Triple Whammy

Well actually we were hit by hit by several whammies

since I last posted on Sept 5th.

1. I lost my Internet connection that night and I complained and called up several officers, but to no avail.At last I managed to procure the cell phone number of the area officer or SDO.After that I kept calling him relentlessly.Pleading with him to get my Internet and phone restored.He gave me absent-minded assurances at first.

But I kept going. I was like the persistent widow in the parable of Jesus who kept on asking the judge to settle her case.When he got fed up with her begging he meted out justice to her.

When the SDO understood that I was not going to give him any peace he came to my house and for 3 days personally supervised the restoring of my connection as well as other neighbourhood connections.Very unusual for an official to do. It was a deep underground cable fault. I got my connection back on Friday evening. Persistence works.

Seek and keep on seeking

Knock and keep on knocking

Ask and keep on asking

In all areas of your life.

2. Mom got an abdominal infection and was quite unwell these past few days. Two days ago I called in our physician to see her inspite of her saying she would be OK. He prescribed a whole slew of medicines. She is better, praise God but still can 't eat much.

3. Last weekend there was a major theft in our church sanctuary.That just blew the wind out of our sails.

The thieves broke the window pane of a side door and stole

a) Our almost new Public Address system. It was very expensive and the pride of our church. Our pastor had raised money for it and his wife had contributed quite a large amount from her own savings.

b) Brass and silver metal flower vases I had given to the church.

c) A battery run generator(UPS) donated by a church member.

d) and a 100 pound block of iron used for construction purposes - very costly.

e) Some church crockery

f) Brass fittings from the toilet WC.

g) an old table fan.

We went to the police to report the matter but the policemen said they would arrest (manhandle) our church helpers.We did not want that ,for we know they are honest people and this is not their work, so we did not lodge a formal complaint. The thieves were from outside maybe someone who had worked on our construction team.

It a huge loss for our small struggling congregation and we don 't know how to recover our damages.

After this morning 's service one of our church ladies who gets Rs 500 ( $5 or 6) as her teachers pension contributed Rs 200 ($4) towards the P.A. system Fund. Its ridiculous no one can survive on Rs 500 a month, you can only last for 2 or 3 days, but God will bless her contribution.Thank you Aunty Indu.

The off-shoot of the theft is that we have to secure a part of our wall which the thieves easily scaled to enter our campus and also board up the doors and install new padlocks etc. Added expenses which we can hardly afford.

At the time we discovered the theft we were in much pain and shock, (an Indian) missionary friend of ours visited us.Julius and his family were away for a conference last December when they got a call from a neighbour telling them that their house had been ransacked by thieves.They are not rich people. All their clothes and valuables and household stuff was gone.Julius told us, he turned to his wife and said;" Manju now we are free, we are lite, we can serve the Lord better." This story really moved us so deeply.

The burdens have seemed so heavy lately that I was almost on the verge of depression but then I was reminded of 1 Cor 10;13 - my life verse.

I know you all will pray for us.I believe God will not allow trials which I cannot bear.If I keep this truth firmly embedded in my mind - depression and self-pity will keep at bay and I will find strength to do battle with the enemy of my body and soul.

Tomorrow I have to appear in court for our church court hearing.

You must have heard about the Delhi bombings. Those are the places we frequent when we visit Delhi.