Midterms

Hellow All! I've been in India for one month now, so here's the midterm report (how's that for teacher prep?).

I have two weeks left here in Mumbai before traveling back to hyderbad for a day or two of debriefing. From there I will be taking the train way down south to Tamil Nadu to visit my friend Noah who is an evangelist down there. The last two weeks have been filled with lots of teaching in the mornings. We have been able to do some home visitations as well as prayer meetings and bible studies most every night.

I have had the opportunity to share from the word at a number of the studies as well as during church. I have been overwhelmed with the responsibility of teaching the word of God and would appreciate your prayers in this as I want to prove myself to be one who rightly handles the word. This is sometimes more difficult here because oftentimes the request to teach comes hours before the actual meeting, which makes it necessary to be prepared to teach before the request comes.

The rainy season has been great in terms of temperature (it's much cooler), but they haven't cancelled the game and our team has had to play a man down most days. One of the Indian brothers who lives with me has been out for a week now with a fever. Please pray for our health, and specifically his as he is needed as a Hindi teacher in the school.

Every sunday in church they have a testimony time where they open of the floor for anyone to share how the father has moved in their lives that week. It is one of the most amazing times because of the sheer number testimonies that are given each week. I've been thinking a lot about II Chronicles 16:9 "the eyes of the lord move to and fro throughout the earth that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his." The lives of these people are a testament to God's faithfulness to those who seek him with all their heart.



Some of the kids will eat their lunch under their desks.



This is a view of the slum from the window in the school.



These are some of the boys that are with us a lot. They speak good enough english to translate most of the time and are super helpful.








AIE #3
The social standards in Indian culture are quite a bit different than those in America, especially those concerning personal space and touch. In India, it is not very common to see public displays of affection between men and women, but it is perfectly acceptable for two men to be seeen walking down the street arm in arm or hand in hand. The other day one of the indian brothers who I live with and I were standing outside of a store on the street corner waiting for some people to come out, when he slipped his hand inside of mine. Being the cultural chamoelean (I'm pretty sure that's spelled wrong) that I am, I stood there, hand in hand with another man, and simply enjoyed the freedom of Indian culture.