nomads

It's been only a little over a week since David and I made a quick exit from Garo Hills and arrived in Delhi on a Thursday night but everything has changed. We are pilgrims once again trying to decide what to give away and what to pack. Airport weight limits and painfully high overweight charges are very purging.

Maranatha is doing budget cuts because of the falling US economy and after a long and friendly talk with our boss we all agreed it would be best for us and the company if we left for awhile. The timing is good for us. David and I were able to save enough working with Maranatha to finish paying off my student loans so now we are free to take a larger range of volunteer positions without worrying about financial responsibilities.

We did some shopping on the Adventist Volunteers website and found a call for English teahers in Almaty Kazakhstan. We have applied with the school and received a positive response from them so we are completing paperwork and applying for a visa. Our tentative departure date is March 9.

Kazakhstan is the largest of the new former USSR countries. It is bordered by Russia on the North, Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan, on the South, China on the East and the Caspian Sea on the West. The geography is mostly steppe, high grazing land, with some very large mountains. The people were historically nomadic shepherds divided by family and tribal groups. Of course many (most?) are settled now. Almaty, Alma Ata on the map above, is one of those larger settlements called a city. It's located in the South Eastern part of the country. Alma Ata means literally, "the father of apples" and that sounds pretty good after all the grainy and creamy apples we have eaten in India. Pictures of the mountains and evergreen forests remind us of Washington State. Just because you have never heard of it you should not assume that Almaty is a backwards place. It is actually a rich and modern city. Kazakhstan, like many of the "stans," has oil. It is also a place of historical interest for Russia's space program. I have found an amateur radio club in the city. Unfortunately, their website uses cyrilic letters so I can understand very little but they have a nice photo gallery. Here's a link: http://qrz.kz/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=205 David's looking forward to making contact with them.

The primary religion in all of Central Asia is Islam. It is not the extremist Islam that makes the newspapers and evening news broadcasts. It is a religion of personal devotion and surrender to the will of Allah. Alcohol, smoking, unclean meats, and immorality are all forbidden by the principals of Islam so that Islam faithfully practiced, is a religion of peace.

Our new job duties will include 24 hrs per week of English teaching, weekly duties at the local church, teaching Sabbath School, Friday night Bible Study, etc. We are sorry to leave India but looking forward to returning to Central Asia where we think we will at least understand a few more words. Russian is the primary trade language in Kazakhstan but many other turkic languages are also present including Kazakh, kyrgyz, Uzbek, tajik, and Uighur. There is even a Uighur population in Almaty. I'm hoping to make some Uighur friends that I can speak with. It's use it or lose it with second languages. God is good and his children are never bored. :-)

Garo Hills Campus

A lot has happened in three months. Gina and I are back in the Garo Hills of North-east India. In a few days school starts. Work continues on the campus. I am still waiting for the truck carrying the water distribution pipe to arrive. The truck is coming from half a country away, state border crossings, paperwork and taxes to be checked and rechecked.... The local merchant gave me the assurance, that we all know is just the fastest it could get here, of 10 days. That 10 day wait ends tomorrow. Any number of things could hold the supplies up for a few days, or weeks. I look forward the long days of joining the 1200-meters of water distribution pipe, one 6-meter section at a time.
Here is a shot of the campus from across the river on a hill.

Campmeeting in the hills

We may have skipped the country but are still taking in the local church functions and enjoying our status as members of a worldwide family. On Sabbath Gina and I melted into the group, as much as possible, at the 52nd Garo Annual Meeting. It was so liberating to be part of an event that would happen exactly the same whether we were present or not. We did cause a small stir and a unique photographic opportunity. Some people just had to take pictures with us.









The nightly meetings were cold. Gina dressed warm. One evening after the meeting was over a cow wandered in. I had go up and say hello.







My favorite person in the whole meeting was this old man who always had the biggest smile on his face. he seemed to be alone but always made you feel like you were part of his world.









This is my favorite picture, a child with the sun shining across his face. The second runner up.... well there were many.
























The meetings began Wednesday night but because of work responsibilities I had to wait till sabbath to take pictures during the day. There where thousands of people, many traveled several hours from their remote villages to attend the meetings. This annual meeting means more to the Garo people than just getting together once a year. There aren't enough churches and pastors to go around so believers bring their tithes and offerings to the meetings. Pastors take the opportunity while everyone is together to conduct mass baptisms and weddings. We got the rare opportunity, as foreigners, to be present during the baptisms. The last picture is a mass wedding. Fourteen couples were in attendence.