Hallelujah...Amen!

A new excerpt written by my brother, John--be blessed reading this!

Dear Friends of Dorothea,

It's now a little after 7 am here in India, and over 200 youth of the village have spent the entire night assembled outside our house (the Bangla), singing songs of praise and glory to God for the beautiful life and example of Dorothea.  Though we knew her only so briefly compared to you, we miss her deeply.

The funeral will be held some time before noon today, as is our local custom, first with a program here at the house, and followed by a short burial program at the Sielmat village cemetery.  The Chief of our village has offered a grave site from his family's area (or "quota"), so she will be buried alongside the former Chief (his father), and other members of his family.  

Backing up a bit, at the RIMS hospital,  before leaving there, we had a short program by the Hmar Youth Association (HYA), Imphal branch, honoring her, with a traditional Hmar shawl.  We had arranged the best coffin we could find, and carried her in our hospital ambulance, which was accompanied by at least 8-10 other cars.  Along the way, other vehicles joined us, even though it was already around 9pm, as well as motorcycles and scooters, so she entered our village with quite an grand entourage.  On reaching our village, the Sielmat village branch of the Hmar Youth Association honored her at the entrance to the village, again with our traditional Hmar shawl.  There must have been more than 500-700 people at the entrance of the village (just outside our hospital) to welcome her back.

On reaching the Bangla, we were received by perhaps 1000-1200 more people, from all over the district, who had assembled, waiting for her.  Dorothea's body was placed in the front foyer area, and for the next few hours people filed by, paying their last respects.  As I watched for a while, I saw scores of those who had volunteered along side Dorothea during the medical camp, and many more who had been treated during the camp.

I'll try to write more a little later today, and we're also having both still pictures and video taken of the funeral service, etc.  As Dorothea, during her brief visit here, touched lives crossing tribes/people groups and denominations, we expect a very large crowd, perhaps over 2000, maybe even more.  It happens to be a state holiday, so this may also result in a larger crowd.  It's also been carried in the local newspapers ad local television channels, the news of Dorothea dying on the mission field here in Manipur, so many Christians will be attending.

John