Since I did not know much about Rehoboth I requested Miss Treasure for an introduction. Since she did not know much about me, she took this as an opportunity for both of us to know about each other and their ministries. So during one of the Consultation Meetings she took me to Rehoboth, after all the Discussions for that day were over.

That private tour of Rehoboth Girl’s Orphanage turned out to be a great discovery for me. For the first time, I had a first hand view of the great institution established a century ago by the great missionary V. Nagal.

Picture: Miss Treasure with the then oldest resident of the Orphanage

She took me around the buildings that house the orphanage. It was a great experience to get into the main hall that houses pictures of all the missionaries that ministered at Rehoboth. She gave me a brief background of these missionaries and their contributions and for me it was like travelling through a Time Machine just before I become a citizen of a new planet.

Picture: This Villa played a very important role in the initial history of RTI

She then took me to the property at the back of the orphanage. On our way I saw a majestic ancient building. She told me that this was built by the missionary-teacher JM Davis and is known as Kunnathu Bunglow (The Villa on the Mountain) because it was situated at the highest point inside the 50-acre campus.  Eventually this building played a significant role in the housing of the soon-to-be started RTI.

That day we did not get into this building, but rather kept walking. The campus was very big, Miss Treasure wanted to give me a glimpse of everything on the first day itself.  After walking for several hundred feet after the Villa, we reached a vast tract of empty ground.

Picture: A portion of the vast tract of plain ground which eventually became RTI building complex

The tract of empty ground that she showed me had trees on three sides, and the boundary wall on the fourth side. By any measure it was an ideal place to building a Seminary campus and I was sure that RTI will eventually be able to offer world-class facilities to its students. My experience was similar to that of Joshua and companions when they set foot upon the land of Canaan. I exclaimed to myself: RTI has got what other assembly institutions do not have and that is plenty of land. It will surely give a lead to RTI in future. I was not wrong in my assessment.

After standing there and talking for some time and praying over the land we took a different route to return to the Orphanage complex. This time we walked through many acres of cultivated land. Miss Treasure explained how a number of labourers (many of them believers) toiled there to produce tapioca and other local agricultural produces for Rehoboth.

We might have walked a kilometer before we returned to the Missionary Bunglow where Miss Treasure stayed. Seeing that building was a great shock and experience for me.