Paroikos

Arrived home

Matthew Ude — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:16:00 +0000

in Eau Claire

Flying home

Matthew Ude — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:26:40 +0000

Leaving India at 5:55am

Teaching greek tenses

Matthew Ude — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:05:57 +0000

in Nagalapuram

7 Days

Matthew Ude — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:09:19 +0000

Just 7 days left till I depart India and return again to my home. As that day draws near it becomes harder and harder for me to concentrate on the work at hand. I have a week of classes yet before I depart but all my thoughts are on the departure. One might easily expect the same of John when he wrote his gospel. He was an old man. All of his friends had already left. He was alone the last apostle. One might expect that his thoughts would be constantly turning towards heaven, waiting eagerly for the coming day. Perhaps they were. Yet in his gospel John continually rejoices in the current blessings that are his in Christ.

Some random things from India:

I learned today that the father of the bride is not only responsible for her dowry but also is expected to take care of the expenses for her first pregnancy and delivery.

I also found out that even though all the signs, all the car gages, and all the city folk use metric, the rural areas and bible translations use standard measurements.

Here are some pictures of a man delivering fresh honeycomb on the back of his motorcycle.

Here are some pictures of the brunch buffet Dave and I visited this last Sunday.

Tracing in Tirutani

Matthew Ude — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:46:38 +0000

On John

Out teaching in Tiruvallur:

Matthew Ude — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:16:55 +0000

John chapter one

VBS Inauguration 2012

Matthew Ude — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:03:45 +0000

Sunday April 29th Dave and I joined the Indian district chairman at Nagalapuram for the Inauguration serivce of the 2012 VBS season here in India. There were around 600 children packed into the hall.

In the picture album below the first girl is singing, the second little girl recited all 66 books of the Bible and then the first psalm.

Dave preached using balloons, pencils, and candy which he afterward gave away to the kids. The basic messsage of the devotion: Don’t be like a balloon which does not go where you want it to, and always whines. Be like the Pencil which is straight and true and useful like Onesimus. And everyone wants a piece of Candy so share it just like you share Jesus with your friends.

It is also Esther’s birthday party so there was cake and candles. Followed by dinner.

Sitting in the dinning hall they came first and set a small sup of ice cream before us. Dave and I just dug in right away whereas the 600 kids pushed their ice cream to the side knowing the were supposed to save it for after their chicken and rice.

[Show as slideshow]

John in Nellore

Matthew Ude — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 06:35:55 +0000

I just returned from Classes in Nellore and Renigunta. Here Moses regularly monthly holds classes on the 10^th and 11^th. But these dates rarely fit into my schedule so this month Moses scheduled a second set of classes when I would be there April 19^th and 20^th. However due to the irregularity some of the pastors were unable to attend. Furthermore the height of summer is now fulfilled in India and it was hot. On the 20^th in Renigunta the official temperature was up to 105 f and humid. We were meeting in a cement building with small windows and a tin roof, also the power was out so there were no fans. But we persevered and made it through most of the lesson.

We studied the background of the gospel of John. It is common over here to hand out this gospel to members and non members. It is more expensive than handing out tracks to be sure but also much less than buying full Bibles. We try to distribute as many Bibles as we can but when money is tight we hand out the Gospel of John. It is easy to see why. This Gospel was written as a witness, especially suited to those who have little to no background in the Old Testament. John claims in essence to have written the first Christian apologetics book. Here he sets forth in compelling detail all the evidence for the deity of Christ. And yet this God whom John writes about is always the God who “dwelt among us.” John speaks of himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” yet never fails to show how much that love of Christ extended to every human He came in contact with. In one story after another John pictures for us the love and grace of God pouring forth from Jesus Christ and changing the lives of all those among whom He dwelt.

Oh yeah, Moses took me to the beach

On the train to nellore.

Matthew Ude — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:34:20 +0000

2 days of teaching with moses

Goa

Matthew Ude — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:37:57 +0000

I just returned from Goa the India popular tourist beach state. I certainly enjoyed the beaches but I was there to meet with a small congregation that Victor ( one of the BELC district chairman ) has been in contact with. Goa is a small state on the western side of India south of Mumbai. It is known most for its beautiful beaches but also has scenic mountains. It used to be under the control of the Portuguese from 1510 until 1961 who left behind many unique buildings including a number of old churches.

There was some difficulty getting together with the members because of the nearness of holy week and the fact that the younger members had exams. Victor himself got sick the day he was supposed to leave to meet me there, but the members all know English pretty well, so it wasn’t a problem for me to meet with them by myself.

I meet with the members at a hotel in Vasco on Thursday and Friday evening. There were ten members that were able to make it, for about two hours. They were all for the most part younger members. I’m not sure why the older members weren’t able to come. We went through a quick overview of basic doctrines rather than spending an expended amount of time on one or two.

[Show as slideshow]