We got a bike!!!

So, we got a bike. It’s sitting upstairs right now. It’s ours…really ours. I drove it home today. We had to go around cars, jeeps, trucks, busses, cows, and a wedding parade. So much excitement!!!

A little bit after we left the shop, we ran out of gas…but no worries, I coasted back down the little hill and filled up the tank. Then we had trouble starting it…we asked two different guys, one finally did help us, but I think I knew more about the bike than he did! We said thank you and climbed on again. Man, it even has a rain cover on it and everything- so cool!!!!! It’s a nice little bike- I think more lightweight than the ones in Thailand as it seems a little more “skidish” and “wiggly”- which means it’s probably less safe, but it’s okay…

That was the most exciting thing that happened today…so far…

We did have our session with Anne- She retold both Gen 1-2. We discussed how to make Gen 1 shorter by summarizing what God made. At that point, Sam came in. We asked Anne what she thought about angels, and Satan…Sam kept butting in and saying, “she doesn’t know anything about them- we know, we believe this, but she doesn’t believe it, so she doesn’t know…” I would then ask her again and she would respond in agreement, “No, I don’t know…”

It was hard to get Sam to be quiet. Finally I didn’t yell but did kind of raise my voice a little and with a smile said (in Hindi)- “Yes, yes, we know she doesn’t know about this or understand, but we want to know whatever she knows- we want to know so that we can make the story more understandable for the Kahani people….if there is something they don’t understand, we want to know so we can make it easier for them…” I think he kind-of got it.

Anne then did tell us about something we think must be equivalent to ghosts. Unfortunately, the “ghost” means ‘meat’ in Hindi. I mean, if we say “ghost” it means “meat.” So, we tried to explain and they were totally confused why we were asking about meat. Ahhh!!! Anyway, I think we figured it out that when people are in the jungle, or it’s dark, they get scared and think that others who have died might be there…i.e. ghosts/spirits. Anne was cute in how she told it- unsure I think of Sam's response. He said, “What she is saying is true- this is right”- I think it was reaffirming for her to hear praise from him.

Anyway, we didn’t get much farther than that due to time. Then we went with Pastor Moses to get the bike- now we are at home. In an hour, we are going to Minna and Vimal’s to get some more Kahani recordings.

It turns out that on the way to our session this morning, Sara called me (pastor Joseph’s wife). She said she has two people who want to meet us tomorrow to find out more about our work and maybe they will help us. She said, “They are too old ladies…not very old, but pretty old.” Sara said, “They have some pahardi (mountina/Kahani) knowledge and also Bible knowledge.” I’m wondering if they really speak Kahani!! We’ll find out. We are supposed to go there after our session with Anne tomorrow- it will be another long day!

I really hope that these people can work out- mainly so that perhaps Robin and I can split up and work on stories simultaneously. We have been doing great together I think- but it will certainly speed things up if we can both be working on stories.

It may end up these women tomorrow may not know Kahani very well- but we could use them for cultural information or questions that we can’t understand Anne's answers to. Or, perhaps one of them could meet with Anita and us- and help translate stuff for us…though that might make Anita more nervous too. We are thinking that they may be more open with us and honest about cultural stuff since they are much older than us. We will see… I won’t get my hopes up for anything just yet.