Friends and Family,

I am now in Nagercoil, staying at Concordia Seminary.One feature of our Bethesda Hospital, Ambur, that I failed to mention is their work among AIDS patients.They have 1500 that come once a week for treatment. I was not there, but they said that about 400 of them (all Hindus) also participate in the chapel ministry on their behalf.

On the way to Chennai for my night train ride to Nagercoil, I went on an early morning commuter train from Ambur. That always is quite an experience in that it fills up with young men on their way to the factories in suburban Chennai. The bogeys become packed like sardines with men sitting across all the luggage racks in the compartments and hanging out the doors outside the bogeys. They carouse and play cards and gamble all the way to work.

One big health benefit of reaching Nagercoil is the climate here at the southern tip of India. When in the pollution of Chennai and Ambur, my feet swell up and I fill with mucous. Now I can get my sandals on and breathe easily again.

Yesterday I gave the message at the prayer meeting for the family of a pastor who was called Home by our Lord in his mid-40's. The custom is to hold the gathering one week after the death. The first part is at the grave site, and that was quite emotional, of course. It's interesting how demonstrably emotional the women mourners are, wailing and falling, while the men (including the two young boys) are amazingly stoic. A new feature on gravestones here is the printing of a photo of the person on the stone. Quite striking.

Our home pastor had sent $250 to use for some widow or needy family while I was on this trip, so I thought this widow's family would be suitable. However, when I inquired about their situation, the father of the wife said that they would not need the help. The Hindu director of the hospital where this pastor had recently served as chaplain had been so impressed with his character and ministry that he is honoring him by totally taking care of his family: building them a house, giving his wife a seat in his nursing school, and pledging to cover the boys' education.

It is a joy to see the church administration get functioning once again, after 15 years. The Supreme Court overthrew most of the judgment of the Madras High Court that had turned the administration of the church over to their appointed administrators, one a retired Christian judge and one a Hindu attorney. The judge resigned recently from this responsibility, but he did several great helps to the church using his influence with the government and the bureaucracy. He also refused to receive the $1000/month stipend that the court had stipulated for him. The elected officers of the church made a point of meeting him after he resigned to thank him for his services.

The Hindu attorney is taking his stipend, apparently from the interest on the designated funds stuck in the bank under his administration. It's hard to see the money go like this, when pastors typically get only $100/month as salary from their congregations. The church is now organizing for the elections which are due in June. We pray it will go smoothly and no more court cases will be brought to stop the church's functioning. I think they have learned the danger of turning to the court to solve their disputes. As I tell the church people, if you go to the court, you are in the court's hands.

Last year when I was here, I had gathered the pastoral conferences of the three districts to discuss the Lutheran distinction between the Kingdom of the Left and the Kingdom of the Right. They had to work out what rights the church must defend when the court takes over church administration, basically the right to administer freely the ministry of Word and Sacrament. This year I've developed a study document on the divine call for the seminary faculty to discuss and then send out to the pastors for discussion. Another result of the past year has been the practice of appointing pastors rather than having congregations exercise their right to call.

Today I spoke at a couple more events. One was the public release of Luther's Cathechism with Questions, translated into Tamil by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. This book is a great resource, not only for the church but also in evangelistic work. It gives a clear, concise summary of Christian teaching that many people are interested in studying.

The second event was the dedication of 16 houses by Lutheran Hour Ministries for families affected by the tsunami. Of course, they are so very grateful, thanking God for reaching out to them in their hour of need.

As you can imagine, this southern tip of India has a good deal of steady ocean breezes. The Indian gov't. has set up a wind farm of several hundred windmills placed on some arid lands. I was told that they figure it will take 20 years for them to cover the initial cost, but they are trying to mobilize renewable, ecologically responsible sources of power.

I'm often amazed at the generosity of spirit among people here. There is an elderly man here who has been helping our missionary work in property matters.

Because of the cutback in LCMS World Mission finances, I decided to stop his stipend. When I informed him of my decision, he replied that he is happy to just keep helping without any remuneration! To top that off, at a function this evening opening a self-support project of the church (some shops above the church office building), he announced that he would jumpstart the project with a gift of $2500.


God bless.

Herb