Only in India (with a few exceptions)

...does Santa Claus seem hilariously out of place


...do we practice for one choir concert and end up performing 11 times.



...have I ever had a christmas dance party with so many 5-8 year olds pulling out their moves Indian moves!





...do I get to spend Christmas with Anjuli!!




...does Anjuli say "I want tea" and have it delivered moments later, on a tray and everything





...do they carve the turkey at 10:30pm (and have never had a turkey before...)


...is there a Mosque this large





...do they call these bananas "fresh ones...nice ones" (and go on to open and squish one,expecting we'll eat it even after his grungy hands were all over it)



...do I get to make up my own price, and stubbornly wait to get it (with a crowd of entertained onlookers)





...do I get a bull as beach-side companion




...do you get the dramatic changes from poverty to this







...are these fishies considered foodsafe






...will you see this message from a local DVD rental place






...is this the view from my bedroom to a 5th floor apartment porch

Picture stories

Anjuli and I took a train for about an hour, and it was a riot...you'll see the crazy men in a second. I don't think her friend was stoked on how goofy we were being, but hey, when everyone is staring at you anyways, might as well have fun!


...oh, here's one of the staring men!






We went to an island with lots of caves that the Hindus have carved gods into. It's a little depressing, and an eye opener to realize they value their religion to the extent they do. Some carvings were horrid looking, but all were pretty detailed.




Up close and personal...



This cheeky monkey...that water bottle was in a tourists' hand and when he grabbed it from her, she snatched is back. Well the monkey wasn't going to settle for that so he jumped and grapped her hair and hung from it until she dropped the bottle! He then proceeded to remove the lid, and prop it up like you see so he could drink it. When he didn't get any more he did the Indian thing and threw the bottle to the side and stalked away.


And the Taj Mahal hotel and Gateway of India from the bay. The unclarity is because of the smog, it's bad!

Meet the Grade One Teacher

An Early Merry Christmas To Everyone (Or do I have to say Happy Holidays??)

This will be the last blog update before Christmas....that seems pretty crazy doesn't it?? I for one will be headed to the beach for New Years, and as much as I miss family and friends at home, the heat suits me just fine. I am really thankful because I have secured a cheap domestic flight up to Delhi to see Anjuli for christmas, so I am not on my own at least. They do not really do much for christmas here so at least we will have our own little celebration up North.

Well school has been back in session for the last couple weeks and there continues to be changes. They have surprised me with a request, more like a plea actually, to take over teaching grade 1. It has been discovered that the original teacher has not been doing well with the class, not that the Indian school system helps. They are huge on the rote system so the children just sit and repeat what the teacher says for most of the 5 hours they are in class. The whole set-up lacks creativity and they are trying to gain ideas from the two of us who are familiar with much more interactive and muliti-sensory learning.

Teaching this class was hard to accept at first, I'll be honest. I really wanted to get involved in other areas, including the street ministry, and teaching would mean that could not happen the way I hoped. But after much prayer and trying to avoid it I have come to realize that this could really benefit them. And besides, I came to help where they need it, so I knew I needed to do this. Hopefully other teachers can learn by example that the children can learn in so many other ways besides repeating word for word what is said to them.

So my prayer now is that I can really help bring this class of 40 children up to the expected level. There is another grade 1 class that is far ahead of this group, so we'll see if we can't help them get ahead. I have quite a few failing students, so I pray I can see where they are going wrong and help them gain confidence in their abilities. God help me, this will be a huge challenge.

Despite the nerves that come with taking this on, I am really looking forward to this opportunity to serve the school and who knows what can come of it. I have been so encouraged lately by seeing many teachers coming to me for advice or just to tell me that they have tried out a new activity or a different approach to a lesson. And I love seeing their excitement as they experience that it works; and it can be fun for the teacher and student alike! Of course I am learning right along with them, and trying very hard to understand where they come from so we can reach a medium between the different ways of teaching. I never would have thought a country rising so fast could have such a backwards school system, it's crazy to see.

Needless to say being at the school full-time wasn't what I initially wanted to do, and yet I praise God that I am able to find joy in this. He has a plan, and like it says in Isaiah there is prefect peace for those who trust in Him. All I can do is trust! Apart from school we are preparing as a choir to sing at a christmas service with the church. It will be a great outreach, with many who don't hear about Jesus coming out.

So tomorrow I start in the class, and this will keep me busy until their exams in the spring. Yup, even the little 6 year-olds in grade 1 have full on exams. Academics are so important to them, but I'm going to shake things up by trying to show it doesn't mean they have to just sit at a desk. The school has given me freedom to do whatever I think will help them, so here it goes!

That about does it for the update! Thanks again for the continuous love and support, I have felt so encouraged by all those who have written, and who are praying. Enjoy your christmas season, I will talk to you in 2008! (Unless you e-mail, and then you will get a response sooner then that!)

Answer to Prayer?!?

God is doing something amazing....

Initially when I was planning on coming to India it was working with the street children that pulled me to seriously consider coming. I wasn't going to be allowed because foreigner's aren't viewed well in the slums. Still I felt I needed to come and now, I'm blown away. I was told recently that I could go and visit the slums, even though most people aren't allowed to; they would take me inconspicuously. Not only that it was suggested by Esme Mehta that we could even bus some children over to the church building where I would have the freedom to be with them. I could sing and play with them, introduce Jesus, and just love them in ways they haven't gotten to experience. I'm so excited, and still praying this will actually happen. We won't begin a program like this until after christmas, but the question would be how involved do we get? What do we focus on and how to we impact these children to the fullest? I was so stoked I just had to pass this along. It's a bigger answer to prayer then I think I can relate, but just be encouraged that when God calls you he can open doors that seemed shut, sealed, and padlocked!

Bunch of pictures

I'm not going to bother explaining as most of these are self explanatory...I will say the children are from the Alpha Academy I am helping at and the girls I am with include a few from the young adults group who I hang out with often and then my roomate Amy...she's the white one in case you didn't figure that out :)

Out-of-town adventures

I'm back from some more adventures!


My roomate, Lydia Mehta (Stanley and Esme's daughter), and I


This last week we took a group of young people outside of the city to a convent for a camp. Most of the people were between 16-20, with a handful of us "older" folk. It was a neat time of introducing who Jesus is, as many who were there came from Hindu families and had not heard of who He is before. It seemed that many found it incredibly powerful, and had a lot of fun. They kept everyone busy with group activities including making skits and dances and even writing songs in some occasions. Everyone got really involved, so it made it quite fun for us all. The day started at 6:00am, and went right until about midnight so we were running from the get go! Try as I might to get to sleep early, having 4 others with me in my room made that nearly impossible. All part of the experience I suppose!

We had a couple of interesting experiences...my biggest dislike is cockroaches and so when I nearly grabbed one while turning on the tap I had to stifle my reaction and suck it up. I was challenged further when I went to put on my pants one morning and had one crawling up my leg, then one in my shoes a moment later. Those are the horrible moments where I am reminded of where I am...but really we are pretty fortunate, we had minimal critters in our room. There was a rat that made it's way into our bathroom somehow, and there are no holes so the only thing we can think of is the toilet....turns out a rat has turned up in other's bathrooms too...hmm...suspicious...

Anyhow it was neat to be involved in the camp, and as somewhat of a leader I was challenged to be there for the others too. The gals in my group seemed to have a great time so I will have many young friends from all around this area to keep in touch with. My old love for drama came up as we wrote some skits to perform a few nights, and it was encouraging to have such a positive response from the audience, even to the humorous ones, as I have never been much of a comedian. They also had me singing, and a few of us even wrote and performed a worship song at one point...who would have thought?

Here's the grounds by the convent...totally breathtaking views, it was stunning.






Directly from the camp I packed up my dirty clothes and headed with a group to the Bible College called Antioch Training Center (ATC) in the Greater Bombay area. It was amazing to hear the guest speaker from England (Mike Beaumont, if anyone knows of him) go into detail about Jesus being fully God and fully man, and the significance of that. Honestly I was impacted at how knowing the background of the scriptures really makes it all come to life and makes that much more sense. It also helps us understand how to make it relevant for the culture we are in, something I had not really thought much about before. I got to know a bit more how Jesus can be related to the hindu culture to help them understand.

Aside from the teaching I was able to see the area, and realize how blessed I am in Mumbai. Out there it was incredibly smelly, like sewage, so much so that even while plugging your nose you could taste the stench. The cockroaches were everyone and were huge, and so were the rats. It was much dirtier then where I call home, and we stayed 8 of us in a one room flat. At night the windows had to be closed (one night we had a bat fly in when we did try and keep it open) so it really got warm in there. The girls who stayed there even had difficulty adjusting. You can imagine that the one young guy from the UK has been having the culture shock of all culture shocks. Like I said, I appreciate my little home that much more now!

The highlights of the area was the food...there were many roadside vendors with some of the greatest Indian junk foods...

...samosas in buns with chutney, wada pao (potato patties kind of), bajai pao (pakora type stuff) and many others that won't make sense to most of us back home. I had a gal totally help show me around and teach me some Hindi along the way, it was really cool.

Now I am home for two days then I leave to head outside the city to stay at the boy's home. This is going to be awesome, I'll have many things to say when I get back, I'm sure. It will be two weeks there, then back to school when it opens November 27th. Visiting Anjuli in Delhi will have to wait!

Oh and I can't forget Divali! There has been a huge festival that gets everyone all excited. It is religious, part of the hIndu belief. For three days already they have gone crazy with firecrackers, I'm talking ones that are so loud they are illegal in Canada, and last night was over 4 hours of non-stop fireworks. The first night it started I woke up in the middle of the night to a really loud firecracker by our place and caught myself actually thinking I was hearing bombs...the sounds took me right back to Africa. That happened numerous times, and I am just thankful to remember no, it is not a warzone...

Pics to check out!

A sample of Indian Street Vendors; this one was selling Sugar Cane juice, served with lime



Right outside our 5th floor window...I didn't bother taking a picture of the pidgeons and crows that also grace us with their presenc...yuck, not nearly as fun as the parrot!