So this month we are in India. India is not at all what I was expecting it to be. We are in the city of Hyderabad and it’s a pretty bustling place. They have huge beautiful malls with all kind of stores and food in them: Papa Johns, McDonalds, KFC, Dominoes, Burger King, etc. You can pretty much get anything that you want to get here. And while the city is for sure more dirty then what most American cities would deem ok, it’s really not that bad and definitely not worse than other places we have been. To be honest, I was expecting a little more backwards ways of doing things but Hyderabad is up with the times.
The people have been my favorite part about India though. Whether it be random strangers on the street that come up and call us a taxi so that we don’t get ripped off by the rickshaw drivers, the young adults at the amazing church that we have been so blessed to get to go to, or the helpers at the orphanage, they have all gone out of their way to be so nice and warm, and inviting to us. And they are so genuine about it as well! One random man on the street who stepped in to help us with a driver, was scolding him for trying to overcharge us because we were Amercans. “They are our guests!” He told the man.
Like I said, we have been working with an orphanage for disabled children this month. For those who know me and have read my previous blogs where I have mentioned it, you will know that I love kids a lot! If God shows that it is His will, I want and plan to have a big family, I think they are amazing. But while I love kids, kids ministry on an ongoing, regular basis is not really my thing. I prefer working with teens or young adults. That’s my niche. So when I found out that we were going to be working with children again this month, and disabled children at that, I wasn’t too excited or sure what to think. I knew that it would be a good month and I was cool to push myself in ministry but it was still a little daunting. To make matters worse, I was told that most of the children probably had lice and not many volunteers walk away without getting them as well. Once again, for those who know me, you know what a fear this is for me. I HATE lice with a passion. I had a really bad case of them several years ago that scared me and left a bit of a phobia in my mind to them. I laugh about it now and my friends and team joke with me about it all the time and I have grown a ton in the self-control of my mind in not over thinking or over reacting to them now…truly, I’ve experienced a lot of freedom from it. But, to say that it was not still a major concern in my head walking into this month of ministry would be a lie.
My team and I started out with good cautionary measures to do our best at avoiding these little spawns of Satan. We would wear our hair up and only wash it once a week on the weekends (lice don’t like dirty hair, only clean) and we would do regular checks on each other and try to avoid head to head contact with the kids. Now, avoiding head to head contact with the kids sounds like a pretty reasonable thing to pull off…not so much. These kids are so loving and so affectionate that sometimes out of no where they will come and tackle you in a bear hug, or touch and rub your head cause your hair looks so different from theirs, or lean up against you as you look up to see the birds that they are so excited about. If you’re doing your job right, some contact is going to be made.
For a while I was really struggling with this. I wanted to play and have fun and pour myself into these kids but I couldn’t do that if I was being so careful about lice. I felt a distinct wall and guardedness in my thoughts, attitudes and behavior that I didn’t like but wasn’t sure how to get rid of. I started asking God to lead me away from this barrier and to show me how to love these kids the way they deserve to be loved.
And He did! It’s been a bit of a gradual change but I can feel and see it. The kids that I get to work with are so adorable. They are funny, energetic, very smart and extremely full of life. And they have such big hearts full of love. I have so fallen in love with them. Everyday in the afternoon we come over and they are always so excited to see us. We help them with their homework (this is usually an hour or more of conniving to get them to focus because kids will be kids haha), jumping on the trampoline, playing disney memory game over and over and over again or just sitting next to the more challenged ones and holding their hands. I love my girls and the one neighborhood little boy that sticks around. And I have noticed that the more I fall in love with these kids, the less I worry about the lice in their hair or me getting them. What matters is loving them right and the way they deserve to be loved and the way you can’t help loving when you’re around them. If I get lice, I get lice. Big deal. Maybe that’s why I cut my hair all off earlier in the year 😛
These kids are so incredibly priceless, I’m so sad to think about leaving them in just a little over a week. But God has taught me something so priceless through them. The more love that I walk in towards them, the less fear I walk in towards myself. And I believe that this principle goes beyond just these specific kids. More love equals less fear.
