Located among green trees, far away from the noise and pollution of the city, the Peneil schools consists of separate buildings housing pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, elementary (1st grade to 5th grade, 6th grade to 10th grade, 11-12 grade, the Peneil Rural College of Education to train teachers who have already graduated from college, nursing school, vocational schools (it seems these are located off campus) for auto mechanics, electricians, sewing and maybe more, a planned College of Arts and Sciences, a dorm for a few college students, all located on 32 acres of land purchased and built up from empty forested land by Paulus' parents, a few acres at a time over a period of ten years. The site abounds with greenery, including fruit trees, primary mangos and coconut trees. Originally planned for educating the orphans rescued from death, the school now serves the community and villages all around the campus, while the orphans, now much fewer in number, attend schools in the city. Because of the poverty level in the villages, only a small percentage lays tuition while a larger majority are on partial or full scholarship. SFI has helped fund these students since Tim connected up with Paulus a year ago. We were met by the correspondent, Dulcy, of the entire campus, who escorted the adults around while Vision started the VBS. We were also individual measured for our chutithar and kurtha by the head seamstress teacher, so there would be no mistakes in size.
Meanwhile, the school decided that our VBS program will focus on only the fifth grade class, 44 students in all, rather than select a few students from each grade. The English language skills of these older kids should be better and we would have an easier time not having to deal with a wide age range of students. We started the VBS about 10, took a lunch break at 12:30 while the students took their lunch break. We resumed at 1:20 and continue the program until 2:30. We then debriefed the day, relaxed with tea and/or soft drinks after the teaching sessions and decided the language level is not as high as we expected and better translation is needed. It rained slightly, lowering the temperature from the low eighties to a comfortable mid seventies. We returned to the hotel to rest before leaving at five for our evening program.
Our program this evening is to sing and testify at the evening chapel service at Lady Dory College. This college, founded in 1948 by a British missionary, Wilcox, is the first all girls' college in Madurai (the school is named for the generous donation to start the school by Wilcox's friend, Lady Dory). We were met by the chaplain and college VP who welcomed us and were served tea (but no crumpets) at Wilcox Chapel. Promptly at 5:50 PM, the chapel bell rang is first warning and again at 6. People began coming in after the first bell so by six, the chapel was about half full. The chaplain started with a prayer and someone led a hymn (It Is Well) and after a short introduction, we took over. Using the chapel full sized keyboard was a joy (even though three notes did not work) after using pint sized keyboards at all the other venues we have been in, so we sang a lot of our songs with accompanied. Soon after we started, almost every available empty seat seemed to be filled so there must have been almost 200 there. Terry and Eric gave strong testimonies about their personal experience finding out how God is real. Between the two testimonies and songs, we performed the puppet skit. Calida preached from Psalm 68, ending promptly at 7 (it was nice to be at a meeting in India that started and ended exactly on time). She then asked whoever wanted to come up for prayer. Tim repeated her request when no one responded. Then one came, and a second. Pretty soon, we were all busy praying for many, probably more than 30 ladies. We each prayed for at least one person, some as many as five. Many tears were shed as they asked for healing for themselves or some friend or family member. Two asked to be closer to God. One asked that her alcoholic father would be set free as depicted by the puppet skit. We were so thankful to God for this overwhelming response. We may never know his God will answer these prayers, but we know He heard each petition and will answer them in the best possible way to bring Himself glory. The leaders led us to a dorm cafeteria where they served us dinner. We returned a little after 8 to the hotel where we debriefed our experience at the chapel and retired for the night at a little after 9 PM. What a great day we had again!
Dorm building. Paulus' parents are buried in the garden in the foreground.
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