Namaskar from India! I made it safely! Hard to believe this is already my 8th day in India! So crazy! I am really enjoying it here. The staff and ladies I work with are amazing! So beautiful to see God working and extremely present in this ministry. His work here is unfathomable.
--> my room here in Kolkata!
Here I am working as an Intern for missionary work with women you have been in the sex slave trade! Right now, In Jewels in a Crown we have 10 ladies who are working at Jewels in a Crown making jewelry here for a living. Its amazing to hear their stories and how God is healing them. The girls I work with at JIAC are all Christians! They have already accepted Christ before I came here. The ladies who are still in prostitution that we help are not but now the ones working here are saved.
They are light shining in such a dark place. They still live with the prostitutes because the rent is so cheap. This is beautiful in a way, because they are able to share with the others. It is such a dark gloomy place though, with very little, so that makes me sad. They don't care though, they just praise God for all that He has given them! I can tell I will be learning and changing from JIAC ladies a lot.
This is such an amazing ministry that the Shaw's have going on. Jewels in a Crown is just one of the ministries they are in charge of here. They are doing so much goodness for the Lord, its breathtaking. They also have a daughter who is 18, Hope. She and I are really getting along well! I feel like I've known her for so much longer than a week! She is a great friend and I've really enjoyed all the time I've spent with her. Such a wonderful family- I think that is why the adjustment has not been hard here. They are Canadian missionaries, so I think it helps a lot that they understand the culture that I came from. So excited for the rest of my time with them!
My typical day during the week starts off at 9:30am with devotion time where we (the staff) take turns leading the time of the Bible study, then at 11 we start teaching english for two hours, have lunch downstairs with the poor kids from the area who have school here. They then spend the rest of the time making their gorgeous jewelry! I really enjoy the teaching the english class! I love seeing them improve even throughout the 2 hours! It awesome! Also, once a week in place of english class we have art therapy. I have made a program for that and been placed in charge of it. It gives me sooo much joy and the staff really likes the program. Yesterday we had my first session about how God heals us and our hearts. I talked about Jesus healing the disabled spirit in Luke 13 and also about Ps 51:10. I spoke about how I used to think God would heal the wounds on my heart but I'd always have scars from those pains. And how that was a lie from the devil, because God makes our heart new, purifies it and makes it whole again! Those scars don't have to stay in our life when we have Jesus!
I am so impressed with their jewelry, it is really top notch! Now they can't sell the jewlery online because of money and lack of a license BUT I will be able to bring home with me whatever you guys would want to buy. I will be taking pictures soon for the website and I will post them on fb with the prices. Anyone who would like to order something, contact me to tell me and if you can mail the money to my parent's house. That way they can put the money in my account.
Please pray for these women, that they continue to grow closer to the Lord and have patients as God is healing their hearts. Thank you all for your prayers for me and my safety. Everything went well with the travels (clearly) and I am very excited for this opportunity to grow closer to the Lord!
This weekend I am staying over at the children's home- where street kids whose parents are dead, alcoholics or addicted to drugs come to live and go to school! And right near by is the train station where we will be serving the homeless.
--> my room here in Kolkata!
Kolkata is everything you would expect it to be haha. Loud, very overcrowded and hot and smells.These things don't even bother me anymore. It's just the way the culture is here. And that's nothing in comparison to the wonderful people I have had a pleasure of getting to know/work with. The culture is a complete 180 and while I don't appreciate their outlook on women, there are still many other great things from Indian culture that I know I will be able to learn from!
Here I am working as an Intern for missionary work with women you have been in the sex slave trade! Right now, In Jewels in a Crown we have 10 ladies who are working at Jewels in a Crown making jewelry here for a living. Its amazing to hear their stories and how God is healing them. The girls I work with at JIAC are all Christians! They have already accepted Christ before I came here. The ladies who are still in prostitution that we help are not but now the ones working here are saved.
They are light shining in such a dark place. They still live with the prostitutes because the rent is so cheap. This is beautiful in a way, because they are able to share with the others. It is such a dark gloomy place though, with very little, so that makes me sad. They don't care though, they just praise God for all that He has given them! I can tell I will be learning and changing from JIAC ladies a lot.
This is such an amazing ministry that the Shaw's have going on. Jewels in a Crown is just one of the ministries they are in charge of here. They are doing so much goodness for the Lord, its breathtaking. They also have a daughter who is 18, Hope. She and I are really getting along well! I feel like I've known her for so much longer than a week! She is a great friend and I've really enjoyed all the time I've spent with her. Such a wonderful family- I think that is why the adjustment has not been hard here. They are Canadian missionaries, so I think it helps a lot that they understand the culture that I came from. So excited for the rest of my time with them!
My typical day during the week starts off at 9:30am with devotion time where we (the staff) take turns leading the time of the Bible study, then at 11 we start teaching english for two hours, have lunch downstairs with the poor kids from the area who have school here. They then spend the rest of the time making their gorgeous jewelry! I really enjoy the teaching the english class! I love seeing them improve even throughout the 2 hours! It awesome! Also, once a week in place of english class we have art therapy. I have made a program for that and been placed in charge of it. It gives me sooo much joy and the staff really likes the program. Yesterday we had my first session about how God heals us and our hearts. I talked about Jesus healing the disabled spirit in Luke 13 and also about Ps 51:10. I spoke about how I used to think God would heal the wounds on my heart but I'd always have scars from those pains. And how that was a lie from the devil, because God makes our heart new, purifies it and makes it whole again! Those scars don't have to stay in our life when we have Jesus!
I am so impressed with their jewelry, it is really top notch! Now they can't sell the jewlery online because of money and lack of a license BUT I will be able to bring home with me whatever you guys would want to buy. I will be taking pictures soon for the website and I will post them on fb with the prices. Anyone who would like to order something, contact me to tell me and if you can mail the money to my parent's house. That way they can put the money in my account.
Please pray for these women, that they continue to grow closer to the Lord and have patients as God is healing their hearts. Thank you all for your prayers for me and my safety. Everything went well with the travels (clearly) and I am very excited for this opportunity to grow closer to the Lord!
This weekend I am staying over at the children's home- where street kids whose parents are dead, alcoholics or addicted to drugs come to live and go to school! And right near by is the train station where we will be serving the homeless.
You are an amazing young woman and I am so proud of you and the work you are doing. I look forward to reading more of your adventures in this blog. I will definitely be buying some jewelry. I love you and miss you. Prayers to you,. your host family and all the women that you are helping.
ReplyDeleteErin, your mom shared this on Facebook. So proud of you and all you are doing. What an amazing and powerful experience. God bless you and everyone you are working with.
ReplyDelete-Miss Mac :)
P.S. - I love that you are teaching English!