This update post is way overdue. I am grateful for those who remember and pray for us.
A Full 360
We landed in India mid-June. After spending the next 2 weeks visiting family in 3 different cities, we reached our home in Mysore on June 30th. Friends from church took care of the cleaning and setting up our house. We are ever so thankful to God for this provision. This is not the first time the Lord has so greatly provided for us. When we landed in the US four years ago, our friends from other parts of the US came and set up our house there. They had even filled our pantry and left us supplies for a whole month. This time around, our friends brought us home-cooked meals. It is indeed a blessing to be a part of God’s community.
There Is Grace for Every Season
The first few weeks were spent replacing all our electrical appliances; everything was broken. How we managed to be happy through it all? God alone knows! His grace kept us through that season.
What’s Happening at the DSouzas’?
It’s been just over four months since we arrived in Mysore. Life is settling into the “new normal” of things. The kids are well adjusted to life here. The regular rhythms of church, athletics, and school have given them stability.
When we left for the States, there were two other families along with us who were homeschooling in Mysore. They were fairly new in the homeschooling realm of things. Now we have four other families homeschooling in our church. The awkwardness of us being pioneer homeschoolers is gone, since others have been doing it for quite some time now. This has made it much easier for the kids, as they are not put on the spot or asked questions about being homeschooled. Also, the church as a whole has welcomed us with open arms. What a blessing this is! God be praised for the way he has blessed us. Transitions are not easy, but God has his ways of making it smooth; and he has done it for us.
I am slowly getting integrated into the life of the church. I have started co-leading a Sunday School class for the kiddos. There are three boys between ages 6 and 8. What a privilege it is to teach and train these young hearts! The questions some of them raised recently – ” If God doesn’t have a body like man, then how come there are pics of him in children’s books?”, ” How is God both one and three?”, ” Where is God? I cannot see him.” and more. We are also hosting people over the weekends and getting to know the new folks.
Just when we were beginning to feel a little settled, our shipment of boxes arrived. We had a lot of things that needed to find a home. So I spent about a week reorganizing to make room for all the books/kitchen items that arrived. It is all done now, and I feel accomplished. On the other hand, Eddie needed to buy bookshelves for his study before he could organize all the books. The shelves arrived last week, and he has now found a “temporary home” for the books on the shelves before they can be sorted, labelled, and re-shelved.
Along with all the books also came in a flood of memories. Allie got her yarn; Mia found her dolls; I found my books, gifts, encouragement cards and so on.
We often wonder if life in MN has become a memory sooner than we wished. But we are ever grateful for all the wonderful memories, experiences, and friendships. These have a special place in our hearts.
We celebrated “Reformation Day” with the homeschooling families in the church. The kids learnt about the reformers and presented their learnings in the form of either a skit, poem, speech, appeal etc., Allie researched on the Heidelberg Catechism and presented on it. Here is her speech.
Eddie has been teaching the church from 1 Corinthians 15. You can find the sermons here. He is also steadily researching and working on his Th.M. thesis. God willing, he hopes to be done by the end of the year, ready for review and defense.
Praise the Lord for the grace that He has shown you during this transition! Many blessings to your family!