two weeks

In two weeks I'll be landing in India, my home for the next six months. Till then I'm shopping, stocking up on all the things you don't realize how much you use, and spending some time in extra college work and job work. It's a busy season. 

Letters Home: The End and The Beginning

   Dear friend,  

      I fell in love with India and its people while I was there! God taught me so many things about myself and my priorities and about Himself as well. I am very excited that He has opened up doors for me to serve as a school teacher for the Gunti family! I will be teaching their three children, Sonya(15), Jason(13), and Judson(7) in their home and living with them. I won’t be going out nearly as much as I did on this last trip, but I will be able to help with the Christmas gifts to the school children, VBS, etc.  I have already received my visa, praise the Lord! India requires visitors to be out of the country a minimum of two months before reentering, so I plan to go back in the middle of November. India also does not allow visitors to remain in the country more than 6 months, so that is how long I will be staying. I am so happy to be going back! I can’t wait to see how God will work!  I currently do not have the funds for my plane ticket, but God has always been faithful to provide when I am in His will, so I trust Him for that. If you feel led to help provide for that need, I will be blessed! Most of all I continue to need your prayers!  Please pray that I would be a blessing to the Gunti’s, that I would grow in my walk with the Lord, and that the Lord would provide for my health and material needs. Thank you again for your love and prayers! They mean so much! Satan does not bother with subtlety in India as he often does here, and I feel desperately my need for Jesus!

     So this is the end of the stories of my trip to India, but it is only the beginning of the rest of the story! 

Letters Home: The Rest

My apologies for the weird picture layout and the poor picture qaulity. Blogger was giving me fits and I didn't have time to mess with it.

Dear friend,

     Our week seemed to pass in a blur. It felt like we were there for weeks and yet like we had just arrived. Monday we first went to the English center for young people where we met the students. Austin Musser taught a class on computer basics. That afternoon we drove about an hour to GLM’s Slum School and boarding school. The children all learn together and those that are in the boarding school live there while the others live in the nearby slums. School had just let out when we arrived, so we sang with the children and told them a story. After we gave them candy the children from town left and we spent the rest of the evening playing with the children from the boarding school. This was definitely the highlight of my trip!

 

Tuesday we went back to the English center where I taught a lesson on sentence types and punctuation. Afterwards we played games with the girls to help them practice their English. When we sat around just talking, one of the girls said, “Tell us about God! Tell us all about Him!” We were so grateful for the opportunity! 

Tuesday evening we had kids club for some slum children and we acted out the story of Esther for them. They cheered and clapped when Haman was taken away! =)

Wednesday we drove an hour away to a slum in Hyderabad for a medical camp. Because of safety issues we girls were not able to do much besides sit in a corner and watch, take pictures, and talk to children that came over in curiosity. We were a little disappointed we weren’t able to help, but we surely did enjoy the kids. =)

Thursday the men headed to Ijeea about four hours away for weekend meetings, another medical camp, and kids club. We joined them Saturday morning for the youth meeting. This involved messages from several of the guys, kids club, and a session where each of us girls shared something with the youth girls about our worth in God’s eyes. It was late when we left and the four hour trip seemed very long indeed.

Sunday we traveled again in order to go to a baptismal three hours away. When we were about to close our church service and go to the baptism location a Hindu group showed up with the police and media. They "wanted to make sure we weren't forcing people to become Christians" and they weren't extremely disruptive or anything, but the Police did ask us to stop till they talked to a few people. Eventually they decided to postpone the baptisms and get us out, since having Americans present just makes things worse. A few miles down the road a group of men stepped into the road and told us to pull over which we did, with a police car right behind us. The drivers got out and locked our doors and after a minute or two the group told us we could leave. We think the police just pulled us over to make the Hindu group happy because they didn't seem to have a reason. We all breathed a sigh of relief when we got away from that area. There were articles in two newspapers about the incident, one which reported as it was, and one which said we were forcing them. The next day the people from that church met us at a church in between Hyderabad and their village to hold the baptism. Since coming back I was told that that very week the whole village came down with dysentery and flu and was very sick—except for the Christians! Apparently this was also written about in a newspaper.

Tuesday we visited a school in one of the sand quarries and also saw one of the camps where the children live. They were primitive at best. And then, very sadly, Tuesday evening we left Hyderabad and flew the long 24 hours back home. God blessed us with good flights coming and going! I flew home from Plain City the next day.

Now I'm longing to be back. But I'l tell you about that next time!

Tanya