Waldron Mission Fund

 

Under the oversight of the elders of the Crossville church of Christ, PO Box 211, Crossville, TN 38557

 

Vol. 41                                                                        April 2007                                                                                  No. 4

FROM BOGDOGRA TO COIMBATORE

 

             As reported last month it was March 1st, a Thursday, that I arrived in Bagdogra (Bhaag-dohg-ra) in the upper part of West Bengal, N.E. India.  As mentioned 13 brothers from the region came to meet me on Friday.  Many of them need training to be effective in soul winning and as church planters.  There is no school of preaching in this area, yet it is sorely needed.  One thing I did arrange was to purchase a bicycle for each of them.

 

             March 3rd, Saturday.  At 2:00 p.m. I flew from (Bhaag-dohg-ra) to Guwahati (Gau-waa-huti) in the state of Assam where we arrived at 3:30.  Once there I hired a  car and driver to take me to Shillong, which is a 75 mile trip into the mountains that takes nearly three hours.  The road is crooked with a continuous stream of trucks going up and down.  I was so tired that I curled up in the back seat and slept on the way up.  The cost was  ($34.00).  Shillong is the place we have the Northeast Bible Institute and students greeted me with the good news on my arrival at 6:30, that the same afternoon one of them, Prakash Kumar, had baptized nine into Christ.  I phoned Laura, went to a “cyber-café” and sent off two emails.  I was in bed by 9:30.

 

             March 4-11, Sunday—Sunday. (Shillong).  As I have many things to write about I will summarize this week for you.  Each night I would get to bed about 9:00, at mid-night the electricity would go off until 5:00 a. m, as the whole country is suffering because of a shortage of electric power.  So with Jet lag in effect I would wake a time or two during the night and read by candle light.  By 5:00 I would be up and I put in 20 or 30 minutes on the road walking and jogging.  Generally I would have oats with toast for breakfast and hot tea.  On Sunday (the 4th) I preached three times for church that meets in the school building (English– 10:00 a.m.), the new Hindi speaking (with translation) congregation at 1:00 and for the evening service at 5:00  There were twenty present for the Hindi serviced including the nine baptized on the 3rd.  During the week I worked in the office on the March news letter and the class schedule for the SOP.  On Monday I phoned Sunny David at Delhi and asked him to come hold a weekend gospel meeting for the Hindi saints; he came on Friday (the 9th) and preached on Saturday and Sunday.  Mark Bass of the Alkire Road church, Columbus, Ohio and Tim Childs of Balwin, MS had arrived the day before.  They had come over to teach during March.  I secured a group of men to paint the building and hired an electrician to make repairs on the building wiring.  On Sunday (11th) I taught the morning Bible class at 9:00 and preached at 5:00, Sunny David preached in English at 10:00 and in Hindi at 1:00.

 

             March 12, Monday.  By 8:00, Sunny and I had prayed with the teachers and students and by 8:10 he and I were in a taxi on our way to the helicopter pad.  We took off for Gau-waa-huti at 9:45 and we were there in about 22 minutes.  If you will note above this trip by road takes nearly three hours.  My flight by plane to Dibrugarh (Dee-bru-gar) left about 1:40, and we landed at 2:50.  It is about 450 miles. Tan Kam (TK), who is one of two graduates from the Shillong SOP and works with the Bible School there, met me.  We rushed to the school and I taught for 90 minutes on I Timothy 5, with TK translating.  After class we got an auto-rickshaw (six passenger) to the Natraj Hotel.  I was in bed by 8:00.March 13, Tuesday,  TK had said he would meet me in front of the hotel at 6:30.  I woke at 6:00 and was on the front steps at 6:32; we were at the school before 7:00.  I taught for two hours (7:00-9:00).  At 9:00 the school cook brought me two boiled eggs and a cup of tea.  I got my own auto-rickshaw (auto) and was back at my hotel by 10:00.  Since I had to check out by 12:00, at 11:10 I came out to get a haircut and to purchase an air ticket for my flight on Saturday (17th) to Madurai in Tamil Nadu.  After checking out of the hotel I got another auto and went back to the school where I taught from I Timothy (3:00 –5:00).  Then rested on a pallet in the office until 10:00 p.m.  At 10:00 I was on the main road near the school.  TK came at 10:10 with an auto and we were at the train station at 10:35; my train left for Diphu at 1055. 

 

             March 14, Wednesday.  The train pulled into Diphu at 6:30 a.m. sharp.  I had slept from 12:45 until 5:00.  Brothers Dijamani and Lynder were there to meet me and took me to a hotel where I checked in.  The three of us went to breakfast at what I call a hole in the wall.  I phoned Laura in Kinston, TN and Sunny David in Delhi.  The two local brothers took me 12 miles to a rural village, Landsolet, where nine people have been baptized and I preached to a dozen.  One of those baptized was a young mother about 21 years old with a small baby.  Back in Diphu by noon I was able to grab an hour’s nap.  By 2:00 p.m. we were at Baptist meeting house to talk with an assistant “pastor.”  We studied for an hour by going over many scriptures that affirmed we must speak as the Bible speaks.  When asked how he was saved he told a story about a religious experience, but was very vague about his own conversion and really showed little enthusiasm for our study.  By 6:00 we were back at Landsolet for an evening service.  About 25 were present and half of them were young men.  The young mother was back—her husband was at work as he is a day laborer.  They exemplify the millions of rural poor in the country.  One who has not seen it can hardly grasp the extent of that poverty.  They live in a bamboo hut with no floor or any furniture and as brother Dijamani said, they are only able to live from hand to mouth.  After the meeting I learned her name is Karen and that she has no education.  Her little boy child, who is about two months old, was weak and listless and looked seriously ill to me.  By 9:00 we were back in Diphu.  Having observed Karen and the baby in the morning I had gone to a local hospital and saw the staff doctor– a lady and arranged for the mother and child to be admitted on the next day.  As I learned later Karen and the baby did come to the hospital and stayed ten days because he had the measles and was very weak.  This trip took me to Dindigul in the south on the 17th, to Kerala by train on the 20th, then to Coimbatore on the 21. More about it next month.

 

             Special notes: As you know it our (yours and mine) practice to buy bicycles for our student preachers.  In this month we are buying 157 bikes ($60 each) for our preacher students in Tamil Nadu and another 14 for preachers in the northeast.  I thank God for your part in this effort and your love of Jesus and His work in general.  In regard to this, the work of brothers Dijamani and Lynder in Diphu is different.  They are in the foot hills of the Himalayas and their work area covers a diameter of sixty miles or more.  Thus I elected to buy a used 100cc motorcycle for them.  Each cost about Rs 24,000\- ($571).

 

             In the year after the Tsunami (December 26, 2004) more than 13,000\- were baptized into Christ.  You know we require a brother to be Christian at least two years before he enters a school of preaching.  Thus this year we are expecting in June a larger influx of students than ever before.  You know how the apostle said, “How shall hear without a preacher?” And “How shall they preach except the be sent?”  Since 1989 we have trained about 1,000 preachers in our three year program (two weeks in and a two weeks out), but the need is urgent to intensify our efforts.  It might be said that the effort is already intense, but when one realizes that there are 65,000,000 souls in Tamil Nadu alone he will say the training of one thousand in 18 years is hardly like dust on the balances.  Thus with God being our helper we are going to intensify the three year into two years full time.  Though initially the cost will be more per man we will save in the long run.  In fact we calculate that we can train a brother for $75 a month which is just $15 above what is currently required.  Will you please ask your congregations to support the training of one or more student preachers at $70.  Help us in this work of faith and labor of love,

 

With love to all, 

 

Jim E. Waldron