Let the Final Scene Begin!

Well it is the start of the LAST term of the year.  I am sitting outside of the dorm waiting for all my little angels to get back from holiday.  I can not believe that I have already been in India for almost a year.  This next term will be filled I am sure with excitement but also goodbyes.  If I do end up staying at the school then the goodbyes would not be as bad, but if I am leaving it is going to be very hard!

All of the students have become like little brothers and sisters.

I remember when I first came to Hebron everyone said to be careful since this place gets into your blood and under your skin.  I thought they were just joking, but it is soo true.  The thought of leaving this place sometimes makes me really sad.  I think about my little girls in the dorm that I have literally put my blood sweat and tears into them, and I think about what will I do when I am not here to see if they are ok or if they need something.  I feel like their mom sometimes.  For most of the students that I feel like I have to look after them  They are all so young.

Part of me is hoping that I will get to stay.  I could see myself working here for a while if they would have me.  If not then I know the Father has other plans for me.

There are a few things that I would really ask you to talk to the father about on my behalf. One is for good conversations about the Father with students.  Many of the students here do not know dad yet, but I have been able to share some with them.  Second that I would be a good example of how to live for the father.  I know that I will make mistakes, but that I will live the best life I can so that show them the father's love.  Also just for good times with all of the people that I have learned to love here.

Another Couple of Weeks Gone By

I am currently on Mid-Term break...I thought I was going to spend it alone, but some of my lovely A-Level girls(aka seniors) offered to let me tag along with them today to visit Bangalore.  I love that

things like this happen here at the school.  At other school it would be totally looked down upon for a staff to go on holiday with students, but here no one thinks it is weird at all.

Lately things have been very crazy trying to finish off the term right.  This week was parents week, so all of the parents were on campus every day of the week watching everything we did.  We had a really big Student Council Event that got rain and hailed on.  I had been outside setting a maze up most of the day, and then it was destroyed in about 20 mins.  The poor Student Council Presidents were so stressed I think they wanted to rip their hair out.  But they pulled it together and put on one amazing event.  The theme was Brazil, and each dorm came dressed as a dorm so we had Amazon Women, Clowns, Tourist, and many many more. Then we also had a sports day.  The students here are amazing.  The kids who were just dominating at sports day are also the ones who are amazing artist.  This school is really good at pushing kids to be the good at everything and not just sports or just arts.  For the high jump was actually had a kid clear 172 cm (which is almost 5' 8").  I actually got to "coach" a cheer squad for the sports day.  In my eyes it looked horrible, but since the majority of the school had never seen cheer squads they were very very impressed. One staff member said that it might become a new Hebron tradition.

 Now I know you are going to think I am crazy...because I was all excited to go to Seminary...well I keep having this weird feeling like I am suppose to stay on at the school.  I have a meeting soon with the principals wife to try to see if there would be an option for me to stay.  I just wish I could see the Father's plans laid out on a blueprint.  That would just make life soooo much easier.  There are just so many things to consider in this choice...I just hate that it is sooo hard.  I will keep you updated on that front as much as I can.

Some things you can talk to the Father is for health(a lot of the
students and staff are hitting that breaking point, one student had to be ordered to bed from being so exhausted/stressed), wisdom as the school bring on new staff for next year, and that the next semester will glorify the almighty.

 -Mel
 PS I know I have been really bad about updating my blog but I will try harder.

Interesting Weekend/Week...

So Mysore was INTERESTING!!!!!  On the way there I saw a very rare animal...it was a flying elephant!!!!

Just Joking!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I actually did not get to go to Mysore.  I spent the weekend being sick.  Everyone else got sick earlier in the week, but I got the bug late! My bug was not as bad as everyone else, but I just felt super nauseous and had a low fever off and on.  So I spent my Saturday watching sport...Cricket and girls Field Hockey.  Our school invited another school from about 10 hrs away to come play matches against our teams. We won both the matches.  I would tell you the cricket score but most of you do not watch/care about cricket so I will not bore you.  In hockey we had 2 of our team and 2 of their teams playing against each other and we took 1st and 4th.


Then on Sunday I was feeling much better!!!! So I went to church and we had 2 baptisms.  They were my first to see in India and they were great.  The 2 people that were getting baptized were the sermons of the day.  They got up and gave their testimonies in front of the whole church.  Then once the service was done we went out back to a small cement bath in the back filled with some really brown nasty water.  They did the traditional asking of questions to the person then dunked them.  As they came up we sang

 "Lord, I give You my heart

I give You my soulI live for You aloneEvery Breath I takeEvery moment I'm awakeLord, have Your way in me"
After both people had been dunked we had our Lord's Supper together outside around the bath.  I loved the atmosphere, and the excitement that was there from people getting baptized.
Since I was feeling better I decide to have a BBQ.  So me and my roomie got some ground beef, and veggies so we could grill.  We made some great burgers, and got to hang with some of the Std 13 boys since they wanted to cook on our fire as well.
The week went on pretty smooth for most of the week until yesterday...I was having a Choreography Club practice.  My part of the club is doing Cheerleading...I know it may come as a shock but most of these kids have never seen cheerleaders except in movies....It surprised me sooooo much, but on with the story. So I was doing a stunt practice with a group of girls after school, so lots of people were out and about on campus.  I had picked an out of the way spot so that no one would try anything we were doing with out talking to me first.  So we were doing single man stunts with me hold the girl by myself.  Well....Things went a little wonkie sooo I was trying to bring her down, but her foot got stuck in my top.  I was wearing a white V-neck shirt, aka a guys undershirt from Wal-Mart.  Well when her foot got stuck in ripped my shirt.  I thought it was just a shoulder rip...well to my surprise it ripped from the V to my belly button.  So there I am standing with my shirt ripped open, and not realizing that I am flashing anyone looking.  Thankfully the spot I picked was out of the way, but one guy was standing close by.  I talked to him later and he said that he did not really see anything, and he walked away quickly.  So that has been my week so far.
This weekend is the SC event.  The theme is Brazil.  I still do not know what I am wearing, but I do know that I am performing 3 times... Twice singing and the last doing a dance with some staff members.  Then next week is Parents Weeks, so almost the whole school's parent body will be here for a bunch of events. Then on Thursday everyone leaves and I get the campus almost to myself.  I am not travelling with everyone else, because I was to save for Seminary in the Fall.  
I hope you all have a great week.  Please keep asking the Father for health here at school, and for a good end to term.

It's been awhile...;)

Well as promised I am going to post a blog.  Sorry it has been so long.  Like I said earlier today, it has been a little crazy around here.  Hopefully this blog will prove that.

So most of my weeks have been pretty routine, but that routine keeps me moving.  I have lessons almost every day of the school week.  I have also added a Choreography Club to my list(currently I am teaching them how to be cheerleaders for Sports Day)  Then came the weekend of  March 9-11.  That weekend was Lushington Day.  This is a day that the entire boys campus of Lushington come together and compete in different sporting events.  I was the score keeper for football(soccer for my American friends).  It was an all day event.  In the evening we had a "Barn Dance", but without girls.  A "Barn Dance" is basically a bunch of line dance being taught by one leader, but I have been told that it is just at Hebron things happen like that.  After the dance it was time to rest and hopefully get ready for the next week that would be just as busy.

Me and two teachers keeping each other company at Lushington Day notice
the middle lady's hat...OU!!!!!!!!!

The weekend of March 16-17 was Leaver's Weekend.  This is a weekend that we take all the Leavers(aka students Graduating from the school this year) to a guest house in Coonor to talk about life in the real world.  Some of these students have never left India or Hebron, and are now stepping out into the Western world.  It can be a shock according to some former students, so now we try to prepare them.  I did a session on the USA hopefully I represented us well.  The great thing about this weekend is that is a great time to get to know the students, and encourage them in any way that you can.  One of the cool things of the weekend is the kids had to find their own way to the guest house, which was really interesting to see how they got there.  We also went on a night walk...we tried to make it to the cemetery but did not make so we had to turn around

View from the Guest House

Creepy Advert on the night walk for people to donate their eyes...I asked to kids about it and they said it is totally normal.

The next Monday started very uneventful.  All the IGs went to Selborne to bake, and watch movies.  We ended up not really watching anything, but bakes cookies and started a cake.  After getting back to Lushington me and another IG went swimming, and then just chilled the rest of the day.  At about 7:00 pm me and 2 IG girls went to dance in the Drama studio because we were bored.  So we did, and then headed up about 9 pm.  As we were headed up we see that one of the boy IGs is looking really sick and kinda doubled over.  We got him to Hoz and they told him to go lay down and he was spending the night there.  We get back to the room to find that one of my roomies was sick with the same thing that the boy had.  Then a girl IG from Selborne shows up really ill.  We thought it might have been the cookies we had baked not getting done, but we weren't sure.  About 11pm our flat get a call saying that they need a change of clothes for the girl from Selborne did not bring any.  So after taking a collection from my roomies, I walked over to Hoz.  When I arrived the poor girl was sooo sick.  They decided to try to get an IV in her as fast as possible.  They finally got it in, but then she got the shiver and shakes and her blood pressure was dropping. So at 12:30 we were on our way to the Hospital.  Now I have to say that Indian hospitals are very different than Westerns hospitals.  I am sure that in bigger cities there might be better ones but this one was very basic.  They had no monitors of any kind in the room.  In fact the room looked like a cheap hotel.  They had two hooks from the ceiling to hold the IV bag and that was about it.  When we first get there it is obvious that this was going to be a very interesting adventure.  So once we get the poor girl settled in they have me spend the night with her.  As mentioned before there are no monitors in the rooms...well that was not totally true...I was the monitors.  If IV ran out then I had to get up and go turn it off and then tell a nurse.  If she started hurting, or throwing up then it was my duty to tell the nurse.  There was no nurses button so I would have to roam the hospital looking for a nurse to fix something.  I stayed with her from 12:30 am-2:30pm.  In that time we discovered that the doctors had no bedside manner.  The poor girl was crying and they kept saying why are you crying you are not that sick.  We tried to explain but it did not help.  We also learned that people love to stare at a white girl in the hospital.  We also found out that in India they will not treat you until you can pay.  The nurses would walk in with a scrap piece of paper with a whole list of drugs and meds that were needed.  I would have to take this list down to the pharmacy in the lobby purchase the drugs, and then the nurses would give them to my friend.  There is also no food provided so for every meal the school had to send one of the kitchen men over with a tiffin container full of food.(whoever created the tiffin containers is amazing) (If you don't know what a tiffin container is...here is a link to help)  I came back to school at 2:30 had meeting then went to bed at like 4:00 slept till dinner at 6:00 then slept from 6:20-7:15 got up for my dorm duty then was banished back to my bed for looking tooo tired.  So I slept from 7:25-3:00 am, but from them I could not sleep again.  When I finally get out of bed at 7:00 am I find out how bad the sickness really was.  The day before 44 kids had missed school from being sick, and some staff as well.  That night there had been 22 kids sleeping in Hoz, which is almost double the capacity of Hoz.  I went to class today to teach and from students being sick or needing to work on class projects we only had half a class.  As soon as class was over at 10:35 am it was back to the hospital.  I was there from then to about 6:30, and in that time we noticed even more things.  Like Indians do not care if you notice them staring at you.  In fact a couple a times a whole group of people would open the room door without knocking and just stare at us then say goodbye.  It was the weirdest thing.  We also found out that one of the nurses loves to give me a hard time for anything and everything.  I was wearing shoes in the room and she told me to take them off...I was typing on my computer will the doctor was talking and she snapped her fingers at me and told me to listen.  She is a great nurse and speaks great English, but still gave me a hard time. I left the hospital at 6:30 and came straight back to school.(Just so you know it looks like the girl will be out tomorrow)

When I got back to school I had about 1-2 hrs to myself then off to Dorm Fellowship.  This is just a group of guys gathered together to praise the Father.  It is not required, but still they come to grow closer.  About 15 guys were there, and I was given the privilege to speak to them.  I talked about the father's strength and how we can depend on him even we can't depend on ourselves.  It was nice to talk to them about it, and them be very responsive to it!  I love the fact that I get these chances, and that this group of guys want to hear what the Father has to say through me.

Now I am laying in my room just thinking about going to sleep...since I have had a lack of it lately.  This next weekend should be the Long IG weekend away...we are hoping to got to Mysore, but we need to see how all the others are feeling after with week of sickness.



OHHHHH PS THE MONKEYS ARE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is exciting because that means that the leopard that they said was roaming around town/campus is gone!  I don't think I have ever been soooooo excited to have to hide from the monkeys. These photos are from right outside my kitchen window.

SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey All,
  I just realized how long it has been since I have posted an update on here.  Things have been sooooo busy the last few weeks that I have not really had to time to post anything.  Hopefully by the end of the day I will have time to upload some photos to my computer then post a blog that says something of importance, and not just a mindless ramble on how I never post.  So sorry again.  Hope to have another post up today.
-Melissa

Great Weekends

This post is going to quickly cover last weekend and then a little more about this weekend.

Last Weekend
It was Support Staff Day!!! This is the day that the whole school does all the cooking, cleaning, and washing instead of our Support Staff.  The Support Staff get to come to school as our guest.  They are served a very big meal, and we have tons of fun activities.  I got to work with the kids of the Support Staff.  We played tons of games!  Then I got to serve lunch with some of the other staff members.  It was great to see the smiles of the people that serve me everyday from just being served lunch.  A few of them have come up to me later and said thank you and they had a great time.

This Weekend
We went camping.  Now when I say camping you may be thinking "ohhh lets go to the lake". No that is not what we did.  Our school bus drove all the of Std 5-6 boys and girls and 8 staff members/IGs for about 1 hr.  Then we all got out and walked for 1 hr to get to the camp site.  This is not just a normal walk but we are talking trekking in the jungle.  Now to be honest most of the time we were on a really dusty dirty road, but we did go up and down multiple trails through the mountains.  It was HARD!  Thankfully no one got hurt and we made it to the camp site in great time.  I got to sleep in a tent with another staff girl, and then the kids slept all over the camp site in either a dorm or huts.  This camp site was amazing.  The food was super fresh, and tasty.  Now when I say fresh I mean they were pulling the live chickens off the truck with out luggage out first day there.  The site was so high up that you could drink the water straight from the tap...which you normally can not do here in India.  Now I do have to say that we weren't ruffing it completely.  We did have bathrooms/showers.

This is our bathroom and shower room

The showers were interesting because we had to boil water in an old boiler by putting a fire under it and waiting till the water got hot.  Then you had to put the boiling water in the bucket you see in the picture, and then at cold water to it to wash.  The bathroom as you can see is a squatty potty.  You basically do you business then you fill the same bucket up with water and run it down the potty.  It is very interesting to use.  We also had a wonderful lake to swim in.  It is actually used to generate power for parts of India, but it is also great to swim in.  One thing that was really great this weekend was each dorm got to go on a Gorge Walk.  There is a nice river that flows just below the camp site, and we went trekking through it.  I did really good to stay dry for awhile, but then we hit a point that it was waist deep water on me and no other choice but to get in.  At one point we had to get up this rock face, but it was really slick and wet.  One of the girls in my dorm was like Miss Mel(this is what they call me here) give me your hand I will pull you up.  I kinda had to laugh, because she is one of the smaller girls in the dorm, and did not understand that I would pull her into the water if she tried to help me.  So after convincing her of this she finally moved and let me climb up myself.

One of the things the kids like the most about camping was the mud bath.  There is a natural spring under the ground that keeps this one area always wet and muddy.  So the kids would run as fast as they could then jump into the mud bath.  They came out covered from head to foot.  Another thing they liked was a late night walk in the woods but we had no torches(flash lights), and we just let the moon be our light source.  It was amazing.  Since we were so far out the light pollution was super low so you could see soooo many stars.  After we walked for awhile we stopped and laid on the beach of the lake and talked of the Father. We told the kids about how he knows each star by name, and that yet he still loves us to send his son.  It was wonderful to just talk to them about the Father.

Well all good things must come to an end, so we all had to pack up and trek out of the camp site.  The walk back was just as HARD as the walk in, but we all made it back safe and sound.  After we got back I had a nice bucket bath here at school, and then went to YF meeting here.  It was just fun to hang out with the students the whole weekend.

Off with a bang

Sorry for no recent updates.  I still have to write one for my last stop on Christmas break...but that will not be this update.

School has gotten off to a bang of a start.  I have not stopped moving it feels like since my last update.

This last weekend I got to go to YF. I have been to YF before, and you can read about it here. This time was for the 9s and 10s which is 13-15yr olds. It was very different from the last camp.  These kids were much more calm.  Our speaker was amazing.  She had some great insight and 3 kids came to know the father from this weekend, and many more started asking questions.  It was such a great weekend.

On Monday, All the IGs went to a water park called Black Thunder.  It was nothing like what we have at home.  In fact this place would most likely be shut down in the USA because it is no where near up to standards.  The one thing I found funny was everything was marked on who could use the ride/pool.  They have a wave pool and it was divided in half.  One half was for men and kids, the other half was for women and kids.  Then they have a pool for only women and kids.  If a man got in then the "lifeguard"(I use quotes because I am not sure if any of them had any training some of them were pretty fat) would blow their whistle at them and tell them to get out.  Another funny thing is everyone got into the pool in their everyday clothes.  The women got in wearing full Salwar Kameez suits including the scarfs.  Most of them had the scarfs just wrapped around their necks like it was just normal to hop into the pool/ride water rides dressed like this.

These are Salwar Kameez

All us girl IGs got lots of looks since we were wearing long(to the knee) shorts and t-shirts.  We might have been showing to much skin.  The Indian guys at the park most of them had shorts on but some guys just ran around in their boxer briefs. Thankfully they were colored briefs

Also in the last few days I found out that I am going to be going to seminary.  I will be going to Fuller Theological Seminary in September!  I am super excited!!!! I will getting my masters in Intercultural Studies with an emphasis in Theology and the Arts.  If you know me at all you know that that is right up my interest.  Now it is just waiting on the Father to provide for me to go.

For some things to pray for...Wisdom for these next weeks as I talk to students so that I can be intentional with sharing with them, energy(these kids run you down fast), and good closure over the next few months.  I know it seems far away but soon this fun adventure will be over and I will have to move on with life.  It is good to start thinking about closure now.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great wonderful day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!