Mundi and the Beach and other fun stuff :)

The Dayasagar family has graciously welcomed us in with open arms. As we have been adjusting to a new time zone, different ways of doing things, and spicy, but delicious, food (pictures to follow in another post), they have been very patient with our questions and our mistakes. They have also been anxious for us to share with them in their fun and games, as well as their ministry, especially the children. We wanted to share some of the fun with you. :)

Sunday night, after Bethany had finished blogging, we were attacked by a group of girls, held down, and painted all over... ok, well, actually, Pastor David's nieces, Chandana and Vineela, graciously offered to put mundi on our hands and arms and we accepted...

Bethany and Chandana

Me (Chelsea) and Vineela, with Grace and Bethany

Letting our arms dry (it takes about hour!)

The finished product

Yesterday(Monday), we went to the beach with the whole family (almost, Pastor David wasn't able to come because he had a meeting). There were 15 of us all together. I don't have a picture of the whole group so you will just have to imagine the spectacle. We were with four ammas (Telugu for mother), four teenage girls, five children (ages 6-12), two very white Americans, and one hired driver, all packed into the van Pastor David hired for the day. We will probably give the neighborhood something to talk about for a long time, of course we're all ready doing that :)

On the drive to the beach, Bethany taught every one the signs (as in American Sign Language) to "Our God Is An Awesome God." We also played a singing game where there were two teams, one thought of a topic and the other had to sing a song about that topic. Both teams sang in English and Telugu :) We decided after that van trip that my family (the Arnolds) are a quiet family and that any families which make less noise than us is completely silent.

Once we arrived, we had a wonderful time playing in the water. We jumped the waves and played ball. And later we had races along the sand.

After we were all wet :) (most of our extended Indian family is pictured here)
...Don't try to find Bethany; she took the picture :)

After the beach, we had a picnic lunch outside a church near the beach and played games. One of the women who came along, Raj Kumari, wrote everyone's name and several activities, like dancing, singing, or mimicking some animal or person, on slips of paper and each person had to do whatever was pulled with their name. We also had a quiz on Bible trivia. The whole afternoon was so much fun.