There and Back Again: India and Beyond

Over the past week, my duties have consisted of teaching some of the classes at New Life Academy. I believe I had mentioned something about this in my last blog post, but here I will elaborate. Some of the teachers who have been hired for this school year had not been released from their previous schools and hopefully, will be arriving this week! Since they have not yet arrived, I filled in with the Standard I (first grade), UKG (upper Kindergarten), and for the last four days of the school week (Wednesday – Saturday), the Standard IV (fourth grade) classes.             It has been quite challenging, especially during the first couple of days as the students in the lower-level classes do not speak very much English. Thankfully, when I was in the UKG class, I was assisting another teacher who could speak Odia (Oriya) and Hindi. I was quite relieved when I was placed with the Standard IV class as they understand English quite well...

This past week has been quite relaxing. I assisted in the office, designing name cards and an agenda for the Church Leader’s Meeting, which was held on Saturday. All of the church planting missionaries under the ministry gathered for worship, fellowship and the sharing of their work. In addition, we gave a number of them new bicycles, which they were very excited about because they will be able to more easily travel around their villages and the surrounding areas, allowing them to better minister to their people. I enjoyed getting to meet several of them and briefly converse. They were very curious about where I am from, as every Indian I have met so far has been! I also am continuing to play games with the children and am enjoying the opportunity to meet new children as they have been arriving over the past few days. Last evening, a group of the girls took me for a walk around the area that the ministry is in and we had a wonderful time laughing and enjoying each other’s company. ...

My first week in India has gone by far too fast. The strange thing is, however, that I feel as if I have been here for a lot longer than just a week. So far, I have quite enjoyed my time here and look forward to the next couple of months. This week has been busy, as I have painted doors and benches, helped move the library and offices, and spent time teaching some of the children games and songs. I have also started to learn a few Indian games, as the children have been teaching me, as well. Speaking of the children, they are so much fun! Even though it can be frustrating (for myself and them) due to the fact that I cannot understand their language, and even have trouble understanding when they speak English, they are such a joy. I know that I can wake up each morning and walk out to the main room to be greeted by smiling faces and "good morning, sister" and each evening, I can spend a couple of hours playing games and singing songs with them. I can hardly wait until next w...

Photo by  Dewang Gupta  on  Unsplash Thinking back over the past week and a half, I must say that sometimes when one chooses to say “yes” to whatever God may call him or her to do, surprises just may be around the corner. Take my case, for example. A week and a half ago, I was all set to intern with a special needs orphanage in Andhra Pradesh, India and now, I am currently sitting in my new “home” for the summer in Orissa, India – a ministry site which houses a school, orphanage, church, and a church planting ministry. Yes, indeed, God’s ways are mysterious and one never really knows what may happen when human plans and ambitions are placed into His hands. Already, I have been made to feel quite welcome by everyone here. I am looking forward to seeing what God will do throughout my stay here and am excited to serve in a variety of capacities. I will be spending a couple of weeks working in the office, primarily helping to move the offices to their new quarters an...