August 2007

This was originally written in August 2007

Hello from Bonnie in India!

It's hard to believe this is my fourth newsletter already! Since I wrote Newsletter 3, a lot has happened. This month we had a big celebration at the church to honor Pastor Kumar and Salome's 25th wedding anniversary. I spoke at three Friday morning Sister's meetings (Lady's Fellowships) and at two Hindi Children's Services on Sunday afternoons. I also went to four funerals and two new housewarming parties. (This is a big church.) Every Tuesday I go with Salome and some other women from the church to visit 3-4 homes of church members. We just show up unannounced and when they open the door, they're happy to see us. They prepare coffee or tea for all of us and run to a nearby store to get cookies or other snacks. If it's lunchtime they want to prepare lunch for all of us. They feel it's an honor to have us come to visit them and I find this an amazing and wonderful part of their culture.

This month we also took a day trip to a new house in Husur which was about a three hour drive away. It was given to the church rent free to use as a Bible School and retreat center. When we went inside the house, I could really feel the presence of God there. We dedicated the house to the Lord, had lunch and went for a walk in a park nearby. All the way home we sang songs to the accompaniment of a homemade drum (which was actually a big plastic water bottle).

Ruth and Jemi are two 13 year old nieces of Salome who attend church here. I really bonded with them when I first met them and they both call me their "best friend". For a long time, they've been teaching Sunday School all by themselves to about 80 children in one big class. Just recently the class has been divided up into several small classes and other women are helping them out. So now, the girls have started an outreach ministry to Hindu children in the neighborhood on Sunday afternoons. They go out into the neighborhood and invite the children to come to their program. I went with them once to keep them company and see what they do. They just talked to the kids they met and told them what we would be doing, told them what time to come and asked them to bring their friends. They make it look easy. We've had around 50 to 80 children attend each week. We start each meeting with singing, sometimes we have a skit, and then I tell a Bible story or give a short message. (There are small prizes for the children who pay attention and can answer the questions.) Then we have a puppet show where Ruth and Jemi just make up a story as they go along. It always has a moral to it--like do your homework, or don't fight with your brother. Then there are more songs and we pass out a snack to eat at the close of the program. This week Ruth and Jemi also made up a dance to perform in front of the whole church on Sunday morning. They picked out a song they liked, asked for permission to do it and then made up the dance steps, motions and even created their own costumes from some sari material. They were really good, and you could tell they were having fun while they were dancing.

At times I wonder if Ruth and Jemi are extraordinary girls but they act just like ordinary children most of the time. I wouldn't even say they are overly mature for their age, but when they're in front of a group of kids, they really know how to work together, and keep everyone interested and in line. If one of the children starts to act up or misbehave they're quick to correct them. They aren't afraid at all and just take the authority when they're in front of a crowd. I guess it's a gift, but I also think the Indian culture of children obeying those in authority helps them even though they aren't much older than the children they minister to. I'm learning from them how to minister to children and they're learning from me whenever they need advice or help--so we all benefit.

I've been pretty busy every day. For example, one morning this week, I washed my clothes by hand and hung them up on a clothesline, went to a funeral at a church member's house, then the burial at a cemetery on the other side of town. That took all morning. Then in the afternoon, I went shopping with Hosanna, came back to the church and taught English, and went to a wedding celebration in the evening.

While we were at that particular celebration, it began to rain very hard. The reception was in a building next door about 50 feet away and we waited a long time for it to stop raining and it didn't. Some people had umbrellas and went in the rain anyway but we didn't have one so we waited. Finally, a kind man brought me an umbrella and led me away down a sidewalk. We walked around a car and then the sidewalk ended and there was a big puddle in front of us. I thought, oh well, I have plastic sandals on and it won't hurt to get my feet wet, so we went ahead into the shallow water. Then halfway through I fell into a big, slippery hole in the puddle and down I went! The man who led me that way started apologizing for letting me fall and I started laughing. When I was going down, it felt like I was falling in slow motion and I didn't get hurt at all. Praise the Lord! If you go to my website, you can see the picture of me at the reception in my wet and muddy dress. My camera and the front of my dress were the only things that stayed dry.

Some of you have expressed concern for my safety, so I would like you all to know that the area we're in is pretty safe. The church has been here for 25 years and has built up a good reputation with the Muslims and Hindus who live around here and everyone gets along peacefully. If Hindus from another area ever tried to attack us, our friends would come to our aid and have to fight them off as well. The Hindus usually only attack in areas they feel it's safe for them to do so—in remote areas or where there's a Hindu majority.

But persecution has been growing all over India, and just today I read an article in the newspaper saying that 54 Christians have been martyred in this state in the past year. Pastor Kumar has said many times that he used to get reports of pastors being beaten every week but lately it's been every day. A week ago, we got the news that a pastor about ten miles away had been kidnapped and beaten badly, but his attackers fled when they saw a motorcycle approaching. Then just a few days later we got the news that the same pastor had been kidnapped again. They called his family and said they would kill him by 6AM the next morning. His family immediately called us and several other churches to pray for him, and several of us asked the Lord to send confusion to the kidnappers so the pastor could get away. Later, we found out that his kidnappers had put him on a bus with only one of his kidnappers and the rest followed behind the bus in a car. The pastor ran up to the bus driver and told him he'd been kidnapped and the kidnapper who was with him got afraid and ran off. The bus driver drove the bus to a safe area and the pastor was returned home around 6A.M. in the morning--the exact time when he was supposed to be killed. The Lord had brought confusion to his kidnappers and they made a stupid decision to put him on the bus with one of them instead of keeping him in the car with the rest of them. So God answered our prayers!

Check out the new pictures on my website!
Go to bjenk234.shutterfly.com

I'm not in most of the pictures because I'm usually the one holding the camera.)

I have some more pictures showing outreach to a slum area but I'm having a problem with my files so I haven't been able to put them up yet. I hope to get it resolved soon.

Bonnie