It’s my last week here in India and it’s already almost
coming to a close. I now have only 2 days left here in Ongole and then Grace
and I are off to Hyderabad for a day and then our long layover in Mumbai for a
day. In Mumbai, we will be meeting with a pastor whom my mom knows through
family friends. We will be joining him for an outreach event with a team of US
volunteers coming to work with his ministry. It should be a good time seeing a
different city and a different ministry altogether. Until then, I’m holding
very tightly onto these last days with my kids.
Here’s a few highlights from my last week here in Ongole…
We kicked off this week with moving some of our children
into a new foster home! We are so excited to get more of our children in
smaller, family style homes, which is really the ultimate goal of SCH. This new
foster apartment is on the bottom floor of our school girls apartment. On
Monday, we spent the day gathering all of the children’s clothing, sheets,
mattresses, and other necessary items to get the foster home up and running. We
now have half the children all moved in and are waiting for a few extra things
to come in for the apartment so we can take the other half.
On Wednesday, Grace and I were invited to go to Naomi’s
husband, Abraham’s village to be apart of an outreach event. Volunteering full
time at SCH and living in the city, we don’t get much opportunity to go outside
of the city and see the more rural, village life side of India. I really love
being able to escape the crazy, chaotic city of Ongole and breathe fresh air
out in the country. It truly is refreshing, not only because it’s surrounded by
beautiful Indian farm-land, but because the life that goes on in the villages
is so simple and so pure. There isn’t much distraction and people are so
content with their small little huts and their tightly knit communities. It’s a
beautiful sight.
Once we arrived, we rounded up all the kids in the village and we sang some songs, taught a bible lesson, prayed and played games. I was amazed at how intently these children listened and behaved while we taught them songs and stories. Seeing an audience of still, quiet children listening to your every word is not something you see at SCH ever…ha! Afterwards, we ate dinner on the roof of Abraham’s home and watched the sun go down. Then, we went around to the different homes and prayed for people. One little girl we met was named Mounika. She has special needs and lives with her family in the village. Her family loves her and cares for her so well. She truly is valued and held as a precious child of worth in both her family and her community. What an amazing, wonderful thing to see in a country that holds kids like Mounika at such a low cost, or no cost at all. By the end of the night, we went back to the main meeting place and Isaac (Naomi and Abraham’s son) and Grace led some worship songs. Then, it was time for us to go back home. It was such a refreshing night to be apart of life in the villages!
This morning, Grace and I were invited to attend “Grandparents Day” at Stacy and Rachel’s school. No, we aren’t grandparents by any means, but we wanted to make sure that the girls had someone in their “family” to be present at the event. And what an honor it was to be able to represent that for our girls, while all their classmates had grandparents in the audience. It was much like an elementary school assembly, where all the kids come in and sit on the floor with their classmates. When the children started filing into the room, Grace and I eagerly looked for Stacy and Rachel to walk in with their class. When I saw Stacy come walking down the stairs with all her classmates, I was so taken back by the immediate wave of emotion that came over me. I stood there and waved to her with tears in my eyes, overcome with pride over this little girl. That’s my girl. See the cutest one with the big smile and pig tails? Yeah, that’s who were here for. That’s our girl. I definitely felt like one of those proud parents that just wanted to tell everyone sitting around me how great they both are. I bet you can already imagine the kind of mother I will be someday… I apologize to my future children in advance. During the assembly, each grandparent went up front, shared a quick little message and then their grandchild would give them a flower. When it came time for our turn to go up, Grace shared a quick “education is important and Jesus loves you” message and then the girls got to come up and give us a flower. We sure had fun kissing them and hugging them in front of their entire school…and they totally loved it.
Receiving our flowers from the girls at Grandparents day! From left: Rachel, me, Stacy, and Grace
Tonight, we went over to Naomi and Abrahams house for
dinner. Naomi, if I haven’t mentioned her earlier, is a staff member at SCH. Grace
and I spend nearly everyday with her, working at SCH together. Her husband,
Abraham is on full time staff with ICM and goes out with teams to translate in
the villages, put on outreach events, teach children’s VBS, and numerous other
things. Both of their sons, Isaac and Agape, are actively involved with the
ministry as well and help translate in the villages when teams come. They call
themselves “A missionary family” and are hands down, one of the most amazing,
dedicated, selfless families I’ve ever met. God so clearly and powerfully moves
through each member and they are all so passionate about making Jesus known.
Anyways, I had never been to Naomi’s home until tonight and I was so surprised
by what I saw when we pulled up. They live in a cemented home with a tin roof,
the size of a small bedroom. All four of them live in this house! I was so
taken back that these two amazing, very successful pastors and key members of
the ministry live by such simple means. What a testament to who these people
are though… that they may be poor by earthly standards, but how rich they are in
the things of God. Things like the numerous gifts that God has poured out on
each of them to be stewards of the gospel to their people here in India. How
rich they are in family- a family all running after one purpose together. How
rich they are in love and compassion, to see their brothers and sisters saved
and redeemed. How rich they are in all things that no earthly possession could
ever come close to satisfying.
From left: Isaac, Naomi, Abraham, and Agape
When we arrived, Abraham was quick to bring out apples and
grapes for us while we waited for Naomi to get home from work. When she came
home, she was so pleased to show us that she had bought ice cream. So we all
sat around together outside and ate it (Dessert before dinner! Coolest mom
ever.) Then, she brought us chicken, rice, dhal (like a curry sauce), zucchini,
some more apples, and bananas! It was a true feast! After dinner, they invited
us to come back inside and upon entering the house, Naomi was standing there
with gifts for Grace and I! She bought us Saris! They are so beautiful! I was
so overwhelmed with their kindness, especially after they just served us such a
huge and delicious meal. When the night was just about over, Grace gave Naomi a
gift on behalf of her church in Burien. It was money for a motor bike! Naomi
gets around all by auto rickshaw and with all the running around she does all
day, getting rickshaws everywhere is a lot of extra work and money. When Grace
gave her the money, she was so shocked and cried into her shoulder for so long.
It was so nice to see someone bless her, especially after how much she has
richly blessed both Grace and I in our two and half months here.
My sweet sister, Naomi
Looking back on this week, and really this entire summer, I
feel overwhelmed with the way that God has so richly blessed me through so many
people, so many instances, and so many experiences. My heart feels heavy that I
will soon have to leave it all behind and move onto the next season of life
that God has in store for me. It was hard to walk away from my life here in
Ongole last summer and this time around, I’ve invested in so many more relationships and grown even
more attached to Cedar and all the other kids. I thought India stole my heart last year, but I know that when I leave again it will get even more of it. Please keep both and Grace and I your prayers these
next few days as we say very hard goodbye to so many people we have grown to
love so much.
Oh my gosh, this made me so happy! I am SO glad that Nayomi can get a bike now! She is such a blessing and gives of herself so sacrficially. Gahh I miss everyone:(
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