I (Pastor Meyer) landed safely in India on Saturday morning after a few long flights that started Thursday night. Why India? I was invited to speak at a few pastors conferences here and in Bhutan, partnering with a ministry called Bible Faith Lutheran Ministries to India (bflmi.org). I will do my best to offer some updates as I go.
Currently, there’s not much to report, except that I am here safely, and taking it all in. After arriving in Delhi around 1:30 AM on Saturday, my next flight was scheduled to leave at 8 o’clock for Bagdogra. The flight was delayed a couple hours, but we eventually arrived to find our luggage, never made it. After dealing with that situation for a bit, we located our contacts who took us from Bagdogra to Siliguri.
Pastor Sachin Tamang is our primary contact in this area. And he drove us around, convincing me that one of the greatest tests of a person‘s faith must be driving in India. That, or it’s at least an excellent training ground for prayer. Lots of weaving; people walking alongside and crossing busy roads; endless honking; lanes mean nothing; dogs, goats, cows(!) all over like they own the road—not to mention the signs warning of elephants crossing; and, you think your pothole roads are bad, but you haven’t seen these! Welcome to India.
The meal options on the flight from Amsterdam were “Western” or “Indian.” I went for the Indian meal! Not sure what it was, exactly, but it was one of the better in-flight meals I’ve had. I just watched the Indian couple next to me to figure out how to go about eating it! Sachin took us to the foothills of the Himalayas. This scenic overlook shows a public park down below. These bushes immediately in front of me are some form of tea plants, and they are all over many of the hills. You can’t quite see it in this picture, but in the distance is the city of Siliguri. Pastor Sachin says he and his church will sometimes hold prayer services in the night up here, looking out over their city below in prayer—for the well-being of their neighbors, for the health of its citizens, but especially for the gospel to take root and take over.There are 14 villages in these hills of Siliguri, each of them with between 80 to 150 homes, just like these. Technically this area of villages is called Rohini, not Siliguri, but Pastor Sachin’s ministry is not limited to the city.This is the first home we stopped at. Pastor Sachin is in the middle, in the Adidas shirt. The homeowners are the man in the blue shirt, and the woman standing on her porch. we unfortunately did not receive their names.Inside their home, they served us. This cup of tea was made from tea leaves they had picked, and milk from their goat. And it was tasty!Two neighbors and fellow church members joined us. The man beside me was nonverbal, but a very joyful man I could tell (despite him not smiling in this photo I just noticed!). The woman sitting there was 92 years old, and can often be found teaching and telling people the gospel. Also, if you notice the guitar beside me, this home serves as the church building for this village, and that guitar leads them.The 92-year-old woman owns the land behind the home we were in. Her prayer is for her land to be used to build a new church. The building behind her was the previous church, but it fell out of disuse after a former pastor stopped coming up there, and is now in such disrepair it needs to be demolished. In a culture where temples hold such symbolic relevance, there are unchurched Christians (and those questioning) in this village and others who would be willing to go if only thA beehive. Posting purely for my uncle! (And for general curiosity.)In the next home we visited we were again served by the homeowners. Honey tea and fresh honeycomb, straight from his own bee hives. It was excellent! Back in 2017, the woman was in a coma for weeks, and they were contemplating end of life decisions. The husband (who at the time was a deeply committed Hindu) allowed Pastor Sachin to come and pray over her. After the prayer, her eyes began to move, bringing the husband to tears and completely overturning everything he thought he knew. He is now a Baptized believer and very dedicated to the fellowship of Pastor Sachin’s different churches.At the end of the day, Pastor Sachin invited us into his home for dinner, prepared by his wife, Sri Jana. Chutney, chicken, goat (which they call mutton), potatoes, salad (carrots and cucumbers), topped off with ice cream.
