Since this orphanage opened a little over 3 years ago, many, many of these kids have not left the grounds of this orphanage. Some have been here since the beginning, but there are others that have only been here a year or two. From the time they were brought here, they have not been able to leave these walls. They wake up every morning and go to sleep every night not knowing what is on the outside.
When we heard this, it was laid on many of our hearts that we had to do something about it. We needed to take these kids out and let them experience the little things that we all take for granted on a daily basis.
It has been years (if ever) since these kids have ridden in a car. Many have never gotten to “go” somewhere to eat before; they have never had anything cold to drink. They don’t know what a “real” bathroom is with a western toilet and toilet paper. Some haven’t even seen a mirror before… so they don’t know what they look like.
We decided to change all this and let it be a day full of “first” experiences. We thought we knew what we were in for and were prepared for that, but it blew some of us away.
When we first got here, we were each given 3 kids to pour ourselves into during our stay. We pray with them everyday, play with them, love on them, and pour ourselves into their lives.
… We went to Pizza Hut…
We loaded them in the van and we were off to Pizza Hut. Since some of the kids have never been in a car before, some did get car sick from all of the motion and excitement that was going on… but it was all good. (Alli had already prepared us and told us that when they do throw up they do it with “skill”. They throw their heads back, get it in their mouth, and then in a straight line spit out the window…CRAZY… so we were okay.)
We got to Pizza Hut with “our” kids and their eyes we filled with so much joy. The smells they have never smelled, the bright colors they have never seen, the air conditioning that they didn’t know what to do with, and all the little little things.
Of course they have to go to the bathroom, so I explained to my girls that they have to sit, not stand, and that they have to go in a hole and then wipe. This did not go so well, at all.
I got in the bathroom and saw one of my girls climbing up on the toilet to stand, so I pulled her down and showed her how to sit. Then I turned around again and saw her climbing up again. So, I finally had to sit her on the seat myself and showed her how to use it. While this was going on, one my other girls was in the boy’s bathroom going on the floor.
After the “toilet” issue we go to wash our hands and discover that there is a huge mirror in front of us and… who is that in the mirror?.?.? So, I explained to them that when you look in the mirror that is you that you see. They were so amazed and did not want to leave. I finally pulled them away, washed our hands, and we were off to eat our pizza.
Man… they had so much food. For every “group” there was Pepsi, an order of garlic bread, 1 big pizza, 2 small pizzas, and an order of ice cream for everyone. The girls said the Pepsi was too cold and that it hurt their teeth, so I had to take their ice out. The pizza was not spicy enough, and when the ice cream came many didn’t like it because it was too cold.
All I could do was sit there and think about the little things that we do take for granted that they have never experienced. When I got to watch them and see them experience some of these things for the first time in their lives, it was amazing. It definitely made me sit back and reevaluate things.
Here I am ministering at this orphanage for 3 weeks, I get to leave the “walls” at least every other day, I get to drink something cold, I get to ride in a car, I get to go and sit somewhere “cool” to cool off, I get to sleep in a place that is not infested with bugs… yet I tend to find things to complain about on a daily basis.
The Lord has been talking to me a lot about surrender and what it means to be completely surrendered, completely broken. After this night, I sat back and thought about these kids, how they are so surrendered, so broken, and the fact that they have nothing. These children are committed to giving their lives for the gospel and I have problems laying down my mattress for concrete, my air conditioning for 125 degree heat, my cold coke for hot water. The words that the Lord had been speaking into me and our team were falling into place and becoming so real.
Brokenness and surrender have a whole new meaning to me. The Lord is using these precious children to teach me more than I could have ever imagined. Praise His name!!!!
“If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not loved I gain nothing.” 1 Cor. 13:3
Have You Hugged Your Water Buffalo Today
Yesterday morning bright and early at 5:30 am, 5 jeeps pulled into our gate. They lined up for us to “choose” which one we wanted and then we were off.
Since some were nicer than the others, we drew cards to see who got what vehicle. We happened to get the oldest vehicle with the slowest driver, but we were able to make the most of it.
At 6:11 we were all ready to pull out and we were off to the Taj Mahal. Sounds pretty easy and simple huh?.?.? …Not… on the way there we had things that we had to accomplish before the finish line.
The whole team had to hug a water buffalo and take a picture.
1. One team member had to take a picture with a snake charmer charming the snake.
2. Buy (or get) a new pair of shoes and spot someone that they will fit and bless them with them.
3. Write down 20 verses completely that talk about poverty.
4. Find out 5 things about the Hindu culture through conversation. (cannot be your taxi driver)
5.
Get something to eat at McDonalds for everyone on your team. You can not speak English or use signs.
6. Find a foreigner from one of the countries you have been or about to visit.
Out of all this crazy stuff that we had to do, I have to say that the most interesting part was having to explain to the taxi driver that we were in a race, that he needed to hurry and not stay with his friends, and follow each other. I don’t think we ever actually got the complete concept across to him.
We hugged our water buffalo, we ordered and ate our McDonalds (that was an experience because they don’t eat cow here… they worship their cows), we looked our verses up, thanks to me having to use the bathroom we met Penny from Massachusettes, we talked to the guy at McDonalds about the Hindu culture, we blessed a precious little girl with a pair of flip flops, now we just had to find our snake charmer and get to the Taj.
We were almost to the Taj when a guy on a motorbike started flagging us down. We pulled over and he offered to be our guide, so we accepted. He used some contacts that he had and found our snake charmer for us… as we were about to leave we looked up and the yellow team was there. Our guide was friends with their driver and called and let them know where the snake charmer was… cheaters!!!
We ran, got back in the jeep and raced to the Taj. We got there about 30 seconds before yellow team when we realized that we were not at the gate yet. The gate was a 5 minute walk away… so we throw off our flip flops and started to run. As we are running, yellow passes us in a rickshaw. They got there 30 seconds before us… which put us in 3 rd place.
Though it was such a close race and we did get third and would of liked to get second (obviously) it’s the fun moments like that when things are so close that makes the race part of this trip so much fun.
So… that’s our race to the Taj Mahal. ..
Blue got 1st
,
Yellow 2nd
,
Brown 3rd
,
Red 4th
, and
Lime 5th
