Stripping away the cushioning fat layer...this sounds a lot more disgusting than I mean it to be

As my pants have gradually become looser and looser, and all my continuous hoisting has absolutely NO effect, I have realized, that God is stripping me down to the very skin and bones of who I am in more ways than one. Seriously, though, I am going to need to buy a belt really fast! Sometimes I think it is just the fact that I have no drier to shrink my clothes after I wash them, but either way, I have a very big problem on my hands! It’s okay, though, Indian pants are the most amazing thing ever, they come equipped with a drawstring that cinches you up as tight as you need to go! They are lovely, and so handy! If you so happen to eat too many chapati at dinner, you can simply head to the ladies room, where you can easily loosen the strings of your pants to a comfortable level once more.
That’s enough about pants…what I was saying is how my Creator has been pulling away my layers, all of the cushioning that I line my life with. I can put it in no better terms than to quote Paul, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,” (Romans 6:6) and “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” If I could try to explain to you, my friends, the change in me in these past weeks, it could best be described by saying that Christ is stripping me of everything I cling to other than Himself. All of my hopes for my future, all that I find security in, all that I take joy in apart from Christ. It is so freakin scary. But I know that it is ultimately for my good, even when it doesn’t feel so great in the moment. Being refined is another way you could put it, I suppose. Things have improved incredibly in the past weeks, I think my heart has finally (FINALLY!) settled here in India, prepared to be at rest here, for a little while. And maybe a little while longer…

I have a Milka advent calendar. And….I will be in India to open the final delicious chocolate on December 24th. I am partially aghast at myself….CHOOSING to spend a Christmas away from home, without my family, without gifts, in 30 degree weather, with people I have only known for three months. But for some crazy reason, my soul is at peace with this decision. I just….know, that God wants me here for Christmas. I am so glad for the amazing people who supported me coming here, making it possible that I could stay longer than originally planned! This is truly a Christmas gift in itself. My parents have taken the news amazingly, were it not for their absolute support, giving hearts, and the cheer in their voices (that, I must admit, still makes me choked up for a moment when I call them), there is no way I could dream of doing this. I apologize to all those who are expecting me home, my faithful friends who have stayed by my side (in spirit, of course!) for a year and a half now, of being away from home. I am excited for a third-world Christmas, and I expect that God has a lot more work planned to be done upon my dynamic (to use a term from English class…) character. Let me give you a glimpse of what the season will look like for me…

This weekend, Allison and I plan to create our own Indian version of an advent calendar for the girl students, to share with them the joy we have in opening ours every morning (I must confess, it is sometimes the only reason I leave my bed). Next week I will base all of my English classes on the topic of Christmas (!!!), using vocabulary like reindeer and carolling. Sunday or Monday we want to start our advent celebration, something instilled in me from my Catholic High School, and we will try to manufacture a candle-lighting celebration. The week after is gladiator week, where instead of classes, the students have a week of games and activities, and learning, all related to the Roman games (minus the violence, opulence, and persecution). We will plan and lead most of that week. Fanny, my German prayer-buddy, will head home December 18th, and after that we will be free from the normal schedule here at Green Valley, to celebrate like crazy! Hopefully, I will have gotten my act together and taught some choir classes by then, so we can head out carolling into the nearby villages. On the 19th is the Christmas celebration at Green Valley, where they have what Papau calls an “in-reach,” where we get the people to come to us to hear about Jesus, instead of going to them! We will have something like 200 kids and parents from the neighbourhood come to the school for games, dramas, singing, and a meal the likes of which they would never be able to afford in their homes. I have heard it is a great treat for them, and I can’t wait to see some of my little friends enjoy the bounty of the season. Us interns are dying to do some Christmas baking, however there are no ovens here, (how can you have an oven, when you don’t have power for 15 hours a day!?) so we are going to improvise, and possibly ‘borrow’ the oven at George and Ruth's (the directors) house. A trip to Bangalore is essential, as we prepare for the gift exchange, and we are planning to do the sweetest photo shoot of our little stable here, of the Nativity Scene! The cows and sheep are here already, we just need to cast the human roles. There is the cutest little tree beside the stable that actually looks somewhat similar to a pine, so we plan to decorate it! We’ll string popcorn and do the traditional paper-chains. If that is not enough, we will be planning an evening of celebration with all of the students, staff, and friends of the school, where there will be a gift exchange and talent show, and we are trying to be creative with making it special (I might be going back to my waitressing days...)

My biggest prayer is that God will use us interns that are staying here to make this Christmas the best it can be for the students. Barely any of them have the money to go home for Christmas (even though it probably only costs around 50 dollars Canadian), and most plan to spend the holidays here. I want this to be a Christmas that they can remember, that they will look back on and have great joy in all that God taught them, in all that was celebrated, and the richness of relationships shared. I know that it will be an unforgettable lesson for me, to experience our remembrance of Christ’s birth without the materialism, without the comforts of luxury, without the tradition. To see Christmas as it really is, and hopefully in the simplicity of this place, the true value and light of Christ’s birth will be impressed upon me as it could never be in the flashy, commercialized version we so cherish in North America. It is a lesson I hope will stay with me for all the future years God grants me.
I am feeling all the more happy to be here at Green Valley now, because we just returned from our journey to Kerela! It was a week and a half experience I will never forget, from cockroaches, to elephants, the Arabian ocean (which is WARM, by the way!) and tapioca (the real version is QUITE different from what you would suspect, a tree root that tastes something like a potatoe when boiled) made at the top of a mountain. Our trip took us into two different Indian states, Kerela, and Tamil Nadu, both in the Southern tip of the country. The scenery was stunning as we traversed into a state very different from Karnataka, where Green Valley is located. Kerela is the only democratically elected communist state, and you can tell by the friendly hammer and sickle symbols sprayed onto road signs, cement walls, and flags. Known by Kerelites alone as “God’s own country,” the state speaks a language called Malayalam, which is probably the most ridiculous, hilarious, confusing language in the world, where to listen to a conversation is the equivalent of two three-year-olds talking gibberish as fast as they can, with their mouths full. I doubt if there is such a thing as a syllable or a comma in this language. Thankfully, we had our English speaking friends to show us around, as we travelled to Kannoor, Kochi, Angamaly, and Coimbator. Some of the things that stick out for me are….travelling in a tiny van, with six other people, over the bumpiest roads ever, up mountain roads where we had to get out and climb. The wife of a pastor of a 15-person church at the top of a mountain, who served us the best of their humble fare, and apologized that there were no lights for us to see by as we used the bathroom, because they have no power on the mountain. Feeling like I was in “Slumdog Millionaire” as I stood on the edge of a moving train, leaning out the open door, watching the countryside speed by, just one step away (no seatbelts in India!) Riding on an elephant with Fanny, as the sun set over the mountains behind us….completely romantic until the elephant stopped and decided it was time to relieve its bladder. Elephants pee for a long time. Finding a cockroach nestled in my underwear that I had laid out to dry after hand-washing them in the hotel bathroom. Visiting an India Zoo that would have PETA members tearing their hair out if they were to witness the miniscule cages, jam-packed enclosures, and mentally insane animals that have resorted to uncharacteristic behaviour because of their environment. A street vendor trying to sell us a reed flute, thinking it would be enticing if he gave us a sample of its music in the form of the Titanic theme song, as we walked away laughing. Children begging on the train. Teaching impromptu classes at a school of 1100 students all dressed in matching uniforms, and so well disciplined that they all stood at ‘attention’, and ‘at ease’ during the school assembly. Praying over Dinesh, our ever gracious driver, (who constantly asked if we were “okay?!” “happy?!”) and his family, including his father, who although could speak no English, exuded the warmth of Christ.
It was an exciting, adventure-filled trip, that I will never forget. On it, it felt like us interns grew as a team, an answer to many prayers of us girls. There are still many bumps and clashes as we continue to live nestled right into each other's lives, sometimes as unwelcome as the bugs that insist on flying directly down the neck of my shirt in the middle of Sunday night service. We are looking forward to spending Christmas together, though, and I hope it will bond us together in such a way that all future Christmases will merit a remembrance of the joy we shared in.

I am wishing desperately that we had the power and internet to write on here more often, there is so much more I would share with you! The Indian wedding we got to attend (and be treated like celebrities at), the baby squirrels that "Ebby" found and showed to us, the love letter we received a few weeks ago from one of the male students...*sigh. Life is always lively!

As I hum to myself the ever-familiar Christmas tunes...."chestnuts roasting, on an open fire...." sweet thoughts of my loved ones come to mind, and my heart slips into daydream mode of baking cookies and going sledding, unwrapping the nativity scene and settling onto the couch, snuggled with mom and dad, to watch White Christmas. But it's okay, for as my favorite christmas caroller, Mr. Crosby croons: "I'll be home for Christmas....if only in my dreams..."

Merry Indian Christmas, my loves...