The Carson Center

Back to my sojourn to Dhamtari, India where I was retracing the steps of my great, great uncle J.A. Ressler  who first arrived in India century earlier.

February 28, 2009 evening

As the plane descended from the sky, what I saw was a flat with rice fields everywhere.  The airport was small but beautiful with pristine landscaping.  The bishop of the Mennonite Church and the Secretary were there to greet me, in English.  I could only make a feeble attempt to greet them with the few Hindi words I knew.

As we traveled the 50 miles along the century old tree lined two line highway, I discovered that the timing of my visit was perfect.  The church was dedicating three deacons, including a women, and representatives from all of the 20 congregations will be attending the church.  I would get to see the results of the work begun over a century ago first hand.  I am told that the church as grown to 7,000 members.  Very impressive, I thought.

I discovered that my two days had been planned so that every moment would be spent showing me what the church has become.  It was to begin with a Sunday morning service at 9:30.  I was asked to preach.  I decided to preach on II Timothy 1 where Paul encourages Timothy to guard the faith and to fan into flame the gift of God that was given to them.  This may well have been the topic of Uncle JA’s sermon a century early as he headed back to the US due to the health of his wife. What a privilege to see and know that the work continues to flourish.

I was warned by Bishop Narth and PK Singh that my days there were packed. We would visit half of the churches, the hospital, schools and meet many people.  We made out way in the dark to the mission compound for a late evening meal with the Chattergee’s.  Both SK and Veena Chattergee are medical doctors at the hospital.  She is a highly trained surgeon and he an internist.  Among SK’s other degrees, he an master’s degree in public health from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.  While many have stayed in the US, the Chattegees returned to serve in India.

The meal was filled with connections of people and places we knew of in common.  Marvelous stories began to emerge about admiration for those first missionaries.  Although there is no one here who knew Uncle JA and Auntie Lina personally, the stories of the travails were ones that I knew from the books.  I was somewhat apprehensive about showing the books written by Uncle JA, concerned that the failures of missionaries in the past would bring out the disdain for the past.

What I found was a fascination with the books and curiosity especially by Nina, their daughter who is too young to know about many things such as the orphanage and various locations that have been closed down or land sold.  I left the books there for the night.  By morning, both had been read.