Winding Down...

Today as I write this we have just completed our last day of classes at St Paul's Lutheran School. The kids are so very enthusiastic and we've had a wonderful time teaching them bible stories and songs such as: The Hippo Song, Awesome God, Read your Bible, and their favorite Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah-try singing that at the top of your lungs! Quite the experience to say the least! In the afternoon some of us have gone to the school to play cricket with the students. On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday we have Gospel meetings in the evening and on Tuesday we will be having a farewell service at the school and then we will be going swimming in the Bay of Bengal. Then on Wednesday we will be travelling down to Chennai on the train and leaving on Thursday in the wee hours of the morn.
We have been amazed at how hard they all work. Some of the grade tens will work from 9:30 till 5:30 on their school work, then in the evening they have study time at the school, not to mention all the time they spend at home. The construction workers across from where we are staying carry cement on their heads for hours on end as well. It seems that heads are the choice mode of transporting materials, whether it is straw, wood, bricks, or produce for the market. Another thing we noticed is that at the Gospel meetings the people are so much more thirsty for the Word. The meetings can go on for many hours and they are just content to sit on the ground listening, the kids are especially surprising. They will sit there the whole time without one ounce of complaining and when they get tired they simply lay down and fall asleep under their shawls.
Well, our time in India is drawing to a close and we as a team, are so thankful for everything God, has shown us and the people we have been blessed through. I do not think we are going to soon forget the amazing people we have met here and the amazing things God has shown to us. Everyone of us will come back a changed person from this trip. There is not a single person that has not had some part of themselves changed. We have all learned something and we praise God for that.
Elizabeth