Christmas is just around the corner! No the team has not gone MIA the internet has just been a little hard to come by this week..so finally, here are last weeks events!
Time has been going by so quickly but you can just feel God’s presence here in India. It is so incredible! Sunday started off with an early morning and we headed down to southern Mumbai on the train to a Methodist church where we got to do bits and pieces of our Grace Like Rain GA Program. It was the first time us ladies had been on the train, but according to the guys we still haven’t really experienced the train, someday I guess. But the service was great, It started out with the pastor saying a few words then they led us in worship. It is so amazing how even though you really have no clue what some of the songs mean you can still just feel their passion for God, you get the occasional tune you know and you feel so out of place singing English when they are singing Hindi because it sounds so much more beautiful in a different language than just plain old English. The message that day was translated by the pastor and after the service was over we were invited for tea and biscuits, everyone here in India is very hospitable and it is the hardest thing to say no to their beautiful faces serving you over and over again! Later that day we went to a nice tourist restaurant and some of us had the chance to share our testimony with some of the local people in the area. This time we a real eye opener for me and it was hard seeing some of the poverty but I think it gave all of us a realization of why God would want us here in India.
Monday was a day spent with Mark and Cheryl doing team interviews and working on some Preaching/Teaching and Chalk Art. We all appreciate every bit of encouragement and advice Mark and Cheryl have put into our lives and God was so good to our team sending them with us and helping us get settled!
Tuesday was another early morning with lots of coffee and chai! We headed to another local school for a program at 7am. This program was the first one we were able to set up full equipment, but being here time is not a huge factor. We have a large team so not all of us could make it on the first trip so 7 of us were setting up while about 800 students were staring us down, sitting waiting patiently and 7am was long gone by 7:15 the remaining 4 team members arrived and we still were not done a sound check. Finally by the grace of God our sound started to work and we were all raring to go guitars on, microphones in hand, and ready at the sound board when one of the teachers comes up to us and says go sit down and have some tea. We all looked at each other and gave each other a few smiles, put down the sound equipment and headed over to a seating area where tea was about to be served. Meanwhile, these 800 students are still sitting waiting patiently. We came to the conclusion that Indian people really know how to take the stress off of a person! So we drank our tea while the kids did their morning songs and away we went with our Children’s program. We had two programs at that school one in the morning and one in the heat of the day. It was a great day and we learnt a lot about how much God is in control of everything and how he can take the stress off you anytime! How great is that!
Tuesday evening came soon after and we said goodbye to Mark and Cheryl who had an early flight back to crisp cold Canada on Wednesday morning. We wish them a very Merry Christmas and an amazing new year! May God bless you as you spend time with your families this Christmas season, your presence here will be missed!
Wednesday was our scheduled day off this week and we were able to re energize ourselves by just relaxing, since being here transportation has been a little confusing but a few of the boys headed south to do some shopping and made it back home safely, slowly but surely we are becoming familiar with the area and our host RJ is letting us do more and more normal Indian things, Riding in Richetes and taking the train, etc. It was a great day of re-energizing.
The day off was followed by another early morning. Thursday, we were blessed to be able to do 4 programs in the morning at another local school. One was a full band on a stage and the other three we used acoustic and some mics. We were not able to get a sound check in before starting the program because the school was presenting RJ and Alex with different gifts of thanks, but praise God the equipment and sound was working perfect when the band started playing. This was yet another reminder that God is in control all the time and we can’t do it on our own strength or power at all. Only the God of the Universe can make everything sound perfect without a sound check! We were able to preach the Gospel during all four of our programs that day and many children heard that Jesus loves them and he wants to be with us forever. God is so good and I know I am so excited to see what else God has up his sleeve for us these next 4 months!
Friday we went to another local school and had a blast doing another children’s program. The kids are so energetic and they loved the singing and the dramas we were able to do for them.
Saturday was a day full of practicing and getting our Christmas Program ready to go for this week. We had a lot of fun spicing up Christmas songs, and reviewing our Christmas dramas. We also had time for Teaching/Preaching and Chalk Art.
This past week was action packed but it is great to be here in India serving God. His provision has been incredible and everyday he is just blowing us away!
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! May God Bless you all this Holiday season!
-Carmen
No comments:
Post a Comment