Wow... where to begin???? I was planning to keep a journal of sorts during our trip to the hills, but there was so much happening there that I didn’t get it done. The experiences we had on this leg of our trip were incredible and I will try to describe some of them to you...
We left the city of Aizawl on the morning of January 20th and drove all day, then spent the night at in a little town called Sawkardai. Even though we were driving through some very mountainous terrain, the roads were not that bad. We stopped at one little village along the way where Merlin got to meet the child he sponsors.
The story with the roads the next day was totally different. They went from bad to worse and then to even worse. We probably average less than 20 miles per hour the entire day!
We finally arrived in Senvon around 4:00 that evening. Senvon is the place where the young Welsh missionary, Watkin Roberts, first preached to the Hmar people in 1910. At that time they were still fierce headhunters and one of the most feared people groups in that whole region. With the help of a missionary from Aizawl, Roberts travelled to Senvon to share the message of the Gospel with these people.
We were greeted in Senvon by quite a few familiar faces. The sleepy little remote village of 3,000 or so people had been transformed into a busy place with people coming from miles and miles around to be a part of the celebration.
The opening service of the Gospel Centenary Celebration was that evening, so after eating dinner and getting cleaned up a little, we went to the service. The opening was so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes. First they turned of all the lights. The grandson of the missionary who helped Watkin Roberts get to Senvon brought in a torch from the back. He lit the torch of the grandson of the chief of Senvon. He then lit the torch of the pastors, who used their torches to light the candles being held by the people. That little ceremony ended with singing and a mass prayer. Considering the fact that there were probably 1,500 people there with candles, plus the torches, it was an impressive sight.
The next few days were filled with worship services, one in the morning and one in the evening. Every service lasted for three hours or more, and one lasted for four and one half hours!
The highlight of the second day there was the arrival of Dr. Ro and Mawii. For those of you who don’t know, Dr. Ro’s father was one of the very first Christians from the Hmar tribe. Dr. Ro is the one who translated the Bible into the Hmar language. Besides that, he has had a tremendous impact on Northeast India in other ways. He and his wife planted over 300 churches and many, many schools in the Northeast. They are very well respected and well know in that region.
Dr. Ro’s health has been declining over the last year, and travel over the rough roads was basically impossible, so they flew in by helicopter. Now, that may not sound like of big deal to you, but most of the people in Senvon, even the older ones, had never seen a helicopter before in their lives! So it was a really big deal! Not only were Dr. Ro and Mawii arriving, but they were arriving by helicopter! Thousands of people gather around the makeshift helipad on the outskirts of the village to welcome them and then lined the street that led to the village.
Another big highlight came on the third day... the big feast. Now I have been part of feasts in Northeast India before, but they were only for 500 people or so. But not this one... over 11,000 people attended the feast in Senvon! 37 animals were killed for the feast! It was an impressive gathering to say the least! And, keep in mind that this is a village of 3,000 people.
Other events during the celebration included unveiling the Centenary stone, beating the Centenary drum 100 times and ringing the Centenary bell 100 times. After the final service was over on Sunday night, people stayed and sang and danced for another two hours or so. After having told their story hundreds of times during my time with the India Children’s Choir, it was a huge honor for me to celebrate this event with them. One afternoon we even got to go see the very place where they used to honor the men who would go and fight and bring back heads during the headhunting days. There was a stone there that the warrior would stand on and they would all dance around him.
We headed out of Senvon on Monday morning with a caravan of vehicles and a lot of people... including Dr. Ro and Mawii and some of the other head people from over here. We visited the villages of Parbung and Lungthulien, two villages where there are Bibles For The World schools, and at each place they put on a grand reception for our group.
We worked our way down to the river, but before we got there, we were stopped in another village where the people had planned a reception for Dr. Ro and Mawii, but we didn’t know anything about it. We finally arrived at the campsite around 6:00 that evening.
I will write about our trip down the river within the next few days.
Michael
