Wednesday - Friday

Continued from the previous post, here's more from my Dad's journal....

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Wednesday, January 29

This was the day when the school had to give us our "send off" even though four of us were staying another week. It was somewhat different from the one for Pastor Daniel the previous week. Reaction was very positive for the truly ethnic dances, somewhat cool to the ones in which Western influence is creeping in.

The sendoff lasted until almost noon. This would be my last time to photograph all of the members of the Seminary so I arranged that quickly and had them captured by 2 pm.

Thursday, January 30

The departure for the islands was scheduled for 8 am but it was about 9:30 before we actually got away. We were accompanied by Zechiah and Bishop Shalem, soon to be joined en route by several other pastors. We travelled in two SUV-sized vehicles (which turned out not to be 4-wheel drive) that came with drivers.

We began gathering our data when we stopped at a church in Tenali, a city about an hour from Guntur. As we were taking the GPS reading and some photographs the pastor appeared so we were given a tour of the building and a list of needs. Then we continued on our way to the islands.

Since 2004 they have added a very long and impressive bridge across the Krishna River which shortens the drive significantly. Instead of going to the boat dock that I remembered, we went to a ferry dock a little east of the previous one and put our vehicles in line for a crossing to an island I had not previously visited. Also lined up for the ferry crossing was a huge gravel truck with a load of reddish crushed rock to be used on improving the roads on the island and a farm tractor pulling a trailer filled with concrete blocks. We all fitted when the ferry arrived, although the wait and the crossing must have taken an hour.

We drove directly to Nachagunta, the place where the new church building funded by All Saints in Columbus had been built, and launched into the dedication service. The singing was impressive, particularly when a man was introduced and sang a new song that he had composed for the occasion. I videotaped the whole thing so that people in Columbus will be able to see it. Unfortunately, the power went off during the service so the PA system did not work. It did not dampen the spirits of the congregation, fortunately.

When the dedication was over we left our luggage in the sanctuary and departed to see three other churches on the island. In the middle of nowhere we encountered a road construction crew. The roadbed must have been elevated 8 to 10 feet above the rice paddies and they had dumped many loads of crushed red rock which they were spreading and leveling. The big roller was at the far end of the project. Gingerly the driver pulled the SUV up on the freshly levelled gravel and we got through - even past the big roller.

The first two churches that we visited were at Brahmayagarimula and Gollamanda. We took our readings and photographs quite efficiently and moved on. The last was Vellaturu and we were welcomed by a significant number of congregation members. We all went in and were introduced and I think they sung a song for us. It might have taken half an hour. I know that we had been concerned that the sun was setting and outside photographs would be of less use. The other obligatory thing in these stops is that we must sit down and have a bottle of cola or 7-up. I suppose in the days of the British "occupation" it would have been tea.

Anyway we headed back to Nachagunta to sleep (in the new sanctuary.) It was dark and the road was very bumpy. I was in the second car. Before long we saw that the first car had stopped and there was a group of people gathered around it. In fact, it was outside the Gollamanda church. It turns out that the church members knew that we had stopped at one of the other churches and wanted us to stop at their's too. So we piled out of the cars and had another round of introductions. Bishop Shalem spoke for a bit and Mike was asked to, but gave a prayer instead.

We were late and dinner was awaiting us a Nachagunta. Back in the cars we hurried along the bumpy roads and came back to the road construction project. The roller was parked and the crew were off for the night. However, fresh gravel had been deposited in piles that did not leave enough room for our vehicles to get by.

The driver of the first vehicle decided to risk it anyway and got stuck in the soft soil. As I had said, the vehicles did not have 4-wheel drive so he quickly spun one back wheel which dug a deep hole. This hole was precariously close to the edge of the embankment and we worried that the vehicle would roll do into the rice paddy.

Soon we saw the lights of a vehicle way beyond where we were stuck. It appeared to turn around but was to far to tell exactly. Then we realized that it was getting closer, slowly. It finally dawned on us that this was the gravel truck, the one from the ferry, arriving to dump yet another load to block passage. So it came, dumped its load and left. I could not tell in the dark whether anyone had talked to the driver or not.

There were a number of efforts by the young bucks (not me) to lift the back of the SUV and move it away from the dropoff and out of the hole. They did not succeed in getting the wheels off the ground.

Our driver was sent back to Gollamanda to get shovels. He returned with a man and an "Indian shovel", a tool that looks as if someone shortened the handle of a normal spade and then bent the metal back on itself to be almost parallel to the spade part.

The man lept into the problem and quickly cleared the loose gravel from under the vehicle, then reshaped all of the gravel piles ahead of us to provide a reasonable driving surface. This time the young bucks had more confidence and did succeed in lifting the back of the SUV out of the hole, which was quickly filled.

That did the trick. The two vehicles moved past the blockage and we got in. I asked whether we should pass the hat to compensate the shoveller and was told that he was a believer, a member of the congregation in Gollamanda.

We arrived at Nachagunta at 9 pm for a quick dinner and bed. They had cots but the bedding was whatever we had brought. Eric and I had each grabbed a sheet and pillow from the Seminary but had to share a towel.

The power went off at least 3 times that night which meant that the overhead fans turned and it got a bit close. The outages lasted for about 15 minutes and might have been planned load shedding.

Friday, January 31

We woke fairly early and asked about washing up. The pastor had arranged for groups of two men to be taken to different parishoners' homes. At each home they were heating the water in a big kettle. When hot enough they poured it into a bucket and placed it in the shower/toilet room. With enough hot water available, you could wet yourself, work up a soap lather and then rinse it off. I skipped shaving.

Breakfast was similar to the one at the Moriah Home: french toast with jelly and peanut butter. This time there was no scrambled egg. And there was coffee, of course, but served in very small cups so you had to ask for seconds.

At this point we had "done" that island and were committed to lunch on the next island. But first, would we like to see the Light House? It was advertised as a two and half hour boat ride each way and we declined. Then they said that we would see a little fishing before descending on the village. It turns out that one of the pastors with us, Johann, had previously been a fisherman right there and knew everyone.

We were riding in a very large skiff (pointed at both front and back) with a built-in single stroke engine. We motored down the river to a place where fishermen were gathering in the net. The net looked to be half a mile long with floats every 8 or 20 feet. From one point on the bank they had stretched it out across the river then pulled to free end upriver and wrapped it back to shore to a second team. The teams were several hundred yards apart and each was pulling in the net. It was slow, hard work. There were about 10 men in each team and it looked like it would take the rest of the day to pull the whole thing in with the fish. Our fisherman pastor said it would take about 30 minutes.

We were given a choice, stay and watch the fish come in or motor to the mouth of the river and see the ocean. The concensus was go to the ocean. It took another 45 minutes but we were all glad that we had made that choice.

The tide was low and we came upon a huge expanse of sand with modest breakers visible off in the distance. Taking a closer look at the sand, we realized that it was crawling with speedy red crabs. When we stepped ashore to get a better picture, they all disappeared into their sand holes. We had a very enjoyable time being the only people in miles, strolling along the beach accompanied by 3 porpoises about 15 feet offshore. Which ever direction we went, they seemed to follow.

Apparently, the huge sandy area that we visited is underwater at high tide. We had to give up our plans to put tourist hotels there.

As we started back in the boats, we encountered another fishing boat our pastors struck up a conversation and before long they had been given two pan-sized fish which they dumped in the wet bottom of the boat. Then we made a detour to a group of nomads in tents on the other side of the river and Bishop Shalem waded in, negotiated, and returned with a armload of dry brush.

They produced an old steel tire rim and set it on the back deck, poured a half cup of gasoline on it and soon had a pretty nice fire. The last step was to put the fish on the fire, whole. In a few minutes they passed the fish around for us to "have a taste." It was pretty good.

Ellachetla Dibba is the place where we stayed overnight in 2004. The church building may be the largest in the BFLC. As we embarked I realized that things were different from my last visit. We tied up to a concrete dock with a concrete ramp to walk up. Later we learned that the area had been damaged by the tsunami and they had installed a big concrete breakwater to protect the village. I also learned that all of the fishing boats had been lost and the ones they used now, including the one we had just left, were given by the fishermen of Britain. That explained the fiberglass hull.

This church visit was a little longer. There were songs and some short talks and once again we were all given a lei and asked to say a few words.

When we left, the fishing boat took us directly to the mainland where our cars were waiting with out bags. This avoided a ferry ride across the river, a long car ride to the first ferry and what could be an hour wait for it.

There was a man on this trip who was not a pastor, more of a historian. He was saying that Christianity was brought to Andra Pradesh by Canadian Baptist Missionaries. Curious, I asked whether the name Archibald McLean ever came up and he responded "Oh yes and I can show you a picture of him!" The more we talked, the less I believed that my ancestor and he were thinking of the same person. Archibald McLean certainly sent many missionaries all over the world but I don't think that he ever served in the mission field himself. As the man recited the name it began to seem more like McLaren rather than McLean. Anyway, we stopped in a village on the way back to Guntur to see the closed Canadian Baptist Mission school where the man had lived. I think he had a family and real descendents. Archibald McLean was a batchelor, the brother of my great-grandmother Christine McLean Whitehead.

The stop was not totally lost as one of the SUVs had a bad tire from the drive on the island. Believe it or not, the tire had an inner tube. When it was fixed we got back on our way home.

Baggage Update - It was on the way home that Aaron got confirmation that the two bags that did not make it last Sunday had arrived in Hyderabad. The plan is that on Saturday Bob, Mike and Zechia will catch the 5 am train the Hyderabad and retrieve them. We got away without collecting ours in person but they did not want to take the chance.