Christmas time is here!

Time is flying by! Tomorrow night we leave for our big trip around India. We are literally going all the way AROUND India, clockwise. Right now we aren’t sure where we will be on Christmas and on New Years. Christmas spirit literally began on December 1^st here at school. Trevor, Sid, and I have to remind ourselves it’s the holidays usually, or else we forget that it’s not still September. It’s still hot outside. We are still wearing the same four t-shirts we have been wearing since we got here. Maybe for Christmas we will pull out some of our clean ones we haven’t worn yet, Merry Christmas to us! J

          
On December 1, we began singing Christmas songs for staff worship. A little while ago, Sid got a package from home with some Christmas lights and candles in it, so we spruced up our little house! At night when we have our little white and colored lights on and the candles lit, you would almost think there was snow on the ground outside. We have attended four different Christmas program put on by the girl’s children home, boy’s children home, girls hostel, and boys hostel this week. For the girls programs, they usually have some special choreographed dances, some with candles. They are very nice! The young boys did a nativity play. Mary was one of the smaller boys wrapped up in some girls scarf with a sweatshirt wadded up under it as his pregnant belly. The best part was when his belly fell out while he was walking down the aisle! All the hostels have such amazing decorations with colored ribbons and balloons. That is one of my favorite parts! Last night was the boys hostel program and it was the biggest one since those boys make up the majority of the school. They decided they wanted to feed EVERYONE and made a gourmet meal. I chopped fruit from lunch until dinner for the giant custard fruit salad they were serving. Now when I say they served dinner, I really mean they served a late night feast because they have the program first and food afterwards. The scheduled start time is 7 pm, which really means 8 or so, plus there is some extra singing at the beginning for 15-20 minutes, putting the official start time at 9 pm. For this particular program, we had a guest speaker who gave us a nice hour and half message and we ended up having dinner at 11 pm. Although this is already past my bed time, I was super impressed with the boys who planned and did all the work for their program. They really put a lot of time and effort into it. 

One of the goals we made a while back for our time here at the school was to kill with kindness. Because of some jealousy issues, people have been hurt and some even driven away from this school in the past. Soon after our arrival, we started to pick up on these problems and were told about instances in the past, as well as some current issues that were unfolding because of us.  Even though no one actually confronted us about them, they worked their way through the staff and ended up slipping out to us from multiple people… It is frustrating, but that is how conflict is dealt with in this culture. Confrontation is not a common thing. Even when someone has power, they won’t use direct confrontation to solve a problem. This is one the biggest differences we have struggled with. So instead of trying to enforce our cultural habits, we decided to be oblivious to the jealousy and treat everyone with the same amount of kindness so that no one could complain about who we spent more time with or gave to. Over the weeks, we have delivered coffee and tea to many staff members. A few days ago, we put on Santa hats and ran around giving pieces of banana cake to teachers, although at each home, they ended up trying to feed us instead! Not only has it been really fun, it has given us a connection with many people on campus. Our plan to kill with kindness has not only killed off jealousy, but it has rewarded us with plenty of new friendships and I love it! The relationships I have developed here are my absolute favorite part of this whole experience.

On Friday night, we had another two families and a single guy over for a “Christmas dinner.” This time, we invited the Headmaster’s family and the Principal’s family. We cooked up another feast, this time I used some of my new Indian cooking skills to make a combo of Indian and American dishes. Of course we couldn’t forget the mac and cheese (actually requested by Jesudas, the headmaster) or mashed potatoes and gravy… We finished off the meal with some chocolate banana cake and hot chocolate! It was fun and we always enjoy the chance to serve them up more food than they can eat (we tell them it’s payback for all the food they try and feed us). 

Sunetta and I (in the new Sari)

Later that same evening, Sunetta, the headmaster’s wife, came upstairs with a sari in hand and pulled me back to my room. She told me it was a small Christmas gift and she would tie it for me for church the next day. She also told Trevor and Sid she had shirts for them later! I can’t even describe how generous these people are. It amazes me that they give away so much. At church, I was a hit in my new sari… This was the first time I had worn one (besides Chandu tying her sari on me in our house just for fun ha!) and when I arrived at Sabbath school, ALL the kids turned around to look… Then the principal stopped mid-lesson and made me stand up to show them! So embarrassing! For church, they decided I should do the scripture reading just because I was wearing a sari... It was a funny experience and reminded me of our first few days in India when we were brand new to all the kids.

Something that I have been really trying to overcome is my tendency to judge people. I have read and reread that verse in Luke about taking the plank out of your eye before the dust in someone else’s and it seriously amazes me how easy it is to ignore the plank and focus on the dust! If we are supposed to love people, we can’t be judging them too, and this is one of things I struggle with the most. Not only does it stop you from loving, but it stops you from forgiving, which is something that I want to be able to do. What I should be doing is approaching this in the opposite direction. When we first focus on LOVING people, it pushes the urge to judge them farther away. I think our most important job is to love. Everything always comes back to this one word. I can have FAITH in God to take away my yearning to judge, I can have HOPE that I will soon overcome this tendency, but the greatest thing I can do is LOVE, and everything else will follow. If only this was easier...