Visit to Bagalur

Tonight Christine and I went to a nearby village, called Bagalur, to visit Jancee’s house. Jancee is a lady who helps to clean our rooms and such. Yesterday, she invited us over to her place for dinner. She has been working at ACA for over 10 years and she has never had anyone over to her house. Her husband feels like it would be strange inviting the people she cleans houses for over to their place, but somehow she felt comfortable inviting us over. She sent her son and a friend to pick us up in an auto rickshaw. We stopped by the bakery to buy some sweets for her. As we stopped on the side of the road we saw some students from the seminary who were staring at us wondering what the heck we were doing in that part of the village with a strange man and two boys. After picking up the sweets we drove to her house. She was so happy to see us. In fact several of the neighborhood kids were also excited about our visit and came to see us. Her daughter had been telling her friends about me. Jancee is illiterate but can speak parts of several different languages. She knows English but is more confident in speaking her mother tongue, Tamil. Christine knows Malayalam and since it’s close to Tamil, she translated most of what Jancee said. Jancee told Christine that she liked me from the very beginning because I was vulnerable and shared some of my past with her. She said that that’s why she feels so comfortable sharing about her difficult situations. She became a Christian a while ago and her husband became a Christian through her witness to him. He was a Hindu at the time of their marriage. The other day, Jancee's son asked her husband why he married her. "Was it for her beauty? Was it for money?" he asked. Jancee's husband replied, "It was because I knew she was a Christian and would pray for me." While at her house she told us about all the difficulties she has had to face but how God has been so gracious to her. She is still facing difficulties but she is very faithful in prayer and trusts that God will continue to be her strength, comfort and provider. I’m thankful we had a chance to visit her place and that Christine knows Malayalam so that she could more easily share with us.

DVD Bonus: Jancee kept saying “snake” and I was like "what’s she keep talking about a snake for?" But apparently “snake” means “loved me”. Wow.