What will heaven be like?

With the tragedy that happened on Monday, I thought that it would be a good idea to talk about heaven with the boys. I made a crown and we put what we thought Heaven was like:

Shubaum- cricket

Rahul- swimming

Ashish- picnic

Then the next day I brought another sheet that was for them to put," What will happen when I met Jesus?" Since there was so many of them I can not remember who said what. But their answers consisted of...

holding his hand, dancing with him, seating with him, eating with him (which was then followed by them shouting out apples, mangoes, and bananas).

Ratan said that he wants to sing with the Angles and Mukund said," Living in love", which is their school motto.

t was really interesting to hear what they thought. It was also hard to hear one of them say that they would be with their parents. From time to time I love to close my eyes and imagine what heaven will be like. The Bible promises 4 things-no pain, no tears, no death, and no sadness.

Wouldn't that be nice?

Tech high

It was been a little hard the last couple of weeks because there has not been internet and the phone was not working. I felt really out of it. One of the other volunteers had the feeling of isolation. But in reality the internet has been working, we have power 85% of the time, and my I-pod has not been dying on me, like it used to. But I realized how amazing I feel after I do have that connect with “the outside world”. I love hearing what others are doing and seeing pictures on Facebook. My favorite is listening to podcast of church from the other side of the world. I can be filled up without even getting out of bed. I look forward to coming home after lunch, hopping into bed and “going to church.” Technology has it’s downfalls, do not get me wrong, but I could not wait to look at pictures of what people dressed up for on Halloween.

it is okay to laugh

Working at the school can be at times a challenge. The younger kids that I work with do not know much English. When you are trying to teach them and they can not understand you it gets a little frustrating. I have had two students from first grade for the last two months. They have been working hard in class, but they do not do anything at home. It doesn’t help that their parents can not help them because they too, do not know any English. This week on the other hand was a great success. Eloise finally understood me I was reading Curious George and he laughed at a funny part. All the kids looked at him, they did not understand, he looked shy, and I said, “No, it is funny you can laugh.” He understood what was going on in the story. When I first got here they could not read. Now, both of my students can now read 100 words, I made them a little certificate.
Susanna passed all her timed multiplication test We have been studying so hard for them since January. I thought that she would never get it, but she has. Her English has also improved so much. She has a million questions now that she can talk. It is so cool to see success

but she was so young

Over the weekend one of the girls in my class that I teach suddenly died. She was having stomach pain and her parents took her to the hospital. The first time the doctor said that she was going to be okay and the second time they said that nothing could be done. I told Ratan and Bhorot what had happened but they did not really believe me and are too young to understand. It was really hard tp be in the class today, because I was not sure what to say and her little friends were so upset. Bailey Mam was in pieces. She kept saying, "She was such a sweet girl, she never gave me any trouble." I read them a book about. What Happens When We Die, but I am not sure that they understood.

After school all the teachers went over to her house. We went into the mothers room. I have heard anyone cry like that, and I pray that I will never again will hear such a cry. Frieda had printed out a picture of the class from the beginning to the school. The mother was holding the picture and started to wail. It was so sad. She said that her daughter loved school and talked about the teacher and about me. I was only with the class for a little bit during the day, so I did not think that she would talk about me, but the mom said that she would. She wanted to be a doctor and spent a lot of time with the grandfather, "doctoring him up." My heart broke for this family. Please pray for this family and their son Shivam, who is in sixth grade, he just lost his only sister and everyone keeps telling him to be strong for his mother, but he is so young. And for the Bisht family.

SUPERMAN!!!!

Our Fall Festival { Halloween} was a great success. I busted out the capes that my Mom made the boys in the morning so that they had ideas for the party. Thapa ran and put his Superman underwear over his jeans and took off. All their costumes fit their unique personalities. Rahul, was the loving and kind Santa Claus, Bharat was the tough Batman, Ratan was a little mouse from Prince Caspian. They were all so cute. We had a little costume contest. Thapa won in his Superman costume. One of the big boys said that I was as beautiful as a peacock. I think that was the best complement that I have ever received. After being with everyone we went back to the house for more treats. The spider cake did not turn out the best, it was the first cake of the season, and really under cooked. But we ate sooo much. I asked the boys, "What was the best part of the day?"

Nanda- Playing cricket.

John- dressing up

Rahul- My stomach is full.

It was the best Halloween ever, because it was not for me but for them.

all the girls

Nibha was Pippi Longstockings, me a peacock, Amanda the Taj Mahal, Ruth was an Indian, Kalana was an alien, Susanna was a baby peacock, and Shanon a princess(she is so beautiful!)

Bharat loves the capes!

Halloween was a beautiful day!

Me in the mist of all the boys
I gave them the capes in the morning so that they could plan out their outfits for night.

("pic-a-nic baskets")

Rahul got to ride a camel!!! He was a little scared but I threw him up there. Asher said the guy wanted money, but I did not have any. It was short lived, but he was super excited.
Being mobbed by the boys.

When I was a Sophomore in school, my grandma gave me a picnic basket. Ever since then I wanted to go with a special somebody on a picnic and use that basket. But I have yet too. Today I went on my first picnic with the boys. Anytime they go somewhere off the campus they call it a picnic. When they said that we were going I was so excided. One of the big boys asked if I was going to wear a sari, I was thinking more a cute dress and a blanket with red and white checkers, but wrong culture. Amanda said that we were going to go hiking and swimming. I thought that it might be too cold, but still brought stuff. When we got there and it was brown water I was not sure about the swimming idea. But the boys hopped in. I had to change into my pants and swimming shirt where the cows live in some little house, but I was ready. The current was so strong it takes you 50 feet down from where you would think that you would cross. We went climbing up the mountain. I was in flip flops because I did not intend to climb up. It was so much fun to be with the older boys whom I usually do not see, since we are so busy with the younger ones. To get down we had to slide!!! It was so cool!!! I little blood on my hands but I made it. After that we made it back to all the others and had amazing food. It was the best picnic I was ever on and I did not even need my basket.

Will I ever fit in?

one of the girls from my class
all the girls

at the wedding

No matter how hard I try I do not think that I will ever fit in. It is hard to look around and never see anyone, besides the other volunteers, that looks like me. I henna my hair, wear bangles, and try to rock the kurtas, but without success. The whole sari thing is a different story, I am always pulling, tugging, pinning, and complaining, it just doesn’t work.

We went to a wedding over the weekend, and I felt like an animal. Everyone was looking, pointing, and taking pictures with their cameras ( you know that those never turn out good). They all want to practice their one English phase with us, "Hello, How are you?" It is fine if it is only one person, but there was so many people. I do not like attention and felt really uncomfortable.

On the farm it is a different story. The boys all accept us and do not treat us differently. I keep trying to get the boys think that we look like family. Even though I wear the same color sweaters, Bharat will not say that we look the same. (Maybe if I give him a toffee it would be a different story.) But the longer that I am here I can see that we are beginning to mold together. They use the word "potty" and speak English to each other, where they used to only speak Hindi. They have learned so much from all the stories that we told them, the books that we have read, and the visitors that have come.

I was very encouraged this week to see how hard all the boys are working. If they finish their school work early we have been making packets of extra work that they can do. They have been reviewing, reading, and studying so hard. The boys were not excited when I told them that I had extra division work that they had to do, but when I put a piece of construction paper and a sticker on the packets of division worksheets, they were all about it.

As I was sitting the other day in the yard doing school work with the boys I realized what an amazing opportunity it is to be sharing life with these boys. I asked Amanda, "How will I ever be able to leave this place?"

Even though I will never look like them and at times feel like a circus animal, on the farm I feel like I am part of a family.