The end is near...

Wow! It's already April 6th. So much has happened in the past three months, but our adventure is nearly over! We leave here on Monday afternoon. Only two more days in this beautiful place. I have learned SO SO much since coming here. I feel like I have grown spiritually and matured so much more than I was expecting. This has been an incredible experience! Jenny and I have had some really difficult days here, but the Lord has been faithful to turn it all to good and I have no regrets. He has been teaching me two main things during this time: that he is GOOD and he is WITH ME. It is so true! Even during the hard times --no, ESPECIALLY during the hard times -- I could feel him with me constantly. When I was having hard days, although the situation I was in was miserable, I could feel that God was still good. It was incredible! I am so so thankful for all the adventures I have had here, but I am definitely ready to be home. God had the best plan all along when we found out we were coming home early. Two days left then I'll be on a flight home! Thank you, Lord for this incredible trip, and thank YOU for supporting and loving us! ♥

Encouragment

Long time, no blog! It's been a while since I've been on here, so I'm going to try and update you on what has been going on. Jenny and I have been busy hanging out with the girls and getting to know them more and more. I'm amazed at how we're able to be such good friends with them despite the language and cultural barriers and the limited time we've had, but God is good and we have really established a friendship with all of them!

As we've mentioned before, the girls have been having several tests in each subject during the past few weeks. They will actually have more and more through April, so be praying for them! The 10th and 12th graders need your prayers especially, because their grades determine if they will be able to go on to higher studies and get good jobs!

About a week ago, I was feeling pretty depressed about this trip. I felt like I wasn't able to love and serve everyone here very well, and I was feeling pretty much without purpose and wondering why I had come here in the first place. The sisters have things running pretty smoothly, and are usually able to accomplish everything without our help. Jenny and I would offer to help out more with washing dishes, preparing meals, and general chores, and they would decline and send us back to the front porch to relax. Honestly, it was a little bit frustrating because I came here to serve and they didn't want me to. A few days ago I was having a devotional time and reading in the book of Romans. A phrase from Romans 13:8 caught my eye. It said "the one who loves another has fulfilled." It goes on after that, but the Lord highlighted that part to me, and I felt him telling me that this was my theme verse for this trip. If I love another, even if it's just one single person, then I will have fulfilled my purpose for coming here. Wow! This was so so encouraging for me! Since that day I have been keeping this verse in mind and really listening to the Lord about how I can love on the people around me, and he has been so faithful to show me ways to bless them. I am amazed at the difference in my attitude and heart and how it has changed so much this past week. I have felt so encouraged and empowered because of this verse, and I know that the Lord is going to sustain me and guide me to love more during the rest of this trip. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us! So many people have sent me encouraging messages and emails and they have been such a blessing to me :)

Today is day sixty out of the ninety days we will be here! I can't believe it has passed so quickly! Pray that Jenny and I would draw our strength from the Lord and be able to finish this adventure well :)

Exams, exams and more exams!

The girls have been studying for their finals a ton recently! It's such a bummer because normally, we would sit with them and help them with English or draw pictures for them. But now that they have tons of finals and exams, they are studying really hard, and we are more of a distraction than anything. We still sit with the preschoolers though and help them with their ABC's and 123's :) That's always fun. But as the test dates are drawing nearer, you can almost feel the tension in the air as the girls study. Maybe it's just me... I really hope they do well! I don't know if I've ever been this concerned over someone else's test results before. This must be part of how it feels to be a mother! Please keep the girls in your prayers! :)

Rain

In the state in which we are staying here in India, it hardly ever rains. Apparently, it only rains about 3 times a year! The other day, we were sitting on the porch. It had been cloudy for the past couple days. The clouds were grey and it felt like it was going to rain: breezy, humid, cool. You could almost feel nature around you, holding it's breath, begging for the clouds to release water. The sisters were talking about how it rarely rains where we are, and one of them said, "Please Lord! Let it rain!" Allie and I agreed enthusiastically. Then she said, "When I ask of the Lord, He never disappoints me. Please Lord! Let it rain!" And I thought to myself, "Oh that's nice, that she has so much faith in the Lord. It's probably not going to rain today though. Too bad, because I don't want her to be disappointed... Maybe it will rain tomorrow." Literally 3 seconds later, it starts raining. I almost started crying. We were all overjoyed and laughing. We were so happy and blessed that it was raining! The Lord answered our prayer! It was an amazing experience! But it really made me think of how little faith I have in the Lord. I know that I can trust Him and that everything will be ok in the end. But when I ask Him to answer prayers, I rarely expect Him to answer them because of all the times that my prayers haven't been answered. Or at least not the way I wanted them to be answered. I never even realized how little faith I have in Him answering prayers until today. And it really blessed and encouraged me to see someone whose faith is so strong in the Lord, and when she prays, her prayer is answered. And it wasn't even a long prayer! Five words long! But her faith was the size of a mustard seed. It amazed me. And I want that for myself. Don't get my wrong, I've had plenty of prayers answered. But many of them I still pray and ask the Lord about. I don't know how one even gets more faith in the Lord. But I know I want faith like that. I would really appreciate prayer! Thank you so much! This trip has been incredible, and I have learned so much so far. And it's not even half over! :) Praise the Lord :)

Flight home update

Everything is going well here! The girls are busy studying for some tests they have coming up... prayers for them would be appreciated!

I want to give you all an update about our flight home. Originally, we were planning on leaving sometime in mid-May, but that plan has changed. After coming here and talking to the Sisters and everyone involved, we realized it would be much better for everyone if we left earlier. School lets out much earlier here (March 31st!), and when summer vacation starts many of the girls who have family members still alive leave for a while to spend time with them. This leaves the Sisters free to get some much needed rest and spend time with their own families also. April and May are also the hottest times of the year where we are, so everyone likes to go on holiday in another part of India with cooler temperatures. We realized that if we were to stay until May 13th like we had originally planned, we would be a burden to the Sisters during the time when they're supposed to be resting, because they would have to either take us along with them on their trips or make some other kinds of arrangements for us. So we decided to come home earlier. We will be leaving here about a week after school lets out, which will give us some time to rest up and get ready for the journey home. The plan is to leave the children's home on April 8th, to arrive in Kansas City on the evening of the 9th. Leaving will be so bittersweet for us! I am having so much fun making friends here and getting to know all of the beautiful girls who live here, and it's going to be so hard to leave them. On the other hand, I'm extremely excited to see all my friends and family back home and get ready for what other adventures the Lord has for me! I know that this change is a part of his plan, so, although at first I was disappointed we were leaving earlier, now I'm accepting and even excited about it. And the great thing is, we still have lots of time to spend with the girls here! We haven't even reached the halfway point of our time, so I'm looking forward to having more fun and getting closer to everyone here!
You can be praying that we would face this second half of the adventure with as much energy, enthusiasm, and excitement as we did the first half! We want to finish strong! ♥

Dive In

When we went to Kerela, we got to go to the beach. It was so wonderful! Allie and I both ran to the ocean and played in the water. We were in skirts and t-shirts, so we couldn't get TOO wet, even though we really wanted to. We both wished we were wearing swimsuits, however, what is modest in America, is not modest here. Swimsuits aren't modest, so all the women at the beach were in their punjabis: a t-shirt dress and loose pants) and most of the men weren't getting in the water either. There were a few guys who were taking off their shirts and getting in the water. Almost everyone was just standing at the shoreline, but not getting in the water. And that's how it is a lot of times with Christians and their relationship with the Lord. They are Christians but don't know Jesus personally. They go to church but have never experienced Jesus. They talk about God and say they follow Him. But they don't love Him like the Father and friend He is. They don't dive in. They stand on the shore and say, "Wow isn't the Lord powerful. God is good. He is beautiful." But they don't know him. They don't know what it feels like to be washed in His love, to be knocked over by His power, to be refreshed by His grace. They don't dive in. And that makes me very sad. I have been reading "Beautiful Outlaw" by John Eldredge, and I am reading the chapter that talks about "clearing away the religious fog." He says, "Members [of the church] can explain to you theories of the atonement, or seven steps to success, but can't name one intimate encounter they've had with Jesus. Not once in their lives have they heard him speak to them. I've met with heads of Christian education departments, chaplains, and seminary faculty who by their own admission don't know Jesus personally. You can talk about sunshine and live your life underground; you can even go to the sea, but never dive in." I've never liked religiosity, and have striven for a relationship with the Lord. I have stories of His grace and have experienced His love. I hope you have too. There are so many people who are  so busy reading a certain number of verses in the Bible, listening to this many sermons, volunteering at their church, but miss relationship with the Lord.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 Though i speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my good to feed  the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."

Life in India :)

Although we still have a lot of time on our hands, we now have more of a schedule and are able to help out around the place more.

About a week ago, Jessy left for Kerela to stay at the house they are founding there. Two of the sisters went with her and are staying there. She got back a few days later. Now we only have three sisters here, so Allie and I try to help out as best we can wherever we can. It's hard a lot of the time because the sisters are doing things that we can't necessarily help with: a one-person job, or just something we don't know how to do or that only they can do. Slowly but surely however, we have been helping out with more things around the house. We wash dishes a lot and help make food when we can. We help clean and sometimes even help with laundry. They always seems to appreciate our help. It hurts me to see the sisters so tired all the time and us not able to do anything about it. Please pray that the sisters stay healthy and full of energy!

I would always help the fourth grader or the 6th graders with their English, but recently I've been helping the 8th, 9th, and 10th graders with their English too. It's been so fun! :) Some of them have trouble pronouncing words like "sharply" or "world." But even in the past week or so since I've been helping them, they've been getting a lot better :) Every day when it's time to study or eat, I have at least 5 different girls wanting me to sit with them. It makes me feel so loved! :)


I finally feel like I'm of some use to the sisters and the girls! I know a lot of why we came is just to love on the girls and spend time with them, but it's nice to know that I am helping them too :)