India Part 3

January 2, 2012
This morning Asim shared with us some history of The Shelter.  Then he took us to see the Shelter Public School.  There children there were so sweet and they all stood up when we entered each classroom.  Some of the classes only had 3 students!  We chatted for a bit with the principal, who was very nice.  We are learning more about Asim, too--he likes to tell stories! I'm discovering that even though many of the people we encounter speak English, they are still difficult to understand and it takes an incredible amount of concentration and energy to follow a conversation.


We came back to the guest house to work on our afternoon plans.  We had 2 hours to fill, and we thought we hd plenty of stuff to do, but it only took an hour, so we improvised some extra games.  We told the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego--and acted it out for them.  It was humorous and it's probably good that we didn't videotape it! :o)

We had dinner at the guest house and planned for tomorrow.  We had lots of laughs while trying to draw animals for a game tomorrow.

January 3, 2012

Today was the day that has affected me most thus far.  We had breakfast and then went to the Shelter Public School to hand out pencils.  The principal there is so nice and the children so sweet.  They all stood as we entered the classroom and each one said thank you.  After that we went over to the chapel for a couple of hours--we taught the girls HALLELUJAH/PRAISE YE THE LORD and they all loved it!  We made snowflakes and played games with them.  After lunch we went back and did more singing, finished crafts and played games.  They really liked hot potato!  Stephenie took pictures of each girl individually with her nametag on so that we can pray for them each by name once we get home.

The best part of the day was dinner.  Asim and Mamata were at a wedding and were not planning to come back for dinner.  We had asked if we could eat with the girls sometime, and so tonight was the night.  WOW--what an incredibly humbling experience.  They have a long dining hall and sit in four rows on the floor to eat.  In the traditional Indian way, they eat without utensils.  When we walked in they had a table set up for us, but we said that we'd like to sit WITH them.  We each found a place on the floor with the girls (and we didn't use silverware, either!)  It was all I could do to keep from crying the whole time.  It was touching to see how the older girls care for the younger ones, and I couldn't seem to get over the fact that we were all just sitting on the floor eating dinner--and they seemed happy about it! Of course there was plenty of laughing as the girls watched me try to make a ball out of the potatoes and rice on my plate. I never did get very good at that. Putul (house mother) showed us the kitchen after dinner.  It was amazing to me how they cook their meals (LOTS of rice) over a fire and in a stone oven.  Listening to Putul talk about her life and to hear her talk about praying to God for strength each morning (when she gets up at 4:30 to start breakfast) and thanking Him for all of her blessings was inspiring to me.

 We ended our day with chapel--a good time of singing, scripture, and prayer.  They all prayed aloud at the close.  The sound of all their voices lifted in prayer together gave me the chills.  What an awesome day...thankful for all God is showing and teaching me this week.