Let me tell you about our ministry for this month.
I am FINALLY in a village setting…kinda. My team and I are traveling to five different villages visiting different home-churches, called CCH (covenant children homes) that house poor kids. Every 4 days or so we move to another home…so lots of moving this month, but we do get a few days break in the city in between homes so that's a blessing! At each home we try to love on the kids as much as possible, and just spend time with them. While the kids are at school my team and I get to build fences around the church/home property. So far we have been to two homes and have built fences around both. I kinda enjoy the work because I like seeing the results of hard work, and it burns the time we have in the day until the kids get home.
The ministry we are working with goes to different villages and finds the poorest kids (usually orphans or with single parents), asks for permission to bring them in, and then they can get three healthy meals a day and go to an English medium school (some of the best schools around) to give them a better shot at life than their parents had. The kids are also, of course, exposed to the Gospel and will live with a pastor and his wife and attend church/prayer services. The ages of these kids range from 5-12 yrs old.
Several of the kids we have met so far only have a mom and she can't find enough work to provide food for them much less any type of education. Most of the women here that have little to no schooling work in the fields. They work from 10 in the morning till 4:30 or 5 in the evening with a short lunch break, and they only get paid 150 rupees…that's like less than $2USD. So they basically get paid nothing for a long hot days work. I can't imagine trying to support myself and my children on that kind of income. CCH is really a huge blessing here for the struggling mothers.
The living situation is pretty rough…we sleep on the floor of the church that is built above the home. There are tons of bugs, geckos, and other creatures to keep us company…as well as the children. Haha.
Our first home's bathroom was a squatty/shower that has seen better days and it doesn't have a door…oh and you have to go through the pastor's room to get to it soooo it's a little awkward haha. Another interesting fact is that India doesn't believe in toilet paper and it is sometimes hard to find. So that's why using the left hand for anything but bathroom business is taboo. (and the answer is yes…I have used the left hand…it was a desperate time haha) The closest place to get tp at the first home was at least 10k way…which is far when you don't really have a vehicle to get there. Our showers are from buckets with water that we collect outside of the home from a well.
Clean drinking water is another thing that we are concerned about in the villages. At the last house we stayed at the poor pastor had to travel 5km to get us clean mineral water to drink.
We get to eat curry for all three meals every day we are in the villages. One thing I can say with that is thank God for translators that can explain that American mouths and stomachs weren’t exactly made for Indian spices and curry at the hot level they are used to. It is still a bit unusual to eat curry and rice for breakfast, but it’s not that bad…just takes some getting used to. We also have to get used to eating with our hands, which is hard at times because clean water is difficult to find to wash your hands with before meals. I use my spork when I can haha 🙂 Well I think that's enough info on home life so now I have a story for you…
In our little village I had a first time experience.
One evening while I was quietly minding my own business relaxing before bedtime I felt something unusual… I suddenly felt little things crawling in a very unfortunate location.
I literally had ants in my pants…don’t be fooled, it’s not as fun as it sounds. Apparently some ants had been attracted to the area where I was sleeping because of some food scraps and decided to invade my pants. Totally uncalled for. BUT it was actually pretty funny after the fact haha.
All in all life is good (a little hard but still good) and God is great!
I’m in good health so far (thank God!) and I am excited for what else God has in store for me in this final month!
Any and all prayers are appreciated for continued good health and for our ministry. Thanks!
