The Holidays

Hello everybody! I'm really sorry I have been better about my blog recently, but I finally have some free time to write one! I'm currently listening to Amy Grant Christmas Hits to inspire this blog. If things get weird, now you know why.

The past few weeks have been very busy and very strange. Strange in the sense that I am missing all the Christmas cheer back in the states and that I spent my first Thanksgiving away from my family. I hadn't really been too homesick until the week of Thanksgiving, but my fellow interns at IJM and I tried to make the best of it and celebrated two nights in a row. It is nearly impossible to find a turkey here...believe me we searched, so we had to settle with chicken, which was excellent.

My Thanksgiving Eve plate consisting of chicken, fried okra, mac'n'cheese, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. I have to thank multiple mothers for sending interns Thanksgiving food in the mail.

The special things about cooking here is that most kitchens only have two burners....and NO ovens. This makes for an entertaining experience. For Thanksgiving dinner we went over to another interns house who happens to have a toaster oven (this is a big deal). Her toaster oven gets so hot that you can cook things on top of it. Allow me to show you.

                                                 

I know you are probably thinking that this had have been impossible. I'm here to tell you that you are wrong. Cooking things on top of a toaster oven does take a bit longer, but it works! 

The Thanksgiving Eve Crew

The most memorable experience of Thanksgiving this year was that our office was able to rescue 47 individuals from bonded labour! The neat thing about this rescue was that we were only expecting to rescue about 20 people, but people from the neighboring rice mill started jumping the fence to be rescued. God is so good! I don't know if I have ever been so thankful for his faithfulness as I was this Thanksgiving. If you would like to read more...here is the short article. We spent the evening of Thanksgiving at Sparky's (the American Diner) for a Thanksgiving buffet. They somehow managed to find turkey...I was shocked. I have to admit, I was ready for Thanksgiving to end, because A.) I found a Christmas store that had some fun decorations B.) My Aunt Kelly added to my collection by sending me a box of Christmas decorations and I was VERY ready to decorate. Therefore, Thanksgiving night, I coerced my roommates into turning up the Amy Grant Christmas hits and decorating our cute little apartment. Here is the finished product. 

Our cute little tree.

I have some talented roommates.

THe flash washes out the best decoration of all....look below.

Why yes, that is a light up santa with his reindeers.

That is all for now. I will try to update again next week with the deeper things happening in life. Please continue to pray for my health. It seems as though I have bronchitis. My immune system is just not fighting the way it does in the states. I hope each of you are enjoying the Christmas cheer for me!