One of the coolest things (to us) about all these pictures and stories is that they're all mine and Chelsea's. We took most of these pictures ourselves and we were there for all of these happenings. I never thought I would have such a collection of memories like this...Wow; Can't wait till Heaven when I can understand all the details I missed and all of the past and future events surrounding the moments in time that we were a part of. Thank you, Lord.
Cultural overload!!!
(In the best sense of the words)
(In the best sense of the words)
I have never experienced a tornado and hope that I never have to (…except maybe at a distance because I’ve always thought they look amazing and show the power of our God), but if I had to describe the feeling of my brain from this past weekend and week (and probably Chelsea’s too), I would say that my mind looks like a messy child’s room: some great windstorm has whirled in and scattered everything. I need a mother to come in and tell me, “Bethany, what have you been doing?!?! Clean up this mess this INSTANT!!! You’re grounded until everything is put back in order!” Yes ma’am! :)
Let’s see if I can sort everything out. Care to help us out?
Hmmmm… first items; I believe they all belong to Saturday night’s Memorial Service. Our host family’s father, David, is fourth out of five children. The oldest child, B. Evan Rufus, died last year on February 26, 2010. In the Indian culture it is customary to hold a funeral shortly after the death, and then to hold a public 1st Memorial Service one year after the death (the following years will be small, family gatherings to remember the person). Rufus was well known in the community and highly respected by the Christian leaders as well as many of the famous musicians of India. He was a talented musician and a well known personality. The platform at the service was full of many dignitaries from various churches and several formidable artists also shared their talents in honor of Him. Chelsea and I were allowed to watch the program from the audience, but were not excluded from playing a part in this service. We were called upon to share from the Word a message of condolence and then asked to sing in Telugu and English. We spoke from Isaiah 57:1-2 and sang an old and well known song (even in India) called “I’ll Fly Away.” At another point in the service, I (Bethany) was also called up to sing a special memorial song which my father’s college friend, Jim Hall, had written after his wife’s death, called “Hallowed Be Thy Name.” We were greatly honored to be allowed to attend this cultural ceremony and the dinner which followed. We were introduced to almost the entire extended family and increased our understanding of Indian relationships.
For example, they consider their grandparents’ siblings’ children and grandchildren to be their own cousins (this makes for a HUGE family tree). If any of their immediate or distant cousins are significantly older or extremely influential in their life, they will refer to that person as their Uncle or Auntie as a term of respect (this has resulted in Chelsea and me using terms like “Cousle” as personal clarifications of relations). In addition, since the English word “cousin” does not denote male or female, they say “Sister Cousin” or “Brother Cousin,” but when they are being lazy in their speech they will just say, “This is my Sister/Brother” causing us to believe that they have 6 more siblings than we originally understood. It’s all very confusing and requires a great deal of clarifications (“This is your father’s brother’s son?”) if we really want to understand how the family is organized. Feeling overwhelmed? Us too :), but we’re glad to be getting to know all these people, regardless of their blood relationships.
Messages from the Lord:
Sunday afternoon was spent enjoying one of the largest family lunches we have yet participated in here. Grandmama’s 3rd(?) sister and brother-in-law sat with us during the meal, telling us about a number of miraculously answered prayers which the Lord had granted them in the past few months. They told of fasting and praying for their needs to be met and the Lord answering without them having to tell any person. That Uncle repeated over and over how we must fully commit ourselves to turning only to God for our needs; then He will answer them to the fullest. But as long as we keep our eyes and limbs out to catch what resources we can on our own, God will not honor our “half-trust.” Following the meal, we sat with David’s oldest sister, Joy, who told us story after story about how the Lord had promoted and protected her from being slandered by the people of the world. She did not turn to any person in her sufferings and loneliness but only to her closet—behind the closed doors—where she met God alone and sought His direction and advice. From that place she watched as He shifted circumstances in order to meet her needs and to honor her in the presence of her enemies who were put to shame. She encouraged us to not get full of the details of life while we are here, but to remember our big purpose is to know our God better and to do His will and tell others about Him. We definitely needed that reminder and were very much encouraged by both these believers.
Let’s see what else is tucked in the corners of my brain and need sorting through…
Sunday Morning at Church:
Sunday morning dawned bright and warm (as every day has done since arriving), though it came a bit too early for our liking after such a late night on Saturday. Due to the heat of the afternoons and the onslaught of mosquitoes in the early evening, most Indian events do not start until 7pm (meaning that they actually get underway closer to 8pm) and—with meals and all—finish around 11pm or later. But! The Lord graced us with strength to complete our responsibilities for the day with joy and energy.
Morning Sunday School was a dizzying affair as we taught about Joshua and the Israelites’ “battle” against the powerful city of Jericho. As has become our style here, we had the children act out the events of the story. Chelsea fortified herself in a walled box of chairs and called out insults on the parading Israelite Sunday Schoolers. I appointed one pretty little gal to be the angel of the Lord and a young man to be Joshua. Several others were priests with “trumpets” and a parade of little desert nomads following behind. Following the instruction of the angel (as prompted by Joshua 5:13-6:5), little Joshua led his band of misfits around the imposing city and its defender. On the “seventh” day they marched around the city seven times, thanks to the careful counting of our translator, and then blew their hand-horns and gave a loud shout. Down came the ancient chair-walls and poor, defenseless Chelsea was overrun with eager Israelite invaders. We closed this memorable capture with reminders from Hebrews 11:30 (the great city was taken by faith; not the stamping of their feet) and from Psalm 105:43-45 (God granted them these clearly unique miracles and gave them all the blessings of a place to live so that they might keep His commands).
During the church service, Chelsea shared about the true meanings of Grace and Peace and why the Apostle Paul prayed this over the recipients of every single one of his letters. Briefly, but clearly, she explained the freedom to serve Christ that comes from living by grace rather than works and the way that God meets our deepest needs through His kind of peace (not the world’s kind of peace). My two favorite quotes from her message were:
“Grace is the opposite of works. As long as we think we can earn salvation,
we will only think about ourselves. Once we understand that there is nothing
we can do to earn God’s favor and we are only saved through the love of God,
then we will stop thinking about ourselves and begin to think about God.”
we will only think about ourselves. Once we understand that there is nothing
we can do to earn God’s favor and we are only saved through the love of God,
then we will stop thinking about ourselves and begin to think about God.”
“Peace is untroubled, undisturbed, well-being and rest; not from the
world—based on possessions, money, status, and success—but
from Him and being in His presence.”
Sunday, after church (from Chelsea’s perspective):
Sunday morning came a little too early after a late night on Saturday, but we set about getting ready with hearts glad to be alive and serving the Lord.
For the youth meeting, we were the cultural overload. Since arriving we have sung many songs in English on various occasions. One of the favorites has been “Our God is an Awesome God,” so Bethany made up a hip-hop style dance for the youth since they really enjoy “action songs.” When we asked the kids if they had ever heard of hip-hop, the answers were all “no,” except for one. When asked if they had ever heard of rap music, there were a few more “yes.” Given their previously uneducated state, you can imagine the teenagers had an amazing 40 minutes learning a basic “drop step” and the actions to the chorus and first verse. While Bethany was busy teaching (and sweating) in 90+ degree weather, I was being challenged in another way, since I was the vocals for this great dance class:). Anyone who knows me, knows that while I have a decent voice, pitch and rhythm are not my strong points, so this was definitely a growing experience since I was mostly without even a drummer. Praise the Lord that the Indian’s don’t appear to care much about pitch – that has definitely been God’s grace on my life.
I’m glad to report that everyone enjoyed learning the song and dance (including David’s eldest sister, Joy), but I’m sad to report that because we were both occupied with the teaching we don’t have any pictures of Bethany while she was instructing the dance class. Here she is though, looking cute and flushed, afterward as she asked the youth a few questions to make sure they were not just dancing around, but were also understanding the power in the words they had been singing and dancing to.
Official Indian Betrothal Ceremony:
Sunday night we attended the betrothal ceremony for a young lady in our church. After a few months of prayer and discussions between the two families, they have finally determined that this is a good match for their children. Since fully arranged marriages are so foreign to our American minds, we have been asking many questions as well as processing what it would be like to be a young woman whose marriage was arranged. How would I feel to be committing my life to someone who I barely knew anything more than basic facts about?
The ceremony opens (late at night as usual) with the young man and his family arriving at the girl’s family’s home, the yard of which has been decorated for the occasion. He sits in a decorated chair at one side of the front table. The young lady (early twenties, usually) is escorted out by her sister(s) and close friends and sits at the other side of the table. She is dressed in a beautiful sari with many traditional jewels and flowers on (remember, it is a sign of womanhood to wear a sari and many girls aren’t allowed to until they are about to become betrothed). Songs (for which we joined the stage), prayers, and messages are a part of the program and then gifts are carried out from the man’s family and placed on the table. Among them is a gorgeous sari which stands as the official offer of marriage. The girl stands and receives these gifts (with the assistance of her girl friends and family; we also assisted in carrying her gifts into her family’s house) and then she departs into the house. More music serves as the interlude during this dramatic time (“Will she accept the marriage???”). And then, from out of the house emerges the beautiful young woman, now dressed in the offered sari, signifying that she has accepted the match. An exchange of rings and elaborate floral garlands and the ceremony is over. The next hour or two is devoted to feasting and pictures (of which we happily participated in both). The newly betrothed couple is now considered essentially married in the commitment level of the word, though they will not become married as we understand it (living, sleeping, financial, etc.) until the solemnization of their marriage in a few months (which we will also be here to witness…and probably be a part of). What a lot to think about and process coming from our culture where we’ve understood all our lives that we get to chose our marriage partner and the timings for everything.
Monday evening we traveled out to a village south of Nellore where they had arranged a special women’s meeting just for us. On the trip out there we spent time in prayer and worship asking the Lord that His presence would be in our hearts and come out through our words and actions. We felt so insufficient speaking to a bunch of married, village women whose lives were so much different than ours. But, through the faithfulness and wisdom of the Spirit, we were able to deliver an appropriate, encouraging and convicting messages about misunderstandings of Jesus and the need to fully repent and open ourselves up to His leadership. The message came out of John 4 in the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Though we understood that we were speaking primarily to believing women, many of the women clearly responded to this message in their lives and we also felt great peace from the Lord that we had spoken as He guided. Following the meeting, we experienced another cultural awareness moment: visiting homes. Because the meeting went late, we were unable to visit all the homes that requested (Lord, please guard their hearts from being offended by us not visiting and so destroying the message they received), but we did stop in a few houses for a meal, snack, and times of prayer for the families. I have never been in a culture that is so quick to give hospitality in exchange for special prayers and blessings. This is something that I am still processing with the Lord and unsure how He views this type of “exchange.”
Final thoughts to be processed before this mess in my brain is all cleaned up:
Wednesday was spent at the home of one of our church members here who owns a sewing machine (it’s foot operated, which absolutely amazed Chelsea…if you’re looking for a unique, antique gift for her…). They helped stitch some of our donated clothes that needed resizing, fed us lunch, gave us trinkets and other little gifts, and overall, blessed us to an entirely overwhelmed state. After spending most of the afternoon at that house, we stopped in for a short visit to another church member’s house where they also covered us with many more gifts; we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Again, in both of these homes, they did all these things in exchange for our prayers. We gladly prayed that the Lord would bless their homes with His presence and that He would provide for their needs and give an abundance in accordance with the measure of which they in turn bless others with the gifts they receive. As we walked back to our house from these visits, we examined ourselves and realized we had been showered with “Bangles, Blouses and Bouquets.” We felt that we had been sufficiently “Bejeweled, Bedecked and Blessed.” (Catchy phrases compliments of Miss Chelsea Arnold).
Thursday (yesterday) was spent in an Evangelists’ Meeting here at the church (HBA). All of the 23 evangelists are working under HBA and receive training and minimal support from the organization. For this meeting, they had brought in a teacher from Global LEAD, which is a Christian organization that seeks to train Pastors and Christian leaders to properly handle the Word of God and live out their Christian responsibilities. Because many Christians across the world are like these evangelists—ignorant of much spiritual truth and unprepared to balance their relationship with God, their families, and their ministry/organizational responsibilities—Global LEAD provides material for free and training for reduced fees in order to build up strong Godly foundations in newly Christianized areas.
The Windstorm has been taken care of!
Whew! I think my mind is clean! Horray! Thanks for taking that journey with me. In addition to my mind being clear and ready for more, our home is also a little cleaner. Chelsea spent the morning washing laundry and doing dishes while I was being lazy and typing (big smile). We love that we can share these responsibilities of communicating abroad and taking care of our own household needs. Now we are off to participate in a brief literacy program meeting and then to the Women’s Fellowship (prayer meeting) this evening.
Until next time:
Andariki Vandenalu
(Thank you all so much for reading all this)
Nice alliterations, Chelsea!
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