the north pole

On Thursday, two of my teammates and I worked at a preschool. We were waiting for the bus to go into town when a woman came up to us, we'll call her Mrs. Clause. She didn't speak much English, and we don't speak much Hindi. A man at the bus stop translated for us and told us that she wanted us to go to her house with her. On the way, she stopped at a store and bought 3 sodas for us. As we continued walking, she asked if we p-ed to *J. We said yes and asked if she did. She replied that she p-s to *J and not Mary. In India, many people who follow *J also follow and p to the other saints. We were all excited that she follows *J and only *J.
The walk to Mrs. Clause's house was fun. I enjoyed waving at all of the kids as we made our way through the slum. Anyway, as we got to her house, she apologized that it was so small. None of us cared about the size, and we told her that. We were just so grateful that she wanted us to come inside and speak with us. So that is what we did. We drank our sodas (lime soda is awesome, by the way) and exhausted all of the Hindi we knew. Something really cool is that the previous day we asked the women in the RR stitching program a lot of Hindi words and phrases, and we used all of them on Thursday. It's amazing how *Dad works. We talked about family a lot. Her husband used to hurt her and did not provide food or clothes for their kids. We were so happy that she is out of that situation and doesn't have to deal with him anymore.
A little while later, she took us to the beach, which is about 10 steps from her house. The view was absolutely gorgeous. The coast of India is very pretty, minus the trash that lines the shore. We only spent a few minutes looking at the water and nearby island until we headed back. This time, a group of people followed us. We went inside to p for Mrs. Clause, and afterward we found ourselves with 7 other kids inside the one room house and saw more crowded around the doorway to hear us. One of the girls, Roxy, was 17 and was able to translate some things that Mrs. Clause was trying to say to us. A teammate suggest we tell stories (Indians love to hear stories), and Roxy said she could translate for us. They were all very excited to hear what we had to say. Each of us told a *B story and part of our story. They clapped after each of us spoke. Then both Mrs. Clause and Roxy shared their stories with us. It was really awesome to have them open up to us.
After some time, we decided to head back. Mrs. Clause, Roxy, and about 6 kids walked us back to the bus stop. Pretty much the whole way back a little girl named Chyenne held my hand. She was precious. Every time I looked at her, she smiled up at me. It was just such an awesome day to be received, respected, and loved by these people. *Dad definitely blessed all of us in that experience.

As for the rest of this week, I worked in a preschool in the morning twice and with the women in the afternoon 3 times. I really enjoyed getting to know some of the women better. And a few of their daughters did mehendi (henna) for us on Friday. All in all, this week has been great. India is awesome, and I love it a lot.

Please continue p-ing for us all here. For me, to listen to *Dad better and distinguish his thoughts from my own.

Half way there. See you all soon.