Saturday, November 19, the congregation with which I worship in New Delhi, India hosted a seminar from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at its meetinghouse. Approximately 200 invitations were mailed. Though not as many people attended as was hoped, nevertheless, all who attended were edified and enjoyed fellowship with one another.
Speakers included brethren Thomas Dohling and Sunny David, as well as myself; brother Vinay David graciously translated for me into Hindi, as he did throughout the several days of seminar elsewhere in India last week. I presented two lessons in the series “Come Meet Jesus.”
Of course, brethren and friends ate together. Christians are pretty good at that. After eating some rice and chapatti, I slipped away for a few minutes to a market area next door. There the first thing on my agenda was the acquisition of a Coke Zero. Then, I wandered about a little before returning to the seminar.
Sunday, the auditorium was full for worship. Preceding that, several brethren also availed themselves of the Bible class, more than ably and excellently taught by brother Dohling. I was afforded the opportunity to speak another lesson in the series “Come Meet Jesus.”
A second congregation of a different language group has worship in the “upper room” while worship transpires on the ground level in Hindi and English. Brethren from several countries are represented in that worship period.
Following worship and much time spent in pleasant interaction among members of both congregations assembling on the site, my host family and I resorted to McDonalds for lunch. Our littlest one, Aaron, chose the meal venue – to get his Happy Meal, no doubt.
Aaron is a remarkable 5-year-old, fluent in Hindi and in English. Saturday night back at his apartment living room, he conducted an hour-long worship service all by himself with me as the audience. He really preached for at least 30 minutes and did the song leading. Though he preached in Hindi – with emotion, inflection of voice and appropriate gestures, he quoted flawlessly Scripture in English. India has a bright future for the church through the likes of him and others just a little older than him of whom I am personally aware. God bless India!
As I write this, I am packed for my return trip to the USA of around 30 hours or so. I have checked in online. All that’s left is the going, which I will do around 9:30 p.m. local time to catch a 1:25 a.m. flight to Paris. From Paris, I will fly to Atlanta, and from Atlanta to Memphis – arriving the same day that I left India! I didn’t waste any time publicly or privately these weeks away in Asian countries, but my present tasks are complete, and I’m homeward bound. Your continued prayers and encouragement are much appreciated.
Three days of lectureship hosted by the Satyavani Church of Christ in Kakinada, India have come to a close. Each day, sessions were offered mornings, afternoons and evenings. One hour yesterday, about 900 people crowded into the second floor upper room of the church’s meetinghouse. I presented part of my series of lessons on “Come Meet Jesus,” speaking a total of eight times across the days. Brother Therman Hodge spoke the same number of times, plus he preached on the Lord’s Day.
The congregation hosts a children’s home, and the youngsters were ever present and a joy with whom to interact daily. Between the two of us, brother Therman and I saw to the acquisition of 65 plastic, woven sleeping mats on which the children will sleep as they slumber nightly on the floors of the respective rooms for boys and girls. All ages are represented among the children except for infants. They are truly happy and blessed despite not afforded all that every child deserves.
Today, Sunday, November 6, 2016, brother Therman Hodge and I assembled with the Satya Vani Church of Christ in Kakinada, India. For readers in North or South America, our Lord’s Day arrived nearly 12 hours before the arrival of your first day of the week.
Brother Therman lodged last night in the “holy man of God’s” “small Upper room on the wall” (2 Kings 4:8-11) on the third floor of the church building; Bonnie and I previously resided there in past years. Being present in the meetinghouse as the youngsters from the children’s home assembled outside his bedroom for their morning devotional, brother Hodge seized the opportunity to interact with the young ones and teach them a Bible lesson.
A couple of hours later upon my arrival at the church compound, it was my turn to speak to the children. I was requested to speak about mission experiences to them, whereupon I narrated some of my efforts in 2016 in Myanmar and Guyana. Some of the young ones asked thoughtful questions. At the conclusion of our time together, a very unexpected and humbling thing occurred. The children’s home children bestowed on me 81 Rupees for us in my ongoing mission work around the world! The hearts of those little angels are far bigger than the $1.22 equivalent in US money to which their generous gift amounted.
For worship, brother Therman preached a fine lesson, which brother Joshua Gootam interpreted to the Telegu-speaking audience. Though the congregation only meets once on the Lord’s Day, between Bible class and worship, the saints fellowshipped, studied God’s Word and worshipped four about four hours. The children’s devotionals were additional and preceding the assembly for classes and worship of the balance of the church. Around 300 gathered for worship, and the church is ably led by elders and served by preachers and numerous other brethren.
In many ways, Sunday worship seems to me to resemble first century worship by Christians in ancient Palestine. Brother Therman and I were privileged to step back in time and worship with God’s people whose Christian faith is surely timeless.
Thursday, November 3rd, brother Therman Hodge and I concluded our stint for this year as teachers for the Hmawbi Bible School (from newly screen-printed T-shirts, evidently known lately also as Myanmar Bible College). We taught the last two weeks of the fall 5-week session. Our final act before parting from the tropical oasis was to assemble for a group picture with the student body and staff. Doubtlessly, photos were posted to Facebook and other social media before our taxi was able to painstakingly navigate the one lane, rutted and washed out muddy swath meandering through jungle vegetation back to a hard road.
Friday was a travel day via two jet airplanes from Myanmar to India via Singapore; Silk Air, a regional carrier associated with Singapore Airlines, carried us along for both flights. No hitches, hiccups or delays challenged our forward progress. Neither did we have a long layover; it was almost like we planned the trip that way, and everyone involved in our passage was deliberately on the same proverbial page with us. We couldn’t have asked for more. Approximately nine hours after taking flight from Yangon, we touched down in Visakhapatnam, India. There, we opted to spend the night in a hotel before being retrieved by Indian brethren on Saturday for land travel to Kakinada, India. Both of those cities are on the coastline across the Bay of Bengal from Myanmar. Brother Hodge and I arrived in Kakinada late Saturday afternoon.
“I love Myanmar” is a slogan that one sees often plastered across signage from clothing to the sides of busses to billboards to the face of city buildings. I love Myanmar, too. I love the countryside, the people and especially my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Therman Hodge and I arrived in Yangon, Myanmar finally on Saturday, October 22 after around 30 hours of constant travel by jet planes and brief layovers in airports between flights. We had left Jackson, MS on Thursday, October 20, traveling to Houston, TX to Moscow, Russia to Singapore to Yangon, Myanmar.
Since then, we have worshipped with brethren of two congregations in Yangon, and I assembled with brethren last weekend in a distant Asho tribe on a mountain accessible only by footpath. Monday through Friday for two weeks, we spoke at the Hmawbi Bible College tucked away amidst tropical flora. For one week, I taught half a day in the jungle home of Kyaw Sein. At night when not too tired, I worked on our Internet magazine (Gospel Gazette Online) as well as on our print journal (The Voice of Truth International). I fielded emails and literature orders also.
My adventure last Friday through the wee hours of Monday morning involved a trek via automobile about 12 hours each way over mountains, across the mighty Irrawaddy River and winding up back and forth on the side of a 3,000 foot high peak. After taking some respite in a modest, old teak wood and bamboo home borne by stilts on a highland slope, Asho brethren and I hiked a foliage shrouded, meandering uphill path that hugged the cliff. Less than an hour later, we emerged at the edge of small village of 20 homes, themselves suspended upon the mountainside and camouflaged with the dense rainforest. Torrential rain for the two days I was there, low clouds masking the scenery and unimaginable humidity – surely somehow more than 100% – inhibited sightseeing and picture taking. Leeches that bloodied my feet and the lack of amenities to which I have become accustomed proved to be challenging and temporarily excited some culture shock.
Nearly every resident of the village who is old enough to obey the Gospel is a member of Christ’s church! The meetinghouse for the church of Christ is an elevated platform with a corrugated metal roof, but without walls. Once complete, the structure will have bamboo walls to interfere with blowing rain that currently bombards attendees from time to time.
Approximately 50 men, women and children came together for many hours Saturday and Sunday. The eagerness with which the audience hung on every word and took notes compelled me to focus on their edification from the Word of God and less on my grumbling. Following each instruction, they refused to take a break and asked for “more.” Over the two days, I taught eight lessons, and we only concluded in anticipation of darkness in the absence of electricity with which to illuminate the night.
No one arrives at this village in a Myanmar alp by accident, but by purposeful and deliberate exertion. To facilitate easier access for me, brethren gave the trail a haircut so to speak. They made it easier for me to penetrate the jungle thoroughfare to their homes by cutting back grasses, banana trees, etc.
In addition to the mountain destination, along the way, I visited the museum of the Myanmar national hero, Aung San. At another wayside stop, Burmese brethren and I visited a private boarding school of about 400 teenagers. Dotting the travel were numerous oxcarts alongside cars, bicycles, motorbikes, trucks, buses and an abundance of cows, dogs, goats, an elephant and people.
Lord willing on Friday, Therman and I board the first of two airplanes to wing our way ultimately to India. Once on the ground, we’ll take a hotel for the night before proceeding the next day by land to Kakinada, India. Once that appointment concludes in about a week, brother Hodge will return home while I make my way to additional venues in India.
Sometimes where we are, what we eat and such like prove to be somewhat daunting, but we and others like us simply push forward. The sense of Christian duty and souls anxious to hear the old Jerusalem Gospel propel us with eagerness into fields that are white unto harvest.
Louis & Martha Rushmore 
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