What a difference the familiarity of seasons makes in our lives! I am so used to Easter time coinciding with the earth "coming alive" in springtime that it is strange to see no significant change here. Trees, grass, and hedges have all been green since I arrived in February. Flowers have been blooming all along, though I have noticed that many of the earlier flowers are dying and new varieties are taking their place in the spotlight. It is more like the change from spring to summer and doesn't quite give the same feeling of "resurrection," but it is beautiful nonetheless.

On Palm Sunday, liturgy began at the boys' school on our compound. It is located behind the church. The Gospel reading and blessing of the palms took place there, and then we all processed around the compound and into the church. Believe it or not, we were very grateful that a dust storm had just come up because dust storms mean wind, and wind means cooler weather. If we had stood outdoors for so long the previous day, many people would have collapsed. (Yes, it is that hot already!)

Anyway, we continued the service in the church. I don't remember if I told you previously, people sit on the floor in the church rather than on seats and everyone removes their shoes before entering the church. The church was packed. I haven't quite figured out how the singing starts, but it seems that someone from the congregation, usually one of the young people, spontaneously begins a song and everyone joins in. There are no hymnals, they know all of the songs by heart. The procession of the altar servers and the priest is a very slow, deliberate movement down the aisle. The Mass was very nice, but I was grateful that I have a subscription to Living with Christ, which contains the readings because everything is in Urdu.

After Mass, all the people gather in front of the church and greet each other. This week, because many more people had come, we remained there for at least a half an hour, which on the surface does not sound bad. However, time has little basis in reality here. The service was to begin at 8:30. It actually began more like 9:15, so already we were standing around for 45 minutes just waiting for things to begin. The Opening Rite took about 30 minutes and the Mass took about an hour and a half. Now add on the half hour greeting people afterwards and you can tell how we spent much of the day! While it is true that this was a special day and longer than ordinary, most Sundays are similar, with the first question of the day being, "What time is 8:30 Mass this week?" We always stand by the church to meet and greet people after Mass. Many people come from the outlying villages and look forward to speaking with the sisters on Sundays because the sisters help them in many ways. Some of the sisters go each week to these villages to conduct religious programs and to visit people who cannot get out. I do not do this ministry since the people in the villages speak Pinjabi, and I would not be able to communicate with them.

As far as my ministry is concerned, I have finally finished the interviews for the kindergarten class for next year. I am grateful that they are over. On April 20, the results are supposed to be posted for the parents to see who was accepted. I would love to be able to come home on April 19 and stay for about 3 weeks!! Many parents will ask why their children did not get in, and although I do not make the final decisions, they are aware that I did the interviews, so I am sure at least some of them will question me. I do have a storehouse of responses, including: Your child was too young, too old, too distracted, not interested, ate the materials-but I really would prefer to disappear for a while.

Now I am getting more involved with the teachers and classes. All of the teachers give final exams, which will occur next month. Before the exams are given, because English is a second language for all of the teachers, the exams need to be checked for correct English. That is one of my jobs. It is not hard, but takes a long time since exams are given in every subject. I am also helping teachers with various needs that they may have from organizing a performance their class is doing to assisting them in learning new teaching techniques. Most have said that they are very glad to have someone to help them.

The children also are beginning to come to me with their concerns. This is a bit more challenging. As any of you who work with children know, when one child has a problem with another child, neither one of them has done anything wrong-it's all the other one's fault! Just try to figure it out: both are innocent, by their own claims, and both are guilty by the other's claim. Hmmm. How can this be? I usually get a good laugh in retelling the stories at supper anyway.

Well, I think that's about it for this update. I am looking forward to the rest of Holy Week, and especially to the beautiful celebration of Easter. I just wonder what time the 10:00 p.m. Holy Thursday liturgy will begin! Hope yours begins on time.

Peace and joy to all. Anne