taj mahal

This is us on the way out of the Taj



Our train was at 5am, so on the way there we had beds. I have no idea who those people are under me. They weren't there when i fell asleep.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17

My heart was broken yesterday.

If only i could explain to you the things we saw, the smells we smelt, and the people wasting away right before us. But i do not think that my words could ever fully explain it, no matter how hard i tried. 

We were told when we first got here about a man who has a heart for lepers, we met this man, his name is Victor.

 We really felt a tugging on our heart to go to these people. So yesterday we got in the car, not really knowing what to expect, but giving our day to God. 

As we parked the car, we saw a village of small shacks that was complete destitution. We could not even leave a water bottle in the car because the car would be broken into and the water stolen. 

We started to walk into the beginning of the shacks. But this wasn't just a normal slum in India. It was a leprosy colony, full of people whose bodies were slowly being eaten away and falling off. This was one of thirty six colonies in New Deli alone, there was over 200 families living in the colony, which completely blew my mind. There are so many people suffering from a disease that is now curable. 

These people have come to Delhi, because once one member of a family gets leprosy they are shunned from their villages. Not only the one member, but the whole family also. These people rarely have contact with people outside of their colony, except for when they have to go to the hospital in extreme situations. 

We missed the church service which is held by Pastor Victor every sunday, because we got locked inside the Children's home. But the pastor asked us if we would be willing to go house to house and pray for each family, so we did. 

So we prayed, in each house of this colony. We prayed for everything, there were moments of laughter, and moments of sadness that took your breath away. These people honestly have nothing, since they have gotten the disease they have been cast out of their homes, and are looked at as disgrace's. 

Although some of the people had accepted Jesus as their Savior, hope was missing from their faces. The joy of Jesus wasn't there. Hardly any outsiders come and visit these people, and the lack of physical touch among them hung in the air. All they want is to be accepted and loved for who they are. When Jesus came upon a leper in the Bible, He didn't turn him away, He healed him. 

I do not think that most people could stomach what we saw, so i am thankful to God that He gave Kate and I a heart of compassion for people like this. As we walked from house to house people were handing us babies left and right, either to pray for them or just to hold them. Walking into different houses it was amazing to feel the different atmospheres in each house, you knew if it was a Christian home right when you walked in the door, prayer came easily and laughter soon followed. But entering into a hindu or muslim home was a completely different experience, Satan didn't want us there, so he made it hard for us, either by causing distractions or having the people not want us to pray for them (but would always let us pray for their children.) 

We met a girl, she was about 8 years old. They us pray for her for deliverance of evil spirits when we first got there, but we really didn't know the whole story. But at the last house, the girl appeared again, and we were told her story. Both of her parents were lepers, and they both had aids...so she had aids. This 8 year old girl, had no parents,  was living in a leper colony, and had a disease that will soon take her life. The Pastor said she was his special case, and that he knew Jesus would heal her. I pray so hard, that she will be healed. She was beautiful, and her smile was contagious. Please pray for this girl. She may never get to move away from the colony but she can be healed and make a difference in the lives of her neighbors. 

On an amazing note, we met this one man. He was old, most likely in his late 70's. His wife was extremely sick, and will probably not live much longer. But this man's stories is absolutely amazing. He was the first Christian in the colony, he gave his life to Christ 37 years ago, and since then he has brought 185 people to Christ in the colony. Which has completely changed the outlook in the colony.  

Hopefully we will be able to go back and visit the people again, and be able to go to the other colonies.

amazing children

"Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:4

Every night at 7:30 twenty two kids gather downstairs in the living room, and they worship the Lord. Kate and I sit in awe at these kids love and devotion to Christ. They do this bible study all on their own, with no one pushing them to do it. The oldest of these is thirteen and the youngest five. They challenge each other to learn new bible verse, and to learn new praise songs. And the way these kids pray, is amazing. I now know what God means when He says He wants us to have a child like faith. When these kids pray, there is no hesitation, no holding back. They pray and they believe what they ask for will be given to them. These kids have nothing, and when i mean nothing they literally do not own anything, or have anything to call their own. Even the clothes they wear are not their own, they are just passed around each kid. At dinner tonight i was sitting next to Vikash a ten year old boy who has lived in the home for three years, and he was telling me abut his life before coming to the children's home. It really broke my heart when he started crying about how his dad had passed away and how his mother doesn't want anything to do with him. He is the oldest of four, and his mom just abandoned him.  I am sure all of the kids have similar stories, but it will take time for them to open up to us enough for them to trust us with their hurt. Please pray that while these kids open up their hearts to us that we will know how to respond to them, and how to keep their thoughts on the ultimate Father who will never leave them nor forsake them. 

pictures

My grandma and Aunt came all the way to India to visit me. (just kidding, they had a planned trip and me and kate got to see them for a day) we had a lot of fun. Especially when we got dropped off in a bad part of town, where we were the only white faces and had crowds of people following us. We finally got a drunk 18 year old to help us out. It was a crazy day. 

This is Abu (the black one) and Beniah (the white one) They made us sooo happy
They were sooo small.

puppies

welcome to our life of dirty feet in India......
This is how well the trash cans work...

A monkey we fed!!!!!!
One kid in a kid's club we go to.
Some more of the kids
So i think that the excitement of being here has now vanished, and we are going into the hardest part of our trip... We moved into the children's home a couple day's ago, so now we have a whole floor to ourselves (but it is extremely lonely.) We have made up a schedule for the kids in the home, so every day we are teaching them life skills or just fun things we think they would like to know. We love spending time with the kids, and that seems like it takes our mind off of missing home so much. We also found two puppies that were extremely sick the other day while we were lost trying to find the children's home. We had walked from where we used to stay, and really had no clue where we were going, we were talking so we weren't even paying attention. And then we found ourselves lost, having no idea where we were. But we came across a litter of puppies next to an abandoned shack, so we stopped to see them. And the two we took were the smallest of 6, and they both walked up to us. So we just had to take them. We took them home and got puppy formula for them, but it has been a hard job, they like to stay up all night so we weren't really getting any sleep, but they made us happy. :) But we decided that we were getting too attached to them, and so were all the kids (they would be up here all the time playing with them) and that the puppies were getting attached to us too. We also knew that it would be really hard to find a home for them when we left, and to put them back on the streets would just be murder because they wouldn't be able to fend for themselves. So today we made the decision to try and find the litter again, it was so sad. But we were able to find them, and we put the puppies down and they reunited with their brothers and sisters, we waited to make sure they would take them back and they did, so we were happy about that. But now we are missing our babies.. Their names were Abu(from Aladdin), and Beniah (from David's mighty men.) 

India is still the same, we are still trying to learn Hindi, and being attacked by mosquitos at all minutes of the day. Our new place is the roof of this house, its our gym, our prayer closet, our talking place, and the occasional place to read and tan when we have a little time to ourselves. We love it up there. It is also used as a bathroom...(yes a bucket on the roof...) 

God has really been challenging me a lot over here, He is teaching me so much every day about the love he has for me. He is changing me so much, this trip really has been a life changing experience already. 

Holi Hai

Today we were woken with banging on the door and screaming, and then water began being shot at us from under the door. It was Holi! Holi is a hindu holiday but a holiday that almost all of india celebrates. You buy the color which is basically dry paint, but when it hits you it sticks (as you can see from the pictures) so after being shot at with water guns we made our way downstairs and we got attacked, of course two white girls in white shirts are going to be under attack. They got us good. I think i was all of the colors in the span of a couple hours, i was green, yellow, purple, red, pink, orange. It was crazy. We didn't go outside of our apartment for a couple hours because it was too dangerous to go out (everyone gets really drunk.) It was such a fun day, i wish we got to have off school for a holiday like that. Kate and I decided that this time next year we will play at home!!!! You all can join if you want. !!! So at the end of the day we were covered head to toe in all different colors of paint, i think the worst paint attackers were the mom's they got us so good. I am glad we got to be here for it, it will be something i always remember.

Well tomorrow we are moving to the children's home, so it will be good to spend time with kids there. We just found out that we have been drinking the regular water which is extremely bad for you this whole time, so that is probably why I have kept getting sick. My grandma and Aunt are coming on sunday so i am really excited to see them. 

a Muslim Mosque

forever changed.

As i was riding on the back of a motorcycle with two people in front of me earlier this afternoon, i was thinking that in a couple months time when i am home, this will all be a dream. The scenes that tear my heart out daily, will only be a memory. This place just makes life so much more real. We wake up and we know that today will be a day that we help someone. Today we will teach a kid something they have never heard before. Today we are going to make a difference, however small, yet still a difference. Some of the things that we see, wrench my heart in unimaginable ways. We go to the places that most foreigners don't go, we see the complete opposite of what most people see when they come to India. We are seeing the destitution in the faces of the children in the slums, the faces of elders that hold no hope whatsoever. These images, break me. They tear my heart a part, all they need is Jesus, if only they were willing to listen. My hope is that through us teaching their kids the love of Jesus, they will portray His love to their parents. That is all i can hope for. 

 But seeing the hope and interest in the faces of the new believers, that we are teaching the Word of God too, will never be replaced. This experience of being here has already changed my life forever. I will forever be changed because of this. 

"But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that message might be preached fully through me, and that all the gentiles might hear, also i was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for his heavenly kingdom, To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." 2 Timothy 3:17

pictures

Lolly and I on the marriage carriage pulled my horses


Our fast and furious driver vicky with the most gorgeous baby aradanna


This is a picture of a concert we went to, it was AMAZING

These are some of my boys in my class at Kirby place with a book i read to them
This is a game i play to teach the kids english words, who ever can get to the word first wins

chupra ho

I am sick.. Again. All of the kids in both of our schools have been really sick with fever, and that is what i got.(I was taking my juice plus and all my fish oils mom)  So i have basically been dying all of the days. It has gotten SO hot here, it is almost unbearable, and summer hasn't even started yet... On Sunday, we went to church and this American man Brad preached. We had met him a couple days before, Him and this lady maryann are starting a Bible college up in the NorthEast corner of India. The service was really good, we actually got to sing songs in English, which was awesome. I am really missing the worship back at home. He talked about the ten virgins, the 5 wise ones, and the 5 foolish ones. After church, we got to go to KFC!!!!!!!! It was soo good. 

We got toilet paper by the way. Good thing, because our collection of napkins had almost run out... 

On saturday, we got to go to a cell group in these people's house who just had an interest in knowing about Jesus. They are Hindu, but we were able to go and share our testimonies, and they came to church on Sunday, and got prayed for. We are praying and hoping they will continue to come, and that they will have a hunger to know more.

Oh. and they made us eat so much food, we thought we were going to die...the custom here is when you have guests you have to feed them as much as you can. And we had already eaten lunch before we got there, so we literally we're stuffed, but we had to keep eating. Who knows what we ate... 

We just got back from a kids club, it was so much fun!! They normally have about 80 kids, but they have had to split it up into 3 days because the space that have can not hold more than like 30. The kids are so amazing, they love Jesus so much, you can just see it in their faces. They all had testimonies today about how they prayed for someone who was hurting, and their hurt went away.There was a little girl today, she was probably 8 or 9 and she came up to us to show us her hand, it was swollen twice its size, and on the inside it was all cut open, bleeding, and oozing with puss, her teacher at school had beaten her..It was so sad, we tried to tell her to go home to ice it, but she wouldn't. It had already been three days since the beating. I really believe that the Lord is going to use these little kids to change India in some way or another. Their passion for Christ is undeniable. 

oh and we got to ride elephants the other day!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH. we were in a cell group and we got a phone call from babu (daniel's brother) saying he had a surprise for us. Kate has been asking him everyday for her own elephant, so he told us i have elephants for you at the house when you get back. We did not believe him of course, but sure enough there were elephants and we got to ride them, and pet them, and kiss them, and it was AMAZING! The elephants were all painted for a wedding that was taking place down the street from us. Now all we need to do is find a monkey to keep, and we will be set :) 

The word we use most here in India is Chupra Ho, which means BE QUIET! Our kids, are not very well behaved, so that word is used very frequently. ha