We have moved across town to spend the rest of our time here in India at an orphanage for children who have HIV. We arrived Saturday evening and have been spending our time thus far enjoying some rest and getting to know the kids. The children here speak the local language, Marathi, and don’t speak a bit of English. Some of the kids can understand basic questions we ask like, “What’s your age/name?”, but other than that communicating with them looks a little different. On Sunday, for example, ministry looked like throwing a ball back and forth for 20 minutes with a little girl who couldn’t understand me. Or taking selfies with a group of girls who didn’t understand me when I told them to make a silly face. It’s fun though, and a great reminder that loving someone doesn’t need to involve words and conversations.
Monday, Rachel, Heidi, and I had the opportunity to go with our host here at the orphanage to what we understood was a prayer meeting. On our way there, we found out that we were actually going to a home church that was established in a rougher part of town and we were going to be the ones giving the message and a word of encouragement to the group. It’s funny, because just the other night I was talking about finding the confidence to speak out what I’m hearing from the Lord. This time I didn’t have time to prepare a message or really think much about what I was going to say, I just had to trust that God would speak through me.
Before we went to the church though, we stopped by the house of a man named Sandeep who is in his mid-thirties and has been paralyzed for 4 years. His two young sons take care of him while his wife is away at work. Our host has been coming and praying for Sandeep every week since his injury and hoping for a miracle. We all laid hands and prayed. While Sandeep didn’t get up and walk, we all felt that we needed to come back every day while we are here and spend some time talking and praying with him. We are looking forward to going back this week and praying for his healing.
So we arrive at the house church, and this one room is packed full of believers. We worship, and when it comes time to give the message, we all speak. The only thing we had decided beforehand was that we wanted to speak on Joshua 1:9 and that we would all speak what was on our hearts. I went first, and I honestly have no idea what I said. Pastor was translating for us, which is really fun to hear, because he somehow always ends up talking longer than what it seems like he should. After we all spoke, we had picture time, which is something that is new and weird and kind of fun. Since we are white, everyone wants a picture of us and with us. So we generally spend a lot of time after doing house visits or going to church taking pictures with people.
We are putting on a celebration day for the kids tomorrow, and are going to press in to getting involved in the kid’s daily lives like waking them up and putting them to bed and all that goes in between. This month has been such a blessing and I am excited to experience what else God has for me here. I can’t wait to share it all with you!
