Fall trip to Williamnagar

It has been almost  a month since our trip to Williamnagar, Meghalaya. Sometimes I wish I’m better at meeting my own expectation. I allowed time to drift till today to write what I thought I will since I arrived back at the office. The only comfort I can derive is at somebody's quote which I noted "better late than never".

So many things overlapped in three weeks but I would try to write as lucid as I can remember what God did through us and in us. It would be unfair to write about the trip without mentioning the joy and pain of traveling in the train. Our train was initially 1.5 hours. Wait a minute, did I say 8 hours? Yeah it was late by 8 hours when we arrived at Guwahati. It not only screwed up my mood, but everybody else's and more so our itinerary. We were to meet one of the volunteer at the airport. Instead, he had to wait for us at the train station for 3 hours. How cool is that? 

One of the ramifications of being late was getting a taxi driver willing to drive us 250 km at night to Tura. Sounds doable but practically hard especially when there had been a communal riot killing couple of people just the other day on the route we were supposed to make our way through. I haven't told any of the interns about the incident as I didn't want unnecessary paranoia especially when God is in control. After 1.5 hours of searching, I found the 'chosen one' who taxed us for almost everything apart from normal fare. I guess the skin tax for my American friend was a windfall for him. We arrived at Tura at about midnight and we had our latest dinner in a long long time. 

We slept like logs. Next day we went to my home church. It was good that my family the church saw my team which kind of prove I'm not running a bogus business, after all they're one of my supporters. One of the volunteer preached and I translated and others introduced themselves. The interns later got a taste of hot Garo cuisine which is undoubtedly the best in the world (in my opinion) and a taste of Garo chilly. I think they swore in their hearts never to eat green Garo chilly again. 
Well, we haven't even reach Williamnagar yet. We left Tura in the afternoon that Sunday and met up with the church pastor and elders of Ku'simkol Baptist Church (KBC) in the evening.    We were welcomed like VVIPs and we uncomfortably enjoyed it (I've never been a VIP). 

The next day, we met with about 10 people including pastor, elders and some government officials who attend KBC. They shared their need and the vision in the project.  KBC presently supports 2 local missionaries, 5 missionaries in Orissa and 1 missionary in Sudan, Africa. We were overwhelmed by their commitment to mission and the way they have been doing that beyond their means. It reminds me of the church at Philippi which Paul acknowledged in his epistle. Williamnagar is a small town with small population, and it is amazing to see such a small church with a big heart. So we were excited to do our best to support this church with our expertise that when the project is done, they could do much more. We were happy to play that small role of designing a master-plan so that God can fulfill His incomprehensible, immeasurable, timeless plan. We all exist as Christian to play that role in whatever we do, isn't it?

It was not at all a smooth ride all along. Devil tried to play a spoilsport in our work by making some of us sick. One of the interns was bedridden for 2 days with fever. Thank God it wasn't Dengue. In addition to that, one of the volunteer's father was so sick with Dengue that his wife and brother called him back on the same day we arrived. I really appreciate his courage and his trust in God. I was more worried than him. He told his wife and brother that God is in control and they should do whatever they can do. It sounded more irresponsible than faith. But God smiles at people who have reckless faith. His father was admitted to hospital in emergency case. Dengue usually takes at least 10 days to recuperate, but the doctor released his father on the third day. How amazing is that! 

t was my first time as team leader and all these things happened simultaneously and in a short span of time and I felt so helpless. I cried out to Him. And He answered. 

We worked the whole week, some of us on the table and some at the site. God showed us the reflection of His image and His character in different people we encountered and interacted. The volunteer and interns were overwhelmed by the love and hospitality the host ministry showered on us. It was so simple and genuine with no expectation. 

We presented our design scheme on the last day of the week. There was almost a small multitude. Everybody was excited to see the design. We met at the bamboo gazebo. Architects talked first, then the client and again architects and then engineers and again the client and then we all talked.  It was not chaotic. They were all happy to see the glimpse of their vision.  The next day in the church, they honored us with bouquets and long introduction of each one of us with 80 percent accuracy. We were happy and interns and volunteers sang 'special songs' and I preached. 

When we left there was again a small multitude to see us off and some weak hearted women cried. The women also gave lots of food for us to eat on the way. We travelled in cars and then in bus and then in the train. We met for the last time as a team in Guwahati and talked and prayed for one another before we all head in different directions. It was good to hear what God taught or instilled in us during this trip. This is my seventh project trip serving different ministries, and I've seen that each trip is unique and every time God never miss to unfold His glory and character in many different ways. My respond is just to wonder in awe and watch Him in silent amusement how good, faithful, wonderful He is.