Second blog of the mission

As we write this we are in a nice hotel doing God's work by drinking mocktails and relaxing in the pool. We're not joking. We are taking a well-deserved break in a hotel on the beachfront for an evening. Watching the others swim in the pool as we eat our chips.

Everyone is doing well, however Pete fell down the stairs. He is fine now, no need to worry. However he has been feeling light-headed and a bit dizzy so we would be grateful for prayer. However we have discovered a cure. The more he eats, the less light-headed he feels, which is convenient. The past few days he's been feeling better though, so that's good. The ukulele has been the go-to activity at siesta time when there isn't much to do and boredom sets in. Everybody can now play it better than George Formby, thanks to Chas. Some of us have been suffering from lack of sleep, yet we only have ourselves to blame. And the howling dogs. And the rain. And the heat. And the sound of the fans that don't do much to cool the heat. And the midges. Mainly ourselves. We hope you are enjoying your respective homes without us. Now for a Hindi lesson. Bas means enough, pronounced buzz. Sukriya means thank you. That's bas for today. See what we did there.

We're sure you have excess food without us, and we hope you enjoyed New Wine for those who went. We have almost finished painting the boys dining room, just painting on Noah's ark and some other elaborations. Next we paint the girls home. We have been running fun clubs for the kids, which includes art and craft activities, puppet shows (given by Pete and Niall) and bible stories. The boys have been doing devotions in the boys home, and the girls in the girls home. Chas, Sam and Emily have all spoken and all had good feedback. Sam, Pete, David and Niall all played football in the pouring rain. They have never cared less about rain and mud. That day (Wednesday) we had a whole weeks worth of rain in one day, even in monsoon. It seemed fun to us, but the flooding has been

catastrophic in Mumbai, so again prayer is needed. We're going to go because Pete is desperate to buy  some cake. Have fun.

Yours sincerely, SMGoa team

P.S Gretchen, Chas is doing superb, he's taken a particular shine to some of the female volunteers working with us and is getting on well with them.