—Another Nightmare! DO 2684 8/89

1. I had the most horrible nightmare about India! I'm not positive it was India, it could've been Bangladesh or any of the Indian area countries. It was such a horrible dirty country! I hate to even recount it. (Maria: You don't have to if you don't want to.) Well, maybe it's a help.

2. I'm always fleeing, of course. We were out on this beach that was at the foot of a high cliff‚ & up on top there was some kind of temple. We were fleeing up the beach & there were all these evil–looking people staring at us. You had the feeling like any one of them would have cut your throat for a penny! But we were with a lovely Indian lady who was our hostess, very sweet‚ & she was trying to cook some food for us.

3. We were right out in public, in some public place where there was a public toilet. It was very primitive, one of those hole-in–the-floor places. Then I saw this very bad, evil-looking man come in dressed in this long robe with sort of a hat or a cowl or something wrapped around his neck that completely concealed his identity. He had this small girl about three or four with him & he was treating her roughly & hurting her.

4. He caught me watching him & he ran with the girl. Then the mother came in looking for her & I told her that her daughter had been there but that this evil man had her. I told her how he was dressed & everything so she'd recognise him & told her that he had gone off thattaway etc., so she was very grateful & ran off desperately looking for her little girl. It's funny that I dream such horrible things!

5. Then I went out to find something to eat & our hostess was going to cook it for us right there on the ground in this big earthen pot. I needed some food, so she said if I could get some chicken she'd cook it. She said it only costs a few cents to get some raw chicken cut in pieces, so these little boys offered to go get it for us.

6. I pulled some money out of my pocket, & it's funny, some were like pretty rocks & precious stones, there were a few copper coins‚ & there was also a very pretty little tiny idol of a woman about half as big as my fist that was supposed to be money. But the little boy said‚ "No, no, no, we just want coppers!", & they snatched the copper money out of my hand & ran.

7. Well, I didn't really expect them to come back, I figured they might all be a bunch of little thieves. But pretty soon they came back with the pieces of chicken & I was really surprised. So our hostess prepared it with some eggs, like scrambled eggs sort of wrapped around the chicken cooked in this earthen vessel on hot coals. I don't even know how they eat in India, but maybe that's one of their dishes.

8. We were apparently going to carry it back to our house, but it was hot & I said we'd have to have a basket to carry it in. The little boys said they'd go get us a basket, so I held out my hand & they picked out enough stones to buy us a basket.—Apparently the little stones were okay this time. So they came back & we put the food in the basket, but in so doing, somehow or another she accidentally dropped a couple of pieces on the ground. But she just picked them up & stuck them in too & said she'd clean them up later!—Ugh! My stomach almost sank.

9. Just about then this horrible evil man who'd stolen the little girl came rushing in! It was sort of an outdoor building‚ a stone shelter or public place of some kind. He came rushing in with this knife & he grabbed me from behind! His left arm was around me & his right hand was in my back with this knife! He said, "If you report on me that I stole the little girl, I'm going to tell them who you are!" I expected at any minute to feel this knife piercing my innards!—And it was so scary I woke up!

10. What a horrible, horrible dream! Oh God! It must be awful to have to live in such a country, especially for our people who have to survive there. (Maria: God bless them!) There wasn't a nice thing about that dream, except for that nice sweet hostess lady who was cooking for us. I don't know why we didn't go home to her house to cook it, I guess we were too far away & we were very hungry.

11. Why should I have nightmares about India? Maybe the Lord just wanted to show me how some of our people have had to suffer living in countries like that with such evil, dirty, horrible people! Of course, our hostess was really nice, very sweet & kind & she was clean. But boy, some of those other people, those dirty little boys & the evil, wicked men...my God! All the men looked like murderers!

12. As usual, our enemies were looking for us & that wicked man was certain to reveal me to them! It's a funny thing though, it was like I was almost thankful that he was killing me rather than turning me over to our enemies! It was sort of a fearful experience, expecting to feel that knife at any moment, but I kind of had the feeling like‚ "Well, at least it would be better than being turned over to our enemies!" I was almost thankful for death to take me out of that horrible nightmarish life!

13. I was expecting that knife to dive into my back at any moment, even right then, & then I woke up feeling really drained. I don't know why the Lord lets me dream such horrible dreams! Maybe it's something like a test or to show me how some of our missionaries have had to suffer.