The India team has been on a roll and is getting into a routine with their sights. The whole team has broken up into three small teams that visit three different sights each day. While one team is at a leper colony, the other two are at an orphanage and so on. This has been a great opportunity for us to get to know the people at these sights on a very personal level.
We have also been able to take advantage of this time to get to know each other better; afterall, we’ve only known each other for three weeks. To do this, we have different jobs designated to us in the house such as cleaning toilets and packing lunches. You can consider these tasks “bonding” time. Everyday when we get home from our sights, we go straight to our chores. It’s great!
Last Saturday, the whole team was able to go to the market and buy Punjabi fabric. Some girls were even able to get measured for their outfits. Other girls were able to go to a salon and get their eyebrows threaded and we were all able to enjoy a good lunch together.
This is how our weekly schedules look like:
Sundays: We have three sights to go and give thanks to Our Father. We all meet back at the house and have dinner together and have the half of the day to rest.
Mondays: These are our preparation days; we prepare and plan for the rest of our week. The things we prepare, we take to the sights with us on Tuesday-Friday. On these days we also take time with Our Father. Then we go around our neighborhood, asking Him what it is he would like us to do or lift up individuals that we may see on the street to Him. These walks are really important because a lot of great things come out of them. Just yesterday, we were able to make friends with some neighborhood kids and played batmitten with them. Some of us were even invited into some people’s houses for chi, which is really privelege.
Tuesdays-Friday: Are days we serve. Some of us are at the leper colonies and some of us are at the orphanage depending on what group we are in and what days our group is designated to go where. At the orphanages, some of us are teaching children Math and Science and even English. Other times we are playing with them. At the leper colonies we are pouring love and attention into people who are shunned from society. Girls have taken pictures with them and have gotten them developed to bring back to the colonies. The lepers absolutely love that! A lot of us have been getting fed at these sights. We eat a lot of rice and drink a lot of chi, which is tea.
Saturdays: These are our off days. We are able to do a lot of shopping on these days and some sight seeing. Every two weeks we have communication days where we can call and e-mail loved ones.
We also have teaching times and worship times during the week. These times are awesome!
There are so many other things that can be said, but it’s impossible to list them all. I must say that we have a bunch of kids that gather around our front door waiting for us to come out and play with them. We are really a light in our neigborhood. Also, we absolutely love this ice cream shop down the street from us called Mother Dairy. Most of us go there everyday and buy two ice creams, once for right then and one for after dinner. That is definitely a treat for us and the owner had to make another order of ice cream because we have been eating him out of business.
We love and miss our families very much but we are having a great time here in India!
