Hello again to all of my sponsors, family and friends! Sorry that I personally have not been able to give many up-dates on here; life in India has kept me pretty busy and there are a lot of us trying to get blogs up! Before I go into other things, I wanted to again thank everyone who has financially supported this ministry. Without you, none of the amazing progress happening over here in India would have been possible. So THANKS! J

How we celebrate in India

BIRTHDAYSYep, we have celebrated quite a few of these here! I can only imagine how difficult it must be to be away from family and friends on a day such as this. (One year older and!!...I'm in India?) If it is someone's b

irthday while we are here, they are allowed to:

·        Call loved ones & use the internet

·        Go out for a nice dinner with the team

·        Get a yummy homemade ice cream cake J

·        Do something fun for the day

o       Shopping, coffee shops, ect. with the leaders

Birthdays have been a fun event for the whole team. Better yet, I'm sure another birthday celebration will happen as soon as they return home! (No pressure if you know one of these people)

 Although this is not a Christian holiday by any means, we made sure costumes and candies were present on this day! The children at the orphanages have never heard of Halloween. Shocked, our team decided to throw a Halloween party for them. The party included candy bags and fun Halloween stations! After ministry for the day, a few of us put together a little Halloween party in our "living room". The room was lit by candlelight. We had carmel apples, sparkling apple juice, candy, music and ridiculous costumes. Characters attending the party included a sumo wrestler, two teenage mutant ninja turtles, a gangster and an umbrella! We all danced and laughed the night away.

THANKSGIVING; a holiday that has yet to take place. I believe I can speak for everyone when I say we will all be missing the turkey, gravy and stuffing we would normally be enjoying on this day back home! This year, though, we have an amazing opportunity granted to us for this celebration. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving at the leper colony. Our team will supply all of the food, and the women of the colony (along with the ladies of our team) will cook a feast for everyone to enjoy! How many people can say they had the opportunity to eat thanksgiving dinner with the Untouchables?

CHRISTMAS Although we will not be in India for Christmas, that does not stop a party from taking place! As most of you have read, we are putting together a Christmas party for the orphanages. We have the planning well under way. The party will contain Christmas carols, presents, cookies, hot chocolate, craft stations and games! The orphanages will also be transformed into winter wonderlands; fake snow included. J If you have not done so already, I ask you to deeply consider donating toward this cause. This is the only holiday these children get to celebrate; they deserve a good one! For more information, take a look at the Christmas Party Blog.

I hope all is well for everyone back home! We miss you all so much, and are thankful each day for the ways in which each of you have helped to make this mission trip a success!

God Bless & much love,

Kelsey Scherven