Many, Many Moons Passed

As with all other posts, so much has happened since the last time I was able to write!  It's late-ish here, so my thoughts will be scattered as I am fighting the urge to fall into my mattress on the floor.  I also just moved from outside to inside since I was being eaten alive by mosquitos.  So random thoughts here we go!  Highlights, but not highlights as in everything I don't remember wasn't a highlight, but highlights that are jumping out:

- Cricket game -- We were able to watch the World Championship cricket game of Sri Lanka versus Pakistan at the DeVisser's home.  I love cricket, it is such a great sport.  Unfortunately, Sri Lanka lost although they were considered a shoe-in.  Pakistan, therefore, won.  Sad.  But was a great, fun night!  I was able to walk to the local bakery and ask for (spelling wrong) "Peti Pan Hatara" - four loaves of sliced bread.  It was funny.

- Making jewelry with the teen girls -- very fun.  It was the day after our "pamper day" for them.  Oh, I should tell you about that.  Pamper day - we washed their face, did face masks, did their nails, makeup, and hair.  It was quite the extravaganza.  I think they loved it and it was really fun to be able to do things with them that they are not used to, that are just fun things they haven't had many opportunities to do.  So, next day, we had jewelry making day.  It was so much fun just to sit around and laugh and talk.  

- Zoo -  We were surprised and taken to the zoo.  Since safety precautions are much less here, we were able to get much MUCH closer than we would ever be able to in the States.  A monkey with a red butt through poo at Leah and jumped at us.  Heard a lion cracking bones and roaring.  It was amazing.  Beautiful zoo too.  Except that most tourist places have a local rate and foreign rate.  Sri Lankans - $5.00/ Americans - $20.00

- Sneaking toilet paper from restaurants.  Ha.

- Reading through the book of Ruth with the girls - very powerful.  Pray that they don't see Boaz as the redeemer but God as the orchestrator of redemption and intimate planning in Ruth's life.  We're afraid they'll take the story as more reason to search for love from sources other than God.

- Going to the South -- Seeing where the tsunami hit and everything that Auntie Ophelia has been able to do.  They basically built a whole new village for the people affected by the tsunami.  Beautiful homes.  We also got the chance to go to a nearby place called Gall.  It's an old Dutch fort which, once inside, makes you feel like you are in a very humid Europe smashed together with Sri Lankan style.  Fun day.  

- Ben and Riley Applebee are here!  They are friends from home and it has been so weird to see them half-way around the world, but it has been so welcome to me too!  They brought much more excitement and a breath of fresh air to our little band of peeps.  The day they arrived we left for the farm again though, so it was short and sweet for a while, but we have since been spending more time with them as we moved back to the Teen Girl's Home - a lot of moving around!

- Charindu and all the crying kids at Esther center - Do you know those situations where it's so awful, it's almost comical?!  Well, we were watching the widow's children while they were at sewing school and the majority of the children are sick with coughs/fever.  All the children were wailing.  Every one.  And this little boy named Charindu kept trying to kick me.  It ended up being hilarious.

- Staying for an hour at the boys' house watching the news, figuring out that "Michael Jackson" followed by two crossed four fingers meant that "Michael Jackson has died"

- Cooking with Shanti - I will never be as tough as Sri Lankan women!  They skin chicken.  Haul and skin coconuts without breaking a sweat.  They are tough cookies.  I would be lucky to ever be like them.

 - Elephant Orphanage - we got to watch them go for their swim in a river.

Well, my comments are getting shorter and shorter, reflecting my state of tiredness!  I think I'll head to bed for now, but hopefully this is a good enough update!  Thank you to all of you who are reading this, praying for me.  It's awfully hard to communicate, or find the time to, so thank you for your patience! 

Catharsis

Today is Monday . . . a calmish day after a whirlwind weekend!  I haven't had the time to be able to write about Friday to Sunday, but hopefully, I'll be able to do that now.  I want to apologize ahead of time for the rabbit trails and ramblings that will most definitely occur within the next couple paragraphs.  Fortunately for me (perhaps unfortunately for others), being able to write out what's been happening is a time for me to process what actually has been taking place - so thank you for your patience with my writings that lack a concise nature!

Friday was such a roller coaster of a day!  It started out with three of our team members, including the two leaders, going to the doctor -- the food and the climate had been pretty merciful to us, but I think it is now definitely taking a toll more recently in rashes, heat-caused sores, and let's say . . . stomach issues.  With their departure, that left seven of us to play with the young girls, whose teacher had chosen to take the day off of work, and we had no plan whatsoever.  We had to get them out of their house for various reasons, so we tried to play volleyball.  It rained.  I think we tried to dance and the radio broke.  We even tried to get them to do a scavenger hunt - they found the final clue within minutes.   All that to say it was a very frustrating morning for me and I definitely let the frustration get to me.  I reminded myself of the story of Mary and Martha and was most definitely acting like Martha.  My teammates were so understanding though, and I am truly appreciating their patience with me as this trip is bringing out a lot of areas where I need to change and grow.  So many situations are humbling to me, and although it doesn't feel good, it's good, because it's causing me to grow, hopefully.  Haha, I guess it's really easy to say you want to be humbled but actually going through it is another story!  

Anyways, we regrouped after everyone returned from the doctor and that was definitely the turning point of the day because the evening was something truly wonderful.  Two of our girls were brave enough to share their testimonies - something that was a very daunting prospect for both.  They spoke with eloquence, out of a genuine heart, and with honesty.  It was amazing to see the girls' response.  Many of them broke down crying, and they prayed for the girls who spoke, and it was a beautiful time of care for eachother.  I guess, after talking to Thilini, that it was a two fold reaction:  1. The girls see Americans as having everything.  To hear that these girls went through so much and struggled in their own lives was a shock - a big shock.  2.  Many of the girls have experienced similar events and, obviously, this brings back the memories and emotions of those trials.  By the time our two girls were done, the whole room was affected - and being all girls, crying.  The majority of the teens were sobbing, and we it was all we could do to just hold them.  After reflecting on this, I think that this is where the language barrier worked in our favor, as, for many of the girls, I don't think words would have sufficed.

However, after a solid 15 minutes of crying, my big fear seemed to becoming a reality.  I had been so fearful inwardly that we were going to be dragging up so much pain, emotion, memories - basically opening a can of worms for these girls - and are/were completely ill-equipped to deal positively with all of this.  Even if we did have a plan of how to lead the girls through their emotions, we had less than a week's time left living here.  But then, one of my highlights of the trip occurred.  We moved from upstairs where we were talking, to downstairs for some tea as it started to rain.  Pouring rain.  Within seconds someone had suggested dancing in the rain and within minutes we were all dancing as the water pelted down on us.  It was so fun, we were all giggling and dancing and laughing at one another.  The people here don't go out in the rain usually, I think they say it makes you sick.  But somehow, I am not sure exactly how, we all ended up on the roof, dancing in the rain.  The roof is open and where the girls hang laundry, almost like a fourth story but open on the top.  Someone grabbed a bucket full of water water and the rest was pure fun - we were throwing bucket, after bucket, after bucket of "watura" (easiest Sinhala word) at each other.  This was the most intense water fight I've ever had, all of us were drenched.  The girls had never had a water fight before and I think it was a novelty for them that was so much fun.  I go into so much detail over this because, I totally think this whole occurrence was God's way of wrapping up what could have been a "raw" time.  He brought joy from pain.  He brought them from crying to being washed and restored.  After the water fight, there was a joy and peace surrounding us -- also, a new closeness from our time of sharing both this pain and joy.

Cali just checked her journal for me to see if that's all that happened that day - she reminded me of what we had for dinner.  We had bread.  That's it.  For breakfast we had bread too.  Somehow, our food was disappearing, haha.  It was funny.  

(I wrote this out last night.  Didn't make it to Saturday (AMAZING day) or Sunday (such a fun day)!  But I will try when I have time, for now this will have to due! )  Please pray for us!  Thanks

Breaking Through

We have now spent several days at the Teen Girls Center, which has been both a blessing and a struggle for me personally.  The girls' home is beautiful in of itself, but is made even more beautiful by the sparkling young ladies that live there.  Each girl has so much potential and is full of qualities, both hidden and apparent, that demonstrate to me the care and love of our Father.  However, because of many of the deep wounds that each girl carries, they have their areas of struggle - which, for the majority of them, includes problems with motivation, a lack of appreciating what has been set before them, and a mischievous streak.  Mostly, these girls just need a lot of love.  A LOT of love.  Unfortunately, due to various circumstances and their "mischievous streak" they have no one permanently living with them full-time who is acting as a mother figure (something they need desperately).

So, we have arrived right here in the middle of their lives.  We are trying to connect as much as possible, despite the language barrier, in light of their wounds, and while being pretty exhausted and with low morale within the team.  All of these have been frustrating, but the last one, low morale, has been probably the biggest struggle for me.  Being the kind of person that gets their energy from others, it's easy for me to get discouraged when we are not connecting or it seems like we are on separate pages -- Interestingly, we are communicating wonderfully, and there have been no specific problem, however we all feel like there is just a heaviness hanging over our team and a disunity despite wonderful times of fellowship.  Any prayer that this "heaviness" would be overthrown would be so greatly appreciated!!!

Anywho, back to my original train of thought - language barrier is hard.  Not being able to connect at deeper levels with the girls, due to this, is hard.  We are not given the luxury of a translator at all times, although the majority of the girls' english is great (So much better than my Sinhala).  We want to do different activities too with the girls, team-building exercises, confidence-building activities, etc., but this is extremely hard to do with the language barrier. 

All this to say, we have been doing great, but by this afternoon, morale was running low -- BUT!!! - We had a breakthrough!!!!!! So, we had a debriefing meeting for just the ten of us, which was nice to remove ourselves a little.  It ended up lasting 2 hours, all of which was filled with talking - we are all girls after all!  But it was basically a time of venting frustration, and I will be honest, was a little waring because it made me more acutely aware of my frustrations.  Leaving the meeting, we went upstairs to lead the girls in a Bible study we started.  We are going through Ruth, which seemed to be a good idea at the time, but I am afraid now that the introduction of Boaz may add a tinge of the idea of a "white knight" riding in on a horse to save the day, when really it is God who saves and loves us completely - anyways, I digress.  But we went through the second chapter, I thought that I was much less prepared to lead than the previous days, but it ended up being such a wonderful answer to prayer!  I don't really now how to explain, which seems comical after all this leading up to this moment, but we came to a time of sharing of how God has worked in our lives.  No one wanted to share.  No one.  So Jess went, then I went, then slowly, girl after girl started telling stories of God's provision in her life.  It was so uplifting.  

But then the really cool part happened during their nightly prayer meeting, which we had right after the Bible study.  We started sharing "testimonies" of how God was providing, working, with us and the girls started individually affirming the girls who had earlier stated in their meeting that they needed affirmation.  For example one of the girls said she felt like she couldn't talk to any of the girls on a deeper level and that was one of her most valuable traits, leaving her to feel ineffective - and one of the girls thanked God for a conversation she had with her the night before!! Time after time, girls thanked or praised God and in the process addressed many of the frustrations, fears we had JUST previously voiced in private.  God gave us what we needed to hear!  God cared so much about each of our concerns! It was amazing!

Computer is about to die!!!!  Shoot.  Oh well!  Sorry for verbal vomit.  

Really fast:  God is teaching me that He is faithful.  He has been faithful in the past and will never leave me nor forsake me.  I can't wait to see what His plans are!  A good friend wrote to me in a note: "God doesn't hide things from you.  He hides things for you."  I liked that a lot - thx Leanne!

Prayer Requests:

- Sickness to leave the team - I have an infected split lip - I am semi-hoping it painlessly grows larger so I look like I got in some knock-out fight.  But seriously, other girls are feeling under the weather, so for them!

-  Morale to boost in the team.  That we would grow closer.  That I would stop being critical.

- My walk with God.  That it would be strengthened in ways I couldn't even imagine.

- Oh BIG request - De Vissers are sick.  I will write more on this when I have more time.  PLEASE keep them in prayer!  Auntie Ophelia and Uncle Adrian are in pain.  

Miss so many people!  Bye!

Sunday Funday

** Just was able to post this from Sunday last -- enjoy!  Keep checking group blog because our team leader is doing a great job!

Today we were able to experience one of the most restoring days that I have had so far in Sri Lanka.  Packing the night before, the ten of us got up and loaded into a  van like a herd of turtles.  Collin, the nicest man and an ex-Sri Lankan military driver, maneuvered the hot pink bus throughout the traffic (including the oncoming traffic) like a pro, and I felt very safe as we all headed toward the outskirts of Colombo for Sunday service.  Approximately an hour and forty five minutes after our initial boarding, we pulled up to a large cement wall which surrounds both the church and a young teen girls home – our home for the next ten days!  We walked in, were greeted by the lovely young women, and prepared ourselves for church.

 

Church was such such such a blessing!  Some of us were feeling quite queasy or under the weather, since we’re all still adjusting to the food and weather, but by the end of the service, we were all so uplifted that we felt as great as . . .  hmmm, mangoes.  The service started with us being introduced to the church, which luckily went off without a hitch – we later found out that our answers were “paraphrased”, giving a nice laugh to those who spoke both Singhala and English.  From the very beginning, we felt welcome in the church community.  The service was translated for us, which was so kind, and the worship was very beautiful due to the rich voices of those in the choir.  Uncle Adrianne (as we’re all calling him now) spoke on our ability to come before God as His children.  Honestly, half way through the service, and despite the eloquence and depth of the sermon, I had to pinch myself to stay awake as the early morning rise started to affect me.  But if I had any fears that I would doze off, they were quickly put to rest as we had communion and a rousing time of prayer at the end of the service, an amazing time to share with the members of the church community – it was genuine, real, and I feel like we really got to see the hearts of the church members – gave me a lot to think about.

 

After the service, we were fortunate enough to meet some of the members and that was so enjoyable.  Unfortunately, I am struggling with remembering names leading to some embarrassing situations -- as silly as it sounds, if you could pray that my memory would improve, it would be much appreciated!  Of the members attending, there seemed to be a large community of babies –a welcome place to use our doting skills! 

 

Moving on from the church, the De Vissers were nice enough to take us out to lunch – It was WONDERFUL!  The first “American” food I had since we left (besides the “French fries” Cali and I whipped up in our kitchen at the farm to share with the kids).  Even better than the food was the conversation and the fellowship.  I can not think of adequate words to describe how cared for and comfortable I feel here, as I know that our hosts are some of the most obliging, hospitable, caring, and interesting people I have ever met.  It has been a real treat, and I feel a small sense of guilt that our serving can not match nearly as much as we are being served.  Consequently, I thoroughly enjoyed all the conversations that were taking place across the table, as well as my sandwich.

 

After lunch, it was time for a long nap.  SUCH A HARD DAY! Haha, I did warn you that today was one of the most restoring days. 

 

Then, up and at ‘em for another night service an hour away in a home.  The home is actually the headquarters for a wonderful organization focusing on bringing the factions of the Sri Lankan population together to work on overcoming the hidden malices and years of bitterness built by the decades-long civil war.

 

THIS IS WHERE THE ABSOLUTELY MOST WONDERFUL, RESTORING PART OF THE DAY TOOK PLACE!!!!!!!!!  The night service was WONDERFUL!  It was so wonderful to just sing praise songs and be in awe of being halfway around the world and still be praising a God who is as constant and faithful in California as in Sri Lanka – that He is in control and worthy to be praised.  Pershan, Thil’s brother, shared on prayer, and it was so helpful and profound.  I think it met a lot of us right where we were, and has already been making an impact (from what I can gather from conversations we’ve already had – I can’t wait to talk about it tomorrow!).  Anyways, it was WONDERFUL!

 

After a great dinner, we all were able to stick our feet in the Indian Ocean – perfect ending?  I think so!

Pictures

IT IS SO HOT RIGHT NOW

Here are a few pictures, we had more, but something happened . . . o well

Quickfire!

So much has happened since the last time that I was able to write!  I think the last time I wrote was in Singapore, so I am going to just write down thoughts, not detailed, because people are waiting, but hopefully it will give you an idea of how amazing life has been so far, how blessed I feel to be here, and how AMAZING the children are here!!!!!

So -- Singapore to Sri Lanka:

Thank you to my friends who made me go on Space Mountain, the turbulence was so great that I was truly thankful to those of you who made me face my fears of roller coasters (is Space Mountain a roller coaster) -  I literally had flashbacks of jolting around at Disneyland as we were on the plane.  Fun Stuff.  Then, as we reached through the cloud layer that was causing the sporadic movements, we saw lush green - FANTASTIC!

Sri LANKA!! airport:

Swine Flu Exam - check

Second Health Checkpoint - passed

Immigration -- check, batting your eyelashes gets you through faster (Leah Wills)

Luggage - CHECK!!! wooohooo

Customs - Major Check - it was amazing, we literally walked on through without being stopped

After the above checklist we were greeted by Thilini in the BIG pink bus.  It was so humid my camera fogged up.  Welcome to the humidity, I am getting used to it now, but it was strong!

Arrived at our Sri Lankan Home

Beautiful grounds, was given a tour of the camp where they have created homes for the widows and their children, a boys' home, and a girls' home.  They have many projects going on - sewing, mechanics, sooo much - also there is a youth leadership camp which we have been able to see parts of, very fun!

Met CHILDREN!!

Met the children the second day, well met them enough to get to know their names and play.  They are all beautiful children, the language barrier has been hard because we dearly want to communicate, but it's being broken down by silly faces and sign language.

Trying to Finish up so Jess and Hill can use computer:

LOVE CRICKET - so fun, I am actually really good at hitting when the boys will pitch slowly to me.  

We cleaned the widows' rooms, most of them have never had a space of their own, so we were able to bond over folding, sorting, and laughing.

Been going to the boys' and girls' nightly prayer meetings.  SO FUN!

SOOO MUCH I WANT TO SAY! I am sorrry!  Soo much I am leaving out.  The children are amazing -  I don't want to leave, but we are about to go to the Teen Girls Center on Sunday.  Oh, Sri Lanka's cricket team won tonight, so that was a big thrill throughout the dining hall.  haha. 

LOVE YOU MOM AND DAD! Sorry, this is my one chance to email for a while and I am trying to hurry -- The De Vissers are taking amazing care of us.  I know I keep using amazing, but it's true.  Taking lots of pictures!  Kaitlin

We've Landed . . . for now

I am writing from the Changi Singapore Airport - It is amazing! There are flowers everywhere and fountains - haha and free internet, so I can tell you that we've arrived safely! We have been traveling now for 20 hours, including layovers and such, and now have a 9 hour layover now to be followed by a 3 and a half hour flight to Colombo. This is actually good news because we thought our layover in Singapore was much longer than nine hours, so this comes as a welcome surprise. The first leg of the flight to Singapore was semi-brutal while the second part after re-fueling in Tokyo was quite nice, as I was finally able to sleep. Well, thanks to all of you who are praying for us - I am not sure when the next time I can write will be, but everything is going swimmingly. Thanks for the prayers!