Dear Church Family,
Namaste (Greetings) from Mussoorie, India. It seems impossible that in the few short weeks since we left New York, we have moved around the globe to a new home high in the Himalayas. God has been present in this transition – we now sense Him in the mists in the mountains before the monsoon rains begin, when the sun appears, in the people who have welcomed us so warmly to this place. We think of you often and miss you, and send our thanks for the beautiful sending off ceremonies, and your prayers and good wishes
It has not been an easy transition. We arrived in steamy Delhi jet-lagged and overtired, eventually succumbing to stomach ailments that plagued all four of us. The train ride from Delhi to Dehra Dun was a literal moving documentary about the plight of the poor in this country. As we sat in our 2nd-class air conditioned coach, we saw other train cars crammed full to overflowing with others less fortunate. We saw shack homes where the family cow seemed to live better that its owners. It was emotionally disturbing. Yet on the same ride, we saw miles of sugar cane and rice fields, monkeys and elephants, stately women dressed in beautiful shalwar kameez, laughing children. It was amazing.
The bus ride up the mountain to Mussoorie was incredibly frightening. As our vehicle climbed the 4000 plus feet, winding around the mountain on a road that did not always accommodate two lanes of traffic, we found it hard not to follow the view straight down into the valley below. We arrived at the school dazed and relieved that we made it, all the while marveling at how a school could be built 150 years ago at such an elevation.
The school is indeed amazing – nestled on nearly 300 acres of terraced mountainside, its old buildings updated technically and esthetically to make a much sought after residential Christian school. Our house is one of the original British officers’ cottages when the area was used for convalescence. It was probably used by several teachers when Presbyterian women took over the military site for use as a school for children of missionaries in Asia. Today “Sunnywood”, as it is called, is a single family home for staff, quite antiquated by U.S. standards, but a solid and dry refuge from the monsoon rains.
We are grateful for financial assistance from several churches that is allowing us to make this house a home. We are in the process of purchasing an electric clothes dryer that will help keep the mildew at bay during the four month monsoon season. Already the temperature is in the 60’s, and in a few months we will buy space heaters, as the one wood stove cannot heat both floors of the house. Drapes and warm bed linens will be next, as the winter temperatures will dip to the 30’s, with snow likely.
Next month we will be able to report on our work at the school, with a more informed insight into the ethos of the school, its workers and students. We can receive email at the school, as well as post, and would love to hear from you. We ask for your prayers for our health and well-being, and that we remain faithful to what God would have us do in India.
--Barbara, Jeffrey, Chris, and Coleman Thomas
email: barbarathomas@woodstock.ac.in
postal: Woodstock School, Mussoorie UA 248179, India
U.S. mission coordinator: Kim Kleman-Lewis: mission@pvillepresby.org