Day 7

India Time: 12:20 AM (July 2, 2013)

CST: 1:50 PM (July 1, 2013)

What a day!  We left Ongole this morning around 8:30 and reached Batalpa around 10:00.  The car ride seemed to go very quickly.  I'm sure that has a lot to do with the horsing around Brother Nathan and I were doing in the car since we had to sit four in the back again.  I'm not sure that Brother David found shoving into each other around the corners as entertaining as Brother Solomon and Pastor Joythi did.  :-)  We also got to see ground peanuts and cashew trees on the drive.  Brother Solomon even got out of the car to pick a ground peanut plant for us so we could see the whole thing.  Once at the hotel we were happy to discover internet in the lobby and are looking forward to a little more regular communication over the next few days. 

This afternoon involved a big lunch followed by naps and assembling puzzles.  Happily, we are running low on craft supplies and gifts (having many more children at the first four stops than we anticipated).  We spent some time counting, organizing, and brainstorming what we will do for gifts once we run out.  Currently, the plan is to have me work on a small booklet with the "Seven C's" (our focus for teaching while we're here) for the children to decorate.  (The Seven C's are Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Crucifixion, Consummation).  

We tried to plan ahead to eat before we went, but when we went down to the restaurant they weren't serving food yet, so we got cleaned up while we waited.  On our second try, we ordered naan and ice cream.  (The waiters were very confused since naan isn't really dinner)  Everything seemed to be taking a long time, so when they brought our ice cream Brother David asked where the naan was.  The waiter told him five minutes.  Five minutes came and went and we were running late to meet Pastor Joythi who found us in the restaurant when we were supposed to be leaving.  It turned out that they hadn't even started the naan!  We paid for the ice cream and got on the road.  We weren't too far into the drive when we heard Pastor Joythi on the phone, "Telugu, Telugu, Telugu, Chicken Fried Rice, Telugu, Telugu."  (No, he was not actually saying Telugu)  At chicken fried rice, we all looked at each other and stared at Pastor Joythi.  He hung up and Brother Nathan asked him if he had just heard him order food for us.  Pastor started laughing and we all started saying that he didn't have to do that.  He responded, "It's already done!  You have to eat.  You need your energy to teach the children!"  He also commented that he should've said it all in Telugu so we wouldn't have known, but that everyone actually says "chicken fried rice" rather than the Telugu translation.

The children were singing in full force when we arrived at the church.  So much so that we had to just about shout into each other's ears while we were getting set up.  What wonderful praise!  Once we got organized they performed a few of what Pastor Joythi calls "action songs."  Again, they were singing at the tops of their voices with huge smiles on their faces.  When they gave us our garlands all of the kids threw flower petals at us and shouted and clapped.

Teaching was energizing tonight!  (Not that it isn't every night)  We were in the village and got to see the "new" church that has been reconstructed since the fire.  They are already talking about expanding it!  The kids were so excited and ready to hear what we had to say.  There were a few little girls in the front row who kept trying to get me to smile at them (not hard), and get me to push the hair out of my face (a little more difficult since I was sitting right under the ceiling fan).  When we sang Rise and Shine, the kids got more and more excited every time we sang the verse.  They were again singing at the top of their lungs, smiling, and clapping right along with us.  They also really enjoyed Father Abraham.  I think this was the first group that everyone participated all the way to the end.  They liked it so much that we did it twice!  I definitely got my money's worth when I said before the service that if I wasn't exhausted by the time we were done, I hadn't done a good enough job.  It was the first night that I left still very energized, but almost fell asleep on the way home.  We had a smaller group tonight (35 children and 4 adults), so Brother Nathan and I got to sit with the rest of the congregation when Brother David preached rather than sitting behind him.

We ate our dinner after the service and have gotten to talk more with Pastor Joythi over the last few days about his ministry and Indian culture as well as his time in the US.  We asked him tonight if he ever got tired of saying the same things for us night after night.  He said he didn't and that it just got easier because he knew what we were going to say.  I know I had said that a lot of things about India have been very humbling, but having Pastor Joythi translate for you is right up there!  His enthusiasm and dedication are nothing short of inspiring.  He is riveting to listen to when he is translating, so I can only imagine what its like to hear him preach in his own words.  And I can't even understand what he's saying!

Tomorrow's beach trip got pushed back a day so Sister Jennifer can continue to rest up and be able to join us since she hasn't been feeling well.  It will also give us time to get the booklet together and regroup again after a day of traveling.  I can hardly believe that our trip is half over already.  I am grateful for all of your prayers for our energy and enthusiasm.  We've been able to treat every night as if it's our first time teaching the lesson as well as the last.

~Becky Haddad