Sunday, January 17, 2010

Homes

The Branch Choir came to our home with songs and a beautiful Christmas message from the scriptures. They asked to come last year, but we had just moved and the owner of our apartment made a big deal about not having church meetings here. Now the owner is secure and we know most of the other families in the building and singing would not offend anyone.

This was the best singing we have heard. Tamil people do a little something different with their voices. You don't want to say off key but you are the only one singing what you are singing.


After their visit we traveled on with them. The bus was full so we took an auto and tried to keep up but the bus was blocks ahead by the time we started. Two people were on motor bikes and kept coming back for us and that worked for a while. On the way we saw a delightful Christmas pageant taking place outside and only about thirty feet from the road. The next time we got lost we were close and the bikers found us and we all traveled down tiny dirt roads through a crowded neighborhood. Good at night when you can't see everything and maybe difficult in the day time when you can.


The people of Tamil Nadu welcome you to their homes with great warmth. No matter how humble their home they are excited and honored for you to visit them. We have been in many homes and many are so small that there is just enough floor space for a family of three to sleep on the floor. Water must be brought in. One man gets up at four in the morning to get water for his family because if he is later the water runs out for the day.




A Christmas choir fits in a big apartment or a tiny palm home with one room. That is the Spirit of Christmas.





2 comments:

Tamara said...

What a great choir! Wish we could hear them :)

Elizabeth said...

That is amazing, I am sure it took a lot of time to travel around together.