Today officially begins the 12 days of Christmas.
In the States, that means getting your last (or first) minute shopping done, preparing for an influx of family members and/or friends and Christmas movies on every single TV channel. We Americans love to shop, eat, give and get gifts (but mostly get) and decorate.
Here in our little corner of India, you wouldn’t even know it’s the holiday season. The weather is about 75 degrees each day, the trees are green and there’s not a Christmas light to be found. Well, except kind of at night, when the tuk-tuks (very minuscule taxis that we like to pile into) get their disco lights going to attract customers.
Of course, there’s no snow, which means the garbage on the sides of the road can’t be covered by a fluffy white blanket of cleansing, like in Michigan when the sludge on the side of the road disappears overnight. Cows wander the streets freely and every time we take a tuk-tuk to and from our ministry site, we fear for our lives because the driving is monumentally horrible.
But even though India is seemingly devoid of Christmas-y things, we can still find incredible amounts of joy at Sarah’s Covenant Home, the orphanage we are working at this month. There are 111 beautiful special needs children who live there and every morning at 8 am we are greeted with their smiles and hugs. They laugh with us, give us crazy stories to retell to each other later and sometimes make us cry because we already love them so much.
These children live at SCH for different reasons, the biggest one being that their biological parents believed their disabilities were a curse from the gods and they were ashamed to raise them. It’s heartbreaking and I wonder sometimes as I’m sitting with one of those gorgeous children if their parents realize just what they are missing out on. If they know that their days are that much darker because this incredible light of a child is missing from their lives.
This Christmas, I feel incredibly honored to be doing my best to live out the love of our God who sent His only Son to earth on that first Christmas. These kids are truly and tangibly the “least of these” by their culture’s standards. What better way to celebrate Christmas then to spend it with 111 amazing little ones in India, not just telling the gospel story but living it with them and loving them the way that He’s asked us to?
I know, I know. You’re sitting at home, reading this blog and thinking to yourself, “Man, I wish I could be in India, loving on some cute orphans for Christmas instead of being smacked in the face continuously by the commercialism that is Christmas in America.”
Well, I have good news for you. While I’m not sure if you could actually come over to India in person and love on these kids (I mean, you could if you had the means and really wanted to – we’d welcome the help), you can help us give them a wonderful Christmas. My team – which, by the way, is a new all-girls team after squad-wide team changes a few weeks ago – is on a mission (pun completely intended) to give SCH and these kids some desperately needed supplies and gifts this holiday season. But being poor missionaries who are not yet fully funded for the Race, we need your help.
I know you’ve probably spent far more than you should have already and have even more presents to buy. I know preparing Christmas dinner is not cheap and gas to drive to all those Christmas parties is expensive.
But I’m asking you to think about your priorities and give what you can, even if you think it’s not enough. It is. And we’re so grateful for your help.
And honestly, what I think it comes down to is this:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27
The easiest way for you to donate is to use PayPal and send the money to my account using my email address: [email protected]. If PayPal is not an option for you, please e-mail me so we can figure out other options.
Merry Christmas!
Love, Bri
