Saying Good-bye.....for now.

May 22 was a bittersweet day. Our Bible worker and lay pastor Naresh Tudu, his wife Madhu, and their infant son Jesper left Darjeeling on their way to Spicer Memorial College in Pune, India. The "sweet" part is that this is an answer to a prayer that Naresh has been praying for 10 years! At Spicer, Naresh will receive more theology and ministerial training that will be a great help to the church here. We are happy for Naresh and believe this is a good investment in the future of the church. But in the meantime, he and his family are missed terribly. God bless you, Naresh! Hurry back soon!

Family portrait - Naresh, Madhu, and their 4 month old son Jesper.

At their going away party we presented them with a picture of Darjeeling and Mt. Kanchenjunga so that they won't forget us!

Last photo opp before the journey began! Come back soon!

Everything New

Sabbath, May 21, 2011 was a special day for our young sister Jyoti. It marked the beginning of a whole new life for her and her family. Jyoti has been coming to the Darjeeling SDA Church since last year and has been studying the Bible with our lay pastor Naresh. A couple of months ago she participated in the Communion Service at church for the first time. She said she wanted to leave the Hindu gods behind and follow Jesus. So, on Sabbath, we had three special services to commemorate the new life that Jyoti has found in Christ both for herself and for her family. 

We drove from Darjeeling to the town of Naxalbari, about two and a half hours down the mountain, to visit the Naxalbari SDA Church. On the way, we stopped on a bridge where we had special prayer and Jyoti and her husband threw all of their Hindu idols and talismans into the river. It was a big step of faith to cast out the gods that they believed protected them and put their trust in Jesus.

Pastor Horo, the head pastor of the Naxalbari SDA Church, performed a dedication service for Jyoti's young son.

Pastor Horo read the SDA baptismal vows to Jyoti in front of the church.

Jyoti was baptized in a small, concrete pool just outside the church building. Having lived her whole life in the mountains she never learned to swim and she was a little afraid of the water.

Jyoti had really been looking forward to her baptism, but she was also a little relieved that it was over and that she didn't drown!

It's been amazing to see the change in Jyoti's life and how happy she is now that Jesus is in her heart.

Jyoti with her new church family.

Let The Little Children...

A few months ago, our translation assistant and English school director Pranai started a kid's club in his neighborhood. He felt that there were many children living around him, some from very underprivileged families, who he could help to mentor and influence for Christ. So, he, along with the help of our lay pastor Naresh, invited all the children from the village to join their new kid's club which meets every Sunday morning at 10 o'clock. The parents are very happy for the work that Naresh and Pranai are doing to help guide their children towards making good decisions and being good citizens. And I'm sure Jesus is happy too!

The children meet in a small, tin-sided, tin-roofed room.

This young girl is only one of the more than fifty kids in the club.

Pastor Naresh tells a story from the Bible every week.

Children receive gifts and special recognition on their birthdays.

The children always do some craft or coloring sheet during club time.

A Visit to the Nepali Christian Fellowship

During our time in Thailand, we took a Sunday afternoon to visit the Nepali Christian Fellowship in Bangkok.  The Wrights had visited with the lay pastor previously, but this was our first time to worship with them.  The group is composed of Burmese Nepalis (Burmese nationality, Nepali ethnicity).  Sometimes they conduct the church service in Burmese and sometimes in Nepali.  Although their dialect was slightly different we were able to communicate without any difficulty. Though they have little in the way of resources and few people to help lead out and teach them from the Bible, their love of Christ was obvious and their singing heart-felt. It was a real blessing to share some time with them.

Singing together.....

Jared shares a testimony with the help of our friend Upashna.

 One of the great things about the day was getting to meet our friend Upashna again. She was one of our closest friends in Darjeeling. We missed her greatly when she moved to Thailand so it was wonderful to see her again!

Karen & Upashna sing a special song.

Jonathan gives the sermon.

A Beautiful Baptism

Six months after opening the Darjeeling English Center, one of our very first students was baptized – PRAISE GOD!

Rajesh was one of the first students to apply for class. The Wrights, along with our teammates Naresh and Pranai, were instrumental in starting Men’s and Women’s Spiritual Clubs at the school on Sunday afternoons and Rajesh regularly attended. What he learned there piqued his interest and soon he started Bible studies with Naresh. Before long he was attending Friday night home meeting (vespers) and church on Sabbath.

It was an encouragement to us to see him prioritize his life and actions to please God. It was also a faith-building experience for all of us to see his commitment to God in the face of family pressure. He could have taken any one of dozens of reasons and excuses not to follow God, but he didn’t. Talk about encouraging! Talk about a face like flint!

On September 18, 2010 Pastor Jonathan Tamsang and Elder P.K. Tamsang met us at a beautiful outdoor setting to baptize Rajesh. Joined by church members, friends, and family, he committed his life to Christ in baptism. It was a remarkable day! 

Naresh leads song service.

Rajesh takes baptismal vows with Elder P.K. Tamsang officiating.

Pastor Jonathan Tamsang prepares to put Rajesh below the water.

Potluck!

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Our friend and supervisor, Dale Goodson, paid us a visit in time to join us for the baptism. It is always good to be able to dialogue with experienced people about our work. 

Teacher's Day

Teacher’s Day in India is a well-observed “holiday.” By holiday I don’t mean teachers get a day off or anything, but students shower their teachers with cards, gifts, and often plan a special program.  In India, Teacher’s Day is every year on September 5 – the birthday of the second President of India, academic philosopher Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.  At DEC (Darjeeling English Center) we celebrated on September 6 since the 5^th fell on a Sunday. 

Our students made us feel very loved and appreciated! The silk scarves around our necks are given to show honor and respect.

A Taste of Our Lessons

We thought you might like a taste of what our bible lessons will probably be like. We will have the lessons available in both Nepali and English eventually. Getting the Nepali lessons first is our priority.

Jared did a nice job of putting this mockup together. The first two pictures we're done especially for these lessons by Dianne Wagner.

Enjoy!

Our Church is Growing

Usually, rain showers are an inconvenience, but this past Sabbath we
were thankful!
This past winter was especially dry in Darjeeling and all the rivers
and streams in the hills had dried up quite a bit. We had been praying
that one of the larger rivers would be deep enough to have a baptism
program, and God heard our prayers. Just over a month ago the river
was barely deep enough to get above our ankles, but last week we found
a spot that was almost waist deep. Everyone was really happy to be
able to have our baptism service.
God also blessed us with good weather. It was warm and we even had a
bit of sun, which was a real blessing for those who were baptized.
There were also many beautiful flowers in bloom, which made the day a
little extra special.
Dhankumari Bhutia, Kusum Smith, and Dikee Sherpa were baptized and
joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Many of their family members
and friends attended the program, several of whom are not Christian.
We were excited that they were able to witness such a special
Christian ceremony. Please continue to pray that God will give us the
wisdom and understanding that we need to continue to help these women
to grow to be more mature and dedicated disciples of Christ.

Below is a short video of baptismal program.

Family of God

The family of God is getting bigger! Soon, we will have two more sisters and an auntie joining themselves to the body of Christ and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Their baptisms are scheduled for the end of May, 2010.

Pictured here is Dikee Sherpa. In Darjeeling, she goes by Dikee, but in her village of Rimbick she goes by her given name of Manika Rai. She is 19 years old and studying in Class 12. She had a tough childhood growing up away from her home and going to school while working as a housekeeper. Her smile tells of the happiness she feels because God has blessed her life in many new ways. She is excited about her baptism.

Pictured here is Susan Kusum Smith. She is also 19 years old and studying in Class 12. Her father is Anglo-Indian  and her mother is Gorkha. Both of her parents were baptized and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church a few years ago. Kusum has decided to follow her parent's example and follow Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior as well.

Pictured here is Ms. Dhankumari Bhutia. Born Buddhist, she later became a Christian and joined the Assembly of God Church. A few years ago, she begin attending the small SDA prayer house in Darjeeling. She really appreciates that as Seventh-day Adventists we try to follow the Scriptures to the best of our ability. She has decided to be re-baptized this May and join the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We are blessed to have such a faithful Christian woman joining our church

Christmas Gift Exchange

This is just a few moments in the aftermath of the gift exchange. I love the smiles and sounds of laughter.

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas day about 50 people completely packed our little church room for a special Christmas program - double the number that attended last year! About half were children, picking up friends as they came and excited to see what the celebration was all about. Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists were all part of the celebration. The program included singing, sermon, portions of the Jesus video in Nepali, a craft for the children, gift exchange and lunch - not to mention FUN!

 

Naresh and Lhendup lead the singing.

 

The children made paper angels with the help of the adults and a few glue sticks.

 

Pratiksha did a great job on her angel.

 

Kausik was proud of his, too!

 

The gift exchange was great fun!

 

All smiles!

 

How could there be a celebration without food? Actually, we didn't realize how many people would be coming and hadn't planned for that much food. While others led out with the program, Jonathan & Jared saved the day by going to a local restaurant and ordering some extra food. It all worked out in the end - whew!

 

darjeeling english center

On Sunday, December 6, we had the grand opening program for the Darjeeling English Center. Since coming to Darjeeling, we have found that many people here study or have studied in English medium schools. However, many people are not confident enough to actually have a good conversation in English. They want to improve their speaking ability because English is seen as the "ticket" to career success in India. All of us (Lovitts and Wrights) have been certified through the University of Cambridge (CELTA) to teach spoken English courses.

We have been working for the past year or so to open the Darjeeling English Center. We are very thankful to God for helping us to complete all the work that needed to be done to begin this outreach to the community. 

Jonathan with his neighbor just before the ribbon-cutting 

to open the school.

SDA Pastor, P.K. Tamsang, offers the opening prayer to start

the opening ceremony.

More than 60 people from the community attended the

opening ceremony. It was a great opportunity to get to know

many new people as well as strengthen relationships with

our neighbors and friends.

Dilip Lorung, a former British army serviceman, was our

chief guest and speaker for the opening ceremony. Mr. Lorung

is retired and is well-known in Darjeeling as an author and

songwriter.

After the opening ceremony we had a chance to spend some 

casual time hanging out with prospective students. Even though

we just opened the school our sphere of influence within the

community is already increasing exponentially. We are meeting

people that we may never have had a chance to get to know if

it were not for the school.

Summer...fun?

What's been the primary event or most prominent feature of your summer? Vacation? Record high temperatures? Summer school? For us it's usually the monsoon pouring buckets of rain. Not this year. In fact, the monsoon just arrived only about a week ago - VERY late - but that is another story. No, for all of us in the hills our summer so far has been defined by a strike.

As part of a bid for a separate state local leaders called a strike. All businesses close - except for the chemist shops (pharmacies) and the dudh wallah (milk man.) No vehicles can move except ambulances and cars belonging to the political party. No bills such as telephone or electricity are paid. With shops closed no sales taxes are collected. This results in a fair loss of revenue to the state and central government. Naturally it is also a hardship for the locals.

People rushed about trying to stock up on as much food as they could afford. The main concern is fresh food. Have you ever considered how much fresh food you could keep without a refrigerator to put it in? Not too much really, maybe 5-7 days worth (excluding root veggies) depending on the temperature. We are fortunate in this regard to live in a fairly cool climate. We're also fortunate to have a small frige to put a few things in. There's also the question of how much you really want to carry back and forth from the market and how many times! Though we have a motorcycle right before a strike there can be traffic jams in the market that make it more worthwhile to walk.

I held the camera over my head to try and get a shot of the packed alleyways in the vegetable market but you can't quite get the feel of the press from this!



All stocked up! The strike started on July 13 at noon and was announced as being indefinite. At least we'll eat well for a few days!



During the strike the shops are closed...the streets are deserted...



By the time they called a 'relief day' on July 20 we were ready! It's great that potatoes are delicious AND keep so well!



At the moment we have about two weeks of relief. We'll see what happens after that...
In other news, the largest landslide in our area (June 25) has been cleaned up quite well. They've built some retaining walls against the hill. You can see in this picture that some repair and construction continues.

Landslides!

Maybe we should start by saying up front that we are all fine, by God's grace. Neither we nor the Wrights nor any of the church members or any of our friends and neighbors were harmed by the landslides. This is a miracle in my opinion and is also my disclaimer to put you at ease!

On May 26, after two days of fierce rain from Cyclone Aila in the Bay of Bengal, Darjeeling succumbed to dozens and dozens of landslides. The landslides kept everyone isolated from each other for a couple days until roads could be reopened and power and communications restored. There were about 30 deaths in the Darjeeling district, including one in the village where we (Lovitts) live. We were able to snap a couple photos in our immediate area once the rain stopped - thank God for answered prayers to stop the rain! For more pictures follow this link to a local Darjeeling website: Darjeeling Times - Land slide pictures

One landslide was really close to home. In fact, one house stands between us and the landslide - our neighbor's house just below us. This photo was taken looking straight down from our neighbor's flat roof. The guys worked in the pouring rain to lay these tarps. They act as a big umbrella of sorts to keep the ground from staying saturated and eroding further.



In this picture you can see how close the edge of the landslide came to the house. There was a lot of concern that the foundation of the house would be compromised.



This one is on the road to our house. One man walking on the road was killed and the owner of the house on the left (outside frame of picture) was buried but miraculously taken out alive with a broken leg. Where the men are standing is where the road passes through.



Rocks in the road...



This mess came down on top of a house in the neighborhood. The men are trying to clean up, saw up the trees, etc so they can address the damage. The haze is from a cloud passing through.



You can see two more landslides on the hillside adjacent to our house.