Day 6:
Day 7: Sangita Orphanage Day
Today we had the opportunity to spend a day at Sangita, the orphanage started by Paul and Grace. After hearing some initial stories about the orphanage from Paul, we headed out to a program for the widows of the surrounding community. We were so blessed to witness over 250 widows gathered for a short program and provisions of rice and sugar. Some of us were able to hand out the food to the women while others had the chance to pray over these women. It was impactful to hear stories of the lives of these women who are cast out and do not have value after their husband dies. The women can only enter the house if they can bring food which is why a lot of women make the effort to come. A lot of the widows suffer from many health problems as they chew tobacco to suppress hunger. It was very moving to see their smiling faces, the genuine joy of seeing us there despite all of the hardships we know they are suffering from.
The orphanage is a home to about ninety children. We had the pleasure of playing with the kids for the afternoon. All of the children were so happy to interact with us. All of their smiling faces brought us much joy. We sang songs, played with bubbles, and performed a few skits. Jenni shared the Gospel with the kids using the evangecube. We all had the opportunity to pray with the children in smal;l groups.
Before we left we met with the staff of the home. All of the women who work at the orphanage have a unique story. We wanted to make sure they knew how much we appreciated what they were doing and to affirm them in their work with the kids.
Day 8:
Day 9:
We had a 6am wakeup call to head to St. George's. We helped the Life Sports Academy girls prepare for their tournament that day. We played a practice match. All of us were struggling to find energy as it was early in the morning and a slow paced game. We spoke in an assembly in front of the school. We sang Father Abraham for the kids and did not get a lively response. We thought it went terribly, but Reegan said that they enjoyed our song. We went to the tournament to support the girls from our clinic. It was fun watching their game. During our lunch break we had a chance to talk about how things were going so far. It was really a turning point for all of us. We were feeling tired from the grind of each day, but we recommitted our time here to God knowing that we are here to serve. We decided to pray before each day to let our attitudes be positive and to be ready to serve God the best we can.
It was a long bus ride to St. Joseph's, a college of 20,000 students. It was a beautiful campus with gorgeous facilities. We had a program in front of the students. They performed a song and a dance for us. We had the chance to perform a skit and share a little bit of our stories with them. We played a match against their girls team, the best team in Tamil Nadu. This was our first formal match with real referees and lineups. They do things a little differently, so we had no clue what to do. But, we had a blast playing in front of a crowd. We were definitely the crowd favorites :) After the match, they served us an amazing dinner. I think we all would agree that it was our best meal and match we've had so far.
Day 10:
Not sure if we'll have the internet in Trichy, but hope to write again soon. Thanks for all your prayers. We really appreciate it!
Love, Megan
In the morning we played a match against a boys team at a Hindu school. The school was huge and it had over 6,000 students. It was the first time CSF has been able to come to the school so it was really cool to be there. It was very encouraging to hear from the principal that he loved having us come and would love to continue times for CSF to help with sports. We played a pick up match against a club team at a training facility. In the middle of the game it started pouring down rain! It was the BEST feeling ever. We enjoyed another cell group at Sebastian's house at night. He was a very gracious host and served us a wonderful dinner.
Day 7: Sangita Orphanage Day
Today we had the opportunity to spend a day at Sangita, the orphanage started by Paul and Grace. After hearing some initial stories about the orphanage from Paul, we headed out to a program for the widows of the surrounding community. We were so blessed to witness over 250 widows gathered for a short program and provisions of rice and sugar. Some of us were able to hand out the food to the women while others had the chance to pray over these women. It was impactful to hear stories of the lives of these women who are cast out and do not have value after their husband dies. The women can only enter the house if they can bring food which is why a lot of women make the effort to come. A lot of the widows suffer from many health problems as they chew tobacco to suppress hunger. It was very moving to see their smiling faces, the genuine joy of seeing us there despite all of the hardships we know they are suffering from.
The orphanage is a home to about ninety children. We had the pleasure of playing with the kids for the afternoon. All of the children were so happy to interact with us. All of their smiling faces brought us much joy. We sang songs, played with bubbles, and performed a few skits. Jenni shared the Gospel with the kids using the evangecube. We all had the opportunity to pray with the children in smal;l groups.
Before we left we met with the staff of the home. All of the women who work at the orphanage have a unique story. We wanted to make sure they knew how much we appreciated what they were doing and to affirm them in their work with the kids.
We went straight to a cell group at Thomas' house. It was a great evening of worship and testimony. It was a long ride home, but we played a few games of mafia to pass the time!
Day 8:
We had a match against a girls college team in the morning. After waiting for three hours to play, we finally did and we won. We welcomed a new player, Suku, who plays on a college team here in India. It was fun having on the court with us. For lunch we went to Sparky's, one of the restaurants with American food in Chennai. We were all very excited for this lunch and it was awesome to have a change of pace. In the afternoon, we went to another school for a clinic. We met with the principal and were served biscuits, cashews, and coffee. A few of us had the chance to share our testimony after the clinic. We went to a cell group at Franklin's house. Despite the power outage, the cell group had many people there ready to worship God. They presented us with flowers as a welcoming gift. Franklin's family provided us a wonderful dinner of rice, chicken, cucumbers, and mangos for dessert. Franklin's father is a pastor of Glorious Gospel Church. They are in the process of building a new church builidng. We all went to the property and prayed over the church. They have the foundation completed but as of now they do not have enough money to continue. They need $20,000 in the next three months to finish the church before the rainy season starts.
Day 9:
We had a 6am wakeup call to head to St. George's. We helped the Life Sports Academy girls prepare for their tournament that day. We played a practice match. All of us were struggling to find energy as it was early in the morning and a slow paced game. We spoke in an assembly in front of the school. We sang Father Abraham for the kids and did not get a lively response. We thought it went terribly, but Reegan said that they enjoyed our song. We went to the tournament to support the girls from our clinic. It was fun watching their game. During our lunch break we had a chance to talk about how things were going so far. It was really a turning point for all of us. We were feeling tired from the grind of each day, but we recommitted our time here to God knowing that we are here to serve. We decided to pray before each day to let our attitudes be positive and to be ready to serve God the best we can.
It was a long bus ride to St. Joseph's, a college of 20,000 students. It was a beautiful campus with gorgeous facilities. We had a program in front of the students. They performed a song and a dance for us. We had the chance to perform a skit and share a little bit of our stories with them. We played a match against their girls team, the best team in Tamil Nadu. This was our first formal match with real referees and lineups. They do things a little differently, so we had no clue what to do. But, we had a blast playing in front of a crowd. We were definitely the crowd favorites :) After the match, they served us an amazing dinner. I think we all would agree that it was our best meal and match we've had so far.
Today was another early morning. We had a clinic for 15-17 year old boys this monring. They were so fun to play and to work with. We were so impressed with their work ethic for a Saturday morning. We went straight to another clinic with young girls between 13-16. We all had a small group of five girls that we got to spend a lot of time with during the clinic. Kassen, Jenni, Abbie, and I went swimming in the pool which was incredible. It felt so good to be in the water. In the afternoon, we had a third clinic for boys and girls. Kassen and Abbie worked with the boys and the rest of us worked with the girls. We played a practice match against the boys. Thomas, Reegan, and the PE teacher played with the boys, but we still won. We made the boys sing Father Abraham as punishment. For dinner we had pizza hut. We were all very hungry and loved the meal. We also had delicious ice cream for dessert! We packed up all our stuff and we are Trichy bound in the morning. We are going to Reegan's church and then we'll head off on our six hour drive to Trichy.
Not sure if we'll have the internet in Trichy, but hope to write again soon. Thanks for all your prayers. We really appreciate it!
Love, Megan
No comments:
Post a Comment