The mission statement here at Kodaikanal International School states that the academic program is "intentionally set within a community life based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and devoted to service in India and to the whole human community."Last week was the time when our devotion to service really put on its hands and feet.It is called Field Trip Week.All the students and staff head out in small groups to travel to various places around south India to learn and to serve.Our family would like to share a little about our experiences:

Kara (grade 10):I went to an orphanage called Bethania that is about a 3-hour drive away from our school.We lived there for a week and spent the days with the 30 children at the home.During the weekdays we also did some service projects that included white-washing a building, planting trees, digging a large compost pit, moving tiles to make a patio, and carrying rocks, sand and gravel to level and repair the road to the orphanage.We got lime-juice-and-biscuit breaks which were great because we were working hard in the hot sun.There was a chapel building set aside from the main orphanage buildings where we had worship.It was an open dome building that has cool acoustics where you could whisper on one side and be heard clearly on the other.The worship service was in the Tamil language, though the director of Bethania translated for us.A few of my classmates and I sang the song "Heart of Worship" for the service.Mohan was a 6 year old boy at the orphanage.He only spoke 2 words of English, "sister" and "brother", which he used constantly to call us to come and play with him.He had so much energy as we communicated with actions and had fun together.Priya and Satiya were two of the newest children at the orphanage.They had scars and burns on their faces and all over their bodies from being beaten and abused by their parents.But they also always had smiles on their faces and seemed to be happy.Priya sat on my lap during the movie time and I felt happy that I could cuddle her.My least favorite part of the week was dealing with the many bugs and mosquitoes, and we even saw a scorpion.I learned a little about these kids' difficult lives and was glad to show them that we care about them.They cried when we left to return home.

Lisa (grade 12):My field trip was to the town of Vellore.The goal was to clean and paint four village "balwadies" (day care centers) – each with one small main room and an even smaller kitchen room.We had 4 work days that included a day of scrubbing the walls, a day of painting the rooms white, and then two days of covering the walls with colorful illustrations, and with the alphabet (English and Tamil) and numbers.The children watched us work with excitement – so much excitement that they set off some firecrackers just outside the room.The balwadi teacher for the building I was working on was such a wonderful person.The children and other helpers in the balwadi are all Hindus from very low castes, but this teacher was a Catholic from a high caste community.She had also adopted two children which is unusual in this culture.As we were doing our service project for her balwadi, she spent most of her time doing things to serve us – cleaning our paint brushes, joining with us in drawing and painting, and fetching water for us.On the last day as she was passing out sweets to us, my hands were full of paint so she put the biscuit right into my mouth.I learned about being humble from this woman.Each day ended with a couple hours relaxing and cooling off in a nice swimming pool.The final day we had a tour of the best hospital in Asia – the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore.I was especially glad to go on this trip to be able to see for the first time the places where my grandparents and great-grandparents had worked as missionaries for many years.

David:I didn't travel with KIS students, but used the week to visit our Telegu Baptist Fellowship partners on the eastern coast in the state of Andhra Pradesh.They are continuing to serve in ongoing tsumani restoration.It was exciting for me to see plans that have been in process for many months becoming a reality. In the village of Nizapatnam a building project to construct 200 homes is now underway.International Ministries is coordinating efforts with the local legislator in this project with hopes of also supporting an educational effort that will benefit all the children and some of the adults in the area.

In the village of Suryalanka we distributed almost 90 goats to families who need an additional source of income to fishing since the tsunami.Thirty families each received one female goat with two young goats (or one pregnant goat).It was a privilege to see the happy faces of the women and children.They send their thanks to the churches and individuals who sent the funds to purchase the goats.

On my visit in December, I met a young boy recovering from heart surgery in one of the villages.Since then, his family had been waiting for medication to help him recover.It is sad to report that this young child has died.Even though money was recently sent to pay for the medication, we were not able to purchase it before his death.It is unclear if the medications would have prolonged his life or not.His Christian parents and I are sure that he is with our Lord Jesus.On a more positive note, I was later introduced to a little girl in a near-by village with a similar medical need and the funds will allow her family to buy the necessary medicines.One family's loss provides hope to another.

Please keep all of the people in these villages in your prayers.It has been a lengthy process for the fishermen and their families since the Asian Tsunami to regain some feeling of normalcy and hope.I want to once again thank all who have supported these relief efforts.