Another Easter come and gone.

Hello friends.

Since my last blog, I have enjoyed several days of almost nothingness that were much needed in the hustle and bustle of life in South Asia.  Thursday, I spent most of the day recovering from food poisoning and then went to Pizza Hut for date night with our supervisor’s kids (I healed rather quickly, I’m glad to say.)  Friday, our household was supposed to go with two of the girls from the Center and the four kids to “Sea World,” the local water park, but I ended up having to stay home as my body made it clear that it was not ready for such a day quite yet.  It was a wonderfully unproductive day and I’m glad to say I woke up fully recovered Saturday morning. 

Saturday was a little stressful, as I had children’s ch*rch at house fellowship, but it was fun to teach about Palm Sunday and make palm branches and paper bag donkeys.  Finally, yesterday was Easter.  We went to a local sunrise service, which was an encouraging experience, even if I didn’t understand half of what was said, just to be able to see so many come out for it.  This isn’t the kind of culture where people go to Chr*stian events lightly.  After a delightful nap, my housemates and I made a large donkey and several tails for a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game at the Easter party to be had in the evening, and then went to the party shortly after. 

Two hours and over a dozen wild children later, we were heading home and stopped at a grocery store.  When I went to check out, I went to the friendly guy that we always go to when he works since he’s much less of a creeper than the other ones, and he tells me “Happy Easter.”  At first I didn’t notice, and then I realized that that actually means something here.  I returned the greeting, and he asked if we’d been at the cemetery that morning (where the sunrise service had been.)  I soon found out that he had gone too and had seen us there.

For some reason, Easter didn’t really feel like Easter until that moment.  I don’t even know this young man’s name or background, but I know he knows what Easter is and is brave enough to say so.  I know he has interacted with believers enough to have been to an early-morning sunrise service, and I know there’s at least a solid possibility that he’s a believer himself.  That made it feel like Easter.

After going home, I had the wonderful blessing of being able to skype in with my ch*rch family back home.  NSiders, I still can’t express what your support means to me every day here.  You’re one of the things I miss the most over here.

Somehow one of the teachers convinced us to give Monday off too, and I’m super glad to say that I have yet another day of recovery and laid-back lesson planning ahead of me (and delousing my roommate, haha.)  The amount of holidays they have in this culture balances out perfectly with the way the culture stresses me out.