What is a plan?

So the 9:30 start turned into 11am, and 2 women came, so instead of having separate studies for them, they joined the men, and us girls were set up with a table and 7 little tackers at the back of the room. Not prepared for ss, I rushed out to copy activity pages, but of course the electricity went out (currently laydo) and I ended up leaving it at the xerox place and coming back as Jen was left stranded to teach her first ss lesson. She was fab!

In the evening we took a van to Akash's ss which was about 45 mins from his home and Dad taught a lesson, and the Saxon quad's sang 'Bold Daniel'. hmmmm We then went on to teach them other songs, as it apparently wasn't one of Akash's forte's!!

Akash asked us if we were wanted to see brothers & sisters in the morning, and said there was a historical sight to show us. It was interesting that he suggested 6am, and we were like...whatever. He couldn't turn up for the study on time, but would get up that early for a walk. There must've been some misunderstanding, cause he came and woke mum and dad up and then proceeded to knock on our door as well. We ignored and went back to sleep not imagining it could possibly be him...but 10 mins later there was more knocking and him standing there waiting for our walk.

Jen was sick.. & Mum also, so Wes, Erina, Dad, Kamelish & I head out for this walk first. It took hours..and we got to the top of the mountain, and all the Indian men stopped to eat their breakfast....and give us the bill!!! More walking, as the heat rose, so did our patience...where are the contacts, and why are we walking round a park when we have a bus to catch early afternoon?

Anyways, we got back exhausted... had some time meeting some bre & sis and then raced helter skelter to catch the bus. The train that we were supposed to get on had left 40mins earlier as opposed to what we had been told several times by those who knew:-) So we endured the bumpy busride, and arrived at some place..in the middle of nowhere called Chandrakonda. Due to the strike, everything was shut. Mum and I thought there might be something to revive our spirits as the hotel room that we'd been given wasn't even satisfactory for Erina our translator...she thought it was too damp and dirty. But no.
Got back and the power went out. I am in a bathroom that has no window to let light in, and I can't find the latch, and then it was stuck.
The brothers who were supposed to met us aren't there....
So there were a few issues that day!!! Amazingly enough though, I'd sent a card to Becky Paul from Cambodia and it had arrived that afternoon, and Beck called me up and it was just perfect timing and my soul was refreshed!

The next day we took a van to where the brother and sister lived. It was like the back of beyond, and we weaved through so many village mazes to get there.
We arrived and were taken to a patch of shade and given chairs. THe village children where all there waiting for us, then we were given garlands and bouquets of flowers while the children started to sing. Amazing, I know these people have nothing, and yet they showed so much love.
We had a mini prizegiving that morning. Some songs, some more songs, and then some drama's. The teaching is going well in that area.
Even the snack prepared was so delicious, and I felt so guilty eating what they gave us but I had seen the look the hostess showed when one of the members of our party refused the plate he was given.

So a beautiful morning was had with this family in their village and we meet another daughter of Deepali Das' who had never been able to come to bible week.

Then we took that family back with us to CK Road where we had a memorial with the ecclesia there, and some members from the surrounding area's. From now on we are going to schedule 30mins extra before we leave each place to listen to requests...as we were really pushing it at the end of the meeting...how can you leave a brother behind who needs money for his baby to have milk? You have to trust that what they are saying is true as sometimes there is no way of checking, and you are left knowing that it is between them and God.

Something that really stood out to me on our journey through the village was the amount of baby goats that were around. Some were so so little that they must've been newly born, and it was great to see the new lives everywhere we went.

The train on the way home was a squishy affair. We were standing for quite some time, and I made it to the sink where I did a doubletake as I saw a hamster in a cage. A white one at that. Made me laugh:-)

Dad was amazing. He sat surrounded by people he'd never seen before and starts talking about God to them. And the whole way home he was talking.... telling these superstitious Indians about the 'unknown God'.