First "Ladies Tea" Was a Success!

Yesterday started off beautifully! The four of us called my mom to wish her a Happy 50th Birthday! We made her a card online and then my grandma gave her a gift from us at her little family party and my friend Ashley went over that day on her birthday and blessed her with a beautiful gift "from us." I hope she felt special and her heart overjoyed rather than full with sadness in the reality of us not being there.

My Ladies Tea began at 9:00 am and there was 12 of us altogether. We fit perfectly in our living room sitting on the wooden benches that Cody built. Cody had made his delicious coconut pancakes for all the ladies (coconut straight off the tree in the front yard). We had yummy Sri Lankan tea and a good time together. Cody watched all the kids play in the front yard. I was able to speak in broken English the entire time and didn't need a translator too often. It was great to be able to enjoy time together with all the girls. I started off by explaining my heart to them; I told them that I wanted to have this "tea" time to encourage each other. As ladies, I explained, we all get so busy with cooking, cleaning, caring for children, laundry, etc. I told them that I wanted to spend this one hour every week encouraging them. I told them that the way I receive the most encouragement in my life is through the Bible. I was able to get the feel on where these girls were at. The majority professed having faith, but I could tell are really searching for more and needing more understanding. I told the girls my testimony and they told me how much they really enjoyed hearing it. I was very clear on changes in my life and where peace and joy come from. I asked that one girl tell "her story" each week. They were very excited and I had the first volunteer for next week. I'm stoked for where Papa is leading this. I asked the girls if they had any input on what they wanted to study first. They were just excited for anything! Now it's all up to Papa. One of the girls, Sharmely, which is one of my closest friends here later told me that she did not want to tell everything in her story to all the girls. She explained that she didn't trust them (as Arugam Bay really struggles with gossip). But she told me that she would later tell me the entire story and that she trusted me. That was huge for me to hear and such a blessing.

Later in the afternoon when the boys were done napping, I was folding laundry and Koda asked me to read him his Bible. He loves reading it and loves hearing new stories and memorizing past stories. One of the teenage boys that's an "Msm" came in and sat and listened as I read Koda many different stories from the Bible. I know that he knows enough English that he could understand what I was reading about. I love how Papa sets certain things up that can seem so small, yet uses His little children and their interests to impact others for Papa. His word never goes void!

Cody spent the rest of his day after babysitting, helping Asunka on the electricity. They have done so much work and worked very hard at that. We're so excited to see all of their hard work pay off!

Just another day in Arugam Bay. Lovin' life~