First I have to say that if you have a birthday while an Asha mission is on - its definitely the place to have one - it was mine (John) yesterday and the team gave me a day to remember with lunch in an American diner, in the midst of an English imperial style hotel, in the midst of an Indian city - one of the endless contrasts of India we are becoming used to.
After our days of preparation today was our first working day in the slum. The day began with a sense of nervous anticipation, with some of the team feeling slightly unwell and some short of sleep. However, by giving the day over to God, we felt a sense of safety and encouragement and as sonn as we arrived at the slum we were met with such a warm welcome that these difficulties were quickly forgotten.
After dividing into two groups to begin transforming the rooms - one quickly became an undersea world populated with starfish, seahorses, and a very cheerful looking shark -painted by Alan who previously professed to have no artististic talent! The other became a panorama of dinosaurs, soon to be joined by pterodactyls. With God inspiring our brushes we made much quicker progress than we'd expected and now hope to be able to paint more of the building than originally planned.
Throughout our work we were accompanied by many smiling faces as the children popped their heads round the door to check on our progress.
Blog was disconnected yesterday before posting to be continued later...
BELATED BIRTHDAY WISHES, JOHN!
ReplyDeletejanette