Hi everybody! I hope all of you are doing well! I’m having a crazy time over here, as usual. There are seriously times that I still get dizzy with the realization that I am actually in India. The most surreal, out-of-body moments are when I’m doing things like holding on for dear life in the back of our crazy jeep, or napping with a beautiful orphan in my arms, or yelling ridiculous things at an angry rickshaw driver after he chased me down the street because I didn’t pay him enough. Sometimes I have to sit back and ask myself, “Am I really here right now? And if I am, how the heck did I even get here?” It almost feels like I’ve been pulled around on a leash for the past year, because I can’t figure out how I possibly got here so fast, and I can’t remember how it happened. God is so crazy!I have a lot to say in this letter since so much has happened, so be prepared. Here goes…
This past Sunday, we stepped away from our normal routine and decided to go to another orphanage, Emmanuel, for church. We had never been there before, and we came to find that it was very different from Asha House and Asha Mission. For one thing, it was in the middle of a humongous field that seemed to be the perfect place for kids to run and play. Also, there are over 100 kids who currently live there! When we first stepped out of the van at the orphanage, we heard the beautiful sound of many children singing and worshipping to the beat of loud drums. The actual church service ended up lasting over three hours, and I was amazed that the kids sat patiently and respectfully the entire time. Afterwards, we were asked to teach Sunday school to all of the kids. So once again, we found ourselves in a situation where we had to pull a top-notch lesson out of our hats without having any preparation whatsoever. That tends to happen a lot over here. J We usually end up finding a Bible story to act out for them, and then we ask them questions about it and try to apply it to their lives. It seems to get easier every time we have to do it.
After church, we went outside to play with the kids. One little girl in particular really captured a piece of my heart. Her name was Regia, and I would guess that she was about five years old (not many of the kids there know their actual age). She did not have any hair because it had been shaved off to treat the boils that were eating away at her scalp. She didn’t speak any English, but we found other ways to have a good time. For a good while, she would just stand at the opposite end of the hallway, wait until I say “go”, and then run into my arms as fast as she could. She got a kick out of doing that over and over again. She and some of the other girls also had a really good time picking flowers and putting them into my hair. I ended up looking like a walking bouquet by the time they were done with me. J All in all, it was just a really good day. I really hope we get the opportunity to go back there again before we leave!
With regard to the leper colony, my team decided a few weeks ago that we needed to reevaluate our ministry with the kids there. We realized it was necessary the other day when we asked the kids if they knew who Jesus was, and not a single kid raised their hand. That was simply not OK; we had already spent many weeks doing VBS with them, but they were still confused about Jesus. That told us that we had been making things too difficult for them. We realized that the kids there are in a different situation than the kids at the orphanage; they don’t need to hear that David killed Goliath, at least not yet. They need to hear the simple truth that Jesus is their Savior and that he loves them! So, we decided to start back at square one and just explain the gospel from the very beginning. And somehow, I found myself being put in charge of the first two lessons that my ministry team was scheduled to do with the kids. No pressure, eh? We ended up finding out that standing up to teach the Gospel to 25 kids who don’t know much about Jesus is much harder than it sounds. Especially when you have to filter everything you say because you see out of the corner of your eye that there are shady Hindu men peeking over the colony wall, angry that you are trying to “change their religion”. The fact that we were in an uncomfortable, smelly area outside with flies swarming everywhere didn’t help either. It has really been challenging, but one little girl named Rebecca gave me a lot of hope the other day. After the first lesson, she came up to me and asked, “You Christian? Me, too!” A few minutes later, she saw that I had a Bible in my purse, and she said, “Psalm 91!” I was so shocked, not only because she knew about the Bible, but because that is my favorite Psalm, too! She asked me to sit down and read it to her, and that ended up giving me so much encouragement and hope for the kids at the colony.
Please continue to pray that our team will have confidence and words to speak to the kids here, and that more of them will understand the message that we are trying to teach them!
The next three weeks are going to be jam-packed with work that we still need to do. We are now going to have six full days of ministry every week because we are going to try to visit Emmanuel and the slums more often. On top of all that, we have to plan a Christmas program that we are going to put on for both orphanages and the leper colony. We would all greatly appreciate prayers for the strength and perseverance to push through these last few weeks!
Thank you again for all of your prayers and support! God has continued to be faithful in revealing His plan to us day by day. I am amazed at how much he is working in all of our lives and in the lives of the people that we meet every day.
I’ll be home soon! I absolutely cannot wait to see all of you.
Love,
Kelsey
