The second half of our trip (I can’t believe I can say that already) consists of a lot of moving around. Over the course of six weeks, we will have four different homes. For a few days a little over a week ago, we resided in Hmarkhawlien. We stayed at the Partnership Missions high school in town, sleeping on thin mats on the concrete floor of an empty classroom in the upper level of a school. For a couple days, we could not figure out how to work the lights and fans because all of the switches for the second floor were in one place; at the end of the hall near the ceiling. Because of this, and the inconsistent electricity, on our second night there, our lights were out pretty early. I was trying to journal, so I went downstairs in order to get some light. I went down just before 9:00, unaware of the fact that the groundskeeper locks the gate at the bottom of the stairs at that time.
When I finished my journal, I tried to go back upstairs to get ready for bed, only to find myself locked out. I yelled up to my teammates, but we couldn’t think of any way for me to get up to the second floor without unlocking the gate, so I went searching for help. I knew there was a family that lived in a little hut just inside the gate of the school compound, so I decided to see if they were home and if they could help my predicament. As it turned out, that house belonged to the groundskeeper. He was outside locking the front gate when I walked up. I got his attention, but he didn’t speak much English, so I had to repeat myself and use some charades to tell him what I needed. He quickly gathered my meaning and said that he would unlock my gate for me, but while I was talking to him, his wife noticed me and asked me to come inside and sit for a while.
Indians are extremely hospitable, and do not take no for an answer, so I accepted the invitation into their tiny, concrete-floored, one-room home. The wife introduced herself to me as Bable (pronounced bubbly), which fits her so well! Despite the fact that she speaks very little English, only her native Bengali and some Hindi, she was so eager to have a conversation. She told me many times in her heavily accented, broken English “I am so happy that sister coming.”, meaning that she had been looking forward to our team’s arrival and was excited to meet us. She told me the names of her three kids who were asleep with their grandmother on the bamboo platform that served as a bed for the entire family. A few minutes later her husband came and got me to unlock the gate, so she came with us to meet the rest of the team. Only a couple people were around, so we talked for a few more minutes, and she made sure I knew that she wanted all of us to come over in the morning.
We weren’t in Hmarkhawlien for very long, but every day after that night, I was at that little hut talking to Bable. I don’t think it was an accident that I got locked out of my house. Bable and I became fast friends. I learned about her family, her life, her job, and her hopes. I met her mom and her brother and her husband’s niece. They made me part of the family. I even got to know her kids and would play games with them in the afternoons when they were waiting for their mom to come home from work. She told me that next year her kids will be going to the Partnership Missions school, so then they will be getting a better English education and can teach her more. She asked me many times to pray that children would be able to finish school. Their education is very important to her because she and her husband we’re beaver able to finish their education, and she wants more for her kids. Their openness and welcoming attitude amazed me, and it gives me so much joy to think about them and pray for them.
Over the course of those few days, we had so much fun together. Bable would often get frustrated when she couldn’t find the words for what she wanted to tell me. She would say “English English something something something” and we would laugh and try to figure it out with hand gestures. She came over to our place a couple times and sang us some worship songs in Hindi and Bengali with her beautiful 6-year-old daughter. She even taught us to dance to Indian music. She said over and over that she wasn’t very good; she just learned from watching television, but we all thought she danced beautifully. I laughed and smiled so much with Bable and her kids. The night we left, we spent all night taking pictures with them and learning from her how to wrap scarves and saree. At the end of the night, we all sat in their little house and prayed for their family as a team before we had to say goodbye.
From Hmarkhawlien, we moved to a town called Saiphai in the neighboring state, Mizoram, where we spent the next 10 days. We stopped back in Hmarkhawlien for a day in between Saiphai and our current location, Muolhoi, so I got to see Bable again. I spent a couple hours just running around with her two youngest kids, Ria and Rojit, while she was at work. That evening after she got home a couple of my team mates and I sat in her home and just talked and talked. She said many times that she has missed us while we were gone. My teammate Nate shared a couple Bible verses with Bable and her husband, which they looked up in their Bengali Bible. The husband shared his favorite verse with us too. “Bible no America, no India. Jesus, Jesus.” Bable said in her broken English. We all knew exactly what she meant and felt the same way. God’s word transcends cultural boundaries and language barriers. We all read the same Word and serve the same God.
Through Christ we are able to become family with people from and entirely different place and culture. I had never met this family just a couple weeks ago, but they have a piece of my heart. We have hardly been able to have a full conversation, but I feel I know them so well. The love and connection we feel through our kinship is Christ is so much deeper than any earthly connection could go in such a short time. If I’m being honest, Hmarkhawlien is my least favorite of the places we’ve been, but I’m always so excited when we’ll be stopping by because I get to hang out with Bable. I am so grateful that I got locked out that night. I know it was not chance, but a blessing from God. Even though I may never get to talk to them again after we leave India, I will always treasure these relationships.
