Friday, July 25, 2008
Im back in America
i returned yesterday around 3 in the afternoon. i was so tired after almost 24 hours of traveling. i fell alsleep around 8 PM and slept all night. it feels real good to be back. i had a wonderful time, but there is nothing like the feeling of coming home. i feel more relaxed and at ease. we will be in re-entry camp for the next three days. we are just having different kinds of team meetings and discussing our summer. it is great to see the other groups too and hear about their summers. everyone got home safe and sound and there weren't any disasters! :) im very excited about returning to south carolina this sunday. oh and Happy Birthday daddy!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Its coming to an end...
today we finally got to visit one of the red light districts in mumbai. we were informed that mumbai has the largest amount of red light districts in Asia. all of our hearts were broken today. we first went a little store front which was a school for the children of the prostitutes. it is a ministry that Joyce Meyer, an american evangelist, sponsers and the church of the nazarene partners with. we were told that the children who are admitted can spend the night there and then go to school until noon, as well as eat lunch. the children are allowed to spend the night because the mothers are doing business in the homes and the children have no where to go to get away.
i was shocked and still dont quite understand how it all works. we walked down one of the streets (more like muddy alleys) and got to meet some of the women who the ministry is counseling and trying to get to leave the area. many are sold into the brothels, which are rooms no bigger than a typical dining room or den. there is a "mother" that owns the house and the women pay her and she provides food, shelter, and business. we were told that most of the time if the women try to leave they are caught and severly beaten. so many are trapped there. about 6 women live in each room and have a little cot the size of a couch. that is their area and where they do their business. i cant even imagine.... the pastor who was showing us around said the place is packed at night and that they are all doing business in the tiny room altogether. there were no curtains and no privacy in the rooms. one of the women took us to her cot and showed us around the room. we just stood there in astonishment.
we got to talk with and pray for the children who were in the school. they were wonderful and sang us songs they knew. then 6-7 of the women came in and we shared a short message of God's love and that we would be praying for them and their children. they were all very recpetive. pastor told us many of the women were starting to ask questions about leaving prostitution. after we prayed with them one lady decided she wanted to leave. we were so thrilled! please be praying for her, her name is Hacina. she has 2 children and is pregnant with a third...and she doesnt know who any of the fathers are.
the ministry also has a home where they take the women's children and let them live there. the child has an opporutnity to grow up in a healthy enviroment and go to school. the home has about 40 children and it also has a place for the women to stay if they decide to leave the brothels, this is where hacina will stay.i still cant fathom how a child just sits every night outside of its house while 6 women our doing business inside. it breaks my heart.
This is a heavy burden on my heart and i am praying for these women daily. God loves these people so much and my heart was breaking for them the whole time i was there. when asked to pray today, i stumbled over my words for a second not even knowing what to pray. i cant even comprehend living in and around these situations.
tomorrow we are going to visit the home that the children and women live in. it is an hours journey away so we are leaving very early. this is our last full day in india. we are excited to come home but very sad the leave our new family here in india.
i was shocked and still dont quite understand how it all works. we walked down one of the streets (more like muddy alleys) and got to meet some of the women who the ministry is counseling and trying to get to leave the area. many are sold into the brothels, which are rooms no bigger than a typical dining room or den. there is a "mother" that owns the house and the women pay her and she provides food, shelter, and business. we were told that most of the time if the women try to leave they are caught and severly beaten. so many are trapped there. about 6 women live in each room and have a little cot the size of a couch. that is their area and where they do their business. i cant even imagine.... the pastor who was showing us around said the place is packed at night and that they are all doing business in the tiny room altogether. there were no curtains and no privacy in the rooms. one of the women took us to her cot and showed us around the room. we just stood there in astonishment.
we got to talk with and pray for the children who were in the school. they were wonderful and sang us songs they knew. then 6-7 of the women came in and we shared a short message of God's love and that we would be praying for them and their children. they were all very recpetive. pastor told us many of the women were starting to ask questions about leaving prostitution. after we prayed with them one lady decided she wanted to leave. we were so thrilled! please be praying for her, her name is Hacina. she has 2 children and is pregnant with a third...and she doesnt know who any of the fathers are.
the ministry also has a home where they take the women's children and let them live there. the child has an opporutnity to grow up in a healthy enviroment and go to school. the home has about 40 children and it also has a place for the women to stay if they decide to leave the brothels, this is where hacina will stay.i still cant fathom how a child just sits every night outside of its house while 6 women our doing business inside. it breaks my heart.
This is a heavy burden on my heart and i am praying for these women daily. God loves these people so much and my heart was breaking for them the whole time i was there. when asked to pray today, i stumbled over my words for a second not even knowing what to pray. i cant even comprehend living in and around these situations.
tomorrow we are going to visit the home that the children and women live in. it is an hours journey away so we are leaving very early. this is our last full day in india. we are excited to come home but very sad the leave our new family here in india.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Back in Mumbai
we arrived back in mumbai today safe and sound from our 2 1/2 week visit to khopoli. it is great to be back, but saying goodbye to all the kids today was awful! there are 18 children and i know each of their names and most of their stories. all of them either have very abusive homes, no fathers and very poor mothers, or completely no parents at all. yet they are the most spirit filled and happiest children i have ever met. they were all asking us if we would forget them, when we were coming back, and if we would phone. it was so hard to leave. but we are glad to be back for one more week. we are visiting the slums tom. and friday. and next monday and tues. going to the red light districts. our schedule is packed from here until next wed. when we fly out.
tonight was a good night. we had a prayer meeting and got to see many friends we had not seen in a while. then auntie made us a wonderful meal!! BEEF! ha ha i miss beef. chicken is great and we eat it alot, but its not beef. haha yeah im definitely my daddy's girl. :)
tonight was a good night. we had a prayer meeting and got to see many friends we had not seen in a while. then auntie made us a wonderful meal!! BEEF! ha ha i miss beef. chicken is great and we eat it alot, but its not beef. haha yeah im definitely my daddy's girl. :)
Saturday, July 12, 2008
ok so this is the last week!
we were informed a few days ago that we will be leaving this wed. instead of last friday! it didnt matter to us, just more time with the kids! we celebrated katie's
21st birthday party last night! it was so mcuh fun. we had a huge cake and it was all eaten by the end of the night. it was a wonderful time and katie said this was the best birthday she has ever had.
tonight we are going to a catholic mass then going to eat in someone's house. they go to the church and graciously asked us over tonight. we are excited about returning to mumbai because while we are there we will get to visit the red light districts. we will also get to go in and pray with the women in their homes. we are trying to get everything in because we only have 10 days left in india!
21st birthday party last night! it was so mcuh fun. we had a huge cake and it was all eaten by the end of the night. it was a wonderful time and katie said this was the best birthday she has ever had.
tonight we are going to a catholic mass then going to eat in someone's house. they go to the church and graciously asked us over tonight. we are excited about returning to mumbai because while we are there we will get to visit the red light districts. we will also get to go in and pray with the women in their homes. we are trying to get everything in because we only have 10 days left in india!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
last week in khopoli
well we have done a lot of sightseeing the past couple of days. we visited 2300 year old buddhist caves, visited the city of Pune and went to the Pune Zoo, visited a cool waterfall with the children in the home, and also have been visiting and eating with different people in the church every evening. it has been alot of fun seeing india and enjoying the tourist things but i (and we the team) are getting frustrated because we had hoped to do more hands on ministry with the people. we have mainly been just visiting people in the church and being treated like kings and queens for the past week. it is really sweet and we appreciate everything but i want to serve them and really talk, minister, and create relationships with the nonchristians and the poor. we are leaving friday to go back to mumbai where will get to go back to the slums and visit the red light districts which we found out are huge.
on a brighter note we did get to visit a girls home and a school for the mentally handicapped. the girls in the girls home are the children of the prostitutes in the red light districts. when the children of these prostitutes are around 10 or 11 they themselves start into prostitution themselves. there is an organizatoin that sends ladies into the red light areas and visit the homes of the women. they pray with them, minister to them, and tell them about the home and if they would like to put there daughters in it. it gives them a chance to have a normal life with opportunity. its such a sad cylce these women are caught in. they sad most of the women are taken from the villages in the rural areas with promise of jobs and better life. then they are sold into brothel for 40,000 rupees a piece. the younger the girl the more money they get. it is disgusting. so these women who were sold into this as a child dont know any other life than prostitution. so while it is hard giving there girls up, they do it to get them out of the situation. it was great getting to meet and spend a day with the girls in the home. they were very sweet and welcoming.
india does not offer schooling or assistance to special needs children. mainly all mentally handicapped children stay at home their entire lives and never do anything. its so sad to hear the stories. the lady to runs this school goes to the nazarene church. she pays for everything out of her own money. she is now seeking some government help with paying the teaches the school employs. we went 2 days to the school and got to spend an hour or two meeting the children and observing the classrooms. the children were precious and it was inspiring to see her vision and love for the children.
i cant believe we only have 2 weeks before we leave india! it has gone so fast and we have experienced so much.
on a brighter note we did get to visit a girls home and a school for the mentally handicapped. the girls in the girls home are the children of the prostitutes in the red light districts. when the children of these prostitutes are around 10 or 11 they themselves start into prostitution themselves. there is an organizatoin that sends ladies into the red light areas and visit the homes of the women. they pray with them, minister to them, and tell them about the home and if they would like to put there daughters in it. it gives them a chance to have a normal life with opportunity. its such a sad cylce these women are caught in. they sad most of the women are taken from the villages in the rural areas with promise of jobs and better life. then they are sold into brothel for 40,000 rupees a piece. the younger the girl the more money they get. it is disgusting. so these women who were sold into this as a child dont know any other life than prostitution. so while it is hard giving there girls up, they do it to get them out of the situation. it was great getting to meet and spend a day with the girls in the home. they were very sweet and welcoming.
india does not offer schooling or assistance to special needs children. mainly all mentally handicapped children stay at home their entire lives and never do anything. its so sad to hear the stories. the lady to runs this school goes to the nazarene church. she pays for everything out of her own money. she is now seeking some government help with paying the teaches the school employs. we went 2 days to the school and got to spend an hour or two meeting the children and observing the classrooms. the children were precious and it was inspiring to see her vision and love for the children.
i cant believe we only have 2 weeks before we leave india! it has gone so fast and we have experienced so much.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
hello from khopoli!
hi everyone, sorry it has been a while. this is the first time i have been able to get to a computer since i have been in the village of khopoli. they have a small internet cafe but the electricity goes out whenever it feels like it so i hope i get through this message.:) things are going great! we are experiencing a whole new side of india. urban and rural india are totally different! i am definitely meant for the rural side of things. the air is clean with no smog, there are mountains all around us. everything is green and waterfalls can be seen right from the orphanage window. it is a beautiful place.
the children are the sweetest and we are having a great time being with them everyday. i write in an earlier blog about them, explaining how things work in the orphanage. we have been eating with them, playing games, and walking them to school everyday. the girls and boys go to separate schools so we take many trips back and forth. but we dont mind it is nice walking around the city and marketplace. the children are so well behaved. in church sunday they all sat on a mat on the ground. they sat quietly and sang the worship songs for an hour and a half.
sunday afternoon a man in the church came to pick us up and take us out to his chicken farm. it was so much fun! and we got to see amazing views of the country side. we got to walk along a river, take pictures, and waltch people plow rice fields with plows and oxes. then at the chicken farm he let us run around and catch the chickens with our hands. haha it was great and i got some funny pictures.
yesterday was the most unforgetable day. we didnt even know but we were told to be ready by 10:30 to leave. we ended up leaving at 1:30 (ha this is how things work, but its ok!). we went along with a few pastors and a group of koreans. 2 koreans for nazarene missionaries here in india and the third was doing a doucmentary on people groups in india. so we tagged along as they went up to take picutures and video of the villages and people. we travelled way up in the mountains then had to walk another mile to a village. the views were breathtaking. huge green mountains with field being planted right on the steep sides. i had never seen anything like this before in my life. maybe on the discovery chanel, but it was so surreal to actually be there. i have great pictures but i cant put them on right now because im using a rented computer. we went to two villages and there was a church in each village. the people has wonderful testimonies and stories. we were with 2 of the pastors who go and risk their lives to travel into these villages and tell the people about the gospel. it was an honor to be able to talk with these men.
we will be here for another week and a half being with the children at the orphanage and the people in the church. we are very excited because next week we are going to one of the villages out in the mountains and will be doing a program for the children the entire day. please pray for our safety and ministry as we venture back. i love all of you and am so grateful for all the people God has blessed my life with.
the children are the sweetest and we are having a great time being with them everyday. i write in an earlier blog about them, explaining how things work in the orphanage. we have been eating with them, playing games, and walking them to school everyday. the girls and boys go to separate schools so we take many trips back and forth. but we dont mind it is nice walking around the city and marketplace. the children are so well behaved. in church sunday they all sat on a mat on the ground. they sat quietly and sang the worship songs for an hour and a half.
sunday afternoon a man in the church came to pick us up and take us out to his chicken farm. it was so much fun! and we got to see amazing views of the country side. we got to walk along a river, take pictures, and waltch people plow rice fields with plows and oxes. then at the chicken farm he let us run around and catch the chickens with our hands. haha it was great and i got some funny pictures.
yesterday was the most unforgetable day. we didnt even know but we were told to be ready by 10:30 to leave. we ended up leaving at 1:30 (ha this is how things work, but its ok!). we went along with a few pastors and a group of koreans. 2 koreans for nazarene missionaries here in india and the third was doing a doucmentary on people groups in india. so we tagged along as they went up to take picutures and video of the villages and people. we travelled way up in the mountains then had to walk another mile to a village. the views were breathtaking. huge green mountains with field being planted right on the steep sides. i had never seen anything like this before in my life. maybe on the discovery chanel, but it was so surreal to actually be there. i have great pictures but i cant put them on right now because im using a rented computer. we went to two villages and there was a church in each village. the people has wonderful testimonies and stories. we were with 2 of the pastors who go and risk their lives to travel into these villages and tell the people about the gospel. it was an honor to be able to talk with these men.
we will be here for another week and a half being with the children at the orphanage and the people in the church. we are very excited because next week we are going to one of the villages out in the mountains and will be doing a program for the children the entire day. please pray for our safety and ministry as we venture back. i love all of you and am so grateful for all the people God has blessed my life with.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Its feeling more like home
the team and i are really starting to get used to everything here now. we are really enjoying ourselves and are comfortable with everything. we walk to the market, take rickshaws to the mall, ride the train to downtown, and go running on a track with ease. saturday we got to go to downtown mumbai by oursleves. we rode a 40 min. train to the main train station in downtown. it was a halarious experience! so first off we were all on the "mens" car becuase we didnt want to leave phil by himself so us girls were getting some looks. also there is no seat numbers, no one checking tickets, and no organization while loading or unloading. the train stops and it is like cattle boarding a cattle car. pushing and shoving all the way in, shoulder to shoudler. we were all trying to hold on to each other and just laughing. people just hang out the door of the car when it full. the only thing keeping them in the speeding train is there arm hanging onto a handle. it is pretty crazy! the day was wonderful just wondering around and riding taxis figuring our way out around the city. we mainly went to this huge street market and got some awesome india souveniers. we found some other places we would like to go so we are planning to go back another time too.
on sunday they asked us to lead the worship service for the english service. it was great! we sang a couple of english chouruses they new then we taught them some american praise and worship songs. but very easy ones because we sing accapello(haha i know i mispelled that! :)) and none of us a very good singers. then phil preached in both services again. we were also asked to sing a special in the marathi service. we decided to sing "Amazing love" and they liked it. we got many compliments...i think they were just being nice.
this week we are continuing at the school. we make our lesson plans every night before we pray and do devotions together. we just found out we will be leaving thurs. for the orphanage. we are very excited but know that conditions will be a little tougher. bathrooms, food, and access to western like stores will be different. we are going tomorrow to buy toilet paper. we found a place that sales it here and we are going to stock up! ha no one uses toilet paper here. there is a hose in every bathroom and i guess they use that. we are not talented enough to do that without getting soaked ourselves! :) so we are taking alot with us.
on sunday they asked us to lead the worship service for the english service. it was great! we sang a couple of english chouruses they new then we taught them some american praise and worship songs. but very easy ones because we sing accapello(haha i know i mispelled that! :)) and none of us a very good singers. then phil preached in both services again. we were also asked to sing a special in the marathi service. we decided to sing "Amazing love" and they liked it. we got many compliments...i think they were just being nice.
this week we are continuing at the school. we make our lesson plans every night before we pray and do devotions together. we just found out we will be leaving thurs. for the orphanage. we are very excited but know that conditions will be a little tougher. bathrooms, food, and access to western like stores will be different. we are going tomorrow to buy toilet paper. we found a place that sales it here and we are going to stock up! ha no one uses toilet paper here. there is a hose in every bathroom and i guess they use that. we are not talented enough to do that without getting soaked ourselves! :) so we are taking alot with us.
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