Day 25

Kalawatte, durga, and prema from our first sewing class:

our Indian meal:
burka time!

this is Ruksana, she's 16 years old and in our first sewing class:
First off, please be praying for everyone hurt and killed in the Mumbai bombings, we were at dinner last night in a friends home when it came on the news but didnt know how big it was until later when i was able to read the news.

Despite that, dinner last night at our translator's home was just about as indian as you can get. we had tea and visited before the cooking was even started then 2 hours later sat down on the floor and ate with our hand (the right one, of course) until our noses were running and i thought i was going to die. It wasnt the spice that got me but the amount of food we were force fed, its rude to say no to anything you are offered in India so we ate until our plates were empty then she would refill them again. I had to give myself a pep talk midway through the meal because i didnt think i was going to make it.

On tuesday and yesterday the sewing classes went well, i feel like i am growing in relationship with these women more and more everyday. The first sewing class in the morning I know all of them well and the second sewing class I know most of them well and have especially gotten to know a woman named Maria but there are still 2 or 3 that i struggle getting close to. we also have formed some cool relationships with other women in town at the stores we go to and places we buy food from. Yesterday we went and visited some of our friends at a clothing store and tried on Burkas, so much hotter than i ever imagined! and you can still tell that i am extremely white underneath all that black fabric so it wouldnt do much good in fooling everyone, we thought that maybe if we wore a burka that we wouldnt get cheated as much in the market because they wouldnt see that we were american- but that idea went out the window once i had the burka on for 2 minutes.

I have learned so much about freedom through these women and if i can just let go of my plan for my life then the lord can reveal a much bigger and better plan that he's had for me all along. slowly learning everyday to let go more and more and live in his freedom much kamla, a woman that i have gotten close to does. she has such joy and life regardless of what is going on around her.

"For freedom in Christ set us free, No longer be entangled in a yoke of Bondage" Galatians 5:1