(I was unable to upload the pictures that go with this blog because of difficulties with the internet. I will try to add them later.)
Good evening everyone!
We’re about an hour out from departure time. This time our toes are pointed west…to Hyderabad! We’ll be spending five days with various members of the extended family: 2 days with Pastor David’s oldest sister, Joy; and 3 days with older sister #2, Grace. We’ll be returning to Nellore early on Sunday morning after a night journey by bus. Then, next Monday morning we’ll be departing again for three days in a tribal village.
These past few days have been a constant parade of programs. After returning from Hukumpet village early Thursday morning (26th at 2am), we cleaned ourselves up, unpacked, and then prepared to attend the 5-year memorial service of our house owner’s husband (this means he died 5 years ago on May 26th). We are renting half of Premeela-Auntie’s house and she has expressed multiple times that she is going to be very, very sad when we leave because we have become much more than just renters to her. Premeela-Autie spends most of her time alone. Her two daughters are married and have 3 little girls between them, Janu-6, Nemo-5, Smiley-2. Auntie’s son, Havilash, lives with her but is usually only there during the late evenings and nighttime.
The memorial service was a reasonable size (50 friends and relatives attended), and was held on top of the house. Indian homes are built with flat cement roofs that have 2.5 foot walls all around. This provides optimal space for hanging laundry, storing odds and ends, sleeping, and (in this case) hosting gatherings. We were honored to attend this service to remember our dear Auntie’s husband.
Friday morning, we attended a house dedication for Pastor David’s uncle (called Anna-Uncle by the children and us). It is traditional for all the husband’s family and close friends to come and hold a dedication ceremony in the new house. All of the man’s sisters are expected to bring gifts of clothing for the husband and wife. Since we know many of these relatives, we felt very comfortable among this wonderful crowd of people. We were also given opportunity to sing during the ceremony and to take pictures of and with various family members. We are definitely going to miss these wonderful people when it’s our time to leave India.
Saturday evening, we attended another memorial service for the grandma of one of our church members. For this memorial, there was no space on the roof so the meeting was held in the small street and any traffic was routed down other passages.Come Sunday morning, we were drawing on paper crosses with small group of Sunday School children who then got to learn about the value of Christ, His death, and resurrection from the apostle Paul’s passionate claims. Please pray for these children. We are merely planting seeds, but we can see several of the children (Muslim, Hindu, and Christian alike) being deeply affected by all that they’ve been hearing and talking about over the past several months.
During church, Chelsea was given the great and marvelous task of encouraging and exhorting the believers of the church. She spoke about the parable of the lost son from Luke 15, using the older son from verse 25 as an example. I wish I had recorded this message. Chelsea was able to accurately speak to our misunderstanding of God and the way He chooses to bless “undeserving” people. She then touched on forgiveness and the power of Christ in us which enables us to live with a character that is unoffendable.
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Seems like every day is a new adventure. I’m sure we will have hours of additional stories to tell when we return home.
Our love to you all!
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