Chatty Boys this Weekend

On Saturday, I received two letters, from two of my young men. They both had a lot to say and Emanuel's letter even had an extra piece of paper attached, to give him more space. I certainly have some chatty boys.

First up, a letter from Kalpesh. He always does a great job responding to the letters that I write to him. There is always quite a big delay because Kalpesh lives in a remote rural village. It typically takes 4 months for my letters to get to him and another 4 months to hear back from him. For example, my friend Kristin got married in October. Kalpesh read the letter and responded in February. It is now June.

Kalpesh is 13 years old and lives in India. This letter is dated February 21st, 2015.

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Dearest Kayla and Family, 

Greetings to you in the matchless name of Jesus, from me and my family. I received your letters with beautiful pictures. I'm very glad to see 6th grade class picture. Really it is great to see each student have a separate bench for sitting and students using laptops and there is a nice library to study. I'm also pleased to see your friend's marriage pictures. First of all, congrats to sister Kristin and her husband. My best wishes to their future life. 

Here, by the Lord's grace and through your precious prayers, I'm doing fine. Right now, my 2nd term exam is going on, so I'm doing hard work. In my class, there are more than 50 students and it is sometimes difficult to sit and learn. We have 3 languages at school; Marathi - first language, Hindi - 2nd language, English - 3rd language. Other than these, we have math, science, social studies, drawing, and physical education. At the project, we are learning computers and our regular school syllabus. At the project, our teachers are always helping us, so we find it a little easier at school. 

Thank you so much for loving and caring for me. Take care. 

Much Love,

Kalpesh

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Onto Emanuel's letter. He's never outright told me, but I think that Emanuel lives in a Maasai area of his country. He always draws me a picture and so far, I've gotten a Maasai woman carrying water and now an elephant on the plains. In this letter, just like the letter that Emanise that I shared the other day, Emanuel told me a story he likes. 

Emanuel is 18 years old and lives in Tanzania and he wrote this letter on April 25th, 2015. 

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Dear Kayla, 

I greet you in the name of Jesus Christ. My family and I are doing great. I hope you are fine. 

I proceed well with my school studies and prepare for my mock exams. Thank you for the nice letter you sent to me. I enjoyed it much. Our house is made up of bricks. There are three rooms and a sitting room. I stay with my parents, my sister, and my younger brother. My sister is called Evaline. She is in teacher's college. My younger brother is called Bildadi, he is in class 7. I sleep with my younger brother. In our home, there is no electricity because electric pillars are far from our home. Also, we get little water. We travel by using cars and in a place where there is no car, we use motorcycles. 

My country has many great things. There are more than 40 million people. Our capital city is Dodoma and our famous animal in our national emblem is the giraffe. Our national language is Kiswahili and our independence day is December 9th. There are two religions; Christianity and Muslim. When I was 16 years old, I went to the Easter concert with my fellow students. We sang, prayed, and worshiped God. 

I also learnt the story of David and Goliath. Goliath spoke bad words to Israel. He said to David, "Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beast of the field." But David had the power of God. He took out a stone and slung it and struck Goliath on his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground. 

I would like to share with you Psalm 102:1 "Hear my prayer, O Lord, let me cry come to thee".

I would like to ask you, why do you receive Jesus as your personal savior? 

I wish you a good life which pleases God. 

Emanuel

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