Offroading in Rural India

Rich and I found this Google maps picture amusing as we drove away from a retreat in a remote corner of Northeast India. Our car forded three streams and navigated windy, bumpy, dirt roads for a good part of the 8-hour journey we took that day. The car broke down twice—we reluctantly paid our driver and abandoned it the second time and hailed a taxi for the remaining 45 minutes of our journey.
The retreat was worth the journey in many ways. It was inspiring to see the 1200 attendees spend their nights not at a retreat center, but in the homes of the 45 families of the village. Most of the village are members of the Presbyterian church, in a region that is overwhelmingly Hindu. These families hosted as many as 40 people each in their extremely small and simple homes, cooking them meals on outdoor fires. We stayed in a very simple guest house up the road, so we had a bed instead of a mat on the floor. The retreat organizers set up a huge tent that seated everyone. One of the highlights of the retreat was the evening session with traditional dances from each of the more than 10 tribes represented. Another was the sonorous anthems sung by choirs from each presbytery. Despite the simple digs, the tradition at this retreat is to dress pretty smartly, with colorful tribal attire on display from the dancers and singers.   There were aspects of the retreat that confused or even dismayed us a bit, but overall, we were so honored to be present and to offer some of the teaching.
But above screen shot can feel like a metaphor for various aspects of this India journey. We have now been in India for 6 weeks (after 10 days in Malaysia), with four weeks to go. A small team is coming from our church in Durham, NC on March 18, and we have changed many plans for that trip in light of facts on the ground. We’re grateful for the patience of our team and our hosts as we have responded to things we’ve learned while here.
We’ve also altered our own plans numerous times. On a small scale, this can look like shifting away from a planned session at the last minute upon learning that the education and language capacities of a gathered group were not as strong as we’d understood. On a larger scale, it can look like learning that our planned vacation week (this week) would need to change location due to a small outbreak of meningitis. Though the outbreak is small, it’s a very serious disease and two friends who are nurses advised us against the risk.
We find ourselves a bit weary of the travel and the adjustments we’ve needed to make. Yet, we remain grateful to be here and glad for new partnerships forming, for the glimpses of strong and contextualized seminary education that we’ve seen while teaching at three schools, and for the glimpses of faithful disciples persevering in hard settings, Through all of that, we have experienced the abundant provision of the Lord. Other than coughing from the poor air quality in some locales, we have not been sick, and we’ve always managed to find our way to our destinations, even if we’ve done a bit of off-roading on the way. Last week Rich was driven up to Darjeeling in the foothills of the Himalayas to serve 20 pastors and lay leaders at an altitude of above 10,000 feet. The narrow and twisty roads did not look like they would accommodate two lanes of traffic, but somehow they did.
Here’s how you can pray for us in our final month here:

• Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, through March 16: Yesterday we arrived in Coimbatore, where at the airport we were greeted by two pastors who lead zoom classes that I (Rich) teach on-line. I have been working with them for about a year, but had never met them in person until yesterday. After four mostly relaxing days, We will be preaching (Lisa) and teaching (me) at 7 or 8 churches over the coming week, teaching groups of pastors and lay leaders in the networks of these two men. This will involve some drives into rural areas outside Coimbatore, where if we were to be seen by Hindu nationalists it could cause trouble for our hosts. Please pray for safe travel and good training experiences for the local leaders.
  
• On March 17, we will fly to Delhi and prepare for the arrival of our small but mighty church team. Working with them in our WhatsApp chat group has been a delight, but India is a challenge and we can’t always foresee what the challenges will be. One individual has asthma, and the air quality is an ongoing concern. Please pray for protection on two long drives, within Assam and from Assam to Nagaland. As we’ve seen, the roads are not well-paved, and breakdowns can happen. Most of all, please pray that our team can form strong relationships, listen well to the needs of each community we visit, and return with vision for ongoing partnerships.
  
• Our team returns to Durham on March 31, at which point we will begin to search for housing in Durham. Please pray for guidance as we seek our new home in Durham. The last time we asked for prayer for housing in Durham, God used a reader of this letter to answer this prayer. We’d love for another such connection!​
  

Lisa and Rich

We had the most inspiring visit to an orphanage this past Sunday. These mostly teens and young adults complete school work and then farm their land. They talked in excellent English about  sustainable farming methods. We led them in two Bible studies and then toured the gardens and orchards, prayed for them, and had to leave to catch a flight. But what a gift.

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