India:: Church & Baptisms

On Sunday we visited a village church a couple of hours from Hyderabad. It was also a day there were 19 baptisms! It was such a special day to be a part of!

Luke preached the message and as he said, it was such an amazing experience! It's somewhat difficult to preach with a translator, and a couple time Luke said he'd get listening to Sam translate and lose his train of thought a bit... but I think he did a wonderful job! This was also a communion Sunday, which was so special to be a part of. 

After services there were nineteen baptisms! They combine all the people requesting baptism from all the villages in the general vicinity into one day, using the church building that has a baptismal. It was so special to see both men and women, old and young, all line up, give their testimony and confess Jesus as their Lord and Savior and be baptized. 

Lunch was served in a home in the village beside the church building. The man and woman that lived there have an unusual (for India, I'm told) story of how they came to Christ. Usually it is the women who become believers first, we were told, but in this family's case, the husband believed and was baptized first. His wife was so angry with him, she refused to speak with him for OVER a YEAR!! their daughter became a believer, and the mother even refused to speak with her! Then after this time, the mother surrendered her heart to Jesus and believed and was baptized. Now they're a very Christ loving, serving, joyful family! It was such a neat testimony! They so graciously offered their home to us for lunch and we ate there as she busily went around scrubbing our dishes and serving us. 

One of the women who was baptized I know only as "Shiva Neela's Mom". I met Shiva Neela at the children's home and also had known (of) her from when she'd lived at Sam and Becca's home. She's 87 years old, and just darling!! Her story and her mother's is positively heart breaking, though. Her father is a drunk, and when he drinks, he's abusive. While we were in the slum, her mother told us her other children had all died because of their drunk father's abuse. Shiva Neela was sent to the children's home to not only keep her safe, but to get a Christian education. But this sweet mother... she became a believer and we had the honor of witnessing her baptism this day. I got to hug this beautiful new believer, pray over her, and while we were in the slum, she asked me to come into her tiny little hut and there, on the floor, passed out, was her husband. The love of Jesus shown so bright from this woman's face! She practically radiated JOY!! Only Jesus could take a story as hard as hers and turn it into such a beautiful thing. 

After lunch, Suita, daughter of the folks' whose house we ate lunch at, toured us around the village. It was such fun, and she spoke English very well, so that was a bonus. We kept exclaiming about things she obviously thought was "normal" and odd, so she asked a few times, "In America you not have?!" It was quite difficult to explain how VERY DIFFERENT even rural America is from rural India. :)

The kiddos (except Vivi) stayed with Becca this day and went to the Children's home for their church service and then spent the rest of the day playing with the children. :)

Cutie in church

Bryant was always an attraction! :)

Services

Testimony

Sunday School!

Baptism Begins

Hemanth is a young man Sam rescued when he was just 6 or 7 years old... It was so special to see him give his life to Jesus!

Praise the LORD!

These got a bit out of order- but this is praying for each of the individuals being baptized before the baptism.

So special!

These are all the pastors

Communion Service

Applicants for baptism with Sam

Service

This is Shiva Neela's mom...

Ashes for beauty...!

Overview

This is my little buddy from the slum- Shidisha :)

Lunch in the neighbor's house

:)

The neighbor woman is the one in the pink 

Touring around the village- I loved this courtyard!! And those doors... :)

Laundry day!

Village walk

Suita- our tour guide

Praying over the children before we left

Cuties

Saying goodbye to the children... that's my Shidisha on the right

Bryant is stealing the show again! :)

They were fascinated!!

On the way out of the village

:)

Another amazing day in India. I'm ready to go back already!!

India:: Special Needs Children Project

One of the days while we were in India, we visited a special needs respite program. It was so very heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. In rural India, the stigma attached to having a child with special needs is still tremendous. Most children with special needs rarely leave the darkened corners of their houses, and many are even abandoned and left on the streets. GLM has been working to start a respite center where parents can bring children and they're fed, cared for and loved, while giving the parents a small break. It's been an excellent opportunity to share the love of Jesus with the families, as well. Having Vivi has definitely increased my understanding of how absolutely vital and WONDERFUL this is!!

We spent a bit of time here at this center, and as Sam shared our family's story and a bit about Vivi and what God has done through her life, the people were absolutely amazed and kept proclaiming how wonderful and "big-hearted" and good we were to voluntarily take Vivi as our daughter. It gave Sam an opportunity to talk about the love of Jesus and how He loves even these children and when we allow Him to work through us, He uses a child like this to change the hearts and minds of many people. It was such an incredible experience... one I never could have imagined even 6 months ago!

It's really quite a deal to even pull an event like this off... most of the auto rickshaws won't haul special needs folks, because other passengers have no interest in riding with them or even AFTER them!! So GLM has to charter special auto rickshaws for the day just to get all these folks together! Then they're all fed, loved on, and have activities provided, as well as teaching and gifts given to the children.

I want to share a bit about some of the children...

This sweet boy... I don't remember his name, but be was unable to walk and was also mentally handicapped. He spent most of his time keeping his distance from us- as we must have been somewhat of a terrifying sight!

This family. Oh... This mama is beautiful! She loves her darling daughters and it was so apparent she'd done an amazing of teaching Laxshmi (on the left) how to love and care for her OLDER sister, Sunita (on the right). I was prompted to ask how old Sunita was at one point... and I was shocked to learn this tiny, sweet child was SIXTEEN years old!! She was smaller than Vivi is now!! 

This is Karthik. He's quite the little fella! His grandfather reported that they cannot mention ahead of time about the respite day, of Karthik is ready to go RIGHT THEN and there!! He was SO excited to see Sam, and although he's unable to walk or talk, he squealed and lurched around in circles on the floor and we ALL could tell how happy he was!

Vivi got to pass out bags of fresh fruit to each of the children... She LOVED this, and took her job VERY seriously! :)

Karthik was so pleased!

These children rarely have interaction outside their immediate family, so this day is a HUGE boost and learning experience for them.

You can see tiny Sunita's size compared to Vivi here...

This girl is Manila... more on her later, but she had something VERY special she wanted to share with me...

:)

You can just see the looks on the parents and grandparents faces... this day means SO much for them!

:)

This dad and his daughter... I don't remember her name either, but they had such a close bond, as well.

Vijay!! He was pretty pleased to shake Vivi's hand!

I got to pray for these children and their families... such an honor. Jesus, be near to them, bless them, and give them strength. All of us. Teach us how to better love You by caring for these children You have given us...

I'm thinking they'd never seen a white lady pray... ;)

Getting to talk with the children and learn their names and a bit about them

All the heart eyes...

Boskar... this little fella! He wasn't feeling just top notch this day, but he's a little smarty-pants!! He held up a square shaped little cracker and pretended to be taking pictures! What a fun little guy!

This is Vijay... He was SO EXCITED to show us how he could drink his Mango juice without dribbling it! :)

But oops... he dribbled just a little! ;)

Laxshmi, Sunita and their Mama

Karthik

:)

Boskar and his daddy

:)

Manila and her grandma... This sweet girl was very careful to show me the Telugu Bible she'd been given at one of GLM's events. She keeps it wrapped up carefully in a plastic bag! She loves to go to church, pray, and hold her Bible, her grandmother told us. She's very careful to pull her chunni (scarf) up over her head whenever they pray or worship. It was precious!! :) God is doing such exciting things through this girl!!

This trip. Even now I'm just blown away with what an honor it was!!!

Praise the LORD!!!