Victor Anna, Aro Anna, and Jenny Akka

My third Sunday in India we went and visited one of the village churches. I don't remember what the village was called - I couldn't even figure out what they were saying when they told me. It was really long though. The pastor in that church was named Victor, and he spoke some English! He actually translated for me when I shared my testimony. The pastors in the churches I had previously visited did not speak any English, and Auntie translated my testimony.

Victor and his wife Violet had us over to their house after church for lunch, and we spent some time visiting. I couldn't understand most of what was said because they prefer to speak in Tamil since it is their heart language, but I enjoyed it anyway. Indians are very hospitable, and Victor knows how to make a person feel like one of the family.

Victor and Violet are each 32 years old I believe, and they met at Bible college. They do not have any children. Her family has disowned her since she married a Christian, and do not even speak to her. This is quite an accomplishment since they only live three houses down, and so they see each other a lot. Victor's father died when he was sixteen, and David Anna put him through Bible college. David Anna and Victor are very close. Many people think they are brothers. Victor is one of the pastors who goes north with David Anna when he goes to minister up there.

The last weekend we spent a day in Pondicherry, about 200 kilometres down the coast. This is a Union Territory, and was originally governed by the French. Victor came with us on that trip. The Mission has a branch church in Pondicherry, and we met the pastor and his wife for lunch. Her name is Jennifer, which happens to be my eldest sister's name, so that was kind-of cool. His name is Arokiaraj, but everybody calls him Aro. He is 30, and laughs almost constantly. She is 25, and going through nursing school. They do not have any children. Aro is another one of the pastors who goes north with David Anna.

After lunch and some incredible Indian coffee, we went out to explore Pondicherry. I didn't go to India to be a tourist, but they insisted on showing me some tourist sights. Pondicherry is very French. I enjoyed it.

Victor instructed me to call him and Aro "Anna" (which, as I'm sure you will remember, means older brother). I figured that I had better call Jenny "Akka" too.

I got to spend some more time with Victor Anna and Aro Anna over the last week, and they both became my brothers. Aro Anna actually introduced me to his brother as his younger sister. I miss both of them a lot. I didn't get to spend as much time with Jenny Akka, but I miss her as well.

Victor Anna and I

Jenny Akka, Aro Anna, and I

One more thing about Aro Anna and Jenny Akka. They live right across the road from a Hindu temple. And their church building is located on top of their house. Which means that there is a Hindu temple right across the road from the church building. That in and of itself is not so remarkable, though it does complicate things a little. However, the priest of that temple happens to be Aro Anna's uncle. So, the one is the priest of the temple, and the other is the pastor of the church across the road. Oh, and I think the priest's wife is a member of Aro Anna's church. That makes things a little more complicated!

The Akkas

There were three young women in the house who were also very much part of the family. Christina is the warden of the girls' orphanage. Everybody calls her Christy. She is 32, un-married, short (she almost comes up to my shoulder), super sweet, and barely speaks any English. Literally, I think she speaks about ten words of English. Which made it difficult to get to know her. Auntie did tell me that her sister is married to one of the branch pastors who lives about four hours away. It was him who first suggested her as a likely candidate for the girls' warden, and now she's been there for six years. Unfortunately, because she's always running around doing things, I wasn't able to get any good pictures of her. :-( We call her and both of the other girls Akka, which, you will remember, means older sister.

Next is Ruth. She grew up in the orphanage, and now she works for the family while they are trying to find her a husband. She is 28, laughs a lot, loves the Lord, and speaks a little more English than Christy Akka. She is mainly the cook, and she is a very good cook. I love Indian food! She also does the laundry.

Ruth Akka ended up in the orphanage the day of her mother's funeral. I believe her dad skipped out on them shortly after her mother became pregnant with her youngest brother. The mother died shortly after the baby was born, and the relatives didn't want anything to do with all of the kids she left behind. David Anna was visiting their village the day of the funeral, met the kids, and saw the box the relatives had given them to live in. So he called Susan Akka and told her that he was bringing them home.

There are five of them all together. Ruth Akka is the eldest. Next is Ravi who is 25, and he is one of the mission's drivers. Paulraj is 23, and he is going to college. Esther is 18, and they are training her to take Ruth Akka's place whenever she eventually gets married. Abi is 15, and I don't really know anything about him. All four of them still live in the orphanage.

 

Ruth Akka and I

Lastly we have Amudha. She is the youngest, and speaks the most English out of the three of them, and consequently I am closer to her than to the others. She is 20, always cheerful, and she's attending college. She also grew up in the orphanage. I'm not entirely certain what her specific job is in the household, but she seems to be responsible for making sure the boys get to school on time. Which can be a full-time job at times.

She ended up in the orphanage after her parents died. Her dad was abusive toward her mother, and one day her mother decided she couldn't take it anymore. So she poured kerosene on herself and found a match. The dad was afraid of the legal investigation that would follow, and tried to save her. He died as well. Amudha watched as this all happened. I believe she was about eight years old at the time.

Amudha has one brother, Munuswamy. His Christian name is Immanuel, but nobody ever calls him that. I found it curious that Amudha told me that was his name and didn't tell me the name he goes by. I'm not sure why she did that. Munuswamy is 19, and he also watched their parents die.

Amudha Akka and I

Munuswamy - he didn't want me to take this picture so of course I had to!

Anna and Akka and my Tambis

I was staying in India as a guest of the Saviour Jesus Christ Mission. The Mission, at this point, includes a school, an orphanage, and about 200 churches all told. It was started years ago by a pastor named Benjamin, and is now mostly run by his son and daughter-in-law, David and Susan.

David and Susan were actually in the U.S. when I arrived in India. My family actually ran into them about a week later at an Indian restaurant. As I told you in my last post, when they were over here Auntie took care of me. However, when they did eventually make it back to India they took over responsibility of me.

Susan is the vice principal of the school, and she takes care of the girls orphanage. The girls have a warden who lives with them of course (I'll tell you about her later), but any major problems come to Susan. She is also a mother of two high energy boys, and manages her own household. She's a busy woman.

David spends most of his time visiting those of the branch churches that are having problems and need some help. Every few months he goes north with some of the other pastors to evangelize one of the northern provinces. It is never a given that he will come back. The Hindu fanatics are very strong in that region. But he goes anyway, and his family lets him.

David and Susan have two sons, Philip and Timothy. Philip is twelve and Timothy is eight. They are my little brothers. They both made it their responsibility to expose me to the culture, so they were always dragging me this way and that saying, "Look at this!..This is how we do this over here!...You'd better take several pictures of that!...Taste this!" They loved to bring me Indian snacks and sweets and try to force-feed me the entire box. Everyone over there was convinced that I didn't eat anywhere near enough.

I miss all of my family in India, but I probably miss my little brothers the most.

One more note-you may have noticed that the title of this post includes somebody named Anna, and what looks like an Indian name and some other word. Those are actually Tamil words. Akka means older sister and is what all the kids there, including me, called Susan. And Anna actually means older brother, and is what we all called David. Tambi means younger brother, so I am referring to the boys with that one. Both of the boys called me Akka.

Auntie

Auntie in her office

So, many of you know who David and Susan are. If you don't, that's ok, I'll introduce them soon. For now I'll just tell you that they were the ones whose house I stayed at, and they took care of me while I was over there. Except that for two-thirds of the time that I was over there, they were over here. So during the time that they were over here, Auntie, Susan's mother, took care of me.

Auntie is one of the most incredible people I have ever met. She grew up a Hindu, married a Hindu man, and raised both of her daughters as Hindus. Then God called to her, by name, through a pastor who had never met her before, and she came to the Lord. Her husband and daughters ended up following her.

She and her husband became very involved in ministry, and it is her passion. The Lord gave new life to her, and she can't give any less than all of her life to him. That is her worldview. Her husband died ten years ago, and she continues to press on as hard as she can. She is the principal of the mission's school, and the teachers all say that she is the best Ma'am they have ever worked under. She loves the Lord with her entire heart, soul, mind, and strength.

She calls me her third daughter, and I feel so incredibly privileged. She is truly an incredible woman, and one of my heroes.

(Ma'am is what principals are called in India.)

Yes, I Do Still Exist...

Well, I'm home now. And I know that I haven't posted a single time since I left. And I know that I have a few friends who will be mad at me... We were having internet problems until the last week, and at that point I figured that I might as well leave everything until I got home (partly because the last week was very busy!).

I think I am going to start by introducing some of the most important people I interacted with during my time there. I will try to have the first introduction up tonight, so don't lynch me yet!

One day!

Well, it's only one day until I leave! My travel purse arrived yesterday, my suitcase is almost packed, and we met with David again to pick up some things that they want me to take over for them. I am officially excited and trying very hard to not be nervous.
I have been so grateful for the prayers and support I have received from so many people over the last couple of weeks. I have had people I don't even know tell me that they are praying for me, and I have definitely been able to feel the impact of those prayers already. Thank you so much for praying for me, and I hope you will all continue to! I want God to be able to use me in as many ways as He wants.