Crashing Hard!

After eating dinner (at 11 p.m. … whoof! According to Raj, “Indians can’t sleep without dinner in their stomachs, even if that dinner happens at midnight”), we returned back to the church, rolled out our mats on the floor, and crashed hard! And when I say “hard”, I mean that we were really tired, and also that the floor is really hard.

Village Life...

Wow, you should have seen how Jodi and Brandy were the hit of the evening in the two villages that we visited. At both locations, we packed into the hut of a local person who knows Pastor Samuel and waited as the drama unfolded around us. What follows is a brief explanation of each.

Village #1: We met on the porch of a woman who, along with her husband, were recently threatened to stop following Jesus. The attackers were armed, and cut her face with a knife, as well as her husband’s arms. They also threatened to return and kill them, but a neighbor called the police and were able to intervene before the attackers could return. A police case was filed, and is now under investigation. The process has actually caused other people in the village to be alerted to the claims of Jesus as they have been amazed at her tenacity and the strength that her faith affords her, and even a few of the initial attackers have come, asked for forgiveness, and begun exploring what it means to follow Jesus. In addition, I also looked over one of Pastor Samuel’s helper’s shoulders and recognized that the content of the Bible study material being used is actually the translated version of the 101 CORE class. When I asked Raj about it, he confirmed that each of the people who were present were proceeding through the 101 CORE class materials and were proceeding toward membership. Here in India, they divide the CORE class materials into 10 – 1 hour lessons rather than doing 1 4 or 5 hour class like we do at GCC.

Village #2: In village #2, we gathered into the hut of a nurse named Susi who also helps Pastor Samuel. She works at a local hospital by day, and helps Samuel at night by conducting Bible studies and…yes, again…CORE class materials in the local village contexts. Two cool things that happened in this village were that Jodi cracked everyone up as she learned to say some Tamil phrases. Believe it or not, she’s surprisingly good at it, and amazed everyone at her intonation and pronunciation with just a few times hearing a phrase. In addition, toward the end of the meeting, several men joined the group, looking a little inquisitive, but rather sheepish, and there was a sudden ripple through the group of mostly women. We learned on the back end that the men who joined us had never been to a Bible study before, and that they were largely comprised of the women in the group’s drunken husbands. Whether the husbands came to see the “odd white people” or just were curious doesn’t really matter. It was a cool moment of “potential” when the women saw their men come in, and the men seemed to feel pretty comfortable as well.

Farm Life...

Right outside our little rooms here at Samuel’s church, we have some roving “wildlife” I thought you might like to see. First, there are two goats, both of whom are female, and, for the record, both of whom love banana peels! Also, there is a small flock of the longest-legged chickens I’ve ever seen. It’s a specifically indigenous Indian species, I think, and they stand over two feet tall. They could audition for the Chicken version of the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes… or be on the “most wanted” list for KFC.

School's Out!

After Bible study, we jaunted downtown to grab some bananas and some “sweets” (Raj is very committed to the notion that we will need to try EVERY single kind of dessert or sweet in the country before we leave), and while we were waiting in the car, we noticed a local school was just getting out for the day. Note that at the time of this photo, it was nearly 6 p.m., and the kids usually start around 8 a.m. They also have considerably higher degrees of stringency in regard to subject matter and testing, and from what I can understand, have much higher standards for things like foreign language (many of these kids will speak Tamil, English, and probably Hindi by the time they are 8). I also love the uniforms. Each school has distinctive uniforms, usually typified by specific colors and/or patterns, and as you drive down the street, you can usually identify which kids go to school together simply by the mobs of like-colored dress.

Bible Study with Samuel and the Team...

The group here includes Pastor Samuel and about 15 of his closest peers. These men and women all are engaged in beginning cell-groups or other ministry, and serve as the “staff” for the church, though most of them are unpaid. We spent about an hour with them, introduced our team and what we are hoping to do, and listened to Raj ham it up with a great Bible study on the Apostle Paul and what made him effective in his ministry.

Take Off Thy Shoes!

Here in India, you usually take off your shoes before entering someone’s home or especially a building or “holy place”. I just thought that you might like to see this cool photo because while all the shoes are out here… all the people are in church! Imagine what it would look like at GCC if we all took our shoes off before coming in!

GCC -- India Style!

Samuel is one of the few church planters who have a church facility like this, but his church is strong and he has immense faith. When he asked Raj how big he should build his building, Raj just said casually, “you should consider how big you want your church in the next couple of years? If you want a thousand people, you should build for a thousand people.” So Samuel did. As a result, even though he currently has some 400 members, his auditorium/worship area will easily hold a thousand people.

And want to know what else is cool? He had the engineers design the building so that they could easily “blow the wall out” on the western side when they exceeded a thousand people and mirror the sanctuary for another 1000. I swear, somebody’s been reading GCC’s mail, eh?

Our New Friend, Samuel!

This is Samuel! As mentioned before, he’s quite an extraordinary young man. His family are all Christ-followers, and he grew up in a Christian home, but has faced many challenges as he has been planting churches in this region. We learned yesterday that many of the people that Samuel has led to Christ have been physically beaten or persecuted afterward, and that Samuel himself has been beaten 3 times for his outgoing gregariousness in telling people about Jesus. Still, he stays strong, and his family backs him up all the way. He has benefited tremendously from partnership with TBL and Raj, and has not only successfully and significantly engaged his immediate area, but other villages as far away as 13 km (about 8 miles) and is currently planting “daughter churches” in the remote (and largely unreached) areas. We are looking forward to spending time with him and visiting the homes of many of the people who have already benefited from his ministry, and also in helping in any way that we can to open doors for him that may have previously been closed.

Kavundampadi… Betcha Can’t Say THAT 5 Times Fast!

We arrived at our target destination at just after 1 p.m. and met our church planter and friends. The city we’re in is called Kavundampadi, and will serve as a “base of operations” for us. Our church planter’s name is Samuel, and he’s a gentle, but very charismatic young man (he’s still single, ladies! - see next post for photo and details) who is seriously experiencing the blessing of God as plants churches in this region. His current church has some 400 members, and has grown to that size in just over 3 years, and sports a contextualized, culturally relevant worship service (hmmm… what a novel idea! :- ) that has been very attractive for those people in the area.

Apparently, we will sleep at the church, but make little day-treks out to the villages to engage people with whom he’s been working.

Things On the Way: Neem Tree

We pulled over for another fun Indian treat called a Neem Tree. This is a very famous tree in India, and is both used and grown throughout the country for a variety of purposes. Interestingly, it’s made into both soap and toothpaste here, but Raj instructed that people in the rural villages simply pull off the branches and do the following with it:

* Eat the leaves. Yup, they just chew the leaves and swallow the mixture.

* Brush their teeth with the branches by chewing on the wood. This causes the wood to “fray” and then can be used to brush one’s teeth.

According to Raj, villages that regularly brush with Neem do not experience tooth decay of any kind, or intestinal parasites. This is due to the fact that Neem has high concentrations of a variety of natural chemicals that most troublesome bacteria and worms just don’t find pleasant.

Things on the Way: Elephant!!!

Here in India, while driving along the road, we suddenly looked up to see an elephant walking down the road. It probably should have had a “wide load” sign on its back end, but the sheer novelty of seeing it caused other motorists enough reason to give it a wide path. This particular elephant’s handler was receiving alms (elephants are sacred animals in India) from passers by, and actually just walked right up to the bus in this photo for some quick cash from the bus’s driver. In addition to being a sacred animal, elephants are used for a variety of “heavy labor” functions as well, including tree trimming, hauling, and excavating.

Things On the Way: Tamarine Plant

There is a spice called “Tamarine” here in India that grows on government subsidized trees that grow along the road. Raj pulled the car over and got out, and encouraged us to follow along. Then he climbed a tree and plucked several little bundles that look an awful lot like flat peanuts (in their shells) from the branches. After dropping several of them down, he showed us how to “crack” them open and pull out the pulpy fruit inside. It has a large seed, so you can only really scrape the fruity part off with your teeth before spitting the seed out. According to Raj, the tamarine plant is used extensively in Indian cooking, and the government usually collects and auctions off the fruit of these trees on a regular basis. How does it taste? Well, it’s a little sweet, but mostly sour. We thought it was pretty tasty. Well… at least some of us thought it was tasty. Jodi shown here trying one, and then her subsequent reaction to it.

Ready to Rock!

With the exception of Stephen and Don (who left at 6 a.m. to head to the train station to make their train to Chennai), the rest of the team met downstairs at the Sangam at 8 a.m. after eating a quick breakfast at the Cascade (gear pictured here all ready and loaded up for transit to villages). The TBL staff and planters who were traveling with us gathered in the lobby to meet us, and after a quick prayer, we disbursed with our gear into a small squadron of taxis, cars and SUV’s.

Pictured here as well are several of the team ladies dressed in their new skirts and regalia after our shopping venture on Wednesday night.

Also, as I have been travelling with Jodi, Brandy, Gene, Raj and “The Professor”, what follows for the next several posts will largely focus on that team. When we all gather back again on Sunday from the field, I’ll try to get pictures and stories from each team and post them then.

Quick Note...

Hey, guys, just wanted to let you know that the dates for the posts here are a little "off". I write the blog posts first and then post them en masse when i get a decent Internet connection. It's Friday, for instance, but all my posts thus far only catch us up to about Wednesday night. I'm having to use Raj's computer to post, and will try to do so more as i get the chance, but trying to draft, post and picture everything while still doing all the visiting and things that we're doing as well makes for a tough trick sometimes. Anyway, thanks for your patience! Know that your prayers are felt, appreciated and powerful here! Know as well that your loved ones over here are doing GREAT!!!

-samurai jack

"The Plan"...

We returned to the hotel and explained “the plan” for tomorrow. Here’s how it was going to work:
Sub-Team 1: Jodi, Brandy, Gene, Jack
Location: Kavundampadi
Distance from Trichy: 5 hours (west)
Method of travel: car
TBL staff: Rajendran and “The Professor”
Notes: Our church planter contact is an extremely successful pastor, and currently is planting a single church with over 400 members, with other daughter churches and cell groups in development. Most of the current work he does is within villages that surround the church building, and there is a fairly high instance of persecution among the people with whom he works who come to Christ.
Sub-Team 2: Josh, Hayley
Location: Kalavai
Distance from Trichy: 8 hours
Method of travel: car
TBL staff: Prema & Clorinda
Notes: They will be staying in a smaller town, but will make periodic ventures to surrounding villages to assist the church planter with whom they will be working.
Sub-Team 3: Jeanna, Courtney, Allison
Location: Panamarathupatti
Distance from Trichy: 5 hours
Method of travel: car
TBL staff: Aroma & Raj
Notes:
Sub-Team 4: Don, Stephen
Location: Vidaioor
Distance from Trichy: 10 hours
Method of travel: train, then car
TBL staff: Annanraj
Notes: Don & Stephen had to leave the hotel at 6 a.m. to catch their 6:30 train connection. (Later: When I last talked to Stephen, he said that they had reached their destination, but literally had to run with all their gear to catch the train as it was pulling out of the station.)

Fresh Jasmine for Your Hair!

In India, street vendors will sell strings of fresh Jasmine flowers for ladies to put in their hair. In addition, fresh flowers are just a large part of regular and everyday life. The little guy in this picture was selling Jasmine on the street, and Raj purchased several strings for the ladies of the team to put in their hair. It smells wonderful, and looks pretty too.

No Comment!

The title of this book is “Do I Look Fat In This?” No further comment necessary. Nor requested.

I've Seen the Signs!

For some reason, the clothing store had a particularly large assortment of bizarre signs. I took pictures and thought you all might think they were good for a laugh as well.

Trial Room – I’m sure they meant “fitting room”, but I thought “trial room” sounded a little threatening. “I swear, your honor… I really thought I was an extra extra small!”

Nachas or Nachos? – I don’t know what Nachas are, but I’ll be they taste GREAT with Jalepenos and sour cream.

Blouse Bits! – What is that, like clothing shrapnel? Doesn’t sound very friendly.

Silk Cotton? – C’mon, make Up Your Mind! I figure that this is either some sort of hyper-lightweight but extremely soft material… or they just need to give each section its own space.

Shopping for Sari's...

After stopping at TBL HQ, we set out to do some shopping. Our first priority was to get skirts, saris and salwars (a 2-piece “pants outfit” worn by Indian women in place of a sari) for the ladies of the team, and so we went to a multi-floor department store to see what we could see. Once there, we explored colorful, hand-embroidered skirts, beautiful saris, and prettily patterned salwars (Hayley King shown here looking over the embroidered material of an Indian sari). One interesting thing about Indian “sales tactics” in a large store is that the sales associates will literally pull down “potential garment candidates” by the dozens in the hope that one will hit your particular preferences. Do you like blue? Faster than you can say “bling”, there will be 40 blue saris immediately out of their packaging and sitting in front of you. They do it happily and cordially, and it’s difficult to resist the urge to just “buy something” simply because they expended so much effort to pull everything out. But that’s precisely the point, and so you have to be willing to have a will of steel until you see exactly what you want to see.

After a couple of hours, each of the team’s ladies had enough skirts and other related clothing to last them for the remaining duration of the trip. We also stopped by a couple of souvenir stores to find some fun trinkets to bring home, but by the time we were finished, we were all a little too bushed to climb the 40 gazillion steps of the “Rock Fort Temple”. Maybe when we get back on Sunday or Monday… we’ll see.

Seeing "The Big Board"

We stopped briefly at the Bible League HQ again so that the team could see the “Big Board”. Our friends are really amazing, and systematically track all the data that relates to their ministry. At any given time, they know how many new contacts have been acquired through church planters and staff, how many people have been led to Christ, how many new churches have been planted, how many CORE class materials have been distributed and taught, how many people have been baptized, how many new cell groups have been established, how many Bibles have been given/placed, and pretty much anything else you might want to know. All that data makes the big board on a monthly basis, and is tracked over a 12 month basis so that totals can be easily tabulated. Pretty cool!