Weeks Ending March 8 and 15, 2020
As it turns out, this will be the penultimate entry in our mission blog. Due to corona virus concerns we have decided to end our mission three weeks early and return home. We made arrangements yesterday to leave on Thursday. While disappointed that our final month with its planned visits from family, major cultural event and a little extra travel in India will not happen, we are grateful for the time we have spent here, the amazing people we have met and life-changing experiences we have had.
On Thursday evening, March 5th we attended Sulabh's 50th anniversary gala celebration at the India Habitat Centre. It was good to see our friends there. Here are Sister Hansen, a woman from a small village in Haryana that we met and danced with last year and Monika Jain, the project manager who accompanied us on that very interesting trip.
On Friday morning we drove to the sacred city of Mathura, about three hours south of Delhi, almost to Agra. We didn't go to see the birthplace of Krishna, but rather to visit the Mirock family. We met Louis Mirock last month when she came to Delhi to learn more about the Church. At that time she invited us to visit her family in Mathura where her father is the pastor of the historic Christ Church located in the Mathura Cantonment.
The Church was consecrated in 1856 for the use of the British soldiers stationed in the city. Today it is part of the Church of North India and serves a small congregation of about thirty Indian Christians.
Louis and her parents showed us around the beautiful old church.
It was Louis' father's 64th birthday and we shared a delicious meal with the family. Louis is one of five children and her father has been a pastor in several cities in north India. Three of her brothers are also religious leaders in the CNI (two of them are standing next to me). Her fourth brother is a college student. They were sweet, people dedicated to Jesus Christ and his Gospel.
On Monday the Mission celebrated Holi in the vacant lot next to the Stake Center/Mission Home. They asked the missionaries to stay inside on Tuesday, the real Holi, to avoid any trouble.
Sister Hansen organized some great games.
By the end of the morning there was plenty of color on everyone!
Grant managed to stay pretty clean while taking photographs. I gave it all a wide berth and helped with lunch.
Wednesday we attended the Central Zone Conference with theses great people. We are going to miss them. President and Sister Hansen are in the center with the Toones on the right.
On Thursday we visited Safdarjang's Tomb. It was built between 1753 and 1754 by Nawab Sujal-ud-Daulah as a tribute to his father, Mizra Abul Mansur Kahn or "Safdarjang," Governor of the province of Awadh under Muhammad Shah (1719-1748) and later his prime minister. This is the gateway to the tomb.
Safdarjung's tomb was the last monumental garden tomb of the Mughals. Its poor materials are a testimony to the waning wealth and power of the dynasty. Its imperfect proportions and exuberant ornamentation signal the end of the Mughal style of architecture.
We found it to be quite beautiful.
From there we made one last trip to INA Market and loaded up on spices and nuts and then Dili Haat where we purchased a few more special Indian things.
Saturday we had lunch with our good friends Kamal Kumar and Elder Plater. We will miss so many wonderful and interesting people here.
Before and after lunch, Shivani Rajput stopped by to visit and say goodbye. Another precious person that we will miss!
Sunday Church was cancelled in Delhi, as it was world wide. We invited our special friends, Aman and Vivek Kumar and their parents, along with the Toones and Sisters Rayudu and Srinivasan for lunch and a Family Home Evening. The sisters taught the Plan of Salvation. It was a delightful afternoon. We have really grown to love this little Indian family so much!
A little later we met with Kamal and some friends of his who are moving to Plano/Frisco. The wife, Sarita Dash, presented me with this lovely dupatta from Odisha. We look forward to connecting with them when we get home and they move to the Dallas area.
We had one last visit on Sunday evening from Sisters Chellapilli and Potaraju who came to say goodbye.
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