We interupted our taxi ride to the convention site to buy some gifts for the men. Giving gifts here seems to be sort of a love language. Our ladies had already thought of this, purchasing pearl necklaces (about $2.50 each) for the 30 indigenous ladies. Bill and I were scrambling concerning what to do for the men.
Our capable driver, Chander, pulled over to what passes for a curb right in front of a tiny shop containing numerous items, among them the pens we thought we’d buy. But in that stand we also found leather wallets (from $2 to $4 each) as well as pens (40 cents each), and we purchased 60 of each for the equivalent of $3 each.
These and the necklaces were mere tokens, but you’d have thought we gave our friends the most exotic and expensive gifts imagineable.
In tearful goodby speeches on the part of Kim and Luana, and more masculine eulogies on the part of Bill and me, we bade them all farewell. They thought we had been such an encouragement to them, but we four white folks knew it was the other way around.
We came away from this convention thinking that the Berean Fellowship in India is in very capable hands and very strong.
We practically had to tear ourselves away from our photo-hungry hosts, but we eventually made it into the taxi and back to the hotel. In just an hour we head for the airport, the port city, and the shores of Malaysia. We will arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 5:30 tomorrow morning - Thursday for us, still Wednesday for you.
In this case, with these dear friends, Shakespeare was absolutely correct: Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Posted in PF's Trip
