Hi everyone
Hope you are all well. So I've been back at school just over a week now and we're all back into the familiar routine we had before Christmas and our holiday.
I'm very happy to be back to church and back to school teaching. I missed my class a lot, and all the girls at village school. A particular highlight since being back was last friday when the team organised everyone to make flags and then we attmpted to teach the whole school 'Our God is a great big God'. They all got the actions and the chorus, but the rest of the words are a bit of a mumble at the moment - we'll get there though!
Our relationships with the children living in the same compound as us has also developed as we've had more opportunities to go out and now they're even knocking at our door asking us to come out to play.
Last Sunday the team lead the service went well. Our service included a drama, a prayer activity, a rubix cube and a talk. The message of the service was that God chooses anyone, anywhen, anywhere to do anything and how we should be obedient to what God asks us to do. The rubix cube symbolised how even if things can seem impossible, all things are possible with God!
Tuesday was Republic Day in India, which meant holiday for all!! We spent the day with a couple of elderly ladies visiting from Scotland called Fi and Rosemary. In the morning we went to 'Swaminarayan Akshardhan'. A temple in Delhi -it was interesting to visit (with a build in boat ride and huge cinema screen!). In the afternoon we went to visit a couple of thier Indian friends - Phyllis /Phillis (I don't know how you spell this name) and Valerie. Both 70-something years old and 2 of the most amazing ladies I've met in India. They both had amazing stories to tell of thier lives. They're now our adopted Indian Grandma's and we're hoping to go back to visit again someday.
Some prayer points for those of you who pray:
- that my cold and cough would soon go as it's hard to teach without a voice!
- that we'd all have creative ideas for teaching
- our relationships with everyone here that they continue to deepen
- Shashi as she prepares for her wedding on Feb 19th. I've had a conversation with her, and understandly she's scared at the idea of getting married to a man she's on;y met for 15 minutes and after her wedding she's moving away to live with his family. So huge huge prayers for her would be great.
Hope you're still enjoying these updates, but just let me know if you'd like to be taken off the email list. I won't mind.
Love, Hannah x
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Holiday!
Hello everyone!
We've safely arrived back home today after a brilliant holiday. Here's a brief overview of what we did....
On the 3rd January the Kolkata Action Team arrived in Delhi and we went out for a meal and ice cream with them. The next day we saw the sights of Delhi - Qutab Minar, Humayan Tomb, Zoo and went shopping and to a cowboy themed restaurant, where the waiters dress up as cowboys!
The 5th we went to the Taj Mahal! It was such a good day, despite the train being delayed by 3hours there and nearly 4 hours back!
The 6th we took the kolkata team to village and city school so that they could see the projects we're working with. In the evening we went over to the David's to celebrate Christy's birthday.
On the 7th we got up at 2am to catch the train to Jaipur but the train just kept getting more and more delayed so instead we went by coach. This journey was meant to take 5 hours, but took 8 instead and eventually we arrived in Jaipur and found our hotel. In the evening I had my first warm shower in 3 months and we just relaxed.
For our only full day in Jaipur we rode elephants up a hill to a palace, and fed monkeys at the Monkey Temple. It was a good day!
The 9th - 11th were the most boring days. We arrived at Jaipur train station at 2pm to catch our train to Kolkata (we'd then planned to go on to Darjeeling from there) but our train was delayed by 17 hours! We didn't really have much choice but to stick it our at the station. We used the time well though - we prayed for the other action teams, read the bible, played games and took it it shifts to sleep. The train finally arrived, and we had a 33 hour train journey, but by God's grace this time didn't drag either. Eventually we arrived in Kolkata at 5pm on the 11th. We decided not to go to darjeeling because we didn't want another 24 hours travelling there and back so decided to stay in Kolkata for a week.
During our time in Kolkata we had a good balance between resting and doing touristy things. In Kolkata we watched '3 Idiots' at the cinema (the biggest film in India right now - its a good film!), went shopping, relaxed at a beauty salon, went our for yummy meals, mass at the Motherhouse (where Mother Teresa lived and worked), went to a theme park (where we got away with all sorts of things that we wouldn't have been able to in England!), went on a boat under Howrah Bridge, had a party on the roof and went to church.
On Sunday our train back to Delhi was meant to arrive at 7.40pm, but guess what.... it was delayed! It arrived at 1.30am, and 33 and half hours later we were finall back home.
I had a brilliant holiday - we saw amazing places, had brillant fun with the Kolkata team and even the boring bits were blessed. I'm now feeling refreshed and can't wait to go back to school soon. I miss my class and all the women at village school!
And there's a 'brief' overview of my holiday - hope you enjoyed reading it!
Love,
Hannah x
We've safely arrived back home today after a brilliant holiday. Here's a brief overview of what we did....
On the 3rd January the Kolkata Action Team arrived in Delhi and we went out for a meal and ice cream with them. The next day we saw the sights of Delhi - Qutab Minar, Humayan Tomb, Zoo and went shopping and to a cowboy themed restaurant, where the waiters dress up as cowboys!
The 5th we went to the Taj Mahal! It was such a good day, despite the train being delayed by 3hours there and nearly 4 hours back!
The 6th we took the kolkata team to village and city school so that they could see the projects we're working with. In the evening we went over to the David's to celebrate Christy's birthday.
On the 7th we got up at 2am to catch the train to Jaipur but the train just kept getting more and more delayed so instead we went by coach. This journey was meant to take 5 hours, but took 8 instead and eventually we arrived in Jaipur and found our hotel. In the evening I had my first warm shower in 3 months and we just relaxed.
For our only full day in Jaipur we rode elephants up a hill to a palace, and fed monkeys at the Monkey Temple. It was a good day!
The 9th - 11th were the most boring days. We arrived at Jaipur train station at 2pm to catch our train to Kolkata (we'd then planned to go on to Darjeeling from there) but our train was delayed by 17 hours! We didn't really have much choice but to stick it our at the station. We used the time well though - we prayed for the other action teams, read the bible, played games and took it it shifts to sleep. The train finally arrived, and we had a 33 hour train journey, but by God's grace this time didn't drag either. Eventually we arrived in Kolkata at 5pm on the 11th. We decided not to go to darjeeling because we didn't want another 24 hours travelling there and back so decided to stay in Kolkata for a week.
During our time in Kolkata we had a good balance between resting and doing touristy things. In Kolkata we watched '3 Idiots' at the cinema (the biggest film in India right now - its a good film!), went shopping, relaxed at a beauty salon, went our for yummy meals, mass at the Motherhouse (where Mother Teresa lived and worked), went to a theme park (where we got away with all sorts of things that we wouldn't have been able to in England!), went on a boat under Howrah Bridge, had a party on the roof and went to church.
On Sunday our train back to Delhi was meant to arrive at 7.40pm, but guess what.... it was delayed! It arrived at 1.30am, and 33 and half hours later we were finall back home.
I had a brilliant holiday - we saw amazing places, had brillant fun with the Kolkata team and even the boring bits were blessed. I'm now feeling refreshed and can't wait to go back to school soon. I miss my class and all the women at village school!
And there's a 'brief' overview of my holiday - hope you enjoyed reading it!
Love,
Hannah x
Friday, 1 January 2010
One year over, and new one begins...
Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year!
So here's a run down of my Christmas and New year...
On Christmas Day the first thing we did was open our stockings from each other and ate Christmas cake, we then went over to our hosts house who helped us all put on our brand new sarees! In the morning we had a service at church - this involved the team doing a skit of the nativity (from the point of view of Mrs Donkey, Mrs Sheep and Mrs Camel!) and doing Indian dancing at the front of church! This was followed by us going back to our hosts house and onto their roof (yes, it was a lovely hot day!) to help prepare vegetables ready for lunch. After a couple of hours of dancing, singing and chatting to our hosts family lunch was eventually ready at 4.30pm. This Christmas dinner was typically Indian - rice, curry and chicken (though having meat is special). We spent the rest of the afternoon opening presents, and in the evening we all cuddled up under blankets, in our pyjamas eating chocolate watching Finding Nemo. It was a very different Christmas to usual as it has much less hype than in England but I still enjoyed it, and it helped me to remember the true meaning of Christmas.
Boxing Day was very much a lazy day for us as we staying in our pyjamas until 4pm watching films and eating more chocolate!! In the evening we went out for a lovely meal with our hosts and watched Avatar.
Yesterday (New Years Eve) we spent with our hosts watching our first Bollywood movie! It was a good film, and finished just in time for us to countdown to midnight, and welcome in the new year with a cheer, sweets, an attempted at sining Auld Lange Syne (none of us really knew the words) and a prayer. It was a great evening :)
Today, we've been at church having a thanksgiving service and church lunch.
2009 has been a very good year for me - I've had so many new experiences and grown in myself and my relationship with God. Thank you to everyone who's been part of my 2009 to make it special :) I'm very much looking forward to whats instore for 2010!!
We start our holiday on Sunday and don't return until the 18th so no more updates from me til then! Prayers for a safe and happy holiday would be very much appreciated - we're going to Agra, Jaipur, Darjeeling and Kolkata for those of you who are interested.
I hope you all have a great couple of weeks :)
Love,
Hannah x
So here's a run down of my Christmas and New year...
On Christmas Day the first thing we did was open our stockings from each other and ate Christmas cake, we then went over to our hosts house who helped us all put on our brand new sarees! In the morning we had a service at church - this involved the team doing a skit of the nativity (from the point of view of Mrs Donkey, Mrs Sheep and Mrs Camel!) and doing Indian dancing at the front of church! This was followed by us going back to our hosts house and onto their roof (yes, it was a lovely hot day!) to help prepare vegetables ready for lunch. After a couple of hours of dancing, singing and chatting to our hosts family lunch was eventually ready at 4.30pm. This Christmas dinner was typically Indian - rice, curry and chicken (though having meat is special). We spent the rest of the afternoon opening presents, and in the evening we all cuddled up under blankets, in our pyjamas eating chocolate watching Finding Nemo. It was a very different Christmas to usual as it has much less hype than in England but I still enjoyed it, and it helped me to remember the true meaning of Christmas.
Boxing Day was very much a lazy day for us as we staying in our pyjamas until 4pm watching films and eating more chocolate!! In the evening we went out for a lovely meal with our hosts and watched Avatar.
Yesterday (New Years Eve) we spent with our hosts watching our first Bollywood movie! It was a good film, and finished just in time for us to countdown to midnight, and welcome in the new year with a cheer, sweets, an attempted at sining Auld Lange Syne (none of us really knew the words) and a prayer. It was a great evening :)
Today, we've been at church having a thanksgiving service and church lunch.
2009 has been a very good year for me - I've had so many new experiences and grown in myself and my relationship with God. Thank you to everyone who's been part of my 2009 to make it special :) I'm very much looking forward to whats instore for 2010!!
We start our holiday on Sunday and don't return until the 18th so no more updates from me til then! Prayers for a safe and happy holiday would be very much appreciated - we're going to Agra, Jaipur, Darjeeling and Kolkata for those of you who are interested.
I hope you all have a great couple of weeks :)
Love,
Hannah x
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