Day Three... only that many???

Halleluiah! Praise the Lord!
(No need to translate that to Telugu...they say that all the time)

We are here! Alive and well. Actually, far better than well; we are unbelievably blessed by the Lord. Through Pastor David and his family, the Lord is taking such good care of us and we are having an AMAZING time :) Just wait till we tell/show you some of the things that have taken place in just three short days.  Has it only been three days?!?!?!  WOW!  I feel like a whole week has already gone by! (We apologize that none of our videos are able to be posted yet; hopefully we can get those loaded soon) 

We arrived in Chennai (pronounced with a hard 'ch' as in choice) just after midnight on Friday morning.  Pastor David with his family were there to meet us as we walked out of customs. I felt immediate peace when we saw them and both Chelsea and I knew right away that we had followed the Lord's leading in coming to Nellore with HBA.

The wonderful welcome we received by our Indian family.

Pictured (L-R): Havilash, David, Nathan, Bulah, us!

(Taking picture, cousin Rohith)

Our three-hour ride back was very safe; the driving rules are a little different ;) Nobody obeys street or speed rules. But we felt very safe riding with a skilled Muslim driver that Pastor David hired.  Along the way, there were huge fires all along the road with groups standing around.  David explained that we've arrived during a festival. There is no school or work during the festival so everyone gets to be home (which is why the whole family could come to the airport).  I can't remember what the purpose of the festival is (Chelsea says it's a harvest festival); it's a Hindu festival where they build fires (preferably out of material they are able to steal... more favor with the god's I guess) and draw elaborate designs outside their doorways where the god's will come and sit during this festival.

Because it's a holiday, we get to rest with the family and all the friends who are able to be here.  We are loving the time of relaxing with them and are already learning so much!  For instance, yesterday (Saturday) we sang American worship songs with the girls (and Havilash tore it up on the hand drums) and were able to teach them many songs like "Our God is an Awesome God" which we then sang today during church.  They also taught us many things in Telugu.  Grace taught us an entire Telugu song (five verses with chorus!!!) which we sang today in church for everyone.  I know we sang many words wrong but they all loved it!  Pastor David said afterwards that it proved we have missionary hearts.  We are also learning many words already.  I can say "Vondanalu" which means "Thank you!"; and "na peru Betany" which means "my name is Bethany" and if I think really hard I can remember some of the others words and phrases.  

Yesterday we also went shopping (where I got accosted by a group of giggly young girls asking my name and then telling me all sorts of things I couldn't understand because I can't speak Telugu yet).  We each bought one Indian-styled shirt (in pictures below).  We made most people stare as we walked around. The best thing is to just pretend you don't see them looking at you ;)  Other new things we are experiencing, like: refreshingly cool showers with only cold water (weather is 75-80 degrees at night and a cool shower in the morning is so nice); how to hand wash all our laundry (our 17 year old friend, Chandana, taught us...she laughed at us for not knowing how); and how to eat with our hands (they have silverware for us and in their hospitality insist that we use it, but why not eat just like they do?!...I'll take a picture of that soon). 

Today (Sunday) we were privileged with sharing from the word of God during the church service. This is our second time teaching through a translator since arriving, and I think we're starting to get the hang of it! The first time was Friday night, where we sang at the prayer meeting and shared our testimonies. And then we spoke from the scriptures about the Samaritan woman whom Jesus met and the power of her testimony.  Today we greeted the whole church and Chelsea shared with them how the Lord had brought us to India.  Then, at Pastor David's request, we shared the Word. We chose the first two verses of Psalm 91.  (Vaneela recorded it as well as our singing in Telugu...videos to come). After church Chelsea taught the youth about Jesus' words on greatest commandment:

 

Chelsea teaching the youth after church

Then we taught them an American song with actions. They loved it and made us do it twice with them!

Can you guess which song? 

"Every Move I Make"

I have so much more to tell... The home we are living in is wonderful; and the building that is currently being constructed is so exciting!  We will take videos of both soon so you can see it all.  Tomorrow, because it is a festival and no Hindu will listen to us, we are all going to travel to the beach for another day of rest.  We are almost over jet-lag and will resume "normal" life on Wednesday after the festival.

Thank you all for your prayers! We are being faithful to journal so even if we can't tell you it all here, we will not forget what amazing things the Lord is doing!

Our blessings and prayers are with you!

Andariki vandanalu!!!
(Thanks to you all for reading)