rain

It rained yesterday. It hasn't rained here in forever, but we got to see rain. All of the kids stayed outside and played in it, while Kate and I were locked out of our room and stayed huddled in the stair case. It got so cold too, so now we are pretty much freezing in our little room wearing lots of sweatshirts and layers of socks. 

Today we thought we were going to be working in the other school but ended up going to the first one, which was fine with us because we love the kids so much. Today there was almost a complete new group of kids, and only 4 of the older kids showed up (maybe because they thought we weren't coming today hah.) They are starting to open up alot more and feel more comfortable with us. I worked with this one boy on subtraction for a good hour, and he just wasn't getting it, but finally for some reason he got it!!! It was such a relief and he was so happy. These kids have nothing, they really do not have any opportunity in their lives, they probably will not go to school after they grow too old to attend the school we are teaching at. Most of the kids have many brothers and sisters, so once a child gets old enough the parents will send them to work in a factory or something like that to bring money home to support the younger kids. It is really sad because the kids have such potential, they just don't have the opportunity to get to use it. It really makes me think of how much i took getting an education for granted, the fact that my mom was able to stay home for most of my life and teach me was such a blessing. The condition the children are in just tears your heart apart, they are dirty and smelly and do not seem to have ever taken showers. But they are still as happy as can be. All of the kids call us didee which in hindi means close sister. After school we came back and watched hindi cartoons with the kids from the orphanage, it was funny to see the cartoons we normally see in english in hindi (like tom and jerry, and hannah montana) and then at 4 we helped  the kids with their homework and studying for tests, they are pretty good in english After that we sat and talked with the older girls and they were telling us about all of the movies they have watched from america in hindi, it was like all of them. We have just been trying to spend time with the girls because they have had a really hard life, and i think it is good for them to have someone to talk to who is only a little bit older than them. 

Well we just came back from dinner we ate around 10:30 pm, and we had goat!! It was actually really good. After dinner we sat and talked with Pastor Daniel, his wife Eunice, sister in law Isolet who we are living with, and Daniel's younger brother. They were telling us all about their weddings,it was so interesting. Over here weddings are so different than back at home.  They were saying how they normally last for 5 days, but sometimes go for 3 weeks. I can not wait until we get to experience one for ourselves. I think the next wedding coming up is on the 19th, and it is a hindu wedding, so the bride and groom ride in on horses. and also on the night of the wedding the husband gets to sleep in the bed while the wife has to sleep on the floor. (doesn't sound very fair to me) The family was telling me stories about my dad at a wedding while we was here, they explained it as a tall white man wearing a pink turban dancing on the streets like a crazy man, hah. we were all laughing so hard, for those of you who know my dad it is hard to imagine. 

 Matthew 16:24 "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."

"A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace." Mother Theresa

Please pray for me and Kate that we will be able to break through the communication barrier, and that we will stay healthy while we eat crazy indian food.