I almost fell asleep last night while writing my “epistle.” India is 11 ½ hours ahead of Minnesota time—the ½ is because India doesn’t want to be in the same time zone as Pakistan! In spite of the huge time difference from MN, I’ve adjusted quickly.
Today was a BIG day at the Cuddapah School. It was their sports day, with all kinds of competitions between the children from different houses. They put up a tent & a platform. Some of the teachers were up until 2 am this morning marking the campus for the special events.
After breakfast & worship, we prepared to join the festivities. We were each given a special ribbon to wear in honor of the games.
The celebration began with some marching & assembling all the children in formation by their houses (Red, Blue, Green & Yellow) they held a flag raising ceremony where they raised the special flag for sports day. Some remarks from the principal followed along with the presentation of garlands to our team members & then opening prayer by Sharla. Paul read some Scripture verses from Psalms & Corinthians & then Kevin gave the address, followed by closing prayer by me. Paul & Sharla were called to the starting point to prepare for the opening race & I was as given the honor of blowing a whistle & clapping some boards together to signal the beginning of the games. Paul & Sharla ran down the track with three of the students in hot pursuit. I didn’t see who actually crossed the finish line first, but they all had a wonderful time.
Once the games began it was time for us to start the medical clinic. The students came to be examined between the events they were participating in. Part of the time the entry way to the clinic was wall-to-wall students, all talking at the same time & pushing to get to the front of the lines we’d set up for each station. It was very challenging for me to get charts ready for each student, complete with their name entered in three places. Most of the time there was no one available to help me understand the children as they tried to tell me how to spell their name for the chart. Thankfully, I did have a list of most of the occupants of each house, so I developed the system of having each child find their own name on the list & then I could copy their name from the list on to the chart.
We had to send some of the children away so we could have time for lunch, but they came back in force during the afternoon. Vilma had already made some of the charts, so I needed to check each child’s name with the completed charts, too.
Dr. Naik came to our house again for lunch again. Vilma prepared a very unusual and very tasty lasagna, serving it with a salad of cabbage, cucumber, onion, tomato. Dr. Naik told us about some tourist sites he recommended in Puttaparti—a city about 2 hours from the school. Tonight we’ll have a team powwow to see if we can fit a visit there into our VERY busy schedule.
The clinic was even busier this afternoon!!! I was so happy when Vilma arrived to help keep order. The children are so curious, they end up pushing & shoving so they can get a better view of everything that’s going on. When we closed up the clinic for the afternoon, I finally got a chance to post yesterday’s epistle on my blog.
Tonight Kevin had worship for the students & Sharla played special music on her violin. She had her accompaniment on her i-Pod & played it over a Bose amplifier/speaker system that operates on battery power. At the close of worship Sharla & I led the children in singing “Jesus’ Love Is Bubbling Over.” I wish you could have heard them singing with GREAT gusto!!! We had vegetable omelets for supper, prepared by Ajit—a young Indian man who sometimes helps Vilma with preparing our food. Paul, Kevin & Sharla went somewhere for the evening, so I stayed at the house with Vilma & we watched a program on TV about wolverines in Finland. They only get a handful of channels on TV here in the guesthouse, & the main channels seem to be BBC & CNN.
23 January 2009
Another beautiful day in India & the temperatures are rising. I haven’t seen any outdoor thermometer on campus, but the temperature in my bedroom usually runs in the 70s at night & 80s during the day.
The sports games are continuing today & the children seem to be having a wonderful time! I saw some girls with legs tied together practicing for the three legged race. After morning worship, our team spent a little time trying to make plans for Sabbath & the coming week. We will all be going to the church dedication tomorrow. Kotesh picked up my new sari blouse from the tailor—it cost 25 rupees. Things were very busy at the clinic again today, but after an hour or so, I got a new job assignment. I started an Excel file on the computer, entering the names of all the students we need to follow-up on—in other words the doctor wrote orders for them & we need to purchase medicine or schedule further test, etc. After I finished those, I started entering all the other names of students we’ve seen. Even tho’ we’ve put in long hours for the last three days, we haven’t seen all the children. With a master list, hopefully we can figure out who is missing, & try to get al least all the boarding students seen next week before we have to leave. At the end of the day the statistics were as follows: 384 students seen including 293 with doctor’s orders.
Tonight I was the speaker for Vespers & Sharla played a couple of violin solos & led the singing. The Scripture verses I used were Jeremiah 29:11-13 & Psalm 37:3-5. At the close I led them in singing “Bubblin’ Over.”
It’s getting late & I need to prepare some thoughts for the dedication service tomorrow, so I better sign off for now.
Blessings from INDIA…where the people are beautiful, the children are irresistible, & the GOD of Heaven is blessing us abundantly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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