january 2008 newsletter...
India is a land of pilgrims. I’ve been trapped on the Ganges at sunset, in a crowd of a quarter of a million pressing bodies hungry for a sight of the supernatural. I heard the priests promise a richer experience for those who gave money. It wasn’t enough to leave fields and empty savings to make the journey. I could feel, maybe even smell, their desperation. The emptiest moment came when the sun sank. Priests re-emerged from the temples, bearing flaming chandeliers, waving the fire in sweeping circles. “Light,” I thought, “they’ve all come looking for light.”
My great-grandfather Ezra also went looking. He left his home in Ohio for the California orange groves and vineyards, seeking extravagant wealth. His quest transformed in Illinois, where God called him to Tibet, via India. He left the U.S. in 1913, with his wife, Elizabeth. They didn’t make it into Tibet until, briefly, in 1930, during a time of Hindu pilgrimage to Mt. Kailash. Most of their 40 years in India were spent high in the mountains, planted at an earlier point on this same route.
Last summer in India, my parents and I made a pilgrimage of our own, back to Almora, in the Kumaon region of the Himalayas. In their childhood, this was the town where the road came to an end. Getting home for both my parents required following the river another few days on foot—90 miles, in my mother’s case.
The road up to Almora wound along the same, sparkling mountain river. I kept thinking of the millions of pilgrims who come this way, searching for healing, or forgiveness, or a longer life, or an heir…They all come looking. And what struck me was that Ezra—and my grandparents and parents before me—went to India as pilgrims in reverse. They trekked the same paths, however they weren’t looking for anything but lost souls. They went joyfully, precisely because they had found Light, in the person of Christ.
Or perhaps, Christ had found them, claimed them, as he has me and you. This is why I’m eager to partner with you as I leave Atlanta and journey back to India. I, too, am a pilgrim in reverse: going to share what I have found in a land full of seekers. If you’re receiving this letter, it’s because I see Christ at work in your life, and I wanted to tell you what He’s doing in mine. I’m afraid to go to India alone. I know I’ll need a great deal of prayer, so I’ll be sending this newsletter each month from now on. Please feel free to let me know if you’d rather not receive it.
I won’t be walking 90 miles to reach an out-of-the-way station. Instead, I’ll be teaching history and religion at Woodstock, an international boarding school in the foothills of the Himalayas. Incidentally, it’s the same school I attended. I’ve accepted a two-year contract with the school, but I suspect this might be a much longer commitment. The school is able to pay me a small living wage, and I’m hoping to raise a total of $25,000 to cover all other expenses.
I’ve been re-reading Ezra’s account of his call to Tibet, and have been humbled and encouraged by his faith. He says, “God called us to Tibet long ago. He said, ‘Get ready, and when you are ready; then the doors will open.’ The door is now opening….why should we doubt or be over-concerned? The sending of us to the Tibetan Border is His. The supplying of money for travel, living, service is His. In confidence, we waited for him to supply funds, for did He not promise to do so in Philippians 4:19?”
I ask you to pray with me as I prepare to leave for India in July. I’ve been encouraged already to see God orchestrating this move. My prayer is that you, too, will be encouraged to see the body of Christ coming together to further extend His kingdom.
Your fellow pilgrim
Amy