Church, Sarah L. & Freeset

Hello to our beautiful family and friends,
Here is a update on the past few days. First of all, things are going sooo well. We have been blessed with good health, sleep and amazing opportunities. I'll start wit Sunday. We went to a small church where a lot of foreigners go, and it's led by an American pastor. It was good to meet people who are here Serving with their lives. We met a large group from Intervarsity who is going to help connect us with IJM (International Justice Mission) for a visit. After chuch we went out to lunch with Sarah, our contact through Sari Bari. Sari Bari is a project that takes old Sarees(traditional indian dress for women) and recycles them into blankets. The practical idea of something that is discarded becoming a new creation is a perfect picture of what Sari Bari is doing in the red light areas. They are employing women from the sex trade and giving them hope for a new life. The women are learning for the first time that their beauty has nothing to do with their outside, but is a gift from God who loves them deeply. We are going on Thursday to visit the project and see firsthand what they do. They currently employ 13 women, 2 of which just started today. Sarah was so gracious to us. She told us a little of her story and why she is here. God planted two prayers in her heart a few years ago, after come shorter trips to India working in the red light areas. The first was that God would give her somethign to give her life to and the second was a prayer that she would never again have to walk away from a woman without giving her a choice. Not all women they meet choose to leave 'the trade', but their endless love and patience with them is building bridges all over Kolkata.
That afternoon, Sarah L. took us to the mall, which was quite a change from the area we live. It was cool to see how India is so different from place to place. It is crazy how Westernized Kolkata has become since my last visit. They put in a McDonalds and KFC this last year on Park Street.

Today, we worked at Freeset again. We will be serving alongside them Mon-Fri from 10a-2p. I(Emily) will spend the majority of my time in the creche(the New Zealand word for Nursery or Day Care). Sarah helped out with Screenprinting today and Cassie worked in the Marking room, preparing the handbags for sewing. We are learning a little Bangla(the language of the Bengali people) as we go. We will be doing some projects and helping out wherever they need us. One project sounds really cool... when we get to it, we will write more.

We will also begin serving with Pastor Susanta starting next week, although we are not sure what we will be doing, it will be great to volunteer for a organization that does such amazing work.

For now, we are staying at a little hostel right in the heart of the street where the foreigners live. We've gotten to try lots of food, including street food, which we had for the first time today.(Don't worry moms, it's safe, I ate it all the time last time I was here).

We all miss things from home, but we are safe, happy and healthy, so pray for us, that God would continue to bless us!
Much Love!!!