Email Update- March 16, 2006
Short Version:
“Happy Holi!”- We celebrated a festival in the village this past week!
Our next assignment: Looking for a story crafter! (a big prayer request!)
Happy Holi!
“Tak ta ka tak kamla” the women sing as one of them plays a tabla (drum). The women sit on the patio area of someone’s home as they sing, clap and celebrate together. One woman goes around and gives the other women a tikka (mark on forehead generally done after prayers are said). Another woman uses a flower to sprinkle colored water on everyone! After a short time, women and girls take turns dancing in the center of the group. During this time, some special food is given out to each person. When all of this is finished, the women and girls walk to the next house and perform the whole thing all over again. Three or four houses may be visited in one afternoon. This continued for five days. The men and boys would do their singing and ‘visiting’ different homes in the evenings.
“Holi” is a festival that celebrates spring- among other things. I “played” Holi with the women and the kids and came back with my face covered in colored powder most of the time! By enjoying the festival with the village people, I was able to meet some new people, as well as strengthen the relationships that we have with the ones we already know.
It was fun to play with the colors, but also interesting to see the sense of community among the women as they celebrated together. This festival stems from their religion, but not sure how much of their focus is on religion- as it felt more like a fair than a religious ceremony. There is still much to learn. I long for the day when they will gather around, not just for special holidays, but to share stories from God’s Word…wouldn’t that be something to celebrate!?!
Our Next Assignment: Looking for a story-crafter! (A big prayer request!!!!)
During our time of language and cultural study in the village, we’ve realized that while there may be some good story-tellers there, there isn’t anyone who is bilingual in English and Kahani (the village language). While we don’t have to have someone who is bilingual, it would make things easier! This week, we will be actively looking for someone in our base city who perhaps may be bilingual who can help craft stories. We have some contacts already and will start researching those to see if they lead anywhere.
Please pray specifically for:
- patience - it may take time to find someone
- endurance - most of the people we know live an hour or so walking distance away from us
- communication- if it’s in the trade language, that we may communicate clearly the type of person we’re looking for.
- For the story-crafter: that they may have a desire to learn more about stories, have time to work with us, know Kahani and English, and ultimately that they may know our Father (if they don’t already).
Thank you for your faithful support and communications! They mean so much to me!
In Him,
~ Elizabeth
“Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.” ~ Psalm 73:25-26
Short Version:
“Happy Holi!”- We celebrated a festival in the village this past week!
Our next assignment: Looking for a story crafter! (a big prayer request!)
Happy Holi!
“Tak ta ka tak kamla” the women sing as one of them plays a tabla (drum). The women sit on the patio area of someone’s home as they sing, clap and celebrate together. One woman goes around and gives the other women a tikka (mark on forehead generally done after prayers are said). Another woman uses a flower to sprinkle colored water on everyone! After a short time, women and girls take turns dancing in the center of the group. During this time, some special food is given out to each person. When all of this is finished, the women and girls walk to the next house and perform the whole thing all over again. Three or four houses may be visited in one afternoon. This continued for five days. The men and boys would do their singing and ‘visiting’ different homes in the evenings.
“Holi” is a festival that celebrates spring- among other things. I “played” Holi with the women and the kids and came back with my face covered in colored powder most of the time! By enjoying the festival with the village people, I was able to meet some new people, as well as strengthen the relationships that we have with the ones we already know.It was fun to play with the colors, but also interesting to see the sense of community among the women as they celebrated together. This festival stems from their religion, but not sure how much of their focus is on religion- as it felt more like a fair than a religious ceremony. There is still much to learn. I long for the day when they will gather around, not just for special holidays, but to share stories from God’s Word…wouldn’t that be something to celebrate!?!
Our Next Assignment: Looking for a story-crafter! (A big prayer request!!!!)
During our time of language and cultural study in the village, we’ve realized that while there may be some good story-tellers there, there isn’t anyone who is bilingual in English and Kahani (the village language). While we don’t have to have someone who is bilingual, it would make things easier! This week, we will be actively looking for someone in our base city who perhaps may be bilingual who can help craft stories. We have some contacts already and will start researching those to see if they lead anywhere.
Please pray specifically for:
- patience - it may take time to find someone
- endurance - most of the people we know live an hour or so walking distance away from us
- communication- if it’s in the trade language, that we may communicate clearly the type of person we’re looking for.
- For the story-crafter: that they may have a desire to learn more about stories, have time to work with us, know Kahani and English, and ultimately that they may know our Father (if they don’t already).
Thank you for your faithful support and communications! They mean so much to me!
In Him,
~ Elizabeth
“Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.” ~ Psalm 73:25-26
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