It's MARCH! How exciting! I am excited about this new month and the adventures it will hold. As I've said countless times, every day in India is quite the adventure and filled with surprises. So on boldly to a new month with new things God has to teach me!
It's beginning to get a lot hotter here...I thought it was hot before, but that wasn't hot at all apparently. Summer is coming, so say the locals, though others say summer is already here. We're not quite sure. One of the things I love about India is there aren't set seasons like we have in the U.S. Back home we have four clearly delineated seasons that start on a specific day. Here, seasons are super vague. I discovered this when I taught my first English classes here on seasons. As I went from room to room of students, I asked them how many seasons they have in India. "Two...?" to "Five?" were the answers I got. No one really knows. And some say summer started in February, while someone else will tell me that summer is coming in April and then May; someone else says it is currently spring. Who knows? So at some point in the future, either near or far away, we are entering into a new season, which may be either spring or summer. At any rate, it's getting hotter. There's no confusion about
that.
I spent most of January and February travelling, or preparing for a trip, or returning from and processing a trip. And now...it is March, and I am back at my site, really BACK, trying to remember what I was doing. I returned from Freedom Firm two weeks ago, and I am still so filled up with good things from that trip and still processing all that God revealed to me. Last night I had the privilege of showing the girls at the hostel the photos from my trip and telling them all about Freedom Firm's ministry.
Because it is March, Baker schools are now having exams. April and May are holidays. So I recently spent my last days teaching at Baker until JUNE. That is hard to believe. That means that two full days of teaching per week are now open. Additionally, April and May will be holiday months too at CMS. So I have got some holes of free time taking me unawares right now. I realized that I have, at most, obligations 12-15 hours per week, if nothing gets cancelled, and I can count on at least three or four classes a week being cancelled for various reasons. As someone who has always been terrible at relaxing, at first I was really struggling with all this free time. But I reminded myself that I showed up in India in September with NO plans whatsoever, and how abundantly God provided!
Oh, you of little faith! How silly of me to think that God won't provide activities for me again just as He did before? And He has been! I am very excited and thankful for some new projects that have surfaced:
1) Firstly, I have been enjoying playing worship songs with the girls in the evenings all year. About a month ago, the second years said, "We need to do this more often. Let's set a night every week to do this together." And so we have! We haven't always been able to for various reasons, but have started to enjoy more regularly playing music, learning songs, and worshiping together. This is wonderful. Most of the girls that like the songs are Christian, but some of the girls learning them are Hindu, too.I greatly look forward to this worship with the girls. We have recently been learning and singing, "Give Me Jesus." The other night, my mom called me while we were playing. She asked what I was doing, and I said, "I'm with two of the girls and we're singing "Give Me Jesus." So we put my mom on speaker phone and she sang along with us. My heart was smiling. Please pray that this group might become more than just the singing of songs, but that this might grow into a time of prayer and Bible study as well if it is God's will.
2) Also dealing with worship, there is a group of boys at the college who enjoy meeting and singing worship songs together. I've been trying to find a weekly time to meet with them. It hasn't happened yet, but if the Lord wills, this will be another time of worship and sharing during the week.
3) This past week I started giving make-up Choir Director's Program classes to a director who was coming to the program for awhile, but can no longer come on Saturdays. Though he can no longer come to the class, he asked to meet with me weekly for a make-up class, like a private conducting and voice lesson. I was pleasantly surprised! It speaks mounds to me that instead of dropping the course, he wants to learn the material badly enough that he still wants to continue to study privately. Praise the Lord for the devotion of this student!
4) This past Saturday, God opened some other doors. I taught a first guitar lesson with Anne, the wife of Jecko, one of the professors at the college and a friend. Anne has been wanting to learn from me all year and we finally started lessons! We will meet each Saturday afternoon. I told Anne that I never actually learned guitar, I've just picked up a little bit here and there. "That's okay," she said, "Just teach me what you know!" I want to share with you a huge blessing and answer to prayer that came out of this: yesterday, in the middle of our lesson, Anne and I started talking, really talking, and she asked me all kinds of questions about how I'm doing, what I'm learning, how I've changed, what I think of India....and I just totally opened up and poured my heart out. We quickly bonded as we talked about what the Lord has been teaching. It was beautiful. And this turned into a time of prayer and worship. I was choked up having found such a friend. It was Anne's suggestion that after each guitar lesson, we meet for a time of prayer and Bible study as well. My heart leapt at this suggestion and I am so thankful for this answer to a prayer and source of fellowship, as I have really been missing group Bible study.
So God is providing new friendships and activities, for which I am very grateful.
As for an update on the not-so-new:
I continue to teach Jemima weekly, as she continues to inspire me with her voice. We're currently working on "Der Nussbaum." Vimal and I continue to have a steady stream of impromptu classes in conducting, voice, or just talking about and sharing music whenever he gets free time. I am so thankful for his friendship and all of his help with the programs. The Faculty Voice program continues to meet twice a week. This past week two of the faculty's children started coming, as their parents pick them up from school and then bring them to class. This was awesome. They picked up the notes and rhythms faster than anyone and were such a joy. I love that I am teaching a class with college faculty....and a 10-year old and a 12-year old. Guess who picks everything up the fastest? :) This past week, also, two new faculty members joined the class. Recently we've been learning how to read note names and spelled out words with note flashcards. I told them, "Bonus points if you can spell any Malayalam words!" haha. Faculty Voice is a vibrant and charismatic class and I always look forward to seeing them. They are full of spirit and curiosity.
I continue to try to teach English at the hostel bi-weekly, (in reality, we're able to have it half the time because of various reasons.) We've been interviewing and introducing one another as well as playing some silly games. I usually have to go find girls to come to this class. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth and I wonder if I should still teach, but as long as one girl comes willingly I'll continue to teach. Sometimes I ask a girl if she will be coming to class, she says yes, and then doesn't come, and sometimes one says she can't because she has to study and then she just sits and chats with a friend for an hour right outside the classroom. I try not to take this personally, but I still wish I didn't have to go knock room-to-room every Monday and Wednesday to see if anyone wants to come to class. But that's okay.
The PG Lit. students, who I see just an hour a week, continue to make me laugh as we have discussions on any variety of topics. Every other week I help lead the Ascension Church choir in their preparations for their Passion performance. They'll be doing some movements from Vivaldi's "Gloria" among other songs.
The Choir Director's Program continues strong by God's grace. Though some have dropped out, those present consistently are devoted and interested in learning. This continues to be my biggest "project" during my time here. I teach from 9 am to 12:30 every Saturday morning with about a ten minute break, so it takes some preparation. I still am surprised to find myself teaching this program, but it is my pride and joy. In the first half of the class we learn warm-ups (now the students are leading these themselves) and hone our rhythm-reading and sight-reading abilities. We then listen to recordings of local choirs and critique their performances, discussing what we hear and how we would correct various errors in pronunciation, phrasing, breathing, etc. They're training their ears well and beginning to listen critically. After a tea break, we jump into the main focus of the course: conducting. Thus far, using different hymns and simple pieces, we have theoretically learned and applied (for fellow music nerds):
- legato and marcato patterns in 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 time
- Right and left hand cues, sustain gestures, and cut-offs
- Preparatory beats and gestures
- Crescendos and decrescendos, and even the melded gesture in conducting (blurring the ictus for longer notes)
- Conducting differently for different dynamics
- Identifying musical phrases, the peak of each phrase, and how to conduct it appropriately
I have been using my own textbook from my college choral conducting class for some of this theory. We have about 5 or 6 sessions left before the course wraps up. On the whole, I am pleased with the class and with their progress. I am excited at the prospect of the sound of local choirs being changed because of this course, and I continue to feel completely humbled and unqualified to lead it. It's definitely the highlight of my week.
Kottayam Mixed Voices continues to prepare for their upcoming Passion recital, and I have recently been leading them in rehearsal. On Sunday I worked with them for three hours straight and it was fantastic. They were very receptive and made a lot of improvements in just one rehearsal. I really deeply enjoy working with this choir, molding and shaping their sound, seeing the joy and realization in their faces as they discover moments of beauty. I love the smiles on their faces when they make a beautiful sound and recognize it, lingering in it. I love moving my hands and finding immediate change, training them to respond to subtle changes in my direction. It is fluid and worshipful. We strive together for beauty and to glorify Him in our sounds, and we work and mold and paint and shape until we find ourselves in the midst of something breathless.
At the end of rehearsal, the director said something to the group in Malayalam. I later asked Gigi Sir what he had said. He had said what a blessing it is to have me here to work with the group, and how special it was to have someone with such talent. He said that he saw how much progress they had made in just one rehearsal, and something about my being able to achieve so much with them so quickly, something about how specific I am, and how much their sound has improved just during the time I've worked with them. He also said something about wanting to kidnap me and keep me here for five more years! Ha!
I am so blessed, so thankful to have this opportunity, and others, to have the honor of shaping the sounds of the choirs of Kottayam. As I sit typing this I realize how ridiculously lucky I am to have these opportunities, these experiences of a lifetime. I also recognize that the Lord is revealing to me the things I most love to do: to worship, to lead worship, to sing, and to work with choirs. Part of the YAV year is supposed to be about vocational discernment. Many YAVs discover their calling during their year of service, but I think this year hasn't really shown me many new passions of mine as much as it's just confirmed my calling. I feel like God has made it very obvious to me in this time what He made me to do and what passions He placed within my heart.
I'd like to take a moment to thank you for your continued support of my work here and this ministry. Almost every day I can look forward to an encouraging email, letter, or card from one of you. What a blessing you all are to me. Thank you for actively being a part of my time here through your support, prayer, and encouragement. Please know that it means a great deal and that I am so grateful for this steady outpouring of support.
In Him,
Claudia
P.S. Please continue to pray for my sister Joce as she continues her clinical study of her CPAP design in Malawi. She is doing amazing work. If you haven't previously had a chance, check out her blog here:
http://bubblecpapinblantyre.tumblr.com/.
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| Official 2011-2012 Lea Hostel photo. 170 new sisters :) I'm sitting in the center near the Principal. |
