India, naked and green!?

Honestly, life is unreal here in India! Imagine walking down the streets of Seattle naked and painted green...THAT is how we stand out. life is amazing here, busy and nonstop! the school is amazing! we all had one day to rest and then went right to the school and were thrown into the mix! the children, amazing by the way, are still getting used to us but already seem to love us! we've only had two days of school but they've been great!. Natalie will be helping to instruct English using a computer program, this mainly happens on Mondays and then throughout the rest of the week she will be at Rita's beck and call, helping in the main school office with whatever is needed. Carl is taking over as a math teacher. It's wild to be helping in the education of children! i don't think anyone of us feel worthy! The main math instructor is going on leave (for reasons we did not catch) and so Carl is taking over the class. Jason is mainly a tech dude. he is currently taking pictures all over the school in order to make a new brochure and other texts for information purposes, also he's working on power points and slides for Rita. Most of this week (aka the two days we've been working) for Carl and Jason have been spent in the library organizing books...they say it's been OK, slightly dull, but they are fully aware that things will pick up and quickly! As for myself i am the art teacher. the current instructor is going on maternity leave, she is due in Aug. i feel as if i have already bonded with her a bit, although what she does is a TON of work, i think we're all a little nervous to actually get started! as for our accommodations? Prem and Rita could not be better hosts! we're so well taken care of. we all feel so at home and loved in their home which by the way is beautiful! we share rooms boys in one girls in the other. we have our own little flat sort of. we have a living space, kitchen and our own bathrooms. honestly we're overly pampered! it's amazing how passionate Prem and Rita are when it comes to their faith. a passion i think we all admire and desire. to love the Lord to intimately, it's truly beautiful. tonight (sat) we'll go to a wedding and we, well Prem, has pretty much planned our our entire trip, we literally go somewhere or have something to do EVERY WEEK! we're all very excited for what the trip has to hold. this is a brief update, more to come when we have an official full week! hugs and kisses from Bangalore!

Philippines - getting the royal treatment!

The Philippines team reported in with some images of their trip so far. Here is one where they were made a banner which they will be bringing back, but not until all the mayors of the towns they visit sign it! Here are a few more pictures:

Sretan Put, Hrvatska Cure!

Have a good trip, Croatia girls! We are all excited for you to get here to Fuzine! It will be a great summer!
~Hillary and the rest of the team (Brajna, Tea, Christine, Tihomir, Justin, Ivona)

Ranas que croan - croaking frogs...

Let me set the scene here. As I sit and type this note to you on the porch sitting in a rocking chair, the frogs croak like ducks in the nearby grass and the secadas chirp in the trees surrounding the Children of the Nations property. A few of the interns are singing/guitaring some freestyle blues while others sit and chat in the dark. The more adventurous of the group are encouraging each other to flip into the pool from the raised gazebo. What a relaxing end to an incredible day!
We arrived on Saturday in Santo Domingo where we met up with the ten other interns ages nineteen to twenty-four. After waiting in the airport for everyone to be collected, we jumped into a yellow school bus which drove us to the most charmingly colorful inn run by a woman named Betty. The duration of our stay lasted four days. We spent our time getting acquainted with our team, doing some training for the following weeks, and exploring the city.
Tuesday we hopped on the schoolbus again in the direction of Barahona, the town of Children of the Nations. Upon arrival to the short-term missions house, we were greeted by the staff and were able to chat with them over a wonderful lunch prepared by the three women who call themselves the "CrazyCooks". We have been spending today and yesterday doing more training, riding mopeds around the city, and simply getting the know the people in and around this house. Tomorrow we are looking forward to meeting our host families who we are able to stay with and build relationships with over thesummer.This has been a wonderful week of learning all sorts of things about the genuine warmth, hospitality,and the slower pace of life of the people who we have met. On the other hand, we will be encountering some entirely different situations starting Friday when we begin to do our assigned projects in the surrounding schools. Please pray that God will give strength to love the people in the communities and to serve them unselfishly.
In Him,
Katie, Amy, Anna

The next teams to leave are:

Turkey and Malawi. They are both on the same flight. We will be meeting them at 6:30pm on Friday evening to send them off on their British Airways flight. Feel free to come by and see them off with us!

Es caliente!

The DR team emailed and said they have arrived safely after a long day of plane rides! They will report more soon but the one thing they did say is it's hot!

En el Avion... who's next?

The DR team took off last night with no hitches whatsoever! We'll let you know when they arrive safely at their destination. It may take them a couple days as they have some layovers and a long bus ride before even getting settled in.
Next up is India. They leave Monday. We are meeting at 4:10 at the British Airways counter to see them off!

They made it!

Hey Everyone!
We made it to Manila without a hitch and it is hot and humid! But fear not, for we are joining the heat as some wise man said. But seriously, today was really nice and sunny if somewhat muggy.
Mia, our caretaker, is great and took us to a restaurant the americans and filipinos opened together back when America was in control here...the restaurant's specialty is fried chicken :)
We are staying in a Christian hotel with rooms that make you feel like you're in a monastery, but nice nonetheless. And we have internet access right next door.
I don't plan on emailing frequently (that is what the deputation blog is for), but I think this email was prudent. However, I will check my email probably a couple times a week cause I have some loan issues and pharmacy matters taking place while I am over here that I will need to address.
I love it here...so much to see, and i don't know if you knew, but we're kinda of a big deal over here...but that may be because Mia told everyone (including the mayors we will visit) that we were all planning on becoming pastors/priests.......no joking here. (brandon, did you mention anything about seminary to Mia? :)
Thank you all for your love and support and we all are looking forward to getting dirty on Tuesday building houses!
Paul
P.S. Please forward this email to anyone who might be interested....didn't have much time to write or look up emails. And, Poyang showed me how to call people in the states using the internet (a program called Skype) for like 2 cents a minute, so if the need arises i can call someone relatively easily, which is comforting.

Their off!

The Philippines officially left last night! They got out of the re with no problems (other than a 45 minute flight delay). We'll let you knoow when they get in!
The next team to go is DR. They depart tomorrow night at 11:05pm. They will be meeting at US Airways at 8:30 if you want to see them off!

Time to leave!

It's time for this year's teams to leave!
The first out the door will be the Philippines! They leave June 14th at 1:45 AM.
The DR departs on the 15th at 11:05pm.
India departs at 6:40pm on the 18th.
Turkey and Malawi depart at 9:10pm on the 22nd.
Croatia leaves at 8am on the 23rd
Ireland departs at 10:40am on the 25th.
And Ethiopia takes off on the 26th.
Any and all are welcome to come see off the teams. They will al be meeting at Sea Tac 2 and a half hours before scheduled departure.