Bad Luck and Christian Encounter

20. December 2018

 

 

I’m down on my luck at the moment: My piece of luggage that didn’t arrive is still missing (including down jacket, down sleeping bag, souvenirs, Kamerakidz pen pals, Kamerakidz books and calendars and so on and so forth…) and then the day before yesterday my hard drive in my laptop went bad. Service says it’s not a software problem, but a hardware problem that requires a part that can be delivered in 15 days at the earliest. I won’t be here in this place for that long. Fortunately, I have a backup, but I can’t access my data… I have some passwords in my head, but not my access data for all my work email addresses, for example. I’m currently trying in all directions, but it’s tedious…. At the moment only Yahooo mail (nana_ziesche @ yahoo.com), Facebook and I can edit my web pages…. On a borrowed laptop with a difficult keyboard.

 

 

There are 18% Christians in Kerala. So an encounter is inevitable. I sat next to a young woman on the bus from Kozhikode to Wayanad. She asked me: where from, where to, why? I gave an answer. And she herself? From xxx to xxx – she was a nun in training. So were her 4 friends in the seats in front of her. After 2 years there would be an exam, then she would be a “good nun”. After another 2 years she would be a finished nun. Do I believe in Jesus and the Lord?
No.
Her eyes widened in horror.
Was I not born a Christian?
Yes, more or less. But then I would have turned away.
And the family?
Them too, not believing Christians.
Their world seemed to be falling apart.
Why did she want to become a nun?
She had wanted that since she was a child. She was so grateful that the Lord had given her this life. She wanted to thank him for that. She would take three vows: Celibacy, obedience and poverty.
Is it true that Protestants don’t believe in Mary?
I was stumped.
She rummaged in her rucksack.
I was afraid of the missionary consequences.
She took out the rosary with the cross. And began to sing softly.
For my soul?
She closed her eyes.
I breathed a sigh of relief.