Imphal and Churachandpur, Manipur

So I guess I didn't keep you all waiting as long as I thought I might. For once blogger was not persnickety about allowing me to upload photos. On the health aspect of my life I'm feeling better just really, really tired. I think I'm on about a six day cycle so if I'm right it should be hitting again by Thursday. Here's hoping I'm wrong. :)

From the comments I got on my last post, I think that it may have sounded a bit negative. It wasn't intended to be that way. I was just making fun of the fact that I know that Ray and Ellen's family read the blog to see pics etc. even though many of them have never left a comment. I am very aware that there are people out there who are interested in what I'm doing. I mean really, who wouldn't be? :)

Now, what you've all been waiting for... The Trip! The McPerhouses, minus Ellen, flew to Imphal on Saturday, May 24th. Ellen joined us there on the 27th. When we came out of the airport I was glad to see some familiar faces. I started shaking hands and before I knew it I was shaking the hands of many people I had never met before in my life. At first I thought maybe these people were just trying to get in on the chance to shake a white person's hand but then I realized that there was actually just a really huge welcoming party. (I'm not expecting that kind of welcome when I get to S'toon...I fly in at 11:45 at night. Don't feel bad, I wouldn't be there myself if I didn't have to be!)

We went to Shyam Salam's house where I finally got meet his wonderful wife Peggy. I like her a lot! We were served a very tasty brunch and then took a much needed nap.

Peggy and Shyam.

Joshua then took the "young folk" to see the sights of Imphal. We visited a couple of Hindu temples. My favorite was the monkey temple. I fed bananas to some free roaming monkeys. It was good times.

He was one of the less scary looking ones. I held out the banana to him and he came over and took it right out of my hand.

After the Monkey temple we headed to Kangla Fort. It was established as the capital of Manipur by King Khagemba (1597-1652) and King Garibniwaz (1709-1748). Kangla was occupied by the British in 1891. During the time of British occupation the Palace was destroyed. Today there are only a few portions of the outer walls remaining. The Indian military took over Kangla in 1915 and remained there until 2004 when they handed it over to the Manipur government. It is now a historical landmark. (This info came from a sign at Kangla)

At Kangla. That is Joshua holding his son, Lulu. The guy on the far right is Tawkceu, from Myanmar.

On Sunday we worshiped with the Langol Church of Christ. I was asked to prepare a children's class for Sunday morning so I was pretty surprised when there were actually only 2 children and about 20 young adults. Not exactly what I had prepared for but I managed. Ray preached and then after lunch there was a time of fellowship which actually consisted of a lot of speeches and presentations.

A young man by the name of William spoke on behalf of the young people. He asked specific people he remembered who had been previously. Jason and Shannon Bandura, Jonathan Slywka, Jeremy Olson, Rachel Husband, Serena Bell and Harmony McMillan. He asked me to send greetings from the Langol youth to all of you. He said that they remember you fondly and the fun that they had while you were here. They miss you and pray for God's blessings in your lives. It was really very sweet. If you've been to India before it is guaranteed that you are remembered by the people here and it's very likely that I've seen some pretty funny pictures of you in their albums when I've visited their homes...Tim you had some sweet glasses back in the day! :)

Sunday afternoon at the church building.

A group "snap" taken during one of many "photo sessions" :)

After services we went visiting people in their homes. I met some great people and drank lots of tea! Good times!

Here we are at Thongkhanpao's house. His wife, Vialzaching, is suffering from cancer. She is a very sweet lady.

On Monday we visited Brighter Academy which is run by Shyam's daughter Betty. We ate a wonderful Indian breakfast with them. At the home of the McPerhouses don't eat curry for breakfast. It's pretty yummy if you ask me.

Here are some of the younger students during the morning inspection and prayer time.

We had the chance to teach some songs to classes 3 and 4.

After our visit to Brighter Academy we headed for Lamka in Churachandpur. The drive to Lamka was a really good one for me. I spent some good quality time listening and talking to God. I realized that I've allowed myself to get so busy doing other things that I haven't made personal time with God a priority in the last little while. So funny how doing good things can actually be a bad thing if you don't keep your priorities straight. I had lots of thoughts during the drive but I think I'll save them for another post.

The Lamka Church of Christ had a whole program laid out for us. One session Monday night, and then one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening on Tuesday. It definitely kept Ray busy and didn't leave a whole lot of time for visiting people in their homes although Ray used every spare minute to do just that. He was up before the sun and off visiting...I'm pretty sure he woke some people up. Again I met a lot of special people and drank lots of tea!

The Lamka Church of Christ building.

Listening attentively to Ray speak.

The brothers and sisters in Lamka singing in Paite. I really enjoyed following along in the song books and singing with them.

Ray with Amzathang on the left and Kamkhantang on the right. We had breakfast at Kamkhantang's house before we left on Wednesday morning. I really enjoyed him!

Here we are with Tualdouthang and his daughters, Siame and Naih.

This is Muana, a former ABC student with his wife, Chingbiakkim and their daughter who they named Harmony after Ray and Ellen's youngest daughter.

I love how they tie their babies on their backs.

We headed back to Imphal on Wednesday morning. Ellen had arrived in Imphal while we were in Churachandpur so we were very happy to have her with us again! We hung out with Shyam and his family for the evening. It was very enjoyable.

A very fun group of people to spend time with!

Joshua with his wife, Ranita, their son, Lulu and daughter, Hannah.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Manipur. Something that saddens me and has stuck in my mind is all of the division that I've seen amongst the churches of Christ here in India. It has been the most apparent to me when we were in Shillong and especially during our visit to Churachandpur. Please pray for the brothers and sisters here in India, that God would move in their hearts to overcome the divisions and break down the walls that have been built. I take comfort in knowing that God can do anything.

We flew from Imphal to Aizawl on Thursday morning but I think I'll write about Aizawl in a separate post. Stay tuned. :)