Sleeping with Geckos, eating with our hands and wearing Saris; the Indian way of life...

We have now been in India for a week, it has flown by so quickly! When arriving at Bangalore airport, the heat soon hit us, but after meeting Simon, the missionary here, we had a 7 hour journey to their home. We were then welcomed at their home by Sarah his wife, one of their three children Matthew, along with another family who works at the school, 4 of the older girls and another volunteer here.

We had our first few days resting and trying to catch up on our jet lag as well as meeting new people and trying to become custom to their ways. The Indian culture is so different to English, even now I'm still learning new ways of life and I'm sure I will continue to through out my time here. On sunday we walked to church which was about 2 hours and sat on the floor. It was fortunately translated in English for most of it and some of the songs were English ones. It was such a grea experience and I look forward to going back this week, although this week it is a baptismal service, very exciting!

As it is now school holidays the timings here are alot more relaxed and the majority of our day is filled with playing games with the children. There are about 30 children who stay here permanently of all ages so it has been great fun playing card games and puzzles to crafts and badminton. In the evening they also have a devotional time which is about half an hour or so with some singing then someone does a 10 minute talk and prayers afterwards. I had to lead this 2 days ago and thought, due to having had practise in it from Grosvenor church in Barnstaple, the armour of God would be good to talk on. The children listen so well and all seem so interested to hear what you have to say, vary inspiring.

I live in a small 'cottage', not like an English cottage, an Indian equivalent, with Pippa, one of the girls who is also a volunteer here and came the same time as us although she's here a few weeks less than James and I. She is so lovely and it has been really nice to have another girl to share our first experiences with due to the difference in gender relations here in India than in England.

We also had 2 ladies to stay on Sunday night until Wednesday morning who work for a charity called Child link and have supported some of the building work that has gone on here at the school and orphange. We went with them to a coffee and pepper farm, although there was also some cinnamon growing too. It was beautiful! The coffee trees were quite small and so the pepper trees grew really tall to protect the coffee from the sun.

I have really enjoyed every part so far and look forward to the next few months of my time here. Two volunteers here are leaving in the next 2 weeks so there will only be 4 of us that have come from abroad to help which I think will be alot different but also help us grow more. One highlight would be on my secong night here I woke up at 7 with a Gecko crawling over my chin and sitting on my shoulder, not the nicest wake up call! There have been so many highlights that it's hard to try and write them all down but I will try my best to whenever I can. Tomorrow, some of the girls and ladies who work here are taking a trip to Salem, the nearest city so that Pippa and I can get a chance to buy some of our Saris as we have been wearing passed down ones from the volunteers here so I am  really looking forward to choosing some of my own and seeing the city sights of Salem, what a mouthful!

I hope everyone in England is ok, it has been such a weird transition coming here as it is so different to everything I am used to and so any contact from home I love! If you dont have my eamil, do let me know or if you'd like the address here also please let me know! I will try to contact back as soon as I can! Nundre (thankyou in Tamil) for reading!

Much Love,
Hannah

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it" ~Nelson Mandela

It's come to our final farewells to Barnstaple and all the amazing people and places there, as I report back from my home bed.

The last few weeks of our time there hold such great memorires and majority great, fun times. I say majority due to a few times being ill myself, but am fortunate that they have passed. Easter weekend was so lovely to spend at Lee Abbey with James and my family. Higlights were a 5.30am service on top of a freezing hill cooking fish and bread on Easter morning and hearing about the final part to the Easter story, along with beautiful walks, the enclosed beach and Easter chocolate fun.

After a lovely relaxing time we headed back to our host homes and began the week ahead with our heads in gear, focusing on holiday club which started on the Thursday until the Saturday. The theme to the club was the armour of God and so our 'run up' days included preparing songs, crafts, games, talks and all sorts for the children to make it a really special time for them whilst at the club. As Thursday crept up on us we had completed all our preparation and went for some rest before the crazy days started. Being a team leader of the younger children there was a big responsibility in getting the kids settled and feeling that they were safe. Thursday was such a succesful day and the children really seemed to enjoy themselves. Unfortunately for me, some of my children said they werent feeling well which later resulted in me being ill and having to miss Friday and Saturday. It was so saddening to be at home recovering but the show must go on and I loved hearing all the stories that had happened from James and my host faimly when they arrived back home.

Sunday was such a lovely yet sad day saying bye to the church and all the great friends we've made in Barnstaple, we will so miss them and will continue to think of them and pray for them, keep in touch!

Now for a quick 9 days at home with family and friends, eating as much English food as we can, wearing as many jumpers as we can and enjoying our home comforts before the big adventure starts next Thursday.. Bring on India.


Love, Hannah

Sensing Serenity

This week has really emphasised how much we need to rely totally on God's strength and not just think we can do it by ourselves without his help. With having such a busy week, it can be so easy to forget to ask for God's help in it and put on his armour, but it so obviously makes such a huge difference when we do and when we do take that leap of faith and trust that he will turn the situation around as he says in Romans 8v28 "He works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

I don't think 'busy' cuts how I've really felt over the past few weeks, but it has been such an amazing experience all at the same time. I have had to keep apologising for bad replying to emails and text for being so delayed, if you are one of those, I will apologise again now! We are really looking forward now to having a relaxing weekend at Lee Abbey, catching up with everyone we can, seeing Miri and my Dad and just getting in some good family time before getting stuck back in again into our last week, we are calling it 'our mini retreat'.

We have met such lovely people here at Barnstaple and have so loved all the work we have put into here, the kids clubs and the youth work, it has been such an eye opener into how much is going on to getting people to learn more about God here in North Devon as well as all the job involves.

We started the week today with a small gathering of those from Grosvenor and had a prayer meeting for the youth and children of Barnstaple, it was such a lovely way to start the week, putting God into my main role here. We tried to focus on Psalm 62 which I want to finish this post with as it has such lovely verses to reflect on.

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.
                                             He alone is my fortress, I will never be shaken."




Love Hannah

Taking on a seefood diet...

I have now moved into my second home here in Barnstaple and have been welcomed by a lovely family, even though I was sad to be leaving my old hosts. I am however grateful that I will still get to see them at Church before totally leaving Barnstaple and looking forward to the 3 weeks I have at my new location.

My work has been as busy as ever with going to a toddlers group called Noah's Ark, to planning and running a Monday evening youth group called Explode, to organising the Holiday club happening in a few weeks time to doing our personal study and joining in with the study the apprentices do at the church; it never stops. 

Barnstaple seems to always have food offering for some reason alot more than home, Sundays have turned into a constant food day with big Sunday lunches with my hosts, having afternoon tea with James' hosts and a 'neccesary' McDonalds after the youth evening service, it has turned into my favourite day of the week as I'm sure you can imagine, if a little filling.

Last Saturday we had a child protection talk for 4 and a half hours at one of the neighbouring churches in Barnstaple, which surprisingly was really interesting and has made us so aware of all the  different factors to remember when working with children. A doughnut break in the middle also really helped keep our concentration.

If you felt you would like to pray for me, energy would be really great! It has been quite exhausting maintaining energy to continue giving for God's work all the time and even though I have loved the work it is quite exhausting and I'd love to feel that I can keep going with his work and manage each day and give my best to it. Also please pray for continued intriguing study time, it has been so rewarding studying and would really like to be able to go deeper throughout the week with it, not just during our designated study time and see how it can be related to real life in a practical way.

The end quote  has really been what life has been like for myself and James here in Barnstaple, continuing to keep exploring as much of the church work and Christian work as we can here to enable new doors to open and our brains become more in gear with God's work and what he wants of us in later life as well as now.

Love Hannah

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." -Walt Disney

"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord."

Barnstaple is our current location and next stop before our big adventure to India in mid April. We arrived here on Monday early evening, where we were welcomed by each of our host families and started to settle into our homes for this month, dispite James getting slightly lost on the way to his. Since then we have met many of the people who work and attend Grosvenor Church, along with the two people we are working with.

Through out my time here I am mainly shadowing a lady whose main role is involoved in the families and the young children of the Church. She, along with the help of others, runs a mum's and toddlers group through out the week, which I have been along to 3 times already, as well as Sunday school classes and a Monday night Youth group for children of Primary years. On top of helping with each of these groups, we both are joining in with the studying on a Friday that the 3 apprentices of the church are currently doing and also doing our own discipleship course that First Serve have set us. As you can see it is quite a full on programme but I guess that comes with having such a huge church. The people we have met have been so welcoming to us and it has been great to see the work Christians in Barnstaple are doing to spread the Bible to as many people as they can. There is so many great things that Grosvenor Church is doing and it really feels like a great priviledge to be able to be a part of that, even for a short time.

The transition from leaving the students at Tilsley, to an extremely brief stay at home with family, then moving onto working at Grosvenor, has been quite exhausting and I have found it to be alot harder than I first thought. I am so glad God has given James and I these first few steps in order to prepare us for the huge leap we will be taking when journeying across to India in only a months' time.  It has already began to show how much it has started to strengthen us individually and as a couple to be ready for what we will be facing out there. We are so excited and amazed that we have such a great opportunity, but along with this comes expectant fears and worries. This verse in the title, found in 1 Corinthians 15v58, I have really tried to embed in my heart when imagining life when we head over seas, to maintain our focus for going as well as assuring God's protection over us and our time there. It will be such an eye opening experience but we can only do it with God's strength rooted in us and knowing his profound love and affirmation for our travels.

Love Hannah

An end to the first stage...

Our time at Tilsley is coming to an end and the next chapter is soon to begin. We have had so many laughs here and met such inspirational people who have already taught me so much about life.

The lectures have been so varied from studying Poetic literature to Mission abroad to World religions but we have all felt like it has really equipped us First Servers for the next stages we have planned up ahead. The subjects genuinely couldn't have been more suited to us for preparation. Some topics have been very hard to understand, in particular our essay on mission after Christendom, but it has also been very eye opening as to the many different challenges we may face when me and James head across to India.

We have also managed to visit some beautiful sites of Scotland, including a student trip to St Andrews as well as heading to Edinburgh before continuing on to see my family who live close by in Fife. It was so lovely to catch up with them and makes me realise how privileged I am to have a family that are supporting me and are so interested in what my plans are, as well as my walk with God and development in my faith. The lecturer we have had this week for World religions has such an inspirational testimony, he started his life as a Hindu before converting to a Christian aged 30, it really touched all of us because of the deep struggles that he had to go through for his faith and how he has been a great witness to his family, in such a way that he has brought 4 of his immediate family to know the Lord as their own.

Thankyou so much for all the support you have shown me so far, it would be difficult to do without it.
Keep in touch, Love Hannah

First blog

I am writing a first blog for my FirstServe adventures.

Watch this space...