The Mountains

After a bottom-numbing 10 hour journey through three states of North India we arrived in a very busy Shimla in time for a beautiful sunset. We climbed up the steep streets to our hotel and settled in a bit before going back down the hill for dinner with unlimited roti (thick oven cooked chapatti). Shimla has one main road from which you climb up or down to access the rest of the city. This means that all the goods that are sold have to be carried up and down to the shops. We often met men carrying packs on their backs that were over 3 times as large at the men and must have weighed a lot! We could hardly get ourselves up and down let alone a wardrobe!

We had two full days there. On the first day we drove higher into the mountains where we could see the huge snow covered peaks of the Himalayas stretching out forever. We got ponies to the top of a peak which was an interesting experience as it was a bit too steep and they often slipped trying to climb the slopes. The views from the top though were absolutely stunning. It’s incredible. We spent a long time just looking.

We got back to Shimla in time to climb to the top of Shimla to the very British (we built it as our summer base) ridge at the top. It was slightly surreal but very cool to be surrounded by British architecture watching the sunset over the mountains with Indian Dance music being blasted out around us!

On the second day Anna and I got up at 6, climbed up to the top and watched the sunrise. Unfortunately due to a bit of mountain in the way we didn’t see the actual sun rise but the changing colour of the sky as dawn broke was amazing. It was good enough to make us go up the next morning with David too.

The rest of the day we spent looking around the market, visiting the British built church and climbing the bit of mountain that was in the way of the sunrise to a temple. It was a steep climb, especially after living in flat Delhi, but it was really great to get completely out of breath. On the way up David and I bought a monkey stick which came in handy when one of the many monkeys at the top decided to be scary and bare its teeth and growl at us! We had ice creams on the way back to cool us down. After each bringing all of the warm clothes we own/had bought in preparation, Shimla turned out to be pretty hot in the daytime. We did wear our balaclavas once or twice but more for fashion that necessity!

We had a really enjoyable, refreshing time.

Naomi

Our Crazy Christmas Week

A bit of a long post- but its really 4 rolled into one…

On Tuesday evening we were invited down to the David’s apartment for some nice pleasant carol singing with some of Johns colleagues. It turns out by colleagues they meant 30 or so Punjabi pastors, complete with Indian drums and tambourines. 30 pastors, a family and an action team don’t really fill well into a small Indian Apartment.

It was probably the most Indian experience we had had so far- each “carol” would begin with a passionate operatic warble from one of the men, and quickly build into a frenzy of dancing and air punching and head wobbling (oh how i love the head wobbling). The guy who was playing the drums was so fast I was pretty sure his hands were going to fall off, it was incredible. Many of there songs would last about 10 minute, and at some point would descend into cheering or shouts of halleluia or oi-oi-oi-oi….!

I was so embarrassed when they demanded a British carol. I tried to beef up Away in a Manger a bit on my guitar, and make it sound at least a bit exciting, but it was such a lame attempt it was hardly worth it. Our carols are just so boring in comparison to theirs.

Once all the pastors had left we waited for our dinner to be made (it was by then 10.30pm), and John asked me if I could preach a Christmas message to the 30 pastors the next day before they left. Could I really turn it down? It was one of those “its the only time this will ever happen” choices, so I took it. I had an almost sleepless night, and was ready with my scrawled noes at 9.30 the next morning to give my 45 minute address (with translation). David Fleck- 18yr old school boy up against 30 theologically trained pastors who coordinate all the churches in North India. Scary stuff. God really gave me words though, and it was a great experience- I even got a Christmas present from them at the end of it.

I think its definitely true that we can learn something from everyone we meet- and everyone gets something slightly different from bible passages. It was a weird feeling, being the youngest in the room and addressing so many people far older and wiser than me, but I learnt so much from it. Exciting stuff.

David

On Wednesday evening we ran a Christingle service at church. We bought 7kg of oranges (for about 2.50) and explained, between candlelit carols, what each bit of the Christingle means. The orange as the world, the red ribbon as Jesus’ blood, the fruit as Gods provision for us and the candle as Jesus, the light of the world. As we explained the different bits we each added that bit to our own Christingle until they were complete. They had never had a Christingle service before so it was great to share it with them.

Afterwards we had the church gift exchange (everyone in the church had the name of someone else and had to spend rs25 (30p) on them). We gave a bouncy ball, wooden flute, biscuits, nut brittle, sweets, socks and a decorated Christmas tree (formerly a weed!). We received hair ties, kit kats, a photo frame and a notebook with quotes about love on every page!

It was a fun evening, unfortunately Becky was ill so she couldn’t come but we took her home a Christingle and some cake!

Naomi

Well on Thursday we had the city school Party, where all the children from the small children to the 3 afternoon classes congregated in the church waiting to see what would happen.  When everyone was there we all started to sing songs together. It was a great sound to hear and an amazing sight to see 50 children or more praising God and doing the actions to the songs.  After we had all sung a few songs, Noami, I and the small children got up and at the front and started to sing the songs that we had been singing for the last month. It was great fun having all the other children watching us and also great to see all the small children singing the songs and remembering them.  Best of all was when we got everyone to do row row your boat.  You would never think that you could do that with so many children in such a small room but we did it.  Then my class started to sing some songs that they had done in song practice.  The children in my class really like singing.  Then after about an hour John came and spoke to them-then the party really started. Some of the children showed us how good they were at dancing and boy could they dance well better than me.  Then everyone else joined in with the moves showing what they could do.  After some cake and sweets we all went home.

On Friday it was the turn of the village school. David and Anna showed us their classes and what they had done with their classes. They both played number of games with the children and once again did lots of singing.  Then Father Christmas came to see them all-not everyone was happy to see him. It took a minute or so of unsure staring, but once one small child had cracked into tears there was no stopping the rest. After everyone had calmed down and Santa revealed he was actually Anand Uncle, they all got presents and  some cakes and off they went.

After the party was over for the kids, the older girls were dancing in their room and got Anna and Noami up too. They were very good and even Santa joined in.  After sharing some food and having a chat we wished everyone a happy Christmas and when home.  it was a great 2 days of having fun with the children and sharing a part of Christmas with them.

Becky

 

On Thursday and Friday evenings we went carol singing with a group from church, which turned out to be somewhat different to carol singing in the UK. We must have looked pretty odd in our ‘uniform’ of white baseball caps, with the scariest-looking Santa you’ve ever seen in-tow – he reduced quite a few children to tears.

Alongside our traditional English hymns we sang the contrasting extremely lively Hindi Christmas songs, and at each house we went to we took turns in sharing a short message from the bible. On Thursday we were based mainly in a fairly well-off area where there was a small Catholic community and on Friday we went outside Dwarka to the area where John’s sister’s family lives. This was definitely the best night; we started singing outside on the street, and as we sang more and more people emerged from the surrounding houses to come and listen. When we switched to Hindi songs everyone went a bit crazy; drums appeared from somewhere and suddenly there was a huge crowd of people jumping around and dancing. We went to a few more houses in the area; trying to cram 15 of us plus a number of random tag-alongs into the very small Indian houses added to the fun.

We finished the evening at John’s sister’s house, where they provided us all with a lot of very good, very spicy food; an excellent way to finish the evening, even if it did make us all cry.*

 *Anna wrote this, it was actually only her that cried.

Anna

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Photos

Due to some weirdo beardo new regulations at our friendly internet cafe, we cant load up photos any more. The search is underway for another place we can use but it might be no more photos. Sad stuff.

David’s Kings

My class despite the fact that they are only about 10 years old, all have exams at the moment- so its only been the really hardcore kids that have been coming to my class recently. For the past couple of weeks there has been about 15 kids, which has actually been really nice- I’m getting to know them really well and I’m able to do better crafts with the smaller group. Today a few kids filtered back in, some of their exams are all over now, so we made up a dance we like to call “Exams are over, YAY”. Its pretty classy, although most of them end up falling over from jumping and spinning too much.

We have been reading part of the Christmas story every day in class for the past week or so. Ive been reading the passage in English (as dramatically as possible for all the kids that have no idea whats going on), and then one of the older girls reads the same bit out from a Hindi bible. Its been so cool, they all drink it up and are asking for us to have a bible story everyday from now on. Hopefully God will really work in them through what they hear and what I share about my faith.

Today we got to the bit with the three kings, since we were adding the kings to the big advent nativity scene I made (they get to add a new character everyday). After telling the story we all made paper crowns together for the Christmas party we’re having on Friday. Its amazing to see the kids getting more confidence in crafts and things- it used to be that all their work would be a carbon copy of my example, only far scruffier from using a rubber about a million times, which was a bit frustrating. I’ve been encouraging to be creative though, and although it takes time they come out with such awesome pieces of work.

Becky’s Snowmen

lessons at school have been very different recently, what with the children all having exams up to Christmas.  We are all having fun lessons at the moment, and most of mine have  involved making something Christmassy with the kids (which I’m finding great fun!).

The best lesson so far would probably be when we made snow men from paper mashé.  When the children walked into the room and saw the piles of news paper and a big bowl on the floor full of boiled flour glue, they had absolutely no idea what they were going to do.  When I explained what they were doing they all started slowly, all trying not to get their hands really messy, until I told them it much easer to get messy and give it a shot. They all dived straight in.  After that there was no stopping them, they really enjoyed it so much that when they had all made about 4 snowmen each and all the paper mashé had gone they all were asking if they could do it again the next day.

It was really great to see their faces, doing what I’m sure was something different for them.  They all really enjoyed it and they are all really enjoying the activities we are doing for Christmas.  All you can see is big smiles across their faces and after every lesson they are asking what they are going to do tomorrow.  Knowing that the children are happy with the class makes me even happier since I know I’m doing a good job and they are all learning something new.  The children are also really enjoying the christmas story and every day are asking to learn more- its so amazing to see.

Becky 

Morning Routine

We begin every day with devotions; this takes place at John and Abha’s apartment and everyone involved in teaching and the running of Anusaran meets to pray and read the bible together. We’re all on the rota to lead this now and it’s been a really good way to start the day (it’s not too early either!)

From there Naomi and Becky walk to the city school which is 15 minutes or so from our apartment, to be in time for their boys class at 10.30. They have only been doing this class recently, and are finding it challenging but in a good way. The boys are about our age, which must be hard for them. Recently when set the task of writing a story in groups, one boy retold the story of titanic- with him as the main character, he didn’t even change the name of the ship!

David and I have about an hour before leaving for the village school so we usually go back to our apartment to tidy and prepare our lessons, unless we stay and help Arnold revise for his exams.

Anand Uncle then drives us to school at about 11.30. The drive is always fun; the roads are really good where we live, but as we get closer to the village the holes in the road start to get deeper and wider, and there doesn’t really seem to be a rule about which side of the road vehicles (or cows) pass each other. There are always lots of strange things to see as well, like goats climbing trees, people selling fish out of holes in the ground, and what we thought was a river that just smelt a bit funny, but is actually a massive, open sewer.

We teach the girls for an hour at 12.30, it feels a bit strange teaching them as nearly all of them are older than us, especially as they ask our permission to enter the classroom, even at lunchtime. They are all really lovely though, and recently we have divided into two groups so I can teach really basic English to new comers (A, B, Cs) while David teaches the rest conversational English and scenarios. We all eat lunch together which is nice, but the girls all tend to share their food, and when we join them we usually end up with something insanely spicy in return!

Anna 

Evenings

In the evenings we do lots of church activities; the church here is quite small-around 30 (although at least half are children), which has meant that everyone is really close, and without wanting to sound to cheesy it really is like a family!

On Wednesdays we have ‘bible talk’; usually around half the congregation meet at church for an interactive talk, some worship and games. We have all had a chance to lead it now, which I found a little scary, as the talk is basically a sermon. I was extremely grateful for the fact that everything has to be translated, as this means you have thinking time after each sentence!

We have ‘song practice’ on Fridays; this was started by John and Abha’s son Arnold, who is only 15, but is really involved with the church – he frequently translates for Sunday services. Around 8 children and some of the youth from church go, and we practice songs for the Sunday service (usually half Hindi, half English). This is always good fun, even if the singing isn’t particularly tuneful – the general rule seems to be ‘pick a starting note and tune and just go for it!’ At the moment we’re preparing some Christmas songs for carol singing, which we’ll be doing for two full days just before Christmas (they take it quite seriously). Their version of carol singing seems to be a lot more worthwhile than the English version – every house you go to you get given a full meal!

After singing for half an hour we have instrumental lessons – David teaches half of the children guitar and I teach the other half piano. This is a bit of a challenge as we only have one keyboard and one and a half guitars, but the children seem to be really enjoying it, particularly Sandeep (see the post on morning devotions) who looks forward to the guitar lessons all week and talks about barely anything else!

Thursday evenings are set aside for ‘family time’; this is when the whole church is meant to spend some proper time with their families. We have spent quite a few of these evenings with the David family (John, Abha, Arnold and Christy); as they have practically adopted us anyway! Last Thursday we went to see a bollywood film called ‘Om Shanti Om’ which was completely mad, but extremely good. Abha says that Indians like their films as they like their food – with lots of spices. This means most bollywood films include horror, romance, comedy, tragedy, music, dance, action and anything else you could possibly want in a film. The result is a little overwhelming, but very entertaining!

Every last Tuesday in the month we have ‘Roshni (hindi for light) group’, which is for the women and young girls in the church. This really is as stereotypically ‘girly’ as it could be – we sit in the church, decorated with fake flowers and perfumed with incense for the occasion and talk about our feelings over tea and samosas!

Until recently there were church activities every evening, except Saturday, with most of the responsibility falling directly on John and Abha. They were getting burnt out though, and this new timetable has given them (and us!) time for relaxing and time to concentrate on preparing things well and really concentrating on taking the work of Anusaran forwards.

Anna

Dengue

On sunday 11th of November all the members of our morning devotion group (Sumetra, Joginder, Sandeep, Mariam Aunty, Anand Uncle, John, Abha, Arnold, Christie and the four of us-so 13 in all I think) went to KFC for an evening treat from Ruth as her leaving present to us all. It was all a bit crazy really- Joginder broke his life long vegetarianism to an outbreak of applause in the middle of KFC, and it was Mariam Aunties second experience of the metro and escalators- it was hilarious to watch her hesitating for ages before leaping nervously on and off. It wasnt made explicit but we also think it was the furthest that Sumetra has ever been from home, despite the fact that it was a 30 minute metro journey away. After a very filling meal, as a treat we toured the surrounding mall. We found it quite challenging that everything was so novel to them, and way beyond their way of living. Like when we came to the sofa and armchair section of the department store they were all excitedly trying them all out and having fun working out how to make the recliners work. Anouther exciting thing was that I stood in Elephant poo while crossing the road.

Anyway, on the journey back I started to feel really rough, and that night didnt sleep at all because of joint pains and a really high fever. In the morning I decided to go into school anyway but I ended up sleeping in the office until it was time for my class. It was probably a rubbish class for my kids but they were so sweet to me and refused to play any games at the end of the lesson because they knew I was sick and so instead they took it in turns to stand up and say in hinglish what they liked about me- there were even a few handsoms and beautifuls in the mix of descriptions!

That night was worse since I had chills and began being sick, in/through my mosquito net which wasn’t very pleasant. Thanks to Becky, Naomi and Anna for clearing it up-thats team bonding at its purest. The next day I was still unwell and so missed school, and John and Abha convinced me to go to the doctors in the evening. The doctor seemed pretty convinced it was a stomach infection and so prescribed me some pills to take down my temperature and some antibiotics.

Two days later however I was still a bit unwell and having not kept any food down since Monday was quite weak, so we went to the doctor again. It was a bit embarrassing because everytime I had to sit up I would faint, but they insisted on doing the blood test and injections while sitting up, which was fun.

The blood test was really inconclusive but it sort of indicated that my platelets in my blood were really low which is apparently a sign of dengue, but I was coughing blood and stuff so the doctor told me to go to hospital.

Hospital was cool. It smelt really weird and was full of sick people but the staff were nice to me so it was ok. There was a man that arrived every morning after my 6am drip change to offer me a sponge bath, which I always politely declined. Something to do with lying down all day and not moving much made my hair go into a really bad swept back sort of fluffy side parting, which I tried to correct on every toilet trip. Something to watch out for if you are ever in hospital.

I cant actually remember much from being in hospital, I think I was half asleep for most of it and it was relatively uneventful. I found the hindi equivalent of cartoon network so I watched that most of the time, and then at the end of my second day I found an English film channel that was showing….STAR WARS. I’d forgotten how good and bad they are at the same time, it was a very refreshing time.

It was quite funny the number of illnesses they went through before finally deciding on Dengue- At various points I apparntly had malaria, a stomach infection, a liver infection, a throat infection, some weird disease you get from milk, the flu, and I think one doctor said something about my kidneys at some point. They eventually decided on dengue though, which is my personal favorite, except maybe the milk disease. My platelets were the thing that worried them most- they were thinking a blood transfusion was going to be imminent, and that I had to find my own doner. It tuns out the entire David family except John are all B+ though, so I’m in good company if I ever need blood.

The most exciting part of my hospital visit was my discharge. About half an hour before a doctor had told me I would need to stay anouther 3 days at least, so I was feeling a bit down, so it was so amazing to be told I could leave. the coolest thing is you get to keep all the stuff- Xrays, ultrasounds, about 50 sheets of paper doctors have written on… So I have a really cool Xray of my chest and skull, and a Symptoms sheet saying “Devid Pleek” has “rashes on face”. I tried to explain achne to them, but they couldn’t understand.

I’m now fully better, so thanks to everyone who was praying, to John and Abha and my team for looking after me, and to Franklin Quereshi for his endless supply of Tropicana, which are all helped my quick recovery.

David

Morning Devotions

Every morning at the very laid back time of 9.30 we go down to John and Abhas Flat for morning devotions. There are about 13 of us in all that come-

Sumetra Didi (didi is added to mean sister- its a respect thing everyone does), who is 17 and as well as being in Naomi’s girls class also cleans and cooks for us often.

Sandeep Bhaiyah (bhaiyah meaning older brother), who is 19 and co-teaches in Becky’s class on occasion. He has the gift of healing and often arrives with stories of how he has used his gift (our favorite so far is when he slept on a cylindrical pillow despite his dad telling him not to, and waking up with neck pain which he just prayed would be healed and it was. Not quite the moral we were expecting when he first told us.)

Joinder Bhaiyah, who is 18 and cycles to devotions after his morning tutoring, then goes to the boys class at Anusaran that Naomi and Becky teach.

Anand Uncle, The administrator for Anusaran and general does everything man, including driving Anna and me to and from the village school.

Mariam Aunty, The extremely funny wife of Anand Uncle, who works at the city school (their house is next door and some of their rooms are used for classes)

John, Abha and occasionally Arnold and Christie (depending on whether school is on or not), our host family/adopted family.

And of course the four of us. We take it in turns to do the devotions, a 15 minute ish message on something that has spoken to us from the bible followed by a time of sharing and prayer. Everything is translated, and I’m not sure if there are sometimes miss translations because some of the phrases that have come out of devotions are hilarious. Most recently was Abhas translation of a story Anand Uncle told of how God provided money to buy their young son a jacket for school, where the story finished with “And its a reversible Jacket, praise God!”.

We all really enjoy devotions, although it is sometimes slightly stressful to think of a message to give when you forget its your morning. The devotions crew is like our family really, we are getting to know them really well and they are all such great people.

Praise God for reversible Jackets.

David