Week Ending 2 September 2018

- September 02, 2018

Wednesday we had dinner with the Winters family from the ward. They are Anglo-Indian (another distinct and interesting culture) from Calcutta with two young adult children. We were surprised that they still have very strong feelings about being caught between the Anglo and Indian cultures as "half-castes" and not fully accepted by either. The son had been working in Dubai but came home to help with his mom who is recovering from cancer and surgery. The daughter, Melissa, is into K-pop, regularly posting her "covers" on YouTube.

They live in a dense maze of narrow streets that the Uber drivers refuse to negotiate so we were dropped off on a corner where Brother Winter found us. We followed him through the muddy, noisy and crowded streets, into an unlit garage and up some dark, narrow, and damp stairs to his apartment. We ate on a low coffee table, some sitting on a bed and some in chairs. (Many Indian families just eat sitting on the floor, so this was quite nice.) It was good to be with them and marvel at their faithfulness.

We celebrated Grant’s 69^th birthday in style yesterday. Two young adults from the ward, Vinay and Rohit, came to our apartment for their weekly English lesson which is really an excuse to hang out with Grant who has become a sort of father figure for them. We fixed and shared lunch together.

In the evening we helped the missionaries with a ward “fireside” which included some of our English class members. It was mostly games. They sang to Grant and he was given a cake and a few small gifts. Nearly half in attendance were not Church members.