VBS

Hello :)

Time has flown by. In April, my Uncle died of a sudden heart attack. He was in his 50's and had pastored a church for over 20 years. I went back to the states for a week for his funeral. It was a horrible, horrible time. But it was amazing to see his family and congregation gather together and be each others strength during such a difficult time.

The week after I got back there was a VBS that Pearl City Church was putting on that I was helping at. I got shifted to a different position where I was responsible for organizing the volunteers, helping the teachers with supplies, snacks, and just organizing things. I have never done something like this by myself, so I was really nervous. The first day....things were pretty unorganized but the rest of the week went great. It was in the morning for 3-4 hours for the whole week. The leaders thought that there were going to be mostly english speaking middle class kids coming however, everyone was pleasantly surprised when over 150 labour children showed up speaking only the local language. The curriculm had to be re-vamped and the teachers adjusted. Labour children parent's work in the construction areas and usually do not have the best living conditions. Throughout the whole week, over 250 kids attended! It was such a success....Seriously, I haven't been part of something that is so amazing on such an unexpected large scale.

Here are some photos...

Guntur...

Hello :)

Well, Guntur went very well. The train out there was the first one I have ever been on. It was very nice. The lady that travelled with me, Prerana, works with Focus on the Family and their AID prevention programme. So the day we arrived we went to Shalom Church School....














She presented the No Apologies programme to around 200-250 children. The programme is recognized by the government and they have made it required for all Telagu schools in the city. It is showing amazing results and it was cool to see how she did the programme.

For that week, I taught at Shalom Church School in the mornings. Typically I would teach the younger classes. Here is a photo of one of the classes I taught...




I gave a short Bible Object Lesson, and then taught them a song. It is a Telagu based school so the children know no English at all. At this school, there is also a hostel and children are given financial support through JMM and individuals.



I also taught at a small K-3rd grade school one morning....






It was English based so I was able to talk to the kids. It was very nice.








This little girl, Reshma, attends this school and her parents are Hindu. Her teacher told me a story that her mom came and told the other day. That morning, Reshma was given a couple of coins. All of a sudden she had lost them and couldn't find them anywhere. Her mother became really upset. Reshma remembered the story that her teacher told in class the other day about the women who had lost her coins. So she prayed to God a short quick prayer asking to help her find the coins. A minute later, she found them! Her mother came to school and was so amazed that this had happened. Reshma told her parents that she doesn't want to be Hindu anymore, she wants to be Christian. I was curious when I heard this. Oftentimes you find that teachers push the religion on a child but this is no such case. This girl completely and utterly wants to be a Christian. I thought this was such an amazing story because she is only in grade 2!

I also attended Redemption Ministries and Gospel Mission India 25th Bible School Graduation ceremonies. There were three schools that were all celebrating different class Graduations. I had never seen a meeting like that, so it was good to see. Here is a photo of where it was held......














On a more recent note, (and the reason I haven't updated) I went to the states about a week ago for a funeral. My Dad called me on Tuesday morning and told me that my Uncle Kerry, who pastored a church for 25 years, had just had a heart attack and died. It was extremely sudden and totally unexpected. I flew out that night and spent a little over a week in Massachusetts. At first, everyone was extremely grief stricken and couldn't stop crying. He left two daughters and his wife. One of his daughters has a 4 year old and is 8 months pregnant so I staid with her and tried to help as much as I could.

This week, I am working on stuff for Focus on the Family and next week is a local VBS that I am helping to organize and run. I hope you enjoy the photos....and that your week has started off good.

Feel free to email me...It's always good to hear people.

Much love...xxx

p.s. here is a photo of the view from my bedroom in Guntur

just so happy.

Today at the office I found myself having to hold back from laughing out loud. In a room with 30 people, I did not want to draw attention to myself . I stared at my computer screen trying to figure out why I was so giggly. Then it hit me. I am supremely happy. I felt this happiness before...in Cambodia...in Colorado with my family...and it is a great feeling. What could be more fun than being able to plan activities to do with kids from feeding programmes, the slums, and christian schools?

Today, I am planning crafts for next week in Guntur at the Christian School. Since Easter is rapidly approaching, some of my lessons will be on that. I get to go to Guntur Monday through Friday of next week...I will actually get back to Hyderabad at 6 in the morning on Saturday. I've never been on a train before so I am looking forward to having a new experience.

Last Night I went to a feeding programme with a groupe of ladies from Pearl City Church. The ladies were able to teach a bible story to the kids, math skills, and a bit of counseling. It was the first time for the women at the church to do that and things went well. I have been asked to take over planning outreaches to the feeding programmes like that one. I am very excited about it because I think it will be a great opportunity to teach a lot of children. Next week I'm not going to do one because I will be in Guntur, but the following week the Life Group I am involved with will go.

Chandrakal last week was very good. Even though I was intimidated in my mind at the beginning, I overcame that quickly and things went excellent. I will be going out there again soon.

I want to make this blog not just a place where I update what I'm doing, but also to be open about my thoughts. I'm a little rusty right now with being truly genuine. But I am trying. :) Haha.

I am officially leaving June 21st. But I'll actually in the states of the 22nd night....

An excellent idea: The Poverty and Justice Bible. It has been published by the Bible Society and is outstanding. They have highlighted thousands of scriptures in the bible that talk about poverty and justice...and there is also a middle section in the bible where they talk about poverty in our world today and injustices that are happening. It's an excellent idea. Especially in our society today.

Hope your having a lovely day. :)

First posting and Photos of Chandrakal...

Hello!

Well, to start off, here are some photos of the kids and Chandrakal that I get to teach English...








This is Rajkumar. Him and his sister, Anitha, were the original 7 children that lived at Chandrakal in the beginning.
Once both of their parents died from AIDS, their village turned on them, threw stones at them, and gave them no food.
Joyce Meyer Ministries found out about Rajkumar and Anitha
and brought them to the children's home.
At the home, they get plenty of food, medicine, and an education.









8 children that live in the home.












:) Me and Linga.











Roja






I am going back out to Chandrakal tomorrow...Monday night in the States. I'll be there until Friday. While I'm there, I will get a photo of Bhanu, the boy who's story I will tell you. Once I have his photo, I will post the story for you.

Please pray for clarity in my mind on how best to teach the children. I am feeling a bit inadequate, even though I've taught English before.

I won't have Internet the whole week, so...I'll update you when I get back!
Here are some random photos....