day six here in tirnelveli. school still hasnt started yet. our heavenly Dad is teaching us much about contentment these past few days. mostly about food, i think. all the food is very good, its just they keep giving us more and more food. its as though it never ends. we are learning to be thankful for mountains of food, yet asking God to show us how to say no, and whether it is right to say no.
wednesday night we went to prayer meeting. although we could not understand a word they said, it was a blessing to be amongst other believers and hear them pray and worship jesus.
two days ago, the other volunteer, edgar, returned from doing vbs in some other towns. he is from germany, and quite a funny person. he told us we need to teach him english hymns, and so that night we and a cousin of sornaraj all sang hymns for a while. it was a joy.
everyone here in this town is related. :) crazy. one of my favorite things is seeing how caring everyone is for each other. a baby was born a month ago, and so now his family brought him here to meet his extended family. they all fawn over him, and put him to sleep with a harmonica. :) its a delight.
observations:
1) there are pictures of light skinned babaies in every single house. we are not sure why.
2) everyone takes a nap in the afternoon. it is entirely too hot to do anything else.
3) people dont say thank you here. they just kind of bob their head instead.
4) everyone wants to be american. they tell us we dont need to learn tamil.
5) calnders have two months on each page, instead of one month.
pray for: contentment, as mentioned above. that these people would realize that they are beautiful and dearly loved as they are. God to be glorified in every action, every word.
lovelovelove
your sisters in Christ Jesus
ps. we will have a phone number, i think, pretty soon to call home. and letters take a week to get there. they're on the way. :)
address:
c/o P. Sornaraj
mission compound
Vadamalapuram P.O.
Mullikulam 627755
Tirnelveli - Dist
South India
6 comments:
loved reading your post. can't wait for the next one!! i am so excited that you chose my home country to do missions work. keeping you in prayers!
oh great! an address! this means i'll be able to send letters and they'll actually get there. hurrah! C:
i'm missing you people so much, still praying.
hahahahahaha, i'm picturing you people having to down all that food. i'll pray for you guys with that too.
praying for you!
I feel for you guys I understand the food situation. It's hard to get a way with eating a normal amount. Indians tend to idolize white skin. Do some of the kids there put white powder on their face to try and make their skin look lighter. I hope you succeed in convincing them that they are beautiful just the way God made them. I'm praying for you all. Once school starts you'll have lots to do. In the mean time if you don't have any thing to do you should visit Patti(grandma), Sornaraj's mom and maybe sing a hymn for her. She would love it. Have you met her yet?
I'll definitely write you letter. It was such a joy to get mail when I was there.
I make it a point to learn the word for "enough" wherever I go in India. In Tamil it is "potham" (pronounced "podam" with a hard "O") which means "sufficient." You'll find it in 2 Cor. 12:9. Use that word when you're offered more food than you care to eat - they will be delighted. Also, if you eat all the food on your plate, they will take that to mean that you want more, so leave a little. East meets West. Have a great time.
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