September 25, 2009 my wife and I headed for Erode, Tamil Nadu. For several years brother Moses had invited us to come to his school of nursing, where some of our workers & pastors children and other poor young people have been trained to become nurses with minimal tuition fees, but we were never able to do so until that evening.
Now on that particular night we were to be at the train station by 23:55, O clock. The instructions were that when the train came into the station we were to count the bogies and ours would be number S-6. Each bogie holds about 60 people and we were to find Moses’ son in Bogie # S-6 who would have our tickets in hand and would help us find our place of lodging on the train.
I did not have the name of the train, nor a train ticket, and the question in my mind was could I find the compartment (Bogie Number S-6) with the gentleman who had made arrangements and was to meet us on the platform having boarded the train in Bangalore.
At the enquiry window I asked the clerk what the name of the train was that would be heading to Erode from Bangalore at 23:55 O’ clock. He indicated that it would be on platform # 2 on the other side of the station. It was scheduled to arrive on time but would only wait about 2 minutes to have passengers board.
Up over the trestle we went with our baggage to the other side, found a place to sit down and waited for the train. As the train came into the station I began counting the bogies and when I got to number S-6 I saw a young man stick his head out the doorway and say “Hello Pastor Robinson”. Now that was music to my ears. But the train just kept on going.
It finally came to a stop a LONG ways down the track. We began HURRYING down the platform while Moses’ son jumped off the train and ran to help us with the luggage. The conductor was telling us to quickly jump on the train or get left, so we hopped on at the nearest door.
We walked along on the inside narrow passage of the train as it was moving, rocking from side to side. Most of the passengers were already sleeping with their feet hanging out over the edge of the seat. Other obstacles were luggage, food and shoes. Quite an obstacle course you know.
Making it to our destination inside the train, we found our compartment was composed of two three-tier and one two-tier bunk beds. We were happy that our beds were the two lower ones of a three-tier bunk bed. There was NO bedding furnished, so we laid down on the plastic covered seat which was about 6 feet long and 30″ wide. We used our bags as pillows and I hung my feet over the end of the cushion as did others. A couple hours into the journey I decided to go to the toilet, which was located at the end of the bogie. After completing the task, and as I layed back down on to my bench ( bed), the thought occurred to me that I would be more comfortable with my shoes off. You know going to bed with shoes on is not that comfortable. So I swung my feet over the side of the seat and just then a large cockroach went scurrying by on the floor just in front of my feet.
I thought shoe on the floor, cockroach in the shoe, NO THANKS. What to do? I wanted my shoes off for comfort, but not with a cockroach inside. I decided. Oh Bob this is India. What are you afraid of any way. Just a cockroach. I took off my shoes and placed them on the back side of my bench and went off to sleep.
I was constantly waking up from time to time, but finally we did reach our destination at 4:40 am. To my surprise, the Erode Nilgiris Section President Pastor N. Gnanaprakasam and Treasurer Mr. Selvam Swamidass along with Mr. Moses were there to meet us.
Moses had arranged for his nursing school bus to meet us at the train station. They took us to a lovely hotel where they assumed we would want to wash up a bit and rest, but NO we had come to see the school and other points of interest. So even though it was still very dark outside, we left our luggage and proceeded to see the construction progress of the church for which a kind donor had sent funds in the amount of $5,000. It was just nearby. It was still dark when we arrived (5:30 am), but we could inspect the premises and we were very happy with what we saw – very well built and very well located within the village. It was only a matter of painting for the church to be completed. Of course the brethren requested funding for an additional two church sites..
Next we visited the Section office and a local grade school. Afterwards, Brother Moses took us to the location where he wanted to relocate his school of nursing on 9 acres of land. He had drilled a well and constructed a holding tank 20′ X 20′ for water. Fruit trees are already producing.
As I was standing there on his property, I asked him what he wanted me to do. Of course he wanted me to give him funds to construct a nursing school with kitchen and boarding facilities. I asked him about his children and whether they had the same passion to help poor students complete nursing/midwife RN training at his nursing school. He was not so sure they had the same aspiration as he did, but he indicated that he wanted to give the facility over to the church in the future. However, he wanted to wait until it was all built before he gave it to the church. I asked him how old he was? He said he was 70 years old. I asked him if he planned to live forever? He told me that God would give him at least another 10 years. He looks very healthy and I am sure that the Good Lord will do that, but I encouraged him to give over the property now and he could continue being in charge. We would then be in a better position to possibly find funding to help develop the school, but not as a private personal entity. However, he stated he would consider it at a later date. Anyway we trust that God will keep him alive many years so he can continue to help the poor young people improve themselves and be a continued benefit to mankind.
It was now 8 o’clock so we were taken back to the hotel to eat and rest. We had some eatables in our bags, because being a diabetic I always travel with some food.
We rested until 10 o clock and then went to the church. I spoke to those that gathered on allowing God to take full control of our life and allow Him to dwell within us and reflect his image in our conduct, speech and actions.
After the service we went directly to the school of nursing and saw where they are training 45 Christian Young people for service to mankind. Moses had rented two houses in the center of town. He had fixed them up with desks, labs and all that was necessary to run a government approved RN 3 1/2 year nursing-midwife training program. I was amazed. It was so wonderful what they are doing with so little. The cost for board, room and tuition is only $700 per year X 3 1/2 years = $2,450 for the full training. If you would like to make a donation to sponsor a nursing student to this school, please feel free to do so by sending your donation as stated at the bottom of this e-mail.
At 2 pm they gave us a portion of the rice and curry they had prepared for the students. What a delight!
By 3 pm we were on our return journey back to Hosur and arrived home at 8 pm. It had been a full day but one which we will long remember.
If you would like to be part of our missionary endeavors and help in any of our up coming evangelism efforts, please feel free to do so..
Send all donations to the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist, % Stanley Ponniah, India Project Code 1,000, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600.
We have evangelistic groups coming these dates.
- November 20- Dec 5, 2009 – ShareHim, Pastor Marvin Moore Group (editor of the Signs of the Times) & others
- December 4-19, 2009 – ShareHim, Ron Oliver group & Others.
- December 26 – Jan 12, 2010. Nancy Worley’s group
- January 8-23, 2010 – ShareHim, Australian group & Others
- January 15-30, 2010 – ShareHim, Pastor Milliken & Pastor Sabnani’s groups, & others
- January 22-Feb 6, 2010 – ShareHim, Sunnydale Academy, Iowa group & others
- Feb 6-21, 2010 – ShareHim, Russell Schultz group & Others
- Oct 8-23, 2010 ShareHim in Andhra Pradesh
- Nov 5-19, 2010 ShareHim in Andhra Pradesh
- Dec 3-18, 2010 ShareHim in Andhra Pradesh
Other groups can be scheduled as request
God bless and keep you always
Pastor Robert Robinson SUD-India Administrative Assistant.