Feb. 6 Padu Unitarian convention and 100th

Sunday Feb. 6 was a big day in Padu, Meghalaya, India : the culmination of the Unitarian Union of North East India annual conference and the 100^th anniversary of the Padu Unitarian Church. There were four sequential church services, all with separate hymns, sermons and prayers with breaks in between for camaraderie and food.The Jowai Choir, whom we heard rehearsing by candlelight after the earthquake.

Can you tell Gail told a rip-roaring tale for her sermon? She preached one of two at the second service. Helpme lived up to his name with enthusiasm. Our new friend Rev. Eva Cameron from Cedar Falls IA had been in Khasi Hills for six months ten years before, and gave a sermon full of knowledge of and love for the gathered churches at the third service. She and Gail will pool their resources to build the relation between UU's and Khasi Hills Unitarians, especially at G.A. this June. We understood hardly a word of Pearl Green Marbaniang's sermon, but we could see that the crowd was with him for every word. Pearl was the main planner of our visit here, for which we are increasingly grateful as we are met everywhere with gracious hospitality.Cream, Arnold, and Dr. Donkuper, siblings who are shakers and movers in the Unitarian movement. Cream is and old friend of Gail's mentor Rev. Doris Hunter and the champion of education. Arnold works for the state of Meghalaya managing public health projects, and Dr. Donkuper, is a G.P. Physician.

We thought one more service in a language we don't understand would not be unfortunate to miss, so at dusk we strolled to the sacred grove, an area untouched by the traditional religion of the area as sacred to the goddess. The Christians have made incursions, much to the disgust of the Unitarians. Walking back, a young man asked us if we would like to see Padu from this hill. We walked up stairs to see a beautiful spread of houses below us, all connected by paths and stairs. Too dark for a photo.