The Conference

The facilities were really nice (for India/Nepal) and Aaron and I each got our own room. While it was warmer in Siliguri on the whole, the rooms are made from concrete and tile and are just plain cold to sleep in so I still slept in my clothes and in my down sleeping bag.. Also, it was very humid here and so the cold hit you more and it even took a few days to dry your clothes. After a shower, my hair was still damp 4 hours later. It was a Christian conference centre and was well suited to our group.


The conference included meals and we had more Bhat (rice with "lentil soup" and/or "Chicken soup" poured over it) every night and for lunch. For breakfast we had 4 slices of white bread. The first and third morning, the top slice had a dollop of jam on it and sported a boiled egg beside it. The egg was a welcomed treat. The second day breakfast was just 4 slices of bread with some cooked lentils beside it. (The lentil breakfast didn’t go over real well with many of the Westerners after 2 meals of Bhat). I don’t mind Bhat as long as I don’t get it twice a day. I did eat it twice a day but many of the westerns skipped a few Bhat meals as their stomachs seemed to rebel at the thought of more Bhat. Over all the meals seemed to really be enjoyed by the Nepalese and Indian folks.

The conference had 1 pm session on the first day and 2 sessions each of the other two days; 9am-1pm and 4pm-7pm. Meals were at 7-8am, 1:30pm and 7:30pm. The conference had worship each session. David Ruis did part of the worship on the first and third night. The Kathmandu Vineyard played the second night. There was also another modern style band and then a more traditional style of worship of their former more ethnic music. The crowd really got into that traditional music with much participation including dancing. There were several western teachers (interpreted by Noel) and there were testimonies, sharing and an ordination of 9 pastors (5 men and 4 women.) The whole conference’s main purpose was to get everyone to be one big family and meet face to face. I believe that objective was met. There also seemed to be a lot of ministry and healing going on.

This is a picture of (left to right) Asher Isaac, Noel Isaac, David Ruis and George Esser. At night, we hung around with the Western folks. It is kind of silly but in order for Western people to get together, we need to go to India to hang out. I really connected well with David Ruis again but didn’t finish all of our conversations so we agreed that David should come to Sarnia and we can finish where we left off. His kids are both in Toronto and he is looking for an excuse to come to Ontario. We also would put together some event that we could invite the whole congregation to; either some kind of conference or a Worship session. David was very instrumental in the church planting of the Kathmandu Vineyard and had also travelled to Nessing and Gatlang, like Aaron and I did, 10 years ago. I wanted to get the history of that all but there was not enough time to do that plus to catch up what is going on in our lives.

Picture of (left to right) John Rademaker, George Esser and Nathan Rieger. I also really connected well with Stewart Singer from Calgary and John Rademaker and Nathan Rieger both from Winnipeg. We also connected somewhat with Navi Navindra Persaud and Jessie Penner from Winnipeg, SuHale (sounds like Soo-Hail sorry but don’t know how to spell your name :( and Psalm from US/India /Hong Kong/Israel. We also met and had a good connection with Danny Mullins and Mark Morgan, both pastors from a Vineyard near Phoenix AZ. Relationship is a high value in the Vineyard, yet in reality we seem to really suck at it because there are so many people to connect with and so little time.

The conference ended officially on Thursday night January 26, 2012. We left the next day by flying from the airport near Siliguri to Delhi. I am sitting in the Delhi Airport as I write this. More in the next post.