Bihar, Jarkhand, and lots of Water!

AH... Bihar.

That was one fantastic trip. We took a Rajadani train from Delhi which brought us to Katihar Bihar in about 20 hours. The train was pretty nice... there were 6 beds in each compartment and my uncle and I got the lower berths on opposite sides. #33 and #36 =]


Then there was a family with a young kid in our same section, so then I switched to their middle berth and she slept with the kid on my lower berth.



All in all the food and general comfort of the trip can be rated as excellent! They even gave us ice cream =]

YUM

Then we got to Katihar, Bihar...I was pretty tired so all I noticed were small huts and such on the side of the road. I fell asleep in the van (Omni =]) ride to Purnea, Bihar. Next thing I know we are in front of a cement building. Luckily for me, the first actual building I see in Bihar (other than the station!) was the home we would be staying at. I think God had pity on me and blessed me with very comfortable accommodations. There's no other way of explaining it. The family hosting us was a malayalee family too, so that was a double bonus.

The whole reason we were in Purnea, Bihar was for a three day convention. The church there was holding the meeting in a school. They had brought in a lot of people from flood affected parts on buses and they arranged for the people to stay in the classrooms.

Those people. WOW. I have never seen people so sad... I guess is a way to explain it. They never NEVER smiled.

Years and years of poverty and repression and the whole deal with losing just everything in the flood might have something to do with it.

It was like this for the the first 3 or 4 meetings. Only after 3 meetings of telling jokes and trying to get them to laugh did they finally start loosening up a bit. Seeing them smile finally was such a heartwarming experience. It was fantastic!

We heard a testimony of a man, his wife, and their two kids who were all stuck on the roof of their house for 18 days during the main Bihar flood. They didnt have any food or anything and they boiled the flood water for themselves and thier kids. The most touching part of the testimony was the fact that even as they were barely getting by, people were dying right before their eyes.


That is the family with one of their children


I cant even begin to imagine what it must be like for people who lived through the flood. In an instant EVERYTHING they owned and knew was gone. Just gone... washed away... How can people cope with the trauma of realizing that even their families,very the people they ate food with the night before, are all gone...

It's really heart wrenching.

I also got the chance to visit a flood victim's relief camp run by New India Evangelical Team in Purnea Bihar.

It was stunning. When we got there it was milk time and they let me pour milk for the first few kids.






After Purnea we drove back to Katihar. My uncle's ministry has a church in Katihar and we met up with the pastor there. In the evening, we went to speak at a village which was located in the middle of a flood affected region. So we first took an auto from the hotel we were staying at (Rs. 250 a night = 6 dollars!) to the edge of the water. Then we took a boat (which was filling with water, by the way) to the other side of the flooded area. Then we walked through some fields till we got to more water. At this point, we had to roll up our pants and walk through the water!! The water came up to about the middle of my thighs! =D



The meeting at the village was good and we prayed for everyone who wanted to be prayed for. It was a great blessing for everyone.

The next day we took an auto to the Ganges River. It was pretty neat standing by something so famous. We took a ferry across the Ganges from Bihar to the state of Jarkhand. The ride made me feel a little qweezy. Not because I was sea-sick or anything but because people on the other boat were DRINKING THE WATER FROM THE RIVER!!!






Quite Sickening.

After we reached Jarkhand, we rested for a bit. That evening around 3:30 we left to go to another village.

Normally the missionaries in Jarkhand would take a train and then walk the remaining 4KM to the village. To eliminate the walking, they decided to hire a taxi (a big auto rickshaw =P ). So we left around 3:30... got there like 6. Yes 2 and a half hours in a little rickshaw. Cramped together and bounced up and down every which way possible. Oh and we also had to give money to the mafia controlling that area so that we could pass through... go figure...

Anyways we got there, but there was not the village. We had to walk about another Kilometer to reach the village. The villagers hadn't known that we were coming and so the entire time we were there, they were worried about how they would give us food and treat us well. They have a special welcoming greeting where they come before you and you have to either lift your hand to bless them or bow your head to receive blessing from them.

Ofcourse I didn't know that and looked a little dumbfounded when the first guy came in front of me and stood there. I was like: 8-O... "what now...." But the people with me told me what to do and everything worked out well.

The people there didn't even speak Hindi so we translated the message into their language, Santhali. It was the first time they were hearing the gospel and about Jesus Christ. Just goes to show that there are still people in touch with the civilized world that haven't heard about Jesus. The meeting was a blessing and a few people brought their sick to be prayed for as well as some mothers who brought their children to be prayed for.

Then was the worst part of the entire trip. The ride back from the village. The auto driver was in some rush to get home so he was going pretty fast. Mind you, the roads are nothing like America. In fact a better comparison would to the roads you see in the World War movies after the area has been ravaged by bombs. Just holes and ruts. And the driver going like 40 miles an hr did not help. All 9 of us adults + 1 baby were subjected to this horrendous treatment. It was so bad that one of the missionaries who came with us could barely get up because this whole body hurt. I gave him a few Aleeve pills. =) Hopefully he is okay by now.

Then our train from Jarkhand back to Delhi was at 6 in the morning. When we checked the status of our tickets the night before, the site showed that we were still on the wait list for our seats. In fact we were #1 and #2. Anyway, the day of we went there and the station told us we were still not confirmed. We got on the train and figured we would do something after we got on it. And that was what we did. They didn't have any seats in the 3tier coach we had reserved our tickets for, so we had to pay some extra money to upgrade to the 2 tier coach. By God's grace things worked out and we got good seats.

The ride to Delhi was pretty uneventful, and that is probably a good thing.


So whats next?

Tomorrow morning (its 6:30pm October 16, 2008) at 7 I'm taking a train to Chandigarh. I will be there till next Thursday, I'm anticipating. Will be visiting my old church and pastor and friends.

I'll arrive back in Delhi on Thursday hopefully, then Friday and Saturday are days of rest because on Sunday... WE ARE LEAVING FOR NEPAL!! =]

This trip is really coming together to be one awesome trip all over India!


Thanks for all your prayer. I know it is your prayers and God's grace on me that has kept me safe and secure so far for all bad things.


Keep praying and God Bless!

ps: Just to show that I am doing well: