Hi everyone,
Well, I finished work yesterday and now have a break until the 2nd January- we really need it! This week has been the craziest week so far in terms of business, and you can tell by the state of our flat: glitter, paper, pens, clothes, dirty plates, etc covering our floor. And the bathroom has become a cockroach graveyard! But it has also been one of the best weeks so far, especially with all of the special Christmas activities we have been doing.
We attempted to teach the Christmas story to the Balwadi children with no translator and it was actually quite successful. We had a great time journeying around the classroom to Bethlehem, following the star and pretending to be shepherds! I had one of those memory-sticking moments at Balwadi the other day. I was sitting on the floor supervising the cotton wool sticking (we were making snowmen!) and a little girl came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my neck, as the kids often do (usually to my annoyance!). And I was just sitting there listening to her sing her own version of "If You're Happy and You Know It", in my ear and I was thinking about how privileged I am to be able to work with these kids and spend time with them. It is so rewarding to hear them proudly performing the songs they have learnt or to see a kid who has been crying for the past hour come over to me as I leave and say goodbye. I had to go home that night and comb out a big fat juicy nit from my hair, but I'd say it's worth it!
Fun Station has been excellent this week. We decided to do the classic chocolate eating game, with the knife, fork and dice, and the kids LOVED it! They, of course, went away and told all their friends that we gave them chocolate, so we are now ambushed by children asking for chocolate when we walk through SD Puram. I discovered some "Number One Hits" music on my iPod, so we ended up spending one evening dancing to YMCA with them. I would have never guessed I'd be in a classroom in India dancing to YMCA with a bunch of 12-year-olds! I feel like I have wrapped about a billion pass-the-parcels as we have done them with almost every group we have. But all the preparation was worth it and we had a great time. We could hardly get out the door when it was time to leave because of all of the cheek pinching, kissing, hugging and making us promise to be there on the 2nd January. Oh, and Mum- we gave the stickers you sent to them as a Christmas present and they were VERY pleased!
And, of course, Jacob's Well: it really has felt like the end of term at school there and I'm not sure that the girls have really done much work this week. On Thursday we had parents evening, although actually it is only the mothers who come to hear about a daughter's education. The girls were VERY excited about us meeting their mothers and we had a good chance to practice our Tamil with them! Oasis also held a short health and hygiene presentation for the mothers as they are mostly from the slum, and after that we got the girls to show them their books and folders. I was quite proud of them all! We have had a lot of Christmas activities this week for them, too: singing "The 12 Days of Christmas", playing pass the parcel with forfeits (hilarious), dancing... And then yesterday we had a party with them and brought a big cake in the shape of a Christmas tree- it resulted in a lot of cake-feeding (a cultural thing where it is normal to shove a large slice of cake in someone else's face) and food fighting. We said our goodbyes to them, too- it feels very final even though we will be back in a few days! The girls all come over and say to us, "Teacher, feeling, 10 days," which translates to "Teacher, I am feeling sad because I won't see you for 10 days." It is nice to feel appreciated! Once again, there was a lot of cheek pinching and kissing- I think I need to invest in some cheek padding before we leave for England.
We have had a lot of rain again this week, apparently unusual for this time of year. We have also had to go out quite a lot in the rain, which involves wading through rivers of water thanks to the poor drainage. Vijay has taken to wearing a woolly hat everywhere which we find hilarious. He says it is cold, but I feel just about right now. We were all singing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas..." at the office yesterday, not that any of the people who work there have ever even seen snow!
Our flat is now being infested by red ants who have made their home by our front door. I take great pleasure in pouring boiling water over them every time I make tea. In fact, we also had a bit of an ant issue in the kitchen. And trust me, these aren't just any old ants: they are the most vicious red ants in the world! If they crawl on you they will sink their evil little pinchers in and give you a good old bite. Why God made ants and termites I do not know, but it is my personal mission to remove all of them from our flat!
We went saree shopping this week (a fairly stressful ordeal with all the Christmas shoppers) and I now own a rather beautiful dark brown silk saree that I have no idea how to wear! Becky says she will show us for Christmas cos the whole wrapping thing is pretty complicated. We have decided to start doing sit-ups everyday, given the amount of belly that is on show when you wear a saree!
Naomi left us this morning for Kerala and is then going home to England. It has been really nice to have her with us, although we now have a bit more space in the auto without trying to squash four people in!
So that is pretty much my past week. Last night I was so exhausted from all the late nights staying up preparing, rushing around, trying to get everything done. But we have a nice holiday coming up and are looking forward to going to Ooty next week (so you probably won't hear from me for a fortnight). It feels like our time here is going so fast now- only two working months left, and then we have a two week holiday. I want to make the most of my remaining time here!
There are a couple of things you could all pray for:
- Safety on our holiday that we really need to organise a bit more!
- A good rest over the Christmas break.
- The new projects starting up after Christmas at Vyasarpadi and Jacob's Well.
- Many new ideas, energy and enthusiasm as the three of us plan our work for the next month.
- That in every area we are working in, we really will strive to be imitators of Christ and point people to Who we trust in by our actions.
- For all three of us and our families as we are away from home for Christmas.
So, thank you all so much for the support so many of you have given and for the Christmas parcels and cards and the like.
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year if I don't post again before then! Something Becky was talking about has stuck in my head: how amazing is it that the AWESOME God of the universe would choose to be humble Himself to the extent of becoming a helpless, dependant baby? It is hard to comprehend!
Take care,
Love Kandace
1 Peter 5:5-6
And all of you, serve each other in humility, for
“God opposes the proud but favors the humble.”
So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.
Jeremiah 1:12
Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."
