Wednesday 17 February 2010

Tuesday work continues

Well apologies for if we are a little behind with the blog and the previous disconnection, a combination of little time, weary bodies and an Internet facility that is as reliable as a sundial at midnight. Tuesday morning we arrive to "devotion time" where the team sit with Sabot (phonetic spelling) who is the leader of the Asha building and the women and children, we join in the worship to the lord in Hindi and thanks to Heathers resource fullness we sing them a few English songs too.

Afterwards the team crack back into the painting, the creations are really starting to come alive now as more animals are filled in, shading is applied and little touches are being added. I have discovered a new talent in my life as a shark I had drawn actually looks like a shark and not just a blob of colours which is how I expected it to turn out:)

At lunch time we sat on the roof, one side looks straight into the slum buildings, the are arranged in all sizes, shapes and colours, extension after extension is built skywards most finished off without just a sheet of plastic held down by bricks for a roof, and a variety of materials holding the building together, it all looks like one big storm would bring the lot down. Around the rest of the building is waste land full of litter but there is a toilet block next door, we sit and eat our peanut butter and marmite sandwhiches as we watch a boy on one of the roofs play with a flock of birds, he whistles to them whilst he is waving a rag around, we watch in amazement as he controls their flight around the sky periodically landing them where he grooms them, cleans their wings gives one a kiss then waves them back into the sky. (We watch this boy and clap every day)
In the afternoon two groups leave for the slums for a prayer walk, visiting homes and meeting the people within. A few people are in extremely dire conditions, in small darkened rooms and left to fend for themselves, I didn't go but when the group when they returned and told their stories you couldn't help but notice the effect of the experience on their faces it was so dramatic.

Heather did some singing games with the children whilst work continued on the painting, the day finished very quickly it seems though we had only just arrived.

In the evening I got to see my daughter Hannah Branch and Geni Corbett who are working at two other slums for Asha teaching English. It was good to see them well and full of God's blessing ,I also got to meet Joti's lovely sister Shamilla and her husband Randel who are providing the accomodation for them, they are an amazing christian couple full of Gods love and are simply a joy to be with. I can't thank them enough for looking after the girls.

Alan..

PS this blog crashed 3 times trying to post it so excuse any errors..I am also trying to rid it of the virus window that was bouncing around the screen whilst typing!

1 comment:

  1. Hi Alan and all the team. Thank you so much for your perseverance with the Delhi superhighway! It sounds frustrating, but it is so good hearing your news and getting an insight into what you are doing and how you are feeling. In our admin team meeting today, we prayed for you and had the following:

    - A picture of you (the team) in a TV screen, with God watching. But the message is He's not watching from afar, He's right there, involved.

    - A sense that someone (or more) might see some difficult things but that it would be life-transforming / could change the direction of their life.

    - A sense of relevance about 1 John 3, particularly the last sentence of this extract:

    This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

    Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

    Ginny also sends her special love and an assurance of her prayers. God bless.

    Love Jane, Sarah, Liz and Clare (admin team)

    ReplyDelete

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