Someone has stolen my heart.
I met him two weeks ago, and already, I am in love. His name is Michael; also known as Sunil in Telugu. He is about ten years old, has autism and is an amazing little boy. He lives in the Victory home where my team and I have ministry and he is my kid to hang out with this month in India.
The first time I met him he immediately took my hand and started leading me around Victory. He didn’t speak or really even look at me in my eyes, but he held my hand so tight. The past two weeks I have gone to Victory every afternoon to spend time with this sweet little guy.
In his file it reads that Michael is mentally retarded. But I don’t believe it. I actually think he’s really smart. And I know that with the right tools and enough time that he would excel. You can see on his face that he is always thinking. And in the past weeks I have already seen him move and speak more and more.
One of our favorite things to do is go up on the rooftop. Michael leads me up to where the roof overlooks the courtyard and we just watch the world down below. Being a people watcher myself, I love that he loves to do this. I love seeing his little face process as he watches. One of the days I was praying over Michael for him to start talking. I hadn’t really heard him speak. As soon as we got down from the roof he started talking! Since I don’t speak Telugu, I asked one of the little boys who lives at Victory what Michael was saying and he told me that Michael wanted to go up on the roof! His favorite place. I believe that Michael has such potential for learning. After that prayer, every time I see him, he is a little chatterbox.
Michael loves motorcycles. Every time one passes by on the road while we’re on the roof, he runs to get a better look at the bike as it speeds away. Last Sunday my team took our kids to the beach- a whole story in itself. Picture fifteen world-racers in our Punjabis carrying around fifteen kids with severe special needs on an Indian beach, trying to prevent most of them from eating the sand. There were quite a few funny moments. Normally Michael is a really passive, compliant kid. But as soon as a group of guys drove their motorcycles onto the beach, he didn’t think twice about ditching me. At hearing those motors approaching, he flung my hand down and started sprinting down the shore, arms flailing. I’ve never seen him move so fast. The motorcycle guys were really nice and let Michael sit on the bike a few times. I’ll never forget seeing that beam of a smile as he sat there on that bike.
Every time we hang out, I see something new in Michael. He is always very sweet and joyful, and he has such a fun personality that is always surprising me with something new. He’s just a cool kid. He loves playing airplane. He can make anything into a flying plane. He just laughs and laughs, so content, as he creates soaring planes from leaves pulled from a tree. He loves any motorized vehicle; typical boy. He loves music. He is extremely ticklish. His latest trick is whistling. I was randomly whistling the other day and he looked up at me and started laughing. He then covered his own ears and let out one high pitched shriek. Laughing, he looked up at me again, so proud for mimicking what I had done.
I know that the Lord has plans for Michael. Since that first day of meeting him, he has already opened up to me, making eye-contact, giving smiles, talking and talking, always holding my hand so tight. Please pray for him and the rest of the kids at Victory. Pray for the Lord’s presence to invade that home. Pray for Michael to speak and move more. Pray for him to be sponsored and for someone to adopt him. Pray for him to be loved and feel loved. Pray for me as I have to say goodbye in a few short weeks.
