Hi everyone! Once again, I’m late to the blogging game. But, HI! I’m in India now! We’ve been here for about a month ish and it’s been awesome! We spent the month of December in a village called S and now we’re in a different village called H! (I can’t say the actual names so I used letters) We spent our Christmas in S and it was wonderful, very different from what I’m used to, but wonderful. Before I get into that, let me tell you about our month there!
While in S we did a lot of different things. the first week we were there we did “ministry rotations” so we would switch ministry’s everyday. My team and the guys team started out at a hospital, we did a lot of manual labor that day. We moved sandbags and cleaned the sand, yes we cleaned sand. And we got a tea break! We get tea breaks like everyday no matter what we’re doing, too bad I’m not a fan of chai 🙁 but the cookies are good! The next day we went to a male rehab center. It was my favorite day of ministry ever. We got to hang out with them and share testimonies and sing and dance and play volleyball and soccer, it was so cool just getting to hang out with them and hear their stories. The next day was more manual labor, this time at a school. We helped get more classrooms ready for students by paining. The next day was MORE manual labor, this time at a church. We helped lay some ground work and moved dirt for the foundation of a stage. Although manual labor is hard, it’s a fun time to hang out with our sibling team and laugh and get to know each other and dance!! We put on some 2000s or Country and we laugh and be silly together!! It a great time!
The week leading up to Christmas was a lot of children’s ministry. We did a lot of VBS style days with kids from different churches. So we did a number of skits and games and songs. The kids here are absolutely precious.
We got entered in a dance competition! We spent a day making our own dance routine to a Christmas song and then we had to perform it. It was CRAZY!! We thought it was a kids dance competition, but oh we were wrong. It was in fact an adult dance competition. They had spent a couple months preparing and we spent a couple hours. We didn’t win, but we had some great laughs that night!
Something the Lord has really been teaching me, is the true meaning of Christmas. I found myself getting caught up in Christmas’s back home and dwelling on them and took my focus completely away from what Christmas is really all about, and that’s Jesus. We’re celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior. It shouldn’t matter where you are or who you’re with to do that! It really causes me to lean into God and take all my worries and fears to Him rather than be sad all day. As a squad, we did a Secret Santa! It was a fun way to get to know everyone better! We also had worship around a bonfire and drank more tea. On Christmas Day, we had to perform something for children’s church. We did a skit about the Christmas story and sang some songs.
It was a wild Christmas and it was a Christmas I will never forget.
Another big thing the Lord is teaching me, is just how fast he is moving. He is moving so fast in my future and paving a path and telling me next steps and wow it’s a little overwhelming. It’s causing me to go to Him with questions and listening intently for answers. He loves when I come to Him with questions and how my faith is growing to where I don’t doubt for even a second that the Lord is speaking.
All that being said, Merry Christmas!! The Lord is moving fast!! Kids are cute!! India is awesome!! God is good!!
WiFi here is very spotty, practically nonexistent, writing blogs is hard so bear with me!
We’re entering month 5 on the field! That’s crazy! We’re (kinda) half way done! This has been a wonderful opportunity and I’m so pumped to see what else the Lord has in store for our time here.
IM FULLY FUNDED WAHOO!! This was the best Christmas gift! HUUUGE thank you to everyone who donated and supported me! Now I get to STAY FHE FULL 9 MONTHS YAY!!
All my love always
Katie <3
