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Greetings from Delhi!

Kaity, Grace, and I are glad to be back in Delhi.  We got back Saturday night from Dehradun, a hill station city about 6 hours north of here by train (it was super fun to ride the train and see some Indian countryside).   The place we stayed at was absolutely gorgeous.  We were placed on the side of a mountain, green trees and brightly colored flowers everywhere, and mountains for miles on each side of us.  The campus was well kept and very clean.   There was a large platform at the top and  we could look out over the entire city of Dehradun- we were all just in awe of G’s beauty and how blessed we were to be there. 

Every summer for the past several years, a couple families who live in India put on a MK camp for the kids of believing families from all over North India.  There were kids from the UK, Australia, Korea, America, Norway, Denmark, Nepal, and India.  It was amazing to see people from all over the world gathered together b/c of one simple commonality- JC.  We got to hear from alot of the parents on drop-off and pick-up day  about how they ended up being m’s in India and all the different kinds of ministries there are here.  Not only were we wowed by all of the parents’ faith, but the kids as well!  All three of us had a different group of kids to share a cabin with and hold b studies for.   We were all so impressed by the stories some of these kids had to share, ways they have been witnesses to their nonbelieving friends, and their servant hearts. 

Here’s what a normal day might look like:  wake up, staff meeting, go wake up our kids, morning devo, breakfast (yummy indian food all week!!!), morning celebration consisting of songs, a preview to that day’s theme, and games (led by different counselors each day), b study/recreation, lunch, quiet time, playstation (arts n’ crafts, sharp shooter, or water sports), free time, each cabin performs a cheer, dinner, party, worship/talk on Daniel, bed time.  Whew! such long days but good days!  We also went to a water part one day- and got to wear really cool Indian swimsuits!  We thought it was funny the way that when the wave pool turned on, everything else shut off- i guess for lack of water.  So we had a park-wide party in the wave pool every 45 minutes.     

Each of us got close to come of the other counselors as well.  There were a few Indians, some j-men, and also short term volunteers like us.  I dont think there’s anything that makes people get to know each other faster than a week at camp.  We plan on keeping up with these friendships for a long time- campers and counselors. 

But now we are back in Delhi, missing the clean fresh air and beautiful scenery, but happy to get back to our work here.  We are beginning to recognize more and more the importance of our work at ASL.  We’ve been planning our our next two and a half weeks (all we have left here!!)  We’ve decided to introduce to them the character of G thru OT stories, go into the life and miracles of J, and then share the good news.  Having walked through the streets of the neighborhood we’re holding camp in and heard stories of what life is like in this village- we really just want our message to be of hope.  Not only hope for eternal life, but an abundant life now.  That despite what their life looks like right now- they can have joy, satisfaction, and peace thru knowing their Creator.  We’ve also recognized how much of a blessing it is that we had to just pull kids off the street as opposed to having kids sign up and pay.  We now dont have any responsibility to teaching them English (even though thats still what we are doing).  But we are able to shift our focus to more important things.  We teach them short sentences with sign language each day and two of the teachers at the school who live near by said that thats what they hear these kids yelling in the streets all day long.  Things like “peace, love, and joy flow from J” or “G’s strength delivers me from trials” or “I am special and loved by God”.  To hear those things shouted in the streets is just kind of amazing. 

Tomorrow we are meeting up at a woman’s house with a couple girls who are volunteers here for the summer.  They were taugh how to do mahindi (henna) and tell stories from the B.  They use it as a way to reach people here through an art form they are familiar with, with the good news .  And they are going to teach us how to do it!!  fun!  I’m especially interested in seeing how art is used as ’work’   here. 

Thanks for reading!  This was rather long- but we hadn’t writen in a long time so i figured you would want to be filled in on whats going on here!

Love, Rachel

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