This week we got three letters! The first one was from little Elisha in Tanzania! We started writing to Elisha in November, so it was exciting to finally get a letter from him- especially since I will be meeting him in a few weeks!
17 December 2013
Festivals and Holidays
Dear Jessi,
Our national festivals/holidays are: union and farmer's day
My favorite national festival/holiday is: farmer's day
My family celebrates my favorite national festival/holiday by: union day
My favorite foods to eat during celebrations are: rice and meat
My family celebrates Christmas by: visiting friends
At my project we celebrate Christmas by: thanking God
My family celebrates the new year by: visiting friends
At my project we celebrate the new year by: eating together
Message:
Praise God. I am very well and healthy. Are you well and healthy? I am doing well on my studies. I also attend well at the center. God bless you. Thank you for the letter I received.
I'll have to see what I can learn about the holidays Elisha mentioned! It was nice to read that Elisha's family visits their friends on Christmas- that's what my family does, too! And I wonder what kind of New Year's celebration the project has? I'm sure it's fun!
The next letter was from Jayid in India!
2 January 2014
My Friends
My closest friends at the project are: Aman Khan, Sourabh, Manish
Games I like to play with my friends: Cricket, Handball, Football
Activities I enjoy doing with my friends are: playing cricket, story telling
My best friend is: Sourabh
My best friend studies in class/grade: III
Things my best friend and I have in common: complete home work with together, and storytelling
Message for my sponsor:
Dear Jessi,
I am CDW writing a letter on behalf Jayid. He says he is fine here but some fever is to him. Here is very cold and he says that he learn Jesus prayer and action songs and Bible words Philippians 4 4-8 learnt by heart and Isaiah 60 also. Jayid say love and thanks.
Jayid wrote about making friends with Sourabh pretty recently, so it's neat to hear that they're already best friends! I was bummed to read that Jayid has had a fever, but I'm sure he's doing better by now! It's funny to read that Jayid's town has been very cold recenty- I bet it hasn't been as cold as my town! : ) In fact, last week I wrote a letter to all the kids telling them about the snow, the ice storm, and the consequences of the weather- like huge cracks in the concrete, or fallen trees! I'll be interested to see what everyone has to say about the icy pictures!
The last letter we received was from Bonifas! It's great to hear from him again- the more letters I receive from him and Elisha, the more at ease I feel about meeting them next month!
23 December 2013
Our national festivals/holidays are: The 8th day of August, the Independent Torch
My favorite national festival/holiday is: 7th day of July
My family celebrates my favorite national festival/holiday by: visiting animal game parks
My favorite foods to eat during celebrations are: spiced rice and chapati
My family celebrates Christmas by: going to the church
At my project we celebrate Christmas by: being given clothes
My family celebrates the new year by: walking around
At my project we celebrate the new year by: glory and cheer
Bonifas says thanks so much for the letters you sent to him. He says thanks so much and God bless you richly. He says that he prays for you including your family very much.
It was neat to see that both little guys from Tanzania wrote form letters about the holidays- though the letters were on different stationery! I wonder if this means that the form letters are on a schedule for kids in TZ- like, each month they have a different one to send. Anyway, Bonifas' letter made me laugh! I'm sure he probably means they walk around visiting friends or something like that, but I just had a funny picture in my head of his family walking around aimlessly. : ) I also smiled when I read that they visit the animal parks- Bonifas lives about an hour away from Arusha, which is where we will be spending part of the trip. It's a popular area to visit for safaris and stuff. And you can see the Indian influence on Tanzania's cuisine- chapatis are Indian flatbread! Many Indian foods are popular in Tanzania, because they were brought over from traders, via the Indian Ocean.
I also had some correspondence with Compassion this week, and I have some updates to share!
A few weeks ago, I got in touch with the sponsor donor department to ask if they could email the India offices, to see if our kids had received the packages my mother in law mailed for us while she was there on business. Two packages went to the India office, and one went to the East India office. There was some concern about whether the packages arrived safely, because of the way the tracking appeared on the website for one of them. The lady I have been talking to, Colleen, was so helpful! She called to tell me that unfortunately, the packages did not arrive to the India office. Those were for my mom's girl Amisha and my friend's girl. It was very sad news. My mom has the opportunity to send another gift to Amisha through a very kind sponsor, but the bag will be smaller and she doesn't have the space or funds to pack quite as much as the other package. That is disappointing, and I know my mom is sad about it. We are just praying that whoever took the packages needed what was in them.
But I do have good news, too! The East India office wrote to say that Jayid's package arrived in November- it was delivered by a group of people, rather than FedEx, so I think maybe it came back to wherever they sent it from, and someone was kind enough to hand deliver it! The field office also said that Jayid has written a thank you letter, and they are also sending a picture of him with his gifts!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited about that part!! The letter and picture were still in India, so it will be about another month before they arrive in my mailbox. I'm really looking forward to it! Colleen also sent a memo to the Mexico field office to ask about the gifts my friend Mrs. K received and then mailed for me in Mexico. That field office said Brenda's dolly and Bible arrived two weeks ago, and one of the child development workers had picked it up! They said that Brenda has a letter writing day this week, and she would be writing a thank you letter then! Maybe I'll get a picture from her, too! : )
I love that you received Elisha's first letter right before your trip!!! And how neat that his favorite holiday is Farmer's Day. I love learning my kids' favorite holidays…I wonder if it's a national holiday? Do you know? I hope that Jayid's fever is better now. I enjoyed reading about his friend…especially what he enjoys doing with his best friend. And what a cute letter from Bonifas! I agree--it's such a great image of him walking around to celebrate the new year…I bet he is visiting people! I also thought it was neat that his family celebrates his favorite holiday by visiting game parks.
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