Konduvaripalli is another thriving village with about 75
people. There wasn’t even a shack to buy biscuits or Coke- it was even smaller
than Kamalapurma. We arrived there mid afternoon to a parade of Indians
marching and playing the drums while approaching us. They walked us into the
village to a waiting crowd that must have contained most of the village. The boys came home shortly and were excited
to see us. The pastor and his wife that lived there immediately prepared a
tasty meal for our team.
The orphanage desperately wanted to serve US- despite our
purpose being to serve THEM. The boys did everything they could to make our
visit as comfortable as possible. A fight would almost break out between them
as the pastor’s wife chose one of the boys to refill my water bottle. They
would bring my sandals to me if the ground was too dirty for me to walk on
barefoot. They would always make sure I had a plastic chair to sit on instead
of the ground. If I desired warm water for a bucket shower, six of the ten boys
instantly started intensifying the dying fire. They added wood, blew through a
pipe on the coals, and added oil as flames appeared in what seemed like
seconds.
This is something titanic that I’m realizing here on the
World Race. We go to serve people, but a
substantial amount of the time we are being served just as much- if not more!
Many racers talk about Matthew 25:40, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did
for the least of my brothers, you did for me.� It’s mentioned in lots of
support letters and gives insight about what racers will actually be doing
during their time abroad. I knew that I would be serving others, but little did
I know that they would be serving me!
Philippians 2 talks about the humility of Christ. Verses
three and four stick out most to me. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or
vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of
you should not only look to your own interests, but also to the interests of
others.� Before leaving for the race, I was simply not good at always looking
towards the interests of others. However, through community and assorted
experiences and events during the race God is revealing how I can best serve
others at all times- not just SOMEtimes. Putting other people’s needs ahead of
your own if DIFFICULT, but is what God commands of us.
We stayed in Konduvaripalli from February 8 until the
morning of February 13. Just like the previous orphanage, we completed painting
both the inside and the outside of the building. This time, however, we painted
the outside fire engine red with blue accents and the inside was painted white
with a yellow bottom border. It was awesome to see the orphanage come to life
and be the bright spot of the small village.
Instead of buying the boys drinks and snacks, we took them
to see the “waterfall� as mentioned in my last blog. The boys absolutely loved
it as they cruised in the auto, frequently waving to our team as we were in the
auto ahead of them. After the “waterfall� we took two quick visits to see parks
and then stopped by the nearest city for a miniature ice cream treat. They were
able to proudly able point out where they go to school as we headed back
towards the direction of the orphanage.
Another orphanage visit, another difficult and painful
goodbye that our team had to go through. Once again, we packed up our
belongings and headed out, but forever engrained in our minds would be the
memories we had in the village of Konduvaripalli.
