Why hello there people in rainy England (at least we're guessing so)... We hope you're all doing well. Now, how to summarise the past few days...

The flight was, in a word, tiring, but to add more words, the plane was plain swanky (see what I did there?) and for some, inflight entertainment was far more appealing than sleep, especially for those fuelled by Mountain Dew.

We arrived, piled into a bus (luggage balanced precariously on the roof) and got to the house. Yellow from the outside, yellow from the inside, basic but it's got everything we need: beds (with traditional rugs for sheets), showers/buckets plus jug, a kitchen and an eating/chilling room with lots of chairs.

On Sunday, post a much-needed night's rest, we went to church. The location was splendiferous: riverside, with a corrugated iron roof, equipped with fans. I was a definite fan (see what I did again? I promise I'll stop at some point....). Martin, who with his wife Beena set up BLC, spoke and his sermon was inspiring and relevant to both our stay and life in general. The worship, led by Dipak, was awesome, if a bit loud. Next we paid a visit to the girls' home, which was brief as they were cleaning, but it was our first taste of the kids' homes as they stand in 2014. Wonderful and humbling, these places are full of joy. Finally, we went to the beach, which was surprisingly British-like, despite the palm trees and slightly heavier rain than we're used to (so don't you be complaining).

A quick note about the food: it's good. Very tasty, sometimes spicy, and always colourful. Most evenings Beena cooks for us and we spend lunches at the small boys' home...which leads nicely into Monday.

So, we woke up, and got off to a flying start at the boys' home. A few people helped in the Rising Star school, which is part of the home and for the youngest kids, and those who struggle the most. This was rewarding, touching and constantly entertaining. The rest of the team prepped the dining room for painting on Tuesday, sanding and scrubbing all the walls, which was hot, sticky work but we're sure it'll be worth it. We came back to the house for a nap and then went back to the home to run an after-school kids group, where we sang songs and Pete and Niall did a great job with the puppets. The boys then introduced to a new game called 7up which shortly lost its appeal although they were adamant they'd teach us Hindi numbers. Finally the team split - guys and girls went to the older boys' home and the girls' home respectively. We had more worship, and shared devotion time with them, which was a great opportunity to bond with them.

Finally, today (which is Tuesday, for those who have lost their calendar), so far we have gone to the little boys' home again and the team this time was split in two. We took it in turns to play with the kids, as they have no school today because of the public holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan. The other part of the team started to paint the dining room, before we shared lunch with the kids. Currently, we are sitting writing this at the house, while the sweet sound of the teams outstanding ukulele playing subscrobially wafts into our (somewhat grimy) ears.... You see, we're doing this instead of having a shower. Gross.

Yours sincerely,

The SMGoa team