Marty & Kaz Go to India: Teacher's Day

Think we might have already mentioned that we have now officially moved into our flat! We moved in on Monday last week, and that evening had some friends and the Ashirvad staff over for a time of singing and prayer. It was a wonderful evening and we felt so blessed to be among such an amazing group of people, and to share with them in our home here. They are like a second family to us, and have been a real comfort as we are missing you all.

This week all the schools had Teacher’s Day, where the kids honour their teachers and do special things for them. The Ashirvad children had this at school, but also put together a program for the staff at the home on Saturday. It was amazing!! The kids scripted and put together this whole performance all by themselves. First up, a couple of the girls did a skit about their teachers. Then the boys did a skit about helping a boy who couldn’t attend school, but had to sell vegetables for his family (see photos of us and the kids playing around with the vegetables beforehand!). The girls also presented some dances and the kids gave out cards to the staff.

After that, all the staff had to take it in turns to pick an activity from a box made up by the children. It included things like singing a song, telling a story, dancing, doing a fashion show etc. We had a lot of laughs watching the staff!! And of course we got involved as well - Marty had to do a 'silly face' - I got this on video and will share with you all one day!

Following this, was musical chairs with the staff, run by the children – again, a lot of laughs! Finally, we all had a time of dancing together, which was heaps of fun. I tried out some Bollywood moves, and Marty and I showed off a few Western dance moves too.

The children are INCREDIBLE!! They put the whole thing together themselves, and it was just beautiful to see the relationship they have with the staff – there is genuine love between them, which is awesome. The home is a real family environment for these children. A new child was brought to the home on Saturday as well, and again it was so wonderful to see the children embracing this girl – welcoming her and looking out for her. And exciting for us to see another child being rescued!

This morning we were invited to lead worship and speak at the church of Rajiv Devdas. This was a huge privilege for us! They don’t have any instruments or musicians, so we borrowed the small keyboard from Ashirvad and lead the time of singing. We were invited to speak as well, so we shared a bit of our testimony about why we have come to India, and encouraged the people to seek God’s calling on their lives and follow after it. This was done through a translator, as the congregation was a mix of Hindi and English speakers, so that was a new and interesting experience for us.

Next week we’ll be getting stuck into more at Ashirvad – spending time with the children and staff, and helping out with administration and organising the outstanding items for construction. The compound wall was started this week, so we’ll try and get a pic of that up asap.

Love to all of you!! xoxo