When I last wrote to you I was on that wonderful six hour bus ride. However, that was two weeks ago and I have been slack, once again, on my blog entries. The reason is that not much has happened, but a lot has happened. No big events, but several small yet still noteworthy ones.
When we returned from Tezpur on Wendesday, the rest of the week was Rongali Bihu. From what I understand its one of three throughout the year, this Bihu is the beginning of the Assamese new year and signifies the beginning of their planting season. Its also the Bihu of love... This is their biggest holiday; I mean it takes three days to celebrate! Many of the shops were closed, people invite their friends over for dinner, and they also had what they called programs where they celebrated with dance and music. All the dancers dress in traditional gold and red silk outfits and know the routines that I guess they have been taught since birth. It’s a very festive time. However, no one that I am associated with was interested in celebrating. I really wanted to see some of the celebrations though, not often you are here to celebrate Bihu! The weekend passed and it was soon Saturday night and still no Bihu. Everything would return to normal on Sunday. We had discussed at HC that night about how everyone had celebrated. The girls went out of town to a friend’s house to stay, Brian wasn’t too interested, and I had sat around asking everyone if they knew where to see some Bihu. Little did I know that while the night was coming to an end, or so I thought, our landlords were hosting their own Bihu bash! So when I walked up to the gate about 10:00 that Saturday night to go to bed, I big smile came across my face when I heard the drums and chanting going on in the courtyard area! Looking around the corner there it was, hired dancers in the gold and red dress and all. About 30 people enjoying the private Bihu program (our landlords are from a royal bloodline, that’s how they roll). They welcomed me warmly, tied a gimosa around my head, and encouraged (shoved) me to join the dancing. When Brian got back he joined in also. It was much fun! The guest got a kick out of it as well; I guess it is not often that Americans get involved in celebrating Bihu. The festivities were just getting started, they invited us in to eat and have snacks. By this time it was already after 11 so we just ate our snacks and slipped out to the flat. I was satisfied though, I got to experience the Bihu celebration after all!
During Bihu, when I was at the office alone I decided I would go out and try to meet some national English speakers. I had been disappointed before this time that I had not really met any nationals outside the team and was getting a little discouraged. After sitting at the flat one night, Brian told me that you just have to go out and talk to people. If you know me, you know that is not really my comfort zone, especially when I am halfway around the world. I decided that it would beat sitting at home and the office all the time waiting for them to come find me though. Now I find myself in shock that I have actually met people and have visited with them several times. I have even been invited to the home of a father and son that I have met. It’s actually pretty cool. This is also the way that we get the opportunity to share with them, by building relationships. They may just be interested in me because I’m American, but it definitely opens some doors. So if you guys want to be lifting me up in any way, let it be for growth and opportunities in these relationships.
Another event that was really interesting was a ceremony for one of the team members a couple Saturday’s ago. It was a traditional H1ndu ceremony that is supposed to take place when they are a teenager; however, this guy is 38. This time it was like a reconciliation ceremony to mend relationships with his family and community that were broken when became a believer. I do not understand fully what all took place and why, but I do know that by mending these relationships it opened countless doors for him to share the Truth with his community. I know I also said that it was a H1ndu ceremony, but I have learned that H1nduism is more of a community than it is a religion. It’s just a different culture. I wish I could tell more about it and I wish I know more, but this was a really big deal; this was one of the first times it had ever been done and was supposedly very groundbreaking.
Other than this, we did some traveling. By train this time which is about ten times better than the bus. I just got to sit in on some meetings that some of the other team members had. There was not much English spoken that day, I found myself with a lot of time to ponder life. Including pondering what they were talking about, haha. I was still a good trip; we got to visit a village and some more rural areas so it was good to take in the scenery. We did have to ride the bus for several hours again though…
This week I will be traveling again, but will be conducting some surveys this time. I’m excited to meet some more people at these different organizations to talk about needs and how we can bring them some help. I also love just talking to them and just getting to know their heart and why they do what they do. Their strength is always an encouragement.
Hopefully some more exciting stuff will happen this week that I can share, I will have plenty of time to write on the train. I hope everyone at home is having a great spring. Thanks again for reading!
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