With our hands

One of the highlights of of my week is first grade writing. The twelve pupils are keen to learn and work; they have the energy and enthusiasm of a hundred wild elephants.
The result isn't always as colourful as here but it is often hard for them to stop once they see what the result will be like.
On each 'leaf' they wrote something they can do with their hands. There is much good to be done.

Easter in Greece

After a holiday in Greece I am back at LAMB. It was wonderful to spend time with my family; parents and brother in Athens. There is so much (rubble) to see. Everywhere you look there is another pillar, column or piece of an ancient statue testifying to how old the place is.
The Greeks can boast of the oldest democratic constitution in the world - more than two thousand years old. It didn't include women and slaves, nobody is perfect. (They have changed it since.)
In Dubai, on the way to Athens, an electronics show offered to take a three dimensional photo of me and save it in a square of crystal glass. It was impressive, but it was nothing like the 3D statues the artists made in Greece around the time of Christ. The (remains of) old buildings and statues were truly impressive. The 3D photos in Dubai were a little expensive anno 2009. I reckon it would have been expensive in 9 AD too.
It was a great way to celebrate my mother's seventieth birthday.
Easter Sunday we participated in a Sonrise service at Areopagus, where Paul spoke to the Athenians. There wasn't quite the crowd I imagine would have been there in Acts 17, but the message was still about salvation in Christ.

Easter

I'm going on a holiday to Greece. You can see photos from my trip by clicking here but not until such times as when I have taken photos and had the opportunity to upload them there.
Leaving LAMB School for two weeks seems like a treat, and it is good to be able to leave knowing that there are good colleagues who will keep it running and care for the children here.
In Greece I will meet up with my parents and my brother to celebrate my mother's seventieth birthday. She is still young and it was her idea that in stead of the hard work of organising a party we go on to Athens together and relax.
I will miss the teen group and the church service they will lead on the Saturday before Easter Sunday. They have been working on worship, prayers, Bible readings and a sermon with a power point presentation explaining the stations of the cross. I have put photos of their illustrations made in plastic beads on my Danish blog.

Horror

When Karen asked for two days off two weeks after her grandfather died, I thought this was the traditional memorial service held by many thirteen days after someone dies.
The grandfather had died on the railway and, as is the tradition here, (almost) everybody that visited had lifted the sheet that covered his remains and seen the mutilated body. Though only nine years old, Karen had also seen the body.
On the second day of the ritual one of Karen's friends came to school saying that Karen had been possessed. I was called to talk to the children and asked what was going on.
The friend said the following. 'Karen smelled like she was possessed; of death and rotting [flesh].'
We talked about what other reasons there could be for the smell, and then about Karen being created and loved by God, and agreed that Karen belonged to God.
In the afternoon I talked to a colleague from the same people group (Santal) who explained that the ritual centres around calling the spirit of the deceased and appeasing it with sacrifices of food and wine.
I could hear the women ululate from my house and knew that the rituals continued to late into the night on the second day. Towards midnight a storm blew up and added to the fear of those present. (I know this from the testimony of a colleague who sheltered some of the relatives who had come to take part in the ritual.)
When I asked Karen about what had happened, she told me of her fear when 'the spirit had taken hold of her.' I don't think the makers of horror movies could have imagined it worse.
I asked Karen, and her cousin who is also a student at the school, whether they knew that God loved them; the cousin said he did, but Karen said no. I asked whether they knew that Jesus was stronger than the all spirits, again the cousin said he knew, and Karen that she didn't.
Some will question the truth in this story, please do.
I request your prayers for the children for whom this is what happened; pray that they will know that they are loved by God and that He is stronger than all that might otherwise scare them. Pray also for their families that they all may know the Truth and be set free.