Ministry here in India has been amazing! The orphans are beautiful, loving and the best behaved kids I have ever seen. It’s especially impressive that there are over 100 of them and only 5 adults to keep them in line.
We visited them daily, taught Bible lessons, played and loved on them with everything in us. We provided them with monetary gifts too such as fans, fixed electrical problems, painted, cleaned provided food and clothes.
On our last day, they thanked us profusely for all we had done. The most touching were the cards made of construction paper which said how much they enjoyed seeing just our faces. They will pray for us and they love us so much “Good buy we will miss you!” The misspellings are so enduring. J
We shared tears and hopes of talking soon. They have a piece of my heart and always will. I wish I could take all of their little smiling faces home with me.
We also did ministry with the leper colony. One word: Amazing!!! Beyond anything I would expect or imagine. We became friends with several people who have lived there for years. One couple that was particularly special was an older couple and the man was suffering from leprosy and had a horrible infection on his arm. I have never seen anything like it. The flies were swarming and gobbling up the gruesome liquid oozing from the open wounds. He was all skin and bones with a long grey beard. I climbed into his little shack and sat on the floor with him and prayed for God to comfort him. It was very quiet with the exception of his groaning from the excruciating pain. I felt helpless and prayed God would have mercy on him. We visited him on a Thursday and returned on Monday to find he had died on Friday.
My heart sank and the feeling of desperation and sadness filled my whole being. I sat and wept with his widow on the floor where he used to be. I have never felt such desperation and sadness. I felt her loss while looking around at the tiny shack she lived in. It made our living conditions look like the Taj Mahal.
Here I am, going on and on in my last blog about our tough conditions in a house with running water and electricity. When comparatively, I have a disgusting amount more than I deserve.
I am so thankful for all of the blessings I have no matter what, God gives me everything I need just when I need it. He is faithful and always good!
We fly out to Thailand today at midnight. Looking forward to what God will do there!!!
God bless you! (As I’m sure He has been.) J
