Kerala Baptist Bible
College & Seminary Bible Conference
Monday morning came bright and early (John and I are still
struggling with Jet lag) and HOT!!!! Every day is hot! The usual High
temperature is 98 to 99 degrees with the low in the middle of the night around
the mid 80’s. Every room has a ceiling fan but there is no
air-conditioning. The Bible Conference started
at 10:00 AM and John did two 45 min.
sessions with a 5 minute tea break
between them. They had a fan set up on the stage and they set up a desk fan
next to where I was sitting. They are so hospitable here! They are always
looking for some way too make us comfortable!
John and I have been very anxious of how it will be to speak
with a translator. John’s translator, Beju, was great! He made every effort to
make sure John was comfortable! What we found out was that we use many little
“idioms” that we do not even consider as idioms and these just do not
translate! For instance: “beach head” did not have a meaning for them. Also the
term “meism” that John used was a problem. The term “self-centeredness” took 30
seconds to figure out. And “hotdog” was totally unknown! But all translators
that were used were absolutely great! Think about it. They have to listen to
what you say, take it apart and put it back together in a different order
(adjectives, adverbs and nouns are in a different order in the Malayalam
language) and then convey the correct thoughts to the audience.
 |
| Students Bring Special Music |
They started with music. When they sing here they sing!
Everybody! No hanging back! They sing with “gusto” (Now there’s a word that
won’t translate!) They do not have much here. One guitar that they pass around
to each other and a small electronic keyboard. The evening before the high
e-string on the guitar broke while they were singing but they just kept on
going as if nothing had happened. I noticed that it was still broken but that
didn’t stop them at all and the music is as sweet as any I have heard! I think
it is because they are all singing from their hearts.
To all the sound guys: They work with very little and if you
think the things I cobble up sometimes are weird you should see what they come
up with. And all using 220 volts!
 |
| Pastor with Beju translating |
They would have two or three special numbers each session
and they were all unique and just made your heart sing along with them. One
young man who was sitting next to me did a special number. It was in Malayalam
and he had the lyrics hand written in his notebook. After he finished I asked
about the song and he said it was his “Auntie’s song”. I think many of the
special music was original or from some one close to them.
John did a really good job with the first messages in his
Series on Galatians 5 and figured out right away that with a translator he
would have to cut down each message more than he thought. Sometimes it seemed
that when he would say a 4 or 5 word sentence the translator would go on for 15
or 20 seconds. All this cut into his time some.
After lunch at Shaju’s house we went to a meeting of all the
Pastor’s form Kerala State that were there. They get together a few times each
year as an Association and Shibu asked John to bring a “short” message to them.
We are both learning to be ready in season and out here! John gave them a great
challenge and afterward I heard from Shaju that they were really touched by it.
John got done just in time for us to walk back to the
Conference and I did my message. Because the “outside” Pastors were not present
in the afternoon sessions I did not need a translator as the faculty, staff and
students all spoke English. I didn’t know this and had “pared” my message down
to account for translation so it was not as long as it probably should have
been but I think it was well received.
After that we went back to Shibu’s house for a short rest
and some dinner and then it was back to the evening session where John continued
with his series. The evening service had the entire faculty, staff, students
and all the Pastors from Kerala along with many of the families of the staff
and faculty. So it was the biggest of all the crowds and totally filled the
place.
After that, we returned to Shibu’s house and both John and I
were very tired so we went to bed.
