5/25/10

• Kyle left for Kenya today for 2 weeks. May You lead both Kyle and his team and help them "to find a need and fill it"! I pray they would see SO many lives get touched by you, Jesus!
• Rode the bust in to town with the girls today for our first "real" day at Smyrna! [I even spotted 10 rupees on the ground amidst the trash when waiting for the bus on the ride home!)
• I was so impressed with how fervently their prayers are-- and it occurred to me; they understand urgency and certainly pray with a sincere earnestness.
• Helped check a few math problems; the girls are actually quite good with mat so far; I think the objectivity of it all is why they like it (as opposed to the contradictions and complexities of English).
• Because we studied different animals this week, I had two of the girls, Sussi and Sangita read to me, and they learned the the word "rhino" (among some other words I hope) by the end of it! The really lit up by the end and I think they felt more confident afterwards because they wanted to read me a third book (even though I think we were just supposed to do one)! This made my day! Amol (Sangita's 5 year old son) even stepped into help and learn; he is such a bright little boy!
• Christianna and I later took Amol and Joanna (Sussi's one-year old girl) to the park and met some other great kids to play with! I was glad they had some playmates.
• Loved rocking Joanna and having her fall asleep in my arms.
• Loved helping the girls learn the alphabet, its sounds and began some light reading with them! I even braved the world of electronics/computers and we did some educational/interactive cd's on the computer today, which they really enjoyed! (Lord, now we just need consistent power in the building, so we can use the computer!)
• Christianna and I ate dinner with the girls at Rojaand didn't get back until after 8:30! Gone from 8 to 8! But now we have Saturday off and may even get to go to an animal wildlife reserve!
• I was SO touched tonight when Krishma* showed us her photo albums--oh what stories these pictures tell! My head was in my hands when we finally to the picture of her younger sister, who is 14 years old and was just given into a child-marriage. (The marriage was forced upon the girl by her grandmother who is the same woman who coerced Krishma into prostitution, so she could live off her wages.) The husband is twice her age, and she is already pregnant. . .There is speculation that this man will also force her into prostitution. Just a couple weeks ago Krishma went home to her grandmother's funeral of all things, and she pleaded with her sister to come back with her to Ooty, yet the Enemy's stronghold is prevalent over this poor girl that she doesn't want to disobey her dead grandmother's wishes in exchange for freedom and to be with her only family (Krishma). Naturally, this broke Krishma's heart. . . Oh Jesus, make sense of this all. I pray justice would come to fruition for her sister's behalf.
• *name has been changed