June 5, 2006

Greetings from the Smiths.

We are coming to the middle of our most recent term in India. In about a month, we will be back in the States for one-year interpretation assignment. Then we'll come back to India for at least two more years. While in the States, we'll visit our supporting churches. Scheduling will be crucial, and so if there are special weeks that your church has traditionally kept for international mission let us know so we can put you on the schedule.

I had a very encouraging couple of weeklong trips that I am happy to share with you. The first week was wrapped around a consulting job I was asked help with in Assam, one of the eastern states of India. The Lutheran World Service (India) is supporting a resettlement project in Assam and a related rural development project. Now the good news here is that peace is breaking out in Assam. The bad news is that even though I live in India I didn’t know there was a war in Assam. But there was and now, there isn’t! Thousands of people had to flee their homes and live in refugee camps for over five years while a violent civil war went on between the government of India and several rebel groups. Now, quite recently, the parties have settled on an “elegant” solution that I won’t go into but the result is great relief to the people of Assam. The churches were severely affected and were major actors in bringing peace to the region. I have never been where a civil war was actually in progress, but being there I could see, hear, and almost taste the joy that the people were experiencing. So that is one place where God is working overtime on peace.

The week after that Melanie and I went to Nepal. We had lived in Nepal for about 10 years and left in 2000. Since 2001 there have been Maoist rebels in most of the rural parts of the country, intent on over-throwing the government and removing the king. Again, after mass riots a week before we arrived, the king reinstated parliament and then had much of his power taken away. A ceasefire was then declared by both sides.

People are very hopeful that the rebels, who control a large portion of rural Nepal, will move from a ceasefire to truce and finally participation in the political system. Every night there are peace vigils and peace meetings. The mood of Kathmandu is so hopeful that it was infectious. We went to see how the Christian community is

coping. We found them involved in all manner of ministries, building peace and reconciliation. It seemed that for those two weeks I was just following God around catching the reflection of what it means to have peace after conflict.

I hope you can also feel some of that experience, though second-hand. We pray that an “elegant solution” will be found to the conflicts our own country is involved in. For the past several years we have had a different perspective on the world than others in the pews. Maybe we can share some of those learnings too when we visit.

There have been severe and challenging changes going on in the PC(USA)’s General Assembly Council in Louisville. Seventy-seven staff positions were eliminated to balance the budget after a $9 million shortfall in contributions from churches. One of the jobs eliminated was that of our area coordinator Raafat Zaki, and his office. All of South and Southeast Asia has now been added to the responsibilities of the area coordinator for East Asia and the Pacific, the Rev. Inik Kim. The world has not become smaller, but the staff that keeps us in the field is greatly reduced. We all feel really grieved about this, and in a way we have some survivor guilt: Why do we still have a job? The answer is because of our supporting churches. Without them we could not work here. In the future, new missionaries will be asked to raise a certain amount of funds before leaving the country.

This week Tim graduates from Woodstock School, then it is time to start packing again. We will spend some time in England, Dallas, and Louisville before settling in our house in Virginia.

Please contact us by mail from August at 1701 Ginger Lane, Blacksburg, VA 24063. Or by email at Scott and Melanie Smith.

Melanie and Scott Smith

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 116