K.R. Thoppur & Kolathur

Evenin'!

Today we spent completely with our German counterparts. I'm still bad with the names, but there are technically three/four different teams in the group of 10 (I'm still unsure myself). We have two girls who are interning for 10 months. A young family of four who are spending a week doing YMCA work and then traveling. An older group of three, one of which is mentoring the two girls who are interning, and a lone ranger (named Christian nonetheless) spending God know's how long doing God know's what. I promise I'll try to get names...but now I'm fascinated by their accents. Some speak good British English, complete with British AND German accents. I'm having a heyday.

We traveled to a village house church in K.R. Thoppur in the morning. There were possibly around 40 people there, crammed into a small compound with both indoor and outdoor seating. A blue tarp was spread over an open space for people to sit outside. This was definitely my kind of homegroup! We were able to hear a number of testimonies from the church members, which was definitely a change for us! We've given our testimonies a few times, but we've never heard them in return. There were a number of great stories involving healing from paralysis, rampant stubbornness, persistence in prayer, and other scenarios. All of the testimonies given were stories of either Hindu people receiving Christ or those who believed in no God coming to know Him through the church's prayers and miracles. Some were vaguely similar to stories of people back home, but other's were different in ways I didn't imagine. It was a nice change of pace.

We then traveled through the countryside to Kolalthur for another dedication service. We were actually early, believe it or not, and had about an hour to relax and enjoy the intermittent breeze. This gave Kyle the opportunity to hang out with some of the nearby village children and teach them how to throw stones at birds. He probably shouldn't have done that ;). Along with that, Kyle got to play many games of "stick and rock" cricket with two of the boys. Two memorable children were James and John. Who were twins. And who loved Jesus.

One of the German's had the honor of dedicating the building and cutting the ribbon (his name is Dr. Reinhardt Schink). I did NOT end up teaching (phew!) as the dedication ceremony was primarily for the German team and sponsors. The atmosphere at this church was very different from the first one we attended. This gathering was much smaller but seemed more communal than the last. Interesting how some of that can be observed by outsiders! We headed back to Sharon after the dedication. It took a couple hours to get to each of these places, so half of the day was spent in a bus (very general estimate...)

We were blessed to see that Lisa & Carolyn were still at Sharon! Executive decision were made to stay an extra day for safe measure and the head out to Sri Lanka on Monday morning. Lisa is feeling much better and was able to eat some food with us before we all turned in. They are still not sure what was wrong with her. It could have been something bacterial mixed other trip factors (lack of sleep, body adjusting to new food, stress, heat, there's a lot that can happen on these trips!!!). An IV and some antibiotics seemed to do the trick. Pray that their time in Sri Lanka is successful, and that whatever mystery bug Lisa had does not happen to Kyle, myself, or our German counterparts. Also, I am expecting a niece to be delivered any second now! My older sister and husband Jessica & Erik are expecting their first daughter, and she went to the hospital yesterday I believe. Pray for them and that baby Felicity will make her way into the world safe and sound!

Tomorrow we head out to see a village development project, where I will be running around like a happy puppy. Not joking.