Last night we went to the Inter Project Cultural Meet in the Compound. This was an occasion for the young people across the diocese to perform mainly traditional Indian dances. It was wonderful. So much talent and so much beauty.  Lisa Clark, from Holy Cross, Tryon, was the "Chief Guest" and gave some touching remarks before the audience.

I confess I was determined to get on Indian time so I took no nap yesterday but paid the price.   I think I have gotten my internal clock close to being acclamated.

Today we had the Tribal Award Ceremony---dance groups from all over the diocese came. It was amazing. The movements look simple but are incredibly difficult. There is such an honoring of the past and how it feeds the present here.

Bishop Dutta has made a custom of honoring scholars who write about the Tribal people in this part of India and he did so today.

Tomorrow is the large worship service---over 2,000 people.

I have renewed friendships and caught up with men and women I haven't seen in three years. Being here reminds me that companionship is not some canonical category thought up by a church administrator but is a relationship.  We have almost ten years of history here and our lives are simply intertwined. I see older teenagers that I say as children when I first came. Most of all, I witness the grace of the Lord.  I see how Christ moves men and women to do holy work and binds us togehter regardless of countries.  I look around the compound and see names on buildings--Thomas Murphy and Anne Fritschner--and they are outward and visible signs of how God has connected us together.

And then there the children. I brought colored pencils so that each child would have his/her own set. They took them with such seriousness. It made aware again of how little I think of how much I have. That these children have such a grounded home here and that we are part of this makes me so glad.