Sunday and Monday

Sunday morning we had the opportunity to worship together at Shalom Methodist Church in Ahmedabad. Our group all went together, and we were warmly welcomed by all there. The Bishop of that diocese was the preacher that day, and he preached in English, while being translated into Gujarat for the rest of the congregation. Reminded me of New Creation Church at John Knox! Also that morning, they received young people as confirmands into the church. 178 of them! It was an amazing example of witnessing the power of the Spirit leading men and women to follow Christ – especially in such a setting as Ahmedabad, where the Christian population is so small. Following worship, we went back to our host families for lunch and rest – much needed, I must add. Then that evening, we visited a museum being built for this sect of the Swamanarayan faith – very impressive, although after our recent building project at John Knox, I wish I had my hard hat on! After that, we closed with dinner hosted by the acharya and his wife at their residence. I had a chance to speak with her during the evening, and found her to be genuinely interested in me personally, my family, and my impressions of her country. I won’t go into any details, but I will say that I sensed in her a deep desire for connection with the “outside world”, something I know the women in our group who have stayed with them this week have also indicated. They were very gracious to us, and presented us with gifts as we departed. That evening, our host family was also gracious, offering each of us a gift (flower vase and artificial flowers) to take home. I feel as if this foreign land is not nearly as foreign to me anymore.

Monday morning came early, as we woke up at 4:00 a.m., in order to get to the airport by 5:30. Despite our persistent requests to only have coffee or tea and no food, our hosts provided us a full breakfast nonetheless. Our entire group made it without difficulty to the airport, checked through security without problems, and flew to Mumbai (Bombay) and then on to Cochin in the south. When we looked at a world map on the plane, Cochin is only 10 degrees north of the equator, while Ahmedabad is around the same longitude as Chiapas, Mexico, where we were one year ago. It is a much different setting than Ahmedabad. Palm trees, lush green gardens – a very tropical feel to it. In Cochin, we had a buffet lunch in a hotel near the airport, which we all devoured – our first taste of meat since we arrived! Then we took a bus into the city and on to Fort Cochin, which is one of the original colonial settlements in the area. It was nice, but to be honest, we were all beat at that point, and by the time we drove the hour-and-a-half to Kottayam, you could have stuck a fork in us because we were done. We arrived at SEERI, which is the St. Ephreem Ecumenical Research Institute, and where we will stay through the rest of our time here. We had a light supper and then on to bed. And our rooms and conditions are much more modest than what at least I had in Ahmedabad. I’ll go into that later!!! But it is very adequate for all that we need, and we feel blessed once again for such gracious hospitality.