Tuesday 3. March

We woke up around 7:30, and got out of bed a few minutes past eight. It wasn't so cald in the room this morning, but not exactly warm either. For breakfast we had a sort of pancakes. Not as good as ours, but OK with sugar and jam.

After breakfast I went with Christopher to have a look at a farm. He would like to see one since he's a farmer himself. Benjamin also had a piece of land he considered buying, and he would like to have Christopher have a look at it.

A load of hay So we left with pastor Joy and 3 more Indians, the driver included. The first farm we visited was an experimental farm. They had breeded New Jersey with some North-Indian cows. They can feed up to 5 cows with 5 acres of land. They are fed on a mixture of barley and dried corn with some grass. The grass needs a minimum of 15 days to grow, the corn can be cut after 45 days. The milk is taken unchilled to the dairy just nearby, but it may take 2-3 hours before it is cooled down.

By the way, the price of diesel is about 11,65 Rs in Hyderabad, in Nagpur it's about 11 Rs. Gasoline is about 26 Rs.

One can feed 200-250 goats on a 60 acres field.

Some nomadic people from Rajistan come here with their cattle. They bribe the guards in the woods to make them let the cattle eat in the forest, and when someone come to check, they go on. The local people can't do this because of the danger of being caught.

Beyond that, they grow basicly corn, teak wood and oranges here in the Nagpur area, in addition to wheat and cotton.

They are also planning Asia's largest industrial plant here at Nagpur. It is central, with good communications in all directions. Their ambitions are to extend the area to 25000 km². By the way, Nagpur also has South-east Asia's largest hospital.

We were also told that no cows are more holy than others, no matter what colour they have.

We got to see a private farm also, it seemed more well run. The best cow could give up to 32 litres of milk a day, being fed on 7 kg of concentrates and free access to wheat and grass. A good cow may cost up to 40000 Rs, an average cow about 25000 Rs. One can get about 25 Rs. pr. kg. meat, and a cow gives about 150-200 kg of meat.

It was a veterinary who ran the farm. Because the area is very dry, they can't give the cows green feed. They use artificial insemination, and they get the seed from the government, who's running a breeding program that's not working. We also heard a story about a man who had written his thesis for the doctorate in english without knowing a word, so the competence may be varying.

In the summer it can be upto 49°C here, in the winter as cold as 5°C.

Nagpur was the last city the British were able to take when they occupied India. There is mountains on one side, and forests on the other three, so it is a natural fortress. And there's enough water in Nagpur.

There's many traffic accidents in India, by the way, and there is almost always personal injuries. And nobody takes care of the hurt.

The man who showed us around was obviously a clever Dick, he made his living on buying businesses that had gone bankrupt, and he had specialized on goats and fish. We got his card. He was also the first Indian I saw carrying a pager, and it was beeping all the time.

We returned to the hotel after our trip, and we saw a man with a gun in the lobby. We left directly to the bible school where we're eating lunch. We had lunch about 13:30. Tone and Sofia wore sarees today. Sofia had bought one, and Tone got her as a gift in a church she visited.

Our dutch friends leave at 19:00 today. Jaap is going home to Vlissingen, about 1,5 hours from Brussels, and Henk is going home to Utrecht, about 35 km from Amsterdam. We Norwegians are going to hear what Glyn and Betty has experienced during a long life with the Lord.

And tomorrow night we're leaving, and the day after tomorrow I'll see my dear Inger Johanne. Glory! Halleluja! Praise God! Besides, it'll be extremely nice to to cut my beard and hair and have a shower in nice, warm, Norwegian water and not having to walk around being sticky on the skin all the time. True, the temperatur is very comfortable here in Nagpur, but still. It's probably around 30°C, the newspaper said it would be 30,2°C today. We have The Indian Express delivered on our door every day in this hotel, it is obviously issued here in Nagpur and their forecasts are very accurate.

The stomach is a bit out of order today, maybe I shouldn't have eaten that ice cream for dessert last night. But what ever, it was good.

After lunch, pastor Glyn told us some of what he and his wife Betty had experienced during their life and ministry, and he had some really wise things to say. Around 16:30 we said thank you and left, some of us need to relax a bit before the events of the evening. But it was very nice and inspiring to hear someone with years of experience with God share from their heart. Since I don't have parents or grand parents with that kind of experience, it's an extra blessing. Glyn has been in the ministry for 50 years, so he's "seen it all".

After a rest and a shower we said good bye to Jaap, Henk and Cornelius before we left for the village service, or whatever we're going to. We're only 9 people in the car today, but we're 4 in the very back. The cars in India are generally Tatas, Ashtok Leylands and Ambassadors. In the front of the trucks, it says either "Goods Carrier" or "Public Carrier".

The service startet rather slow, they had a hand driven, out-of-tune organ, and some of the sadest songs we've heard so far. But Benjamin made them sing a few quicker songs, and somebody found a drum. Then Benjamin said some nice words, very diplomatic while he removed the table and the pulpit. He's quiet authorative. Then Tone and Tove had a witness, and then Christopher. Meanwhile, the rest of us changed and got ready to play the drama.

First we tried the local cassette player, but it played at such varying speed that it was just cruel, and just as we were giving the key from God to Adam and Eve, we stopped the music and started using our player instead. So we had a real break in the middle of the piece. But we made it and completed, and as we played, about 20-30 men and women gathered along the fence, watching the play.

Sverres is videofilming When we were done, Rolf Daniel preached as he had never done anything else, but he was told that he had only 20 minutes. He thought we should be finished preaching and laying hands on everybody in 20 minutes, so he was rather stressed. But he managed, he made people pray a prayer of salvation and then Benjamin took over and said we would pray for people and lay hands on the sick. So Rolf Daniel took his guitar and we started singing "Halleluja". I did some video recording as the others were singing.

As we sang, some of us walked in between the people and started praying for them. Benjamin made some of the local boys help us sing. Everytime they got out of tune, Benjamin gave them an expressive look and pointed at Rolf Daniel. Then they pulled themselves together, until their thoughs started wandering again and there was another expressive look from Benjamin.

An old lady with her children There was plenty of insects under the tent where we sat, some of them rather big and creepy. But they treated us nice. It was a lovely, relieving atmosphere during the service, and many really got a meeting with God. I was only videorecording this evening, but I really enjoyed it all the evening. It was great to see how the other members of the team served people. Christopher prayed for a woman Benjamin said was posessed, and several others who cried and met the Lord.

As we were leaving, we met an old lady with some children who had travelled a long way to come to the service.

Sverre is drinking orange juice We got in the car and set off, and everyone was in high spirits cheerful in the car on the way back. Even our driver had accepted Jesus during the service. That was nice to hear, he had some idols in his car. Back at the hotel, Tove met an australian who sang a norwegian song for her while we left our things in our rooms.

We rounded off the evening as usual, with toast, eggs and orange juice. This orange juice is really sweet and tasty, it's freshly pressed.

The waiters here reminds us of Manuel in Faulty Towers. One of them even said "que?" when he didn't understand what we meant!