This week, one of the families, Simon and Sarah, have left for England for 6 weeks, it’s only the second Christmas they will have spent there in 15 years! Rachel and I have moved into their house and will look after things for them while their gone. With only 3 families living here and us, when one is gone they leave quite a hole!

 I only have one day of teaching left before exams, and then its Christmas break! The teaching has been going fairly well, one of my gym classes is extra challenging, but their getting better. We’ve been playing football for the last week, and I resorted to setting them up like a human foozball game, (standing still and passing down the field) hoping they would understand passing and spreading out/getting open on the field. It worked until I then wanted them to play regular football and they all thought they couldn’t run!

W e made a quick trip to Ooty, which is a 6 hour drive from here, to drop one of the children off at Hebron boarding school last week. It was a beautiful drive up into the mountains! We saw 3 camels while driving and had to stop once because there was an elephant, separated from the pack on the road. When they’re on their own they can be quite vicious and unpredictable. Ooty is a very ‘Westernized’ town compared to where we are in the hills, so it’s one of the places where the families can get groceries to make non-Indian food. Always exciting!

Plans for a Christmas meal are coming together, and this year the focus will be cooking a meal for the people with the most need in this area. As of now the menu is emu biriyani, which is rice mixed with spices and then emu meat added in. Will be interesting to see what that tastes like. This will be done on Christmas Eve along with a special service in the evening. Then Christmas day, Rach and I will get to have a traditional Western roast dinner along with the other 2 families here. Yum! It doesn’t feel like Christmas as I know it because the weather is so warm, but I’m sure this is much closer to how it actually was the night/day that Jesus was born!

I would love to put pictures up, but the internet is quite slow, so that will have to wait until I get home unfortunately. It’s been so nice to hear from so many people, really encouraging to know that you are thinking and praying for me!

This week, one of the families, Simon and Sarah, have left for England for 6 weeks, it’s only the second Christmas they will have spent there in 15 years! Rachel and I have moved into their house and will look after things for them while their gone. With only 3 families living here and us, when one is gone they leave quite a hole!

 I only have one day of teaching left before exams, and then its Christmas break! The teaching has been going fairly well, one of my gym classes is extra challenging, but their getting better. We’ve been playing football for the last week, and I resorted to setting them up like a human foozball game, (standing still and passing down the field) hoping they would understand passing and spreading out/getting open on the field. It worked until I then wanted them to play regular football and they all thought they couldn’t run!

W e made a quick trip to Ooty, which is a 6 hour drive from here, to drop one of the children off at Hebron boarding school last week. It was a beautiful drive up into the mountains! We saw 3 camels while driving and had to stop once because there was an elephant, separated from the pack on the road. When they’re on their own they can be quite vicious and unpredictable. Ooty is a very ‘Westernized’ town compared to where we are in the hills, so it’s one of the places where the families can get groceries to make non-Indian food. Always exciting!

Plans for a Christmas meal are coming together, and this year the focus will be cooking a meal for the people with the most need in this area. As of now the menu is emu biriyani, which is rice mixed with spices and then emu meat added in. Will be interesting to see what that tastes like. This will be done on Christmas Eve along with a special service in the evening. Then Christmas day, Rach and I will get to have a traditional Western roast dinner along with the other 2 families here. Yum! It doesn’t feel like Christmas as I know it because the weather is so warm, but I’m sure this is much closer to how it actually was the night/day that Jesus was born!

I would love to put pictures up, but the internet is quite slow, so that will have to wait until I get home unfortunately. It’s been so nice to hear from so many people, really encouraging to know that you are thinking and praying for me!

This week, one of the families, Simon and Sarah, have left for England for 6 weeks, it’s only the second Christmas they will have spent there in 15 years! Rachel and I have moved into their house and will look after things for them while their gone. With only 3 families living here and us, when one is gone they leave quite a hole!

 I only have one day of teaching left before exams, and then its Christmas break! The teaching has been going fairly well, one of my gym classes is extra challenging, but their getting better. We’ve been playing football for the last week, and I resorted to setting them up like a human foozball game, (standing still and passing down the field) hoping they would understand passing and spreading out/getting open on the field. It worked until I then wanted them to play regular football and they all thought they couldn’t run!

W e made a quick trip to Ooty, which is a 6 hour drive from here, to drop one of the children off at Hebron boarding school last week. It was a beautiful drive up into the mountains! We saw 3 camels while driving and had to stop once because there was an elephant, separated from the pack on the road. When they’re on their own they can be quite vicious and unpredictable. Ooty is a very ‘Westernized’ town compared to where we are in the hills, so it’s one of the places where the families can get groceries to make non-Indian food. Always exciting!

Plans for a Christmas meal are coming together, and this year the focus will be cooking a meal for the people with the most need in this area. As of now the menu is emu biriyani, which is rice mixed with spices and then emu meat added in. Will be interesting to see what that tastes like. This will be done on Christmas Eve along with a special service in the evening. Then Christmas day, Rach and I will get to have a traditional Western roast dinner along with the other 2 families here. Yum! It doesn’t feel like Christmas as I know it because the weather is so warm, but I’m sure this is much closer to how it actually was the night/day that Jesus was born!

I would love to put pictures up, but the internet is quite slow, so that will have to wait until I get home unfortunately. It’s been so nice to hear from so many people, really encouraging to know that you are thinking and praying for me!

Hard to believe I’ve been here 5 weeks already! Sorry for the delayed blog post, it’s been a busy month, and this is the first time I’ve had internet on my laptop! It’s been a bit – ok a big adjustment here, but I’m feeling a lot more confident in my role here, thanks to lots of prayer and support from the families here J The first 5 days I spent in the city at a leadership conference with the 3 families that run the project and the other volunteer Rachel. It was really nice to adjust to the culture and be able to buy some clothes before moving to the hills, which is very remote and traditional! The project here involves a Christian school, which has over 600 students, a boys home with 90 boys and then a girls home with 30 girls. From Monday – Friday I teach 3-4 classes a day mostly English and gym but I have a religious studies class and a literacy class as well. It was a little overwhelming at first, but with practice I’m getting more comfortable with it all! After school a few days a week we try to organize games (usually soccer) with the girls at the girls home...they love it! And then Saturdays Rachel and I usually spend some time chatting or playing games as well. This week we all put up the Christmas tree! Everyone was so excited about that J Every school day we eat lunch with the girls at the home, which is rice and usually a lentil based sauce with vegetables. We eat on the floor and with our right hand (no utensils) just like the girls. That took a bit of getting used to!  3 times a week in the evening we go to the home for prayers and rach and I take turns leading them. For supper we rotate through the 3 families houses and sometimes we get to cook as well! It’s a mix of Indian and western food which is really nice! We went to the nearest city (Salem) last weekend for shopping and to visit a small church plant for their evening service. It was nice to meet some more young people there and to get a change of scenery! That was the second time I had been off the compound since coming! There’s a small village that we can walk to from here, but you can only get snacks or drinks there. We can’t go alone, so it’s nice that there’s 2 volunteers here at the moment J Something I would like prayer for is building relationships with the girls at the home, and to have continued energy to put into them while I’m here! Thanks for all the encouragement I’ve received over the past months and prayers! I really appreciate it J

                

5 days left in Newent.. My time here has flown by! The 'family' at Glebe is incredible and they made me feel very welcome and at home here. I was kept really busy over the last three weeks, but each activity was a little different and I enjoyed being able to participate in so much while I was here. Apart from the things I did weekly (that I explained last time), I was also able to help with a few other things. I went to Gloucester City Mission one day and served coffee and some food at the drop in center for homeless. It was pouring rain, but we still had about 30 people come in and I was able to chat to a few of them while they were eating. I joined a small group my second week here, and although the study they were doing was called regroup and was specifically for their small group, I still had a good time getting to know the people in it better. The lady    that runs the twins club was unable to go this week so I was in charge! 5 sets of twins plus their siblings came and a couple other helpers to keep all the babies happy :) Sunday night I sang alto for the choir as one of the ladies was away. It was a anniversary service of another church in the community and the service went really well. I enjoyed singing again :) Was able to cook and bake a few times while I was here, didn`t have a lot of time but it was fun and hopefully a break for Vicky.
 I've been able to see a bit of the countryside while I've been here (its gorgeous) and this last week will hopefully involve a trip to London, and Bristol. Saturday I`m going with a bunch of people to watch a rugby match! Its going to be a busy last few days and although I`m excited (and nervous) for the next step of my trip, it will be hard to leave this small town full of new friends.
I leave for India Sunday Nov 3, at 2pm. would appreciate prayers that travelling would go smoothly! Simon and Sarah (the family I will be living with) are meeting me at the airport along with Rachel, a girl who is there for a few months as well! Can`t wait to meet them.
I`ve really enjoyed hearing from home..news and just a hi here and there..thanks for that :)

I arrived in England last Friday, after a 5 hour train ride from the college.
It's been a crazy week, full of church activities, teas and even washing dishes at
the local coffee house/Christian book store!
For the first few days I stayed on Ian and Julia Cracknells farm, it's just outside
Newent, and it's a beautiful farm! Their hospitality was amazing and I still end
up there sometimes :)
I moved in with Vicky and her 2 daughters last Tuesday, and it's been great!
The girls are really cute and it's been nice to hang out with them on my down
time.
Here's what my week looked like last week:
Sunday: helped set up for the morning and evening services
Monday: twins club, a support group for moms with twins, and then helped make
                the harvest supper and then their was a charity auction of harvested things
                held at the church
Tuesday: morning alpha course started and then a members meeting in the evening
Wednesday: helped cook and set up for oasis which is a community lunch for people
                    over 50, (65 people came!) and then an evening alpha course started
Thursday: prayer meeting breakfast, started at 730am and then had tea with a girl
                  who had worked at a girls home in India for 2 years, and then worked
                  at the good news center- a coffee house and Christian book store for a
                  few hours washing dishes and pricing books. In the evening I played
                  played badminton for a couple hours at a community club.
Friday: in the morning I helped at coffee and kids, and late afternoon met for coffee
             with my mentor. After supper took Alicia (my hosts daughter) to junior youth
Saturday: a few girls took me to Gloucester and we toured a cathedral and visited a few
                shops then in the evening I went with the pastor of Glebe to a city mission
                meeting
Was a busy week, but I met lots of people and everyone has been super nice. I love the
sense of community here and it's been a good  learning experience already.
That's a bit of an update of what I'm doing! Would love to hear how you guys are
doing!

Edinburgh
Yasmin, Rachel, Fiona, me and Aline

The past three weeks at Tilsley College have flown by. I came with a sense of hesitation and wondering what the heck I had gotten myself into, but I’m leaving with an assurance that I was supposed to be here. I have learned a ton already! I was ‘welcomed’ into the country with a several hour delay at customs, which was a little scary; I thought I would be sent home because I had tried to get the wrong type of visa. After lots of questioning, phone calls, paperwork and prayer, I could come through on a different type of visa. I really am supposed to be here!

There are four other girls in my program, and we’ve all become fast friends, bonding through zumba, learning how to drive on the left side of the road, getting lost and ending up at the coast (oops), day trips to Glasgow and Edinburgh (my fave), doing assignments together, shopping trips and lots of coffee! 

We started the year out taking the same courses as the first year students, completing An Introduction to the Bible, Christian life, God Creation and the Fall, and this week we were starting Children’s Ministry and the book of Luke! Tons of information in a short time, which at times was overwhelming, but it was all really interesting and I learned a lot; especially from the Christian Life course! While I’m in England and India I will be continuing to take a discipleship course a half day a week, which I’m excited about.

I leave tomorrow for England, where I will be living with a family in Newent, Gloucester. I will be attending their church and helping with their kids/youth clubs, coffee times, and whatever else I can do while I’m there to help out.  I will find out more this weekend I’m sure!!

Well hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea of what I’ve been up to the past little while, I’d appreciate your continued prayers through this next stage! Keep me up to date with what's going on in your lives as well :)