April 1974

Hi!

Greetings in Jesus' name from Nagpur, India.

I don't know whether or not I should tell you about the nice holiday I had. I guess I better do, otherwise you might get the idea I never get a respite from all my 'sufferings'. A friend of mine, from Canada, came for a visit to India. We were only able to travel a little bit due to widespread rail and air strikes. The highlight of this 'little bit' was a trip to Hyderabad. The only train ticket we were able to get was for third class unreserved. This ticket entitles you to travel in a certain section of the train provided you get on. Well, at first we tried the door.

Unfortunately this did not prove as original as I thought it was because a lot of other people had the same idea - at the same time. A friendly coolie - his friendliness had its seat in his pocket-book and its eyes on mine - advised us to climb in through the window of the door opposite the one on the platform. We forgot our parental admonitions and our Bible college training - and followed his advice. The window in question was ca. 18 x 18 inches and so was Rick … Nevertheless he managed to squeeze in without the help of a shoehorn. Unbeknown to him, sitting right below the window was an elderly lady and a little boy. When they saw what was about to descend upon them they let out cries which would have done honor to any Jew on the Wailing Wall. I am sure had the old lady been in possession of her teeth, Rick would have made 'touch down' minus one leg. I followed quickly, assessed the situation, gave the kid a handful of candies and the elderly lady - one of those 'you-are-the-only-one-in-my-life' smiles and order was restored - comparatively speaking. The place we found ourselves in was a narrow aisle packed full with people of all smells - most of them bad. After having been on the railways station for hours we were able to make our rightful contribution … At one time I counted 25 of them. No, no, not smells - people! I had to stand for the duration of the trip, ca. 12 hours. Occasionally I stood on three feet. Actually the third foot belonged to my neighbor. We had to double up due to acute shortage of floor space. An Indian friend of ours, who came along, was sitting there half asleep when he suddenly noticed that he had three hands … When he came fully to his senses he realized he was holding the hand of the woman next to him … It shows when Indians blush … I saw it!

Not all our trips were made in this fashion. We traveled on other occasions 3rd class reserved. On one occasion we even traveled 1st class reserved. In both cases you are provided with a berth.

In our traveling we saw some of India's famous forts, castles and monuments. The most renowned among them was the Taj Mahal in Agra. While traveling is far from restful, it nevertheless was a nice change and – “a change is as good as a rest” - so they say.

As most of you know, we are waiting for Government approval of our program. Well, so far nothing has materialized. Since we felt we couldn't wait for ever, Peter and I decided to start on our tribal language anyhow. Mawchi is the language of ca. 350,000 tribal people in the north-west of Maharashtra, also spilling over into Gujarat. Not being permitted to live in a Mawchi village at the present time, till our program is approved, we brought a young Mawchi man to Nagpur.  Devdas is living with us and teaches us Mawchi. His patience is only outshone by that of Job. He will be with us till the end of May.

We hope to have a fair grasp of the Mawchi language by then and also to have completed a certain part of our linguistic analysis. Needless to say, that we are very grateful to God for this encouragement. However, please do continue to pray that the Government will approve our program soon. On the market at the moment are oranges, grapes, peanuts and sugar cane. If you like sugar cane juice they will squeeze it out for you right there on the spot. You might not particularly like the glass you drink it out of, but then you can't have everything your way. In a month or so we will have mangoes again which, to my way of thinking, is one of the most delicious fruits there are. True, they are a bit messy to eat, but then the taste makes up for it.

In the realm of bugs we have the crickets out and the odd mosquito. The cockroaches are perennials.

Weather-wise we have the beginning of summer, and it is getting kind of warmish, but not intolerable.

Well, that's about all for now. Both Peter and I are well and are not plagued by any maladies etc. However since those things are subject to change “without notice” your prayers on our behalf are appreciated.

Sincerely in Christ

Frank