India Time:
11:56 PM (June 29, 2013)
CST: 1:25 PM (June 29, 2013)
We woke up to some excitement this morning as Brother David came in to warn us to be a little extra careful today. Earlier this morning there were armed guards in our hallway and police escorts for various "big wigs" in our hotel. While we're fairly certain it was a political issue, we stayed a little quieter today.
We did some exploring after breakfast, mostly up and down our street and to use internet again. There is a fairly nice "mall" next to our hotel, but it's never been open when we are out. Things don't really get moving until around 10/11:00 in the morning and are shut down long before we get home at night (with the exception of a few restaurants).
The attendant on our floor has been doing a few extra little things to help take care of us. Turning on our air conditioner during the day, and bringing us toilet paper (there isn't any in the rooms normally--he may have had to go out and get it specially). The rest of the day stayed pretty low key. Lots of reading and napping.
Our visit this evening was to the Rachavaripalem village where everything was already set up and waiting for us when we got there. The children were excited and incredibly well behaved. There were a couple of boys in the front row who were very eager to get our attention and a few girls who smiled and waved any time they caught my eye. There was also a little baby who wandered up and handed me a piece of styrofoam. She just looked at me for a while and then took it back and took a bite. :-) I felt much more comfortable giving my lesson tonight--Much less robotic. The kids were so adorable when they were singing. Brother David went around the group and let different kids sing in the mic. The eager group of boys was hilarious when it was their turn and it took me a second to stop laughing at them before I could teach again.
Prayers continued tonight and I had so many children and women come up to me after the service that I barely got forward of where I stood up out of my chair. They were so eager to have me touch them and pray for them. I can't remember a time where I ever prayed so hard. The problems have been similar across the villages, but the people are different. I had one woman ask me to pray that God give her children. I didn't get much further than "Please give this woman..." and I had a very hard time finishing the prayer. It just really hit me.
It gets dark relatively early here (usually by 7:30), so by the time we left the sun was pretty much set. For the most part, we've been teaching in the evenings as well, so the church or open area is lit up (mostly with large batteries or generators that also power the sound system). Tonight we even had a fan! The nice thing about driving in India after dark? No deer to worry about! We got back and assembled some more craft packs for the kids and packed up our bag since we have an early start tomorrow as we teach for a Sunday service and then headto the YSR gardens.
~Becky Haddad
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