A Week with the Women

This past week was spent with the women in Tarnaveni and the mission team from the states.  Jan Larson, from IL, spoke each morning about the importance of each woman.  Day 1 she used a tea cup as the visual – delicate, fragile and unique.  Jan talked about how a tea cup is made, and that a lot of work goes into the making before the final piece is ready for show.  She also shared with us that sometimes, tea cups get broken…..just like us.  But even in our brokenness, the pieces can be used to create something new and beautiful.  At the end of the day, each lady was able to choose a tea cup that was sent over for them.  Each cup also had a tag with the name of a woman in the states who would be praying for them.  Jan was able to take a picture of each lady with the tea cup they had chosen, to give to the person who purchased it in the states.  This made each mom very proud – knowing that someone, somewhere else, wanted to pray for them.

During the day, the ladies were able to participate in a quilting project, decorate canvas bags, and attended a medical session where they learned about healthy eating, and better choices for what they put into their bodies, especially since so many of the women were nursing.  The ladies were very receptive to the topic, and a Q&A was held afterwards.  Erika, a physician who led the session, said that many of the women asked questions, with several asking more questions about birth control.

Day 2s devotional included a reading of the story, The White Pony.  It is about a young Indian brave who has a special white pony that he greatly loves.  But as the brave grew, his eyes find a very simple, but loving, girl.  When he asks the father how many ponies it would cost for him to marry her, the father replies, “one pony”.  This gave to gossip all over the village about how little she was worth.  When the young brave heard the talk, he asked the elders, “what is the most ponies paid for a bride?”  When he learned that 20 ponies had been paid, he set out to purchase 20 ponies.  A few days later, the young brave parades through the village with not 20, but 21, ponies (including his beloved white pony).  He presents all the ponies to the father for his bride, stating that she is worth more than any other woman in the village.  She is filled with great joy!!  The moral of the story is that everyone holds great beauty, and we are all worth many ponies.

Activities for the day included a facial scrub for the ladies, creating a wreath and learning how to make tuna salad.  Some of the ladies, however, did not like any type of fish and wouldn’t even try it.  It was explained to them that even if they didn’t like it, their family might. 

 

I worked with Jessica and the 1^st group of ladies with the facial scrub.  The scrub was a mixture of  honey and lemon juice.  Each lady was given a small bowl in which to stir their mixture, then apply to their face.  Since there were no mirrors, the ladies ended up applying the mixture to someone else’s face.  What a wonderful group!!!  They were laughing and talking – having a good time together.  After they were all sticky, they began being silly – sticking the stir sticks on the faces.  It was awesome to watch them as they let down their guard with us, and just had fun!!  After 15 minutes of silliness, and itchiness, they were able to wash their faces and feel refreshed.

 

Day 3s devotional talked about the relationship between Ruth and Naomi, and how important it is for women to have other women in their lives; not only for friendship, but also for teaching/training and learning.

The craft for this day was to make a cross out of folded magazine pages. 

 

The other activities included more quilting and learning how to cook rice.  Very few of the people eat rice because they don’t know how to cook it, or what to do with it.  After they had a chance to sample some, I think that more rice will now be served

 

Day 4s devotional was about the importance of “more than one strand”; that we are stronger in numbers.  .Jan used some strands of thread and demonstrated that one strand could be easily broken; but 2 strands (a woman friend) are more difficult to break.  If you add a 3^rd strand, God, then the bond becomes even stronger.  She told the story about the woman at the well, all the time while twisting 3 strands of string together.  Not just the part about how Jesus accepted the woman, but how Jesus became a part of the woman’s life – He was now entwined with her.  Then she went out and told others about him, and she became a part of their lives.  When Jan was finished telling the story, she held up a beautiful strand of string that was entwined together, and was stronger than the 3 strands that just worked alongside each other.  Wow!  What a great visual.

The day’s activities included a hand scrub and nail polish in one rotation, making a friendship bracelet in another rotation, and apple crisp in cooking.  The friendship bracelet required the women to help one another by holding their neighbor’s string while it was being braided.  The ladies all worked together in the cooking classes, each having a specific task to prepare the food.  Each task, left to its self, was nothing more than what it was; but, when put together, became a product that was delicious.

 

The day ended with each woman receiving a small bouquet of flowers and a bag filled with goodies.  Oh yea, there were also lot of hugs and kisses.

Although the mission team ladies said goodbye to the women, I’m so blessed to be able to stay and continue working with them.  Thank you Jan Larson, Amanda Cox, and Jessica Huettel for sharing your time and energy with us this past week.  We hope that you'll come back again!