Saturday, May 29, 2010

So it's been a long time...SORRY :)

Hello everyone!
So it's been a really really long time!
News:
A team from California is here right now (9 people)
The team is AMAZING! They've been troopers at staying awake during training. They've also been taking what they've learned and speaking to nationals about spiritual things. What a true blessing! We start ESL class on Monday. We will be working in 4 places all week. It's gonna be great! I can't wait to see what the Father does.
Two days after the team leaves I leave too. I'll be moving to England. Yessssss! That's right, I'm moving for a few months. I'll be re-locating to England for two months. Then I'll come back to South Asia for two months....then my job is finished :/
It's so weird to think about......I've lived in South Asia for 17 months.....and it's coming to a close. It's hard to think about. Saying goodbye to my Indian village mommy for two months was hard enough....but having to say goodbye to her for a year or two.......I'll be leaning on the Lord to help me through that. Goodbyes are always different but these goodbyes might break my heart into pieces. Mommy cried over me, then I cried. Papa was sweet....his words to help fix it. "It's okay....she will call us....Yes she will call us from England!"
Darn right Papa, I will call! My sister Gita was there too, she'll be getting phone calls too! I'm going to miss her so much, my nieces too. Good thing I've been making so wonderful memories with them all.
I've been learning how to do Henna. My nieces where the first to let me try on them. My roomie let me try today. It's been great. Each henna design has a story that goes with it. A story that tells the listener about the Lord. It's a wonderfully creative way to tell people about HOPE. So far each hand gets better and better. I hope to get REALLY good at it so I can start having Henna parties. There is a chance I'll be doing henna parties in England with South Asians there. I can't wait. There are so many cool things waiting to be done in England. Please be kneeling for that right now. The possibilities of what the Lord will do there are limitless. Be kneeling that he shows them to his people and that we would follow faithfully and do.

So since January.....my teammates have both gone off to two different countries and come back. Stac/roomie went to Nepal. She had an amazing time, she got to test our ESL stuff there and help form relationships with Nepali people. Kristin went to B-dsh. She had an amazing time as well. She tested a lot of different ESL sets. February was spent getting ready for Stacey and Kristin to go. We worked really hard on our story set for the ESL. If we're going to be professionally published by October we have to get things just right. In March Stacey and I got to play Holi with our Indian friend Manisha. It was a blast!!!! It was amazing to get to play with people our age and throw color on everyone and anyone. It was a true Indian Holi experience.
After Holi Stacey and I went off to Bollywood for a long weekend. Our sweet dear friend Martha lives there. She used to live here in the big-D for a few months. When she lived here all three of us became good friends. It was sad to see her move away but we knew the Father had amazing things in store for her in her new city. Would you know it....He DID! We got to go around with her, she the work she's doing there. Meet some nationals that are really special to her. We also got to meet up with some nationals that are special to me! My 4 sisters live in Mumbai. So we met up with them and my little niece Anya. It was a really cool day. My sisters are so fun! There are 6 of them and I've got to visit with 5 of them, the 6th lives in Spain. I'll be seeing her in October when my term is finished. I'm going to go visit her and my little nephew.
My Byaa also has had his engagement canceled since the last update. This may not sound like a happy thing but it is! There was a little bit of a Jacob-Rachel-Leah thing going on. He was in love with the younger sister and wanted to get married to her. However it might have been Indian customs or Fathers doing what they thought was best. it turned out Byaa got had his engagement set for the older sister. The older sister was over the moon about it but Byaa and the girl he loves was not. it was causing problems within her family and Byaa's. He was worried but didn't know what to do. He knew he needed to respect his family....well his mom and dad. So he moved forward with the engagement and tried to be happy and learn to love the girl.
It didn't work.
Byaa called many times to ask me (his sister) for advice. There wasn't much I felt I could tell him to do. Being from a different culture I know there is a part of India I will never understand fully and so giving advice could cause bigger problems for Byaa and in the family. What I could give him advice on was continuing to pray to his faithful Father God. He had stopped praying to God because God had not done anything to help him yet. So we talked about that. Abraham waited almost three decades for the promised son he was to have.....God acts on his timing not ours. Who are we to demand things of the Father. So i reminded him to wait.....and never stop praying EVER. That's how we have a relationship with God. That's what makes our God different from any other god. He listens to us, has a personal relationship with us and acts our of love for us. If you cut off that relationship because things are not going the way you want then why follow him. This special and amazing God we serve is not a magic genie who gives us only what we want....he is not Santa clause. He is the Lord most high. His ways are much higher that our ways and he desires us to be faithful to him.

Well as it turned out Byaas fiance had some bad habits and our sister decided Byaa should not marry her. Papa, Mommy, Older Byaa, and my sisters agreed and the Engagement was ended.
Byaa is much happier and very thankful. Isn't it amazing! Please pray for Byaa, his ex-fiance and both families.
Well so much more has gone on here but I'll have to chat about that another time....my time is up.
Blessings!