Final Day in India

Friends,
We are so thankful for your prayers for us throughout our seven weeks in India. It was an unforgettable journey—we learned so much and we felt sustained, protected, and blessed. As we return to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, our hearts are full. I (Lisa) will offer a summary of our last four weeks since our previous letter, but first a few general reflections. Apologies for the length! Please do not post or share this. The photo above is from a gathering of IFES graduates (and their families) in Bhopal. It is always great to be together with IFES staff and alumni; we feel immediate close kinship with them! More photos on our website.

• Persecution of the church is real, and on the rise. Unlike some countries where the source of that is primarily the government, in India we heard stories of pastors being brutally beaten by their extremist Hindu neighbors, of converts beaten by their fathers or husbands, etc. The government is not intervening to stop this, and it is also a source of persecution—we met pastors who have been jailed—but it was shocking to hear how much in danger people feel right in their own villages. When we were in small towns (three of the seven weeks), our hosts asked us not to walk around outside—at all.
  
• The caste system is alive and well. One friend in the US said, on a phone call, “I figured that had all gone away by now!” If only. It is deeply entrenched and continues to demean personhood and limit opportunities for advancement. A pastor from the Scheduled Caste (“dalit” or “untouchable”—terms most of them reject) said, “When we convert, we often apply to remove caste from our official documents, because we are part of a royal priesthood, and we are precious to God.” The profound conviction in his voice was so striking. This costs them some government benefits, but it is a powerful prophetic statement. We wish we could say every Christian shares his rejection of the system, but a pastor we worked with closely shared that a family he’s served in many ways in his church would never have him in their home, because he is a lower caste than them.
  
• The warmest of welcomes. In Los Angeles, we often use the traffic as a reason to beg off meeting people at the airport. “Welcome to LA; we trust you have an Uber app.” In stark contrast, no fewer than ten people made their way to the regional airport of Jharsuguda where we landed for the second leg of our journey. Children came forward with marigold garlands, bouquets, and to touch our feet and then touch their hearts. This last one startled us at first but we’ve since seen it done by children to other elders as a sign of respect and honor. The adults, beaming, said, “Praise the Lord!” and hugged us or warmly shook our hands in both of theirs. At one church, a representative of each of the ministries of the church (children, youth, men, women, etc.) read a verse they had thoughtfully chosen as a blessing for us.
  We had the poignant honor of being welcomed into some very simple homes. In one home, we sat on the bed in the living room/bedroom/dining room as they shared how pleased they were to have moved up to this home, since it is concrete instead of tin, and has a tiny kitchen (with no appliances). Later we realized six people shared that bed.
  
• Cows. If you’ve followed me on Facebook, you know I’ve been first charmed and then chagrined by the cows in the roads. There are five million stray cows in India. Partly because they are often considered divine, it is illegal in many states to kill them, even when they are sickly and old. Poor families who lose land or can’t afford to maintain a cow simple release them to the roads. They love the roads, in part because they dry faster than the grass after a rain. But it is a real hazard for them and for drivers. Monkeys, dogs, water buffalo, and goats fill the roads in the rural towns we visited as well.
  

Let me now offer one highlight from each of the last four locations:
Visakhapatnam
We enjoyed our time in this bustling city very much. Rich had begun teaching a leadership class weekly via Zoom for a seminary there; he taught it daily the week we were there. Lisa taught an Advanced Homiletics seminar each day. We also both preached for their chapel and had many long talks with faculty and students. They were thoughtful and sharp. Their residential model for both students and faculty creates a strong and nurturing community. Students work for 45 minutes each weekday afternoon as part of how they pay for their education. This work time is sometimes followed by a lively cricket match, with students and faculty joining in! We left very impressed with the vision and mission of this school, and aware that their aging buildings need replacement.
Another city
We won’t mention the name of the city to which we traveled next, and sadly not share photos, because we worked there with a ministry that can meet with resistance from the government and from its community. A good friend from the US has been serving this very poor area, working primarily with women who now follow Jesus but remain culturally Muslim or Hindu. He and an Indian leader on the ground there have trained these women to be essentially social workers. They walk even poorer women through processes like getting birth certificates, so they can access government funds they had not been aware of. They also offer literacy classes and create small lending groups that fund micro-enterprises for themselves and their husbands; this has lifted them, if not out of poverty, up to a level where they are keeping their kids in school longer, accessing cleaner water, and feeling great pride in their work.
Along with poverty alleviation efforts, these women have been learning to retell Bible stories to their families and neighbors. Rich has been leading them through his biblical leadership materials via Zoom for nearly two years, and they have become very dear to him (which seemed quite mutual) so it was a huge joy for him and for them to finally meet. For three days, about thirty of them sat on a concrete floor with a thin rug (we joined them as our knees allowed), while we worked together through several more narrative passages of Scripture, with Lisa offering a workshop on storytelling skills. As each session ended, they took several moments to share eagerly how the stories connected with their lives. It was remarkable what they clued into in Scripture and how different their points of connection were from the typical ones we might expect in a Western context.
Bangalore
In Bangalore, we were frankly grateful for a little less intense pace, so we could catch up on grading for Malaysia classes and other details. We are primarily there at the invitation of a dear friend, Tim Shah, who is doing important work to bolster religious freedom globally. We’re taught several sessions at Southern Asia Bible College and preached and taught in a few other settings. We were delighted to spend time with Tim and his wife, Becky, and her parents, Vinay and Colleen Samuel, who have been serving Bangalore, India, and the global church in innovative and courageous ways for decades.
Coimbatore
Our final week proved the most challenging for me. Our host began a Bible College just last year with a vision to educate pastors who may not even have completed high school. Its first class is just 20 or so students. The final day, each one shared his or her testimony with us. Some were quite harrowing, such as drug addiction at age 10. The challenge of the week for me was the long car rides to rural areas on three different days to train pastors there. The windy roads and potholes exacerbated the low-level tummy troubles I’ve had the whole journey. Still, we were so impressed with the vision of this young school.
Back to Kuala Lumpur! Tomorrow, August 18, we will return to KL, just in time for “Induction Day” for the new class of students at SPTC, with courses beginning the next week. We are looking forward to being there, and we feel hopeful that a long-term visa solution is in the works.
Whew! If you read to the end, thank you for your interest! If you jumped to here, we get it.
Prayer Requests as we return to KL:

• Quick readjustment to Malaysia life, and the ability to organize our various commitments. We are both wrapping up the grading for courses we taught before leaving for India, putting together syllabi for courses coming up, and, for Rich, firming up the schedule for ongoing Zoom teaching.
  
• I will share two personal hopes as we return. One is to get back in shape. As I mentioned, it was nearly impossible to walk for recreation in India, and I am discernibly out of shape. KL is not a walking city either, but there is a treadmill in our building, and I want to recommit to exercise. Second, I would like to learn twenty Malay phrases and to count to ten. This seems a modest goal, but they fly right out of my brain like bats from a belfry, at my age.
  
• As always, we appreciate prayers for my mom, Nancy. We talk often, and we’re grateful for Becca and Avery’s care, but we do still feel the distance as she ages.