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PL808
6th October 2019
Clifton’s trip was pushed forward a few days so he has been able to write out this week’s PL while on a plane to Kathmandu, Nepal. From there he will ride across into Tibet. In his absence Rick, Eugene and Priscilla have the team from Door of Hope on hand to help with everything from repairs and maintenance to planning activities and entertainment for our kids’ upcoming holidays.
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The team scraping and preparing the Big Boys Hostel living room for painting.
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Ben removing some old redundant wiring from the wall.
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Peter pretending to be working.
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While none of the team members would dare declare that they have been “working hard” they have been working consistently… and anyhow their trips are not about “hard work”, they are about relationships; the connections that are built between the team from Tassie and our team here on the ground. Door of Hope has been with us since the day we boarded the plane in Launceston back in 2004, it is awesome to keep building on that.
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Tea times are the best times to build relationships and there are snacks!
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Priscilla sharing a story with the team.
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Our many other connections and relationships in Tasmania mean that when a group like this comes out there is a smorgasbord of little gifts, letters, messages, toys, clothes, presents and Vegemite that come along with them! It is always wonderful to receive care packages and dozens of our children received parcels of love this last week from past volunteers and friends. The biggest gift of all was a brand new phone that was given to young Basanti just in time for her to head off to college next week! The timing could not have been more perfect as Basanti was just starting to worry about how she would stay in contact.
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The Hostel Boys got some Cricket Tasmania tops from friends in Tassie.
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Not sure if those are regulation sandals Parwat?
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Pinky's sponsors are actually here as a part of the Door of Hope team, during their time on the farm they wanted to do something special for Pinky. They went online to Amazon and purchased a large assortment of paints and canvasses for Pinky; who loves art! To go along with it they asked Ganesh, our carpenter, to whip up an easel for her, something he managed to do in an afternoon.
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Ganesh working on an artists stand for Pinky.
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The team is led this year by Ben and Katie, good friends of Clifton’s. Their home is actually Clifton’s registered address in Australia, Katie manages all of his mail and keeps a box of clothes for when he visits. On their second trip to the mission Ben and Katie brought their two children, Atreyu and Raven. For young Raven this trip was about one thing: celebrating her 3rd birthday. Something she did this week in a memorable way.
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Coming together to celebrate Raven's birthday.
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The bakers made an absolutely beautiful cake!
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Party celebrations and snacks underway.
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Parwat and Dhiraj enjoying their snacks.
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Dennis was excited when he heard everyone got a gift bag.
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Ebyon and Vishwajeet.
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The clear skies of the monsoon have made for some incredible sunsets this week. As the evening light gives way to night, the sky explodes in colour like no other season of the year. Parwat and Floyd (both avid novice photographers) were joined by Clifton up on the roof as they snapped and time-lapsed every incredible moment they could.
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Parwat setup watching the sunset.
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Click the button below to see the incredible skies we have been witnessing.
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We had a different kind of visitor this week, one that was not welcome with everyone! When Rajesh went up on the roof of his hostel one morning he was surprised to find a large male stag beetle. As this is a very rare sight Rajesh carefully took it for a walk around the farm to meet the family, before releasing it back into the wild.
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Rajesh with the little visitor.
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Who wants a pet?
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Local elections are going on for various positions in our area. The one that effects us the most is our Gram Pradhan election. (elections for our Village President). Aside from crowds of people flocking to the street to 'rally' for their candidates, posters have gone up across town and vehicles mounted with speakers roll through the streets blasting messages of support. Voting was held on Saturday so the campaigning has now come to an abrupt end.
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Vehicles like this roll through town blasting campaign messages.
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Posters adorn the homes of the village, whether the owners want them or not.
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Many from our village on a rally to support their candidate.
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Campaigners shout slogans to show their passion.
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Even taking to the highway.
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On Wednesday we celebrated a national holiday called Gandhi Jayanti. Held on the birth date of India's most famous individual, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, or as most in the west know him, Mahatma Gandhi. We chose to celebrate Ghandi Ji's birthday a little differently this week by spending some time clearing up litter from our campus. A job that the small boys did with great dedication.
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Cleaning up the mission.
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The Small Boys team did a great job.
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This brings us to the end of our newsletter this week. We thank you all for joining with us on this incredible journey that God has given us.
Blessing on you,
Rick, Clifton, Eugene & Priscilla
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For Those Who Pray:
- Pray for safety for Clifton as he starts his ride from Kathmandu into Tibet.
- Pray for Hong Kong, specifically for our girls Catherine and Roma who live and work there. Both are doing well and have not been majorly affected by the escalating protests go on there.
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