternoon session and evening service. In all honesty we didn’t see the joy in this congregation that we saw in most of the others. Maybe because these people had busier lives and were tired. Maybe it was just the fact that it had become more of an establishment and had gotten into more of a routine. Maybe we were just tired. |
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Mitch tried to lighten things up by telling
the congregation that we were homesick and asking them to say, “Hey y’all”,
which they did pretty well. It caught
me by surprise and I busted out laughing.
We went back to the hotel, had a light dinner and crashed. We were looking forward to our trip the next day to Rorathang.
September 27: Rorathang
On the way to Rorathang, Nandu pointed out that our visa restricted us to the main roads. Apparently India wants to hide the rural villages from tourists. He said that if someone said anything, it would be on him (whatever that meant).
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We were
really excited about seeing Rorathang since this was the location of the church
that Lake Forest had helped build.
Nandu’s father is the pastor of this church so we were also excited to
meet his parents. As we drove, Nandu pointed to the jungle and migrated across the river to a path where his father and mother hiked about one and one half hours each way over the mountain from home to the church located in town. The big problem occurred during the monsoon season when the |
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tigers came out of the jungle to the clearings near the river.
When we met his father, we saw a sort of steely strength brought on by years of hard
work. The church building, while not finished, was functional on the first and second floors. The first floor was used for worship and the second was used as a place for Nandu’s parents to sleep on the nights when it was too late to walk home. There are plans to add a third floor when funds are available. Nandu told us that they planned to use two of the floors for either a small orphanage or a school. |
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We sat for a
minute and had some Pepsi before beginning worship which would last from noon
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until 4 pm. The small church was packed to the gills
with more people actually standing outside looking in. People from home churches in the surrounding
area had heard we were coming and made the trek to see and hear us. Mitch preached the first session, and after a short break I preached the second. We joked that after interpreting the same sermons so many times, Nandu knew what we were going to say before we did. There were several pastors present and they listened intently. None of them had any training or education to speak of, and they were hungry to learn. |
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After the service, we prayed with
several in the congregation and headed back to the ‘Lizard Inn’ in Rangpo. There were no hotels in Rorathang. Mitch had my room from our last stay here,
which we dubbed the ‘Lizard Lounge’, since the little fellas traveled freely in
and out through the broken window. The three of us convened in the Lizard Lounge to talk. We had asked Nandu earlier in the trip to think about ways that Lake Forest can help his ministry. We took this time to discuss his needs. We told him that we couldn’t make any promises, but |
that we would present these needs to the mission team when we returned.
September 28: Rangpo and Kalimpong
| We went to a larger church in Rangpo where Mitch was to preach for the last time before heading home. Before entering the parsonage to meet with the pastor, I bet Mitch twenty rupees that they were going to have a special request or ask him to change the subject of his message. This seemed like a safe bet since that had happened almost everywhere we went. I ended up winning the bet, but Mitch had the last laugh. The pastor told us that he wanted us to preach for two hours and that each of us should take half. Nothing like finding out you are going to preach just before walking into the service. Luckily, I had my notes with me. |
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The pastor,
a named Bharad Rai, had been a champion boxer in the military, before turning
his energy and rage toward serving God.
While we were visiting with him before the service, he said that some
guy named Harsha had called him looking for Nandu. He had instructed Harsha to meet us at the church. We had nearly forgotten that a few days prior
to leaving for the trip, Mick Moses (Pastor Mike’s father) had put us in
contact with an organization called BTCP, Bible Training Center for Pastors. Mick’s brother-in-law had started the
organization in Atlanta. Harsha was the
India director for BTCP, and by coincidence, he was going to be in this part of
India the same time as us. We put him
in contact with Nandu and asked them to arrange a meeting. Harsha and his associate, David, arrived at
the church shortly after us, and we had a minute to talk before going into the
service.
We learned
that Harsha and David were booked on the same flight Mitch and I were scheduled
to take from Bagdogra to Delhi on Monday.
They had booked the flight weeks before we had contacted them. The flight didn’t run on Sunday, so they
thought they were going to have a day to kill.
Keep in mind that these guys lived on the other end of India, so this
would be like someone from California coincidently being in North Carolina at
exactly the right time and having a free day on exactly the right day. We decided that Harsha and David would drive
back to Kalimpong with us, stay at the Cloud 9, then go with us to the airport
the next day.
On the
drive to Kalimpong we all learned more about BTCP. The purpose of BTCP is to train pastors in remote areas using a
fixed curriculum. They don’t do the
training themselves, but rather teach others how to teach the curriculum which
is set up to be fairly self-guiding.
The curriculum was written by a former attorney from Atlanta that had
gone to Dallas Theological Seminary after retiring from practicing law. While on assignment in Kenya, he learned
that nearly all the pastors he met had little or no training. Following this assignment in Kenya, he spent
sixteen months developing a curriculum to train these pastors. This attorney is none other than pastor
Mike’s uncle, Mick’s brother-in-law.
Based
solely on word of mouth, BTCP is now training pastors in over 70
countries. Nandu and Harsha talked for
quite a long time and agreed to talk later about what they needed to do to set
up training in Kalimpong. We are
excited to hear how God will continue to work in that situation.
As Mitch and I went to bed, we could hardly believe that our trip was coming to a close. Our journey back was going to be the same marathon as the one that brought us here, but we didn’t care, we were ready to go home.
Summary
God is
moving in Northern India. It is an
intense battle. Idol worship is pervasive,
completely ingrained in the culture.
The government is controlled by Hindus who are tracking the rise in
Christianity, ready to try to stop it by passing laws that prohibit open evangelism. Christianity is a threat to their political
power and their way of life. God is
raising up an army of soldiers who are battling to spread the good news found only
in Jesus Christ. We met many of these
warriors. They are fearless, intense,
and committed to do His work.
What can we
do to help? First and foremost, we can
commit to pray for these warriors and for their country. Without exception, as we left the company of
these pastors, they looked us straight in the eye and asked us to pray for
them. This was not a meaningless,
casual request, but a plea for us to join them in the battle. What else can we do? Listen to God speaking to your heart. Is he calling you to go to India to give encouragement? Is he calling you to do a medical ministry
like the group from Texas? Be sensitive
to His call and obedient as you sense it.
One need
that was identified is the support of some of the pastors in smaller
villages. Their flocks are small and
very poor, so these pastors have to spend a great deal of time working, just to
survive. We discussed asking community
groups to adopt pastors, so that the pastors can focus on spreading the gospel,
and taking care of their flock. In most
cases, a pastor in one of these villages can live on about fifty dollars per
month. This plan is still being formulated;
however, please call Mitch if your community group has any interest in being
involved.
There are
other needs that we will present to the Lake Forest Missions Team along with
our ideas based on what we saw and heard.
Finally, please feel free to call Mitch at 704-895-7405 or me at 704-892-5220 if you are interested in hearing more about our trip.
India Prayer List
Pastor Nandu Gurung- Kalimpong
Pastor Jonathon Phipon and wife Usha- Pedong
Pastor Joel Leptha- Jaigon
Pastor S.K. Ronggong- Darjeeling
Pastor C.K. Rai- Rangpo
Elders L.B. Rai and Nilu Mishra- Gangtok
Pastor Obet Gurung- Rorathang
Pastor Bharad Rai- Rangpo
Pastor Jyuty- Kalimpong