December 21st - 23rd

Greetings from the hot and humid India!

Over the past few days we have been doing multiple Christmas programs at a few of the schools here in Mumbai. On Monday, December 21st, we did three programs in one day. We had to be completely ready to leave the apartments by 6:30am, so that made for quite a short sleep seeing as we got home late Sunday night (the church we went to was very hospitable and fed us very well… it took a while to eat all the food they so graciously prepared for us).

The first program we did was for jr. high students, and I had the privilege of giving the invitation for them to accept Jesus Christ into their lives. At least a few of them responded to the invitation, so we just pray that they continue to seek Christ in their daily lives. The second program we did was for preschool students, so we kept it basic and fun. An interesting thing about programs here in India is that we are sometimes surrounded on three or even ALL sides by students while we share our programs! The third program we did was for middle school students. The students here really enjoy the action songs and the dramas, so it’s a joy to see their smiling faces from the stage.

On Tuesday, we had another three programs scheduled. This time we had to leave the apartments by 5:30am. We did two programs with middle school and jr. high students combined, and one program for 4th grade (or 4th standard, as they say here) students. During our last program of the day our last fuse for the transformer blew, so we were left to pray that God would provide us with a fuse or else the show would not go on! One of the very helpful people at the school offered to go search for one, so the the team members were just praying that he would find one before the program needed to begin. I'm happy to say that God provided a fuse at exactly the right time. We've been learning here in India that God provides according to His will in every circumstance, whether it be the energy to last another long day, the patience to deal with difficulties, or a fuse for a program.

Today we were fortunate enough to watch a program (as honored guests) at one of the schools we had performed at twice before. We then did our own program at the same school for students of a different school system. This is another interesting fact: some schools here have two school organizations in the same building, and they each teach according to their own curriculums. Huh.

Tomorrow morning we plan on heading to the beach for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Our team is doing “Secret Santa” or “Christmas Box” (whatever you wish to call it), so the spirit of giving will be in full force. If I may speak on behalf of the whole team now, I would like to say (I hope the following statement is true): We all do miss our families this Christmas, but God has been providing strength and encouragement during this time. For me personally, my team and the various Christmas programs we’ve been performing and watching have helped to bring me into the spirit of Christmas, which is focused on the hope and grace that God so richly extended to all of us by sending Jesus Christ to the earth.

“We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! Good tidings to you, wherever you are. Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year!”

Till after the Christmas break, in Christ,
Cayla Renae