A well watered garden

Adjusting
 It is winter here. Hmm....we don't know what to make of that. Flies, mosquitoes and palm trees, don't connect with winter for us. Nor do temps in the high 70's. We see babies with knit caps and people wearing hoodie sweat shirts. They say it will get colder...that we will be cold. They don't know of our hardy northern tribe - Michiganders!  :)
We struggled with a bad case of jet lag, then a difficult time getting used  to sleeping with ears stuffed full of ear plugs to keep horn and traffic noise to a minimum. (You can still hear it!)

Hunting
In some ways it felt like coming "home", since we are in the same room as before, but we rearranged the room, and needed some of our own things to warm it up. So, we traveled to town(35 miles) this week... the search(hunt) was on for a lamp(a necessity for Sheryl)...a difficult task in a culture that is content with a florescent light fixture attached to the wall.  The hunt was successful, plus new sheets...feels a little more like "ours".  Just a side note: There was no Christmas decorations in the stores, nor Christmas music, not that it feels like Christmas even though it is "winter".

Randy got to do some "man hunting" for a vehicle. Interesting to find out that air bags are an option.
"But sir", they said "it has a full iron frame, no need for airbags" to which Randy said...that doesn't help much when you plow into a Lorrie(large truck).

Routine/New friends
We are back to a somewhat familiar routine, up at 6 a.m. to exercise, 7 a.m. devotions, 8 a.m. breakfast of porridge, bananas, and coffee. We are enjoying  the three girls who are students in the India Quest program. Fiona is from England, Caroline from Germany, and Emily from Australia. We go to great lengths sorting out the differences in our English words and there meanings.
Like: Boots/Bonnet mean trunk/hood of a car. They say a trunk is a suitcase or even a storage unit.
But they call boots...boots too, meaning a shoe/foot covering. We have great fun..teasing each other about our silly expressions and accents. They are wonderful girls with lovely singing voices, they are always singing or humming. Caroline played her saxophone in church Sunday, I am sure it is the first time most of the people ever saw or heard a saxophone.

Surprises

• construction has been taking place which includes an addition being added to the main house for team housing and dining facilities. (see photo) Still processing how this affects our guest house plans, it may mean changes.
• much fabric has been purchased for purses/pillow cushions, closets full of which we had no idea nor did we initiate. Any ideas for distributing/selling these would be welcomed. Our website is almost ready to launch and we will add some there. We are open to any ideas for marketing these...they really are very beautiful. (See photos) They keep getting better.
• found out that at Christmas everyone leaves....everyone. School children go home. Teachers leave for their hometowns to visit family, India Quest team is going to Goa. The Winston's to Kerala. We are trying to decide what to do. We may go to Visak by train, a beach town on the Indian Bay for a few days. It will be a quiet Christmas with an opportunity to focus on Jesus and His great gift to us.

Our training is now being put to the test, and we get to use the strength we both scored highest on adaptability, and the learning curve of trusting in Him who is faithful. "Jesus Calling" today highlighted Isaiah 58:11-12.  The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well watered garden, like  a spring whose waters never fail.  :) Somehow I like the sound of being a well watered garden.