We recognize that the World Race isn’t just about the Racers. On the field, it’s about the contacts and the ministries Racers support. It’s not about going on the field to fix things in other places, but to join the work God is already doing and the amazing servants he’s already placed there. So this month we’re celebrating some of our World Race contacts – the real heroes who do the hard work of bringing the kingdom day in and day out. Together, we are the World Race.
This week’s post is from Austin Ulsh, a World Race alumnus from January 2012 C Squad. Austin works in the Admissions Department here at Adventures in Missions, but he’d say he left his heart in India with beautiful little girl named Winnie. Winnie lives in an orphanage called Sarah’s Covenant Home, one of our favorite ministries in India. There she and over 100 other special needs children receive the love and attention they desperately need. Austin tells his story here:
It was hot and sunny as I walked into the downstairs baby room to get a reprieve from the heat. I was no cooler inside the tiny room that held 10 mentally and physically handicapped girls at Sarah’s Covenant Home (SCH).
“How am I going to do this for an entire month?” I thought.
There were eight of us whose ministry that month was to go to Sarah’s Covenant Home, a home to 105 mentally and physically handicapped children, and love on the children there.
That first day at SCH was incredibly overwhelming. There were so many special needs children and so few of us. Our attention was pulled in a hundred directions and the heat didn’t help us focus on why we were there.
“I can’t do this Lord.” I proclaimed. I knew that this was our ministry for the month, but I was drained after spending just one hour with those kids. I was physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually drained. “God please give me your eyes for these children.”
I prayed that prayer every morning before ministry. But I didn’t expect my life would change because of it.
On our second day of ministry at SCH, in order to not feel overwhelmed I decided to choose one child and focus on that one child for our time there. That child was Winnie.
Winnie is a two-year-old girl in the baby room at SCH. She has Cerebral Palsy. She lies in her bed all day long. She’s fed when she’s hungry and changed when she’s dirty. But she has little mobility from not having enough physical stimulation. She barely has the ability to even roll over.
So I picked her up.
I held her.
I loved on her.
And in that month I fell in love with her.
Everyday I spent a big portion of my day with Winnie, holding her, walking with her around the SCH building, getting her outside to enjoy the sunshine.
When I took her outside she squinted her eyes and smiled when the sun hit her face. She loved it.
I continued to love on her throughout the month, giving her kisses all day, every day, singing to her and praying over her. I don’t think I have ever poured out more love on one human being in my life. She captured my heart, and it was the Lord who allowed it happen. He changed my eyes to see Winnie not as a disabled little girl who can only lie in a bed and look around the room, but as a beautiful child of our God who embodies the Lord in so many ways. As someone that I would love forever.
Sarah’s Covenant Home is a home for over 100 children with developmental disabilities and neurological special needs in Andhra Pradesh, India. The founder, Sarah Rebbavarapu, finds these abandoned children in institutional orphanages or hospitals and brings them home. Children like Austin’s Winnie live in a family-style environment and are provided with a loving environment, education, therapy and medical care.
We’re thankful for contacts like Sarah who provide Racers with the chance to love the lost everyday. You could have that chance on your World Race. Check out the routes here.
