News from the Thomas Family Woodstock School in Northern India - October, 2007
It's that time of year. This week, the Union Church of Mussoorie held their annual Thanksgiving worship service in conjunction with the Faculty Choir and string quartet from Woodstock School, as well as youth choirs from nearby Wynberg-Allen School, Union Church's own Sunday School and their church-affiliated Hebron Elementary School. The Methodist-style church sanctuary was decorated to celebrate the harvest of fruits, vegetables, flowers and plants that grow in profusion at the end of the monsoon season. We gathered together to share our bounties -- both cash and in-kind offerings of foodstuffs to share with the Cheshire Home for Incurables in Dehra Dun, and with local poor families, as well as the gifts of music on the Thanksgiving theme. It was a beautiful service attended by young and old, resident national Indians and expatriates alike. Thanking God for the gifts bestowed on us and giving us opportunities to share them with others needed no interpretation or cultural explanation. It was just what Christians around the world do. Here's wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving in your time and place.
As the sun is beginning to sink behind the mountain peaks, and the artificial horizon called the winterline is beginning to come into view, I am listening to the sounds of exuberant children of the school employees playing a game of cricket on what used to be a clay tennis court in days gone by. The last of the monkey troupe balances on the fence surrounding our home as they head to the trees up hill for the night. I hear the tinkling bells of the donkeys heading down the path outside our home after a long day of carrying construction rubble from the two new school employee housing units. My mind wanders back earlier this week to the worried look on Nishima Chand's father's face as he had to admit that even with our help from the Thomas India Mission Fund, he didn't have enough for her nursing school tuition this year. I wonder how our neighbor Rakhi Maher is today, a week after the bone graft to strenghten her leg shattered by a drunk driver. I remember how worried she was last week with no food in the house to feed her two children, and we shared bread, bananas and filtered water with them. My mind forwards to this next week at school when I must discipline some young elementary school students, carefully meting out the guidance their parents would give them if they were here and the unconditional love that God wants them to know about.
This is our life here in India - perhaps not terribly exciting or interesting to you after faithfully reading our newsletters for the past 27 months. What, we wonder, do you need to hear from us? We value our relationship with you, in fact, could not continue to be here without your support. What can we do to maintain the connection across the miles? What can we pray for to help you? For our part, we need to hear from you - it informs our work and prayers, and inspires us during our time away from you. Send us a personal letter by post or email. Please let us hear from you soon.
Joys!
With word of the successful Friday Morning Bible Study Breakfasts spreading through the High School student body, a new group is being started for 9th and 10th grade boys. To support them, we will offer teen study bibles purchased from the Thomas India Mission Fund.
Prayer Requests
The workload at this residential school is intense for all of us. Barb is especially stretched as she tries to balance teaching, administrating the Elementary School, meeting the needs of the family and our outreach to those around us. Pray for safe travels for Jeff and the students he takes to the Model United Nations Conference in Chennai. May it be a time of rich learning and relationship building. Pray for Chris as he takes his PSAT exams and begins his college investigations. Help us parents to help him through struggles with faith and relationships in the teen years. Keep Coleman in prayer as he navigates Middle School and to remain a strong Christian role model. We ask for continued prayers for the Maher and Chand families as they struggle to make ends meet. We solicit prayers for Andrea, the young daughter of fellow missionaries in Prague, battling thyroid cancer. Pray that God will bless the new monthly Youth Worship Services we are starting at our local church, St. Paul's. Please pray that God will enrich our relationship with you, and that we will support each other in prayer until we meet again.
--Namaste,
Jeff, Barb, Chris and Coleman Thomas
Woodstock School
Mussoorie UA
248179 India
Thomas India Mission Fund
Doris Kersten, Coordinator
Pleasantville Presbyterian Church
400 Bedford Rd
Pleasantville, NY 10570