Too many irons in the fire!!!

At last, here I sit in the office at Pauline Bhavan.  The window before me is open so that I can enjoy the delightful breeze that helps counteract the sun's heat . . . yes, getting warmer day by day, but still not too bad, and still cool enough at night to sleep well!  I have turned my fan back on because I do love sleeping under a fan.  It means that blankets are still required for part of the night . . . I like that too!

Each week when my English class of adults meets, I introduce them to an Idiom.  'Too many irons in the fire' was the one we talked about a couple of weeks ago.  Those sentiments have been ringing in my ears ever since.  Since my last post, there seem to have been SO many irons in the fire!!!  Just two British guests left now.  The team left yesterday, Naomi leaves tomorrow and Anne leaves in a week.  I am guessing that I am not the only one breathing a sigh of relief!  Though I have had little to do with guests this year visiting EMC, just the energy, the extra people and the displacement of routine is challenging for people like me!  Two Fridays, for example, the room where I generally have my English class was taken, even when my class is "on the books"!  Oh well . . . next week should be better.  Yesterday we met in the hall!

On Feb 10th we celebrated 11 years of sobriety with Utpal during our worship service.  Now, I thought, that is something I have never done in a church before!

It was fun having Dewy and Carolyn here and visiting Connexions with them.  Bapi, who is in charge of that project, asked me if I would come over sometime and help them with color combinations that foreigners like. Wow, I would love to do that, but when . . .???  I also enjoyed learning more about Free Set and Sari Bari, and do hope to visit Free Set next week.

Just a little update from FREEDOM FIRM . . . if you are not on their mailing list, you should be because they rescued a number of girls again recently!!!  Glory to God, and thank you, Father, for the way you are leading Mala, Greg and the others!

There was a strike on this week on Wed which meant that I couldn't go over to have devotions with the boys.  So, I arranged to do it on Tues.  It went better than the week before, but they were still difficult to read.  On Thurs night at an art workshop by one of the Brits, Suraj sat next to me.  You may remember that he is the one who asked me to start coming each week.  I had wanted to have a chance to ask him for some feed back.  His encouraging reply went something like . . .'we really like it Auntie, and later we older boys discuss it!!!'  Glory to God!!!

Girls are more ready to give feed back, and I am getting positive fibes from the girls here.

Before I left the US, it was on my heart to give the kids in these two residential programs a Bible.  Once I got here it seemed that they already had one, and so I put that thought on the back burner.  Some of the women at SPC had even made 'nameplates' for the Bibles.  Long story short, I learned last Mon night from the girls that the Bibles I see in their hands aren't really theirs!  They WANT a Bible to call their own and were touched beyond belief at what the women had done, that they had taken their pictures and that they were praying for them!!!  Their only complaint was that they didn't know who to thank . . . by name . . . I promised that I would work on that!!!

So, I am now working with Premila to get some Bibles at a very reasonable price.  I am only here now until March 12th, so I pray that we can get everything in place before I leave.  I have also learned that there is an easy to read version of the Bengali Bible.  Many of the boys who live at Anandaloy go to Bengali medium school.

I hate it that I don't know all of the boys' names . . . not even all of the ones who go to CES.  I have gotten a list from Prashanto and have started working on it!

I have decided to extend my stay in India by one week so that I can be in Mumbai for a week on the way out.  I have peace that this is the right thing to do.  My target date for heading west is now Mar 19.  It isn't too early to start praying that I will get on my flights . . . you may remember that I was delayed by 24 hours coming out.  I will be visiting FRIENDSHIP CENTRE (this is not a misspelling . . . it is the British way to spell the word) OF INDIA, which is run by John and Priscilla Gladstone.

With the weather heating up and with the many trips back and forth across the city that I am making these days, which often include time restraints or crowded buses, I have begun to travel more by taxi.  To give you a little bit of an insight into traffic here, let me tell you about two recent rides home!

It is not unusual to see a driver 'dusting' off his car, and someone generally washes cars everyday.  The other day my taxi driver was getting his 'dusting' done as he waited at traffic lights!  It took him two lights to get it done, but . . . drivers always turn off their engines when they are stopped at lights.  Yesterday, my driver fell asleep at a traffic light, but when everyone turned on their engines, he was quickly awake and ready to go!

Sashi and I became friends last time I was here and yesterday we finally had some time together to just sit and chat at the mall over a cup of coffee.  In his mid twenties, a recovering alcoholic with a heart for the Lord, an artist in training for something like graphic design, a wonderful guitarist . . . what a blessing.  I wish he were in one of my studies.  He needs to learn more about the doctrine of GRACE, but then don't we all!!!???

This time last week I was in rainy Lucknow!  Monika and Daniel's wedding celebration was such a blessing. I wish I could have had more time with them and Monika's amazing family.  With the rain, a lot of change of venue was required.

I need to really get focused on leaving now.  I hate it, but want to leave well.  I felt it went well last time.  I hope to spend some time with Premila at her home before leaving.  I would actually like to 'leave from there' which would mean moving out of here at least by the 10th when someone else is coming and will be staying here.

Thanks for reading!

What a day!

Yesterday was a great day, and I am ever so grateful.  I really needed it.

The experts say that there are four stages of cultural adjustment . . . the Honeymoon . . . initially when everything is exciting and new.  That's followed by Frustration when everything is no longer new and exciting, but gets on your nerves, and makes you feel uncomfortable.  That can lead to Depression.  If you hang in there and don't give up you will come to a place of feeling Settled.  Hopefully I am entering stage four!

I would have never considered the frustrations that I have been experiencing of late as culture shock, but I think the Spirit gave me wisdom, and I realized that I needed to call it that!  I have also struggled with feeling depressed, and definitely felt that yesterday . . . I just didn't want to get up.  I was back in my "real" world after being away from it for four days.  I had been refreshed by the break, but . . .

After my lesson with Class V, I made another trip over to Ripon Street to tell my Ukrainian friends good bye!  Who knew that the person from Pauline Bhavan who had decided to stop speaking to me last week would be there and that FINALLY, at least from my point of view, she broke the ice.  Almost immediately the fog began to lift.  I was sad about the team leaving, but refreshed by the warmth of the girls that I now spend an hour with on Thurs when they saw me.  Two of my students from the Fri English class, who head up projects, did part of their THANK YOUS in English to the Ukraine team. . . it was their idea and we prepared the remarks after class on Fri.

But, hold onto your hat because the best is yet to come.  I have long loved the boys who live at Anandoloy, and enjoy them whenever I have a chance.  I went over and spent an evening with them in Nov, and haven't been back, which is sort of a shame on me kind of thing.  I am the one who needed to take the initiative.  I had even spoken with Prashanto earlier in the day about doing something with them.  The days are ticking by fast, and I'll be the one leaving.  Well, Suraj said to me later, "Auntie, will you come over to Anandoloy once a week and teach us the Word of God?"  You could have knocked me over with a feather.\!  "Yes," I replied, "I would love to do that!"  We sort of planned on Fri, and I have checked it out with Prashanto who is checking it out with the 'warden' as they call them in EMC.  I AM THRILLED.  We also plan to do something together on Sat to take us all out and about, away from our same old same old lives, after the Keswick breakfast . . . another story, but . . . Prashanto is getting back to me on all of this!

Last night I finally got a chance to meet with the teenaged girls with whom I live.  We started the GOSPEL IDENTITY series which is also what I will do with the boys. This is what I am teaching the women, too. Since my last visit, I have been concerned that these kids need systematic teaching and also to be called to respond to the Gospel, leaving everything else behind . . . something that people like Shobroto had never realized he needed to do!  Anyway, I thought it went well, though all of them aren't taking it in.  Pooja told me later that she liked it and that she was going to try to live by the 10 Commandments now.  That isn't what the lesson said, but we have a few more weeks to talk about it.  At least she liked it.

One more huge thing for prayer.  I have been asked to visit another ALONGSIDEASIA project in Mumbai on the way home (my international flight out of India leaves from Mumbai).  Now that project, similiar to EMC, would like for me to stay more than a couple of days.  I just don't want to leave here earlier than I planned.  The only other option would be to leave India later, something that I also don't really want to do!  Need wisdom!!!

This a.m. as I tried to teach in Class IV, my body started to perspire.  Yes, someone has turned Winter off, though the locals haven't realized it yet!

The 'British invasion' as I call it begins tomorrow! 

The time with Mala was sweet, and the Lord brought everything together for them on Fri a.m. before she left right after lunch.  It was wonderful to watch Him work and to see her in this role!  Freedom Firm rescued another underaged girl this week!!!

The Wetherbys come next week, and I am getting my things together for the wedding in Lucknow.  I asked Premila if I could borrow a sari . . . one size fits all.  She was delighted to do so.  Vandana, her daughter, took me out to buy what I needed for a sari blouse . . . one size does NOT fit all and a tailor.  It is supposed to be ready on Thurs.  We'll see!

Devotions with the younger kids tonight.  This is much more challenging for me!  Going to talk about the GIFT of salvation and receiving it!