October 29th

Today we left Bethania today for a day of rest at Chandra's before we go to the wedding in Madurai. It was so sad to say bye to our brothers and sisters at Bethania. We handed out candy while they lined up for school and wished everyone 'Happy Halloween!' They don't know what it is, but we'll read a book about it when we come back. We helped the kitchen ladies a bit in the today chopping cauliflower. The rains came today, which was good. Those dark gray, purple clouds are so beautiful here, wrapping themselves around the mountains. The puppies and dogs rolled themselves in the red mud, that the parched ground became. The puppies were unrecognizable red mud blobs racing towards us, ready to jump with muddy paws and bite at our feet and skirts. The cows were all laying down this morning, so Kelsey cleverly pointed that rain was coming.
We did a bit of work today after waking up early and being with the children. But we're still recovering from the fever, so we also took rest. After having tea with the children and saying our sad goodbyes we waved and headed on the Bethania bus to Chandra's.
The ride was beautiful as usual, but quite different with the rain, the purple clouds and the cool breeze blowing in the coconut trees. The outdoor cooking fires in front of homes, had big metal plates over the top of the pots, that hung over the edges and protected the fire from the rain. Today we burned some trash right as the rain was beginning. Glad we took care of that before the rain started to pour. It's very good for Bethania though because the well desperately needs water. GP was telling us about how difficult it is, with no rain and all the cows, children and plants that need water at Bethania.
We're going to take cooking classes from Chandra and her cooks tomorrow and sit in on some of the classes at Chandra's school. We'll be teaching there all next week after returning from the wedding. We're very much looking forward to the wedding and visiting Madurai. We're going to buy the children all new clothes with money raised by the Atlanta International School, and buy some presents too. These kids still need simple things like pencils to be able to do their school work.