Trip to Gosaba

It's become our routine to have a 4 day trip leaving the flat early Monday morning during the week and then arrive back on Friday in time for our Contacts class at the Rajput house, a house visit or two on Saturday and then be here at the flat for our Kolkata memorial meeting and Kingdom Class in the afternoons on Sunday.

I was getting a little scared in the time leading up to heading out to Gosaba as I'd read a book 'House of blue mangoes' in Bangalore which talked about man eating tigers, and had heard that approx 300 people per year are killed by tigers and we were heading out to the tiger territory. Just before we left Erina told us that the tigers had been known to jump into the boats travelling along the river, and Dad had been making many jokes about buying caps with eyes sewn on because apparently they don't pounce on anything that is looking directly at them!! So there was quite a bit of buildup!!!
We started the journey with a prayer for safety, and our God heard our prayer. There were no Royal Bengal tigers to be seen:-)

It was one of the most beautiful journeys I've made. Apart from the bumpy 3 hour bus ride to start with, we had a gorgeous 2 hour ferry ride across to the island in the heat of the day. I was ready to jump in by the end!! All along the river bed were women dragging wooden frames to catch fish. Must've been hard work as they were sinking deep into the mud with every step they took. A job that in Australia would have been given to the men.

We clamboured ashore and were met by Dilip and Alekha Sen and taken pretty much straight to the hired premises for Sunday School. Mum led with Genesis ch 1. They're all supposed to be starting to use new Bengali course books, so everywhere we go... the lesson is creation.

Wes had also scared me about the accomodation saying that the hotel was solid brick on the outside, but the walls were made up of sheets on the inside. We had a lovely hotel when we got there, and my fears went! When your standard comforts are met, it's so much easier to do the job.

The main reason for visiting Gosaba was because there were 10 people ready for baptism. We started on Tuesday with interviews dividing into two groups and working through them. By Wednesday afternoon 7 out of the 10 were ready for baptism and we met by the pond at the end of the house. It was a beautiful occasion. I was very happy because most of those baptised were illiterate and some had been refused previously because they didn't have enough knowledge, but they had been taught more and understood the foundations now.

After the 7 baptisms we had a memorial meeting conducted by Wes on 1 Peter 1 & 2 on the importance of growing into Christ our example. While the exhortation was in progress a large size vegetable patch was being hoed and planted outside which was so amazing to watch. On the way back we were commenting on how the Kingdom will probably be very similiar to the village system. The people live such an uncomplicated life and just focus on their necessities for each day.

So our visit was a very positive one, and we came away rejoicing with the angels.

Thursday had been set aside for a quick boat trip to see the Tiger sanctuary which Wes had been to 2 years previously and had said it was worth a visit while we were in the area. We were aware that we needed permission from the Kolkatta government to go on a Tiger safari, but we thought we could get into the office and turtle hatchery without any documentation! We were wrong.

It was a fiasco. After hiring a boat to go across the river, and being totally tricked as to how much money we should have paid we started walking through the entrance. We'd been told we didn't need permission, and now unfortunately the rules had been changed...so many people arguing.... not so good, after some time Dad and I asked to see the Manager, cause it was our only possible trip there this year. The Manager said it was fine (we afterwards learnt that he was Manager of the hotel, and not government department) so after getting his approval we started wandering round until there was more shouting... it was very confusing, and not all in our own language. We were told we could look, and then we were told we couldn't... so we left. Not before a massive monkey jumped on the boat and stole a Britania cake out of Erina's hands. Sad fact. Feeling a little disgruntled we headed back for our last fried meal.

We ate every meal at the same place, there wasn't much variance for 4 days straight. Egg rolls, or bread ommlette, and every though they are amazing in themselves, after some time I became rather tired of eating the same foods, morning, lunch & evening. One night I went and bought aloo from the markets and took them to the restaurant and peeled them and asked them to cook them for me. They immediately coated them with curry, which I had to ask them politely remove before they started frying them. Was an interesting change but they charged me twice as much for using their oil than for ordering a standard meal! Most of our meals came to $3 for 8 people unless we had soda as well. We saved a lot on food this week!!

We had an rla on the way back to Kolkata. We took a ferry back across, and then found out the last bus had left at 2pm, so we had to get 2 large auto's to transport us and our luggage back to the river to cross to Canning to catch a train.

We crossed in the dark, holding onto the sides of a large canoe, praying that we wouldn't run into anything coming the other way. Getting out was somewhat difficult, we barged into another canoe and I think it injured wesley somewhat, before we had to find our way out. I stepped out on the wrong side and sunk into the grey slush that I was unable to see in the dark. Then another bahn ride to the station. A mad lady chewing tobacco attached herself to me at the station, and rode with us the whole way back in the train saying things that made Erina laugh out loud but she wouldn't repeat to us in English. It was a relief when we eventually got back to the flat. The whole day had been one adventure after another!! Safely back to the ark.

It's been nice having 3 days back in the flat. Friday night was our contact class at the Rajputs and we were very thankful to be given salad and a potato curry with NO frying there. Erina had put in her order for us:-) Kamelesh attended with his elder brother, and some of Erina's extended family was there as well as one of her friends. There were quite a few interested and the questions were good. So it's definitely a worthwhile setup.

Most of yesterday afternoon Mum and I spent frustrated trying to book train tickets for the end of year. To Visak, and Srikakulam, and on to Hyderabad...it was an effort I can assure you... between 3 buildings and many different counters. It took me 5 minutes in Hyd, but 2 hours in Kolk. Amazing. Things rarely are easy in India!!

And now today we're ready for our Kolkata meeting and Kingdom class. Today is Erina's 18th birthday and mum and dad have been cooking chocolate pudding, apple pies and banana caramel pie to celebrate the occasion with our bre & sis. After meeting, we're going to where David works to have dinner and to surprise him, so that should be fun.

This next week is our trip to Serenga with mum and dad. Wes, Jono & Darryl + K are heading back for a truth camp at Midnapur and we're meeting up again with them at CK Road on Wednesday night before travelling back here on Thursday evening.

Love to you all. Feel free to email me. I'd love to hear from you.