India Update from Kirsten:

ok, so officially i feel like day by day...is just FLYING we only have 6ish weeks left!?!?! no way! ok so we went to this great camp with 15 of the students from Asha Kiran, two Aunties (what the children call their elders, authority figures, teachers...and even us, except of course Carl, and Jason are Uncle...:]) and the four of us. It was about a 3hour bus ride outside of Bangalore...which was wild in our little school bus. there were for surely times i was SURE we were going to tip... BUT we made it, and it was, at least for me, the best two days of our trip thus far. This camp is great and works on leadership, team building, personal and group skills, self esteem boosting, and well anything else positive you could imagine. most of the tasks were physical which was difficult for some of the children but it was great to see them work together, and even use us! Yes, i am still sore today! It was really so much fun for us all, but quite a lot of work! we were all glad to be "home":] our fourth of july was spent at camp, so our celebrations were mostly while cleaning up after camp, and taking naps...and by celebrations i mean wishing we could have hot dogs:] good ole' india style 4th:] the following day we for surely went out and had cheeseburgers and fries...we were happy to say the least!

we've been trucking along at school and doing well. natalie is still working on entering information on the students into her comp program. supadra is now back from her honeymoon, natalie has yet to be given another job...we're waiting. same goes for carl, the math teacher returned and he is now the odd ball man. the boys are bonding well with many of the children...the younger boys especially! they crowd around them in the dining hall all at one table, bringing too many chairs to fit. because i've been playing the art teacher roll i'm more of the disciplinary:] it's actually fun b/c then, on tue and thur when we have our PT days (play time days) i get to get crazy with the kids and we all have a lot of fun....i stop being Kirsten Aunty in the art room and get to tumble around and play. i think PT days are our favorite days of the week school wise:] This tue we head off to hyderbad. we're going to three different ministries that prem works with (sort of like take your kids to work day!!!) and also to a gypsy wedding! which has been reported to us to be too much fun for us to comprehend:] we're all overly excited.
our "preaching" for india for chirst missions has actually been moved to NEXT sunday. jason is doing the preaching, natalie and carl using their musical ability to lead worship, and i'm sharing my story and a little about my relationship with the lord. it's wonderful and interesting to be challenged as a christian in a mainly hindu culture. we're learning a ton about india, and the kids are not only learning from us...they're teaching also. it's such a blessing to have access to such bright and excited beings:]
Prem and Rita are doing so well. they are such busy busy people, i'm surprised they even have this time every year to have a world dep group. they always make sure we have everything we need...we feel we're totally being served, something we didn't expect. our work, although tyring, has proved to be fun and exciting. i think one of our group worries was getting REALLY drained being around young children all the time, but we've been blessed and feel like we're here and being served more so than anything. it's such a blessing.
natalie found out she is having a neice. her sister just found out the gender of her baby earlier this week and the whole fam is ecstatic. my mama, who in the beginning wanted to come visit me while i was away, settled on sending me a care package which i am eagerly awaiting! Carl and Jason write their family...but don't really have any exciting news from home:]. plus carls fam was out of town for a while. so all is well here in india. much love from bangalore!