DAY FOUR - FIVE
Hyderabad and the Chandrajupalem House
Heather:
We had been running like mad the first few days of the trip. Often the Christmas In India trip opens a home and or we'll each day or so, but our homes were in clusters, several hours of driving away. It seemed silly to make that drive twice, so we crammed busy days in and then had rest days. The first day in Hyderabad was one such rest day. We went shopping because the women had to get Indian clothes. There is a dss code on the trip, for several reasons. One, to prevent an international incident (it may sound melodramatic, but for example, Indian culture finds exposing your ankles very inappropriate as a woman, something which wouldn't occur to us Americans). Two, to ensure modesty and to help us act as good representatives of Christianity. And three, to be soectful to the culture, to help make the people and children we were to be interacting with more comfortable. Like an ice breaker and a sign of our willingness to appreciate their culture at the same time. Anyway, so first stop: SHOPPING!
It was a fun and challenging experience, but the customer service was outstanding. They would jump through hoops to make sure you had everything you wanted, but they would also stop short of pressuring you to get something you didn't want, something that I find customer service people in America do sometimes. I had a bit of a hard time in one of the stores as the sizes were divided into sections, like in the US, but more, and of course I couldn't read the labels. It was organized into essentially Teens, Women, Petites, and Curvy (for lack of a better word) and I couldn't find my section. Thankfully one of the helpers saw my plight and was extremely helpful. At another store when I figur out my size by trying on a few things, the staff pulled one of each style they had in that size for me to choose from. I found my favorite design because of that! Despite the fact that I loved the bright colors and got garments in red, yellow, and cream edged with bright pink, my favorites were the two from that store, a white black and silver outfit with bold monochromatic patterns, and a pale yellow, mint, and cadet blue outfit. Though they were muted, they were gorgeous. The other girls picked out some amazing stuff. While I had picked out my clothes to blend in as much as possible in India they had chosen clothes they would still use at home, they had unique blends of western and Indian culture which I found wonderful. Simple colors on Indian designs and Indian colors and patterns on slightly more western designs. In short, we had a blast. I also had a chance to pick up a book I had been eyeing by an Indian author, the equivalent of a US medieval novel but about Indian medieval era culture translated into English. It was super fun.
Mackenzie:
The mall experience was far from relaxing for me. Despite Heather’s attempts at comfort, I still felt like it wasn’t safe. I don’t think this was an unreasonable feeling either. Upon entry, they have a similar security check to the one at the airport. The power kept going on and off too, which turns out is just because the power there is not reliable. There was also a guard standing at the entrance of every single store and restaurant, some with assault rifles, but most with handguns. You must also store your hand bag with the nearby bag check before entering every store. I was able to get past this long enough to purchase a pair of gym shorts and a sweatshirt, but I was glad when we left for the hotel. I was nervous and scared, to the point where I refused to try to enjoy the experience for a couple of days. Being in a foreign country was starting to hit me and with all the security measures, I didn’t feel like I could be sure just how safe we were.
But that’s why we were there. We were to provide a safe haven for children who need it. Still though, I was nervous and no amount of comfort was enough to keep me from reminding myself that I didn’t know where I was, that I didn’t understand India, and how far away from home I really was. Not yet anyway.
Heather:
I now had enough clothing to remain respectful to Indian culture throughout the trip. We even ate at Chili's that night, which was fun and interesting. I also had a massage that day. I felt somewhat guilty using the amenities of the hotel when I was supposed to be helping the impoverished, but I have severe fibromyalgia, and the pain of all the travel was beginning to interfere with my ability to function. Mac was in extreme neck pain from an injury sustained on the bumpy roads and he got a neck massage, so I didn't feel too guilty. I realized that being in good physical condition was required. This consoled me. I realized that if I was being honest with myself, I truly was doing it to help my pain and not for selfish reasons. At the same time it was an incredible reminder of how truly blessed we all are. I can't imagine being a chronic pain patient without access to the medical care I have been blessed with, and I took the opportunity to thank God for that with which he has blessed my family.
We went to bed shortly after arriving at the Hotel from dinner, as we had an early morning - a 5:00 A.M. departure (YIKES!) as we had a long day.
When we woke the morning of the next day, somewhat groggy but not too bad since we had gone to bed early, I found out that the house I was dedicating was today! (DOUBLE YIKES!). I had to run back up to the hotel room for the gifts my family had sent with me for the children, and my notes on what I was going to say, which I intended to polish on the drive. We would be opening two houses today, the house dedicated by one of the team members Melissa on behalf of her church, and Chandrajupalem house, a 30 girl house, which I would be dedicating on behalf of my family.
Chandrajupalem house was first, and I was to dedicate it to the memory of Pastor Patricia Skinner, my pastor from childhood, who was passionate about raising up children in the faith. I could think of no better way of honoring her memory than by raising up other children in the faith.
Mackenzie:
The Indian country side looks somewhat like the American country side in that there are crops everywhere and raggedy looking farm equipment along with it. The poverty in these areas, however, is noticeable, as there is much trash lining the roads and there are more primitive...simple....homes and many of them do not have doors or other things one would normally find on a house here in America, like window glass, or even permanent walls. Animals of all kinds roam freely. Apart from the dogs, the other animals that were roaming the streets seemed to have owners, but that didn’t keep them from roaming freely, or seemingly freely. A couple hours into the trip, I’m doing homework after having awakened from a nap. I stare at my Spanish homework shutting out everything around. I began to get a headache so I look up for a second. In the distance covered partly by a layer of clouds is gigantic mountain. Just one though. A random, single, gigantic mountain in the center of what seemed to be the middle of nowhere.
Heather:
When we arrived the girls were singing hymns and Christian songs, complete with hand motions, just like we do here in the US. I watched enough times that I could start doing the hand motions with them. They got really excited when I started doing the motions. It was beautiful. They seemed so joyful and excited!
I brought balloons and a pump, and started making balloon animals for the girls while the camera crew set up and the team put together the bags of school supplies for the kids. There was a camera crew traveling with us. Tommy, our videographer was an amazing traveling companion; really fun and strong in his faith. We (Mac and I, as well as it seemed, Jessica another Christ-filled young woman on the trip) were concerned early in the trip with the focus being placed on filming the events; that is, until I realized that this was they way more people from the US could get information on this, the videos were about spreading the news and helping the kids. without those photos and videos there would be no way to share the faith of these amazing children and the way people are able to change their lives, even from far away in the US.
I was starting to get really nervous, so I asked some of the team to come pray for me. Then I got up and began to speak. I don't have the text of what I said with me right now, but when I find it I'll post it for you guys. I spoke about how Christ had a plan for all of the children, and how He was't just going to do good things for them and to them, but with them and through them. That these kids were going to be a part of a groundswell in India, that the children were going to get a chance at a different kind of life, and that God would use them because of their faith.
Mackenzie:
I was asked to help fill backpacks but some of the supplies we needed were left in the car. I made my way to the car and when I came back, Heather had not only started her speech but was finished. To say that I was a little sad is a huge understatement as this was something that I had been looking forward to since before we left for India. Admittedly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the dedication but hearing someone I admire as much as her deliver a message of hope to orphans in a country that had been through so much was important to me.
Heather:
I noticed that Mac was not with me (although I did not know until later that he was disappointed), and I called him over to help me with cutting the ribbon on the door. When we cut the ribbon, the children all ran helter-skelter into the room and plopped down onto their beds. We had put new pillows and brightly colored pillowcases on their bed, with their brightly colored blankets, and they began snuggling with their blankets. The female members of the team and I were all wearing brightly colored flower clips (which I had brought with me), and we began to pass out the gifts for the girls, which were headbands with the same kind of flower on them. Mac, Jessica, Melissa, and I each took a box of the headbands and began to hand them out.
Many of the girls put them on their head like those old doctor's headbands, with the flower in the center of the front of their heads. One of the girls just couldn't get hers on, so she asked me to help. When I put it on properly, every single girl in the house removed her headband and patiently waited for me to come around and help them put it on. I cried, it was the sweetest thing. They called me Auntie Heather and thanked me for the balloons and the headbands.
Then the little girls shared cake to celebrate the "birthday" of their new home and their new lives. Then I made as many ballon animals as I could before I had to leave. The kids loved them so much that I left the balloon inflater and balloons with the house mother and a little balloon animal book.
At the end, we prayed over the house, and had to leave. It was heartbreaking for me to leave the girls, I had fallen in love, even over so short a time.
We stopped again shortly and I saw a sign "Welcoming Heather LaPeer and Team". As this was the sign near the house I had been expected to dedicate, I had a sinking feeling I was about to get a stressful surprise.
Gabe, our team leader came up to me, "You're dedicating this too right?" he asked. Apparently I was also responsible for dedicating a well. I said "Give me three minutes," and closed my eyes to pray as they set everything up. I found a verse using the concordance on my borrowed Bible, and I knew what to say.
I spoke about how Jesus was a fount of living water, the kind of water that if we drank it we would never thirst again, and how we were called to be pure, like the pure water of Christ. I asked them to use this well as a reminder of the eternal water, that refreshed the soul, and to continue to seek the purity to which Christ calls us.
Then I was supposed to pump the well a few times to pour out the water, and fill their water canisters. I pumped the water, and when I was done, I turned to smile at the villagers. They started laughing. The silver paint on the well was not yet dry, and I had a silver paint smudge on my face, and my hands were covered in silver paint. A kind villager offered me their handkerchief, and we dampened it in the well so I could get the paint off, all the while all of us laughing.
As we had to leave, the villagers all lined up along the roadway, waving and calling out "Praise the Lord!"
We were on the way to visit Pastor Paul's grandmother, who had just had her 99th birthday. We had planned to stop in the village and meet his sister and her husband, and some of his family as well as his grandmother.
On the way to the house, the brakes on our car went out. We were going maybe 35 or 40 miles per hour, and our driver (who I am going to call Daniel, and his car the Danmobile) saved our lives, he threw the car into neutral, swerved around the car in front of us (which had stopped dead, which was why we needed the brakes) and then threw the car in park on the side of the road. It was incredibly impressive. We waited for Pastor Paul's car, and then limped our car to his family's village.
Mackenzie:
Luckily we were just around the corner from the village to which we were going. But we stopped in the village where we met up with the grandma of the leader of Angel House Ministries in India (Pastor Paul). She had just celebrated her 99th birthday.
It was quite the experience meeting with her and one of the group members took meeting her to an unnecessary extreme, which was kind of funny. Yet, since the woman couldn’t understand English, I wonder how confused she was at this particular member's affection. I also wonder how many times she said, “get off me you weirdo!”.in Hindi, as the member of our team was giving her an excessive number of hugs. Pastor Paul's grandmother complemented Heather, calling her beautiful, and asked Heather how her granddaughter was doing. Pastor Paul explained that his grandmother rarely left her village, and so saw the world as pretty small. Because of this she thought everyone in America knew each other, just like everyone in her village knew each other, and so she asked every American she met how her daughter was doing. Heather had Pastor Paul translate, and said that she was sure that God was looking out for her grandaughter.
Since our car was broken down, and the group was expected at the next dedication at a specific time, the rest of the group took their car and left us in this village to wait for the new vehicle to arrive. Melissa needed to be at the other house in time to set up and practice. So Heather, Phil, and I remained, while Daniel worked on fixing the car.
So we roamed a village about 5 hours outside Hyderabad. All of the children fought for our attention at once. It was flattering to be held in such high regard of these kids who have never seen someone who looked like me.
White skin, bright blue eyes, shiny blonde hair, humble personality. Right. Heather and I were celebrities among these kids. Each individual child introduced themselves to Heather and I, always extending their hands to shake mine and responding politely. These kids were better at social interaction than many adults here in the states.
While in the village, I kept noticing the various designs of homes, small enough to be called huts, and a few larger huts that more closely resembled mobile homes. The most interesting aspect of all the poverty was how the children responded to it. It hit me that kids did not know how hard they had it because that’s all they'd ever known.
Being born and raised in America is nothing of which to be ashamed. What is shameful is ignoring those who are dying due to poverty. Is that everyone in a third world country? Certainly not, but it is some(maybe even many), and it doesn't hurt to make their lives a little easier and maybe healthier.
Heather and I (actually mostly Heather) asked Pastor Paul's sister for a tour, and were led to the small church inside the village by Pastor Paul's sister and some of the children. In this church were huge banners with Bible verses. The children were quick to follow us into the church. They didn't exactly want anything from us, but rather it looked like they just wanted a closer look at us. I pulled out a coin and began teaching them “head or tails”. I told one kid to call it, and when the coin landed it showed that he made the right call. The look on his face would make someone think this kid just won the National Championship. It was heartwarming to see these kids get more than just excited at the simplest things.
Heather was playing with the little girls, and they helped her do her hair like theirs. The girls wore their hair in two long braids looped back up to where they started with hair clips. Heather used her flower hair clip to hold up the one side, and they found her a real flower to hold up the other side, so that it matched. It was adorable.
Then the girls asked Heather to pray for them. The way they asked was they took her hand, and placed it on their heads. Heather prayed for them as a group, tears in her eyes. Later she confided in me that she didn't really feel worthy of the honor, that being a prayer warrior was not her spiritual gift. But God hears all our prayers, gift or not, and that is amazing.
We stepped outside for a moment. We were met on the patio by a man of maybe forty-five, and his baby girl. The sight of this baby was heart-breaking. She had a skin disease over her entire body. Parts of her body were shriveled up like a dried orange. Her eyes weren't able to open all the way and her arms looked like they were covered in bark rather than skin. She looked like a burn victim. Some fingers were stuck together, and when this baby cried it was hard not to imagine her calling for help in the middle of a house fire. What’s even harder to imagine is that this was not caused by a fire. She was born with this, she will live her life with this, and she will die just like this. At the sight of Heather, the baby stopped crying. She stared at Heather, scanning her face trying to figure Heather out. Finally she realized that Heather was friendly and with what looked like little effort despite the shriveled up skin lining her mouth, the baby smiled. Heather, Phil, and I prayed over the little girland Heather and I were ultimately were asked to pray over several more people before we left,
Neither Heather, I nor Phil wanted to leave this village. It was perhaps the most fun I had on the entire trip. Ultimately, however, another car arrived ready to take us to the last house of the day. Dan, Heather, and I mourned the loss of the Danmobile.
Heather gave a few last hugs and I shook a few last hands, and then we were on our way out. As we drove away from the village, the children ran after us. Once we reached the main road though, they stopped and with every one of them beaming, they waved goodbye.
Heather:
We were on the road again. We made remarkable time to the house, but still arrived after the dedication was complete (albeit before all the photographs). We walked into a house, with all the kids already on their beds, grinning their faces off.
Understand, we were there to dedicate houses which had been opened within that year. Which means that some of the kids had been in their houses nearly 8 months, while others had just arrived. In this last house, children had just arrived. And it became clear to us all for the first time how much of a difference these homes could make for children.
The kids in this house were filching extras of all the things that we gave them, they hid their things under their bed, they were afraid all the good things they had been given would be taken away. That fear was simply not present in the older houses. I pray every day that those kids will come to know the peace the other kids had, the knowledge that good things are not automatically taken away.
But at the same time, I am so glad I had the chance to go to this house, the chance to see both ends of the spectrum, where the kids start and the hope we can help them reach through Christ. I take comfort in the near-certainty that the children at that house will have the same confidence and hope of the kids in the other homes we had dedicated by the same time next year.
Mackenzie:
While we were there, more of the local older kids came and introduced themselves to Heather and I. One of the older teen aged girls asked me for a picture with just me. I couldn’t help but go a little red and look at Heather with a “are you ok with this?” sort of look. She didn't seem to mind, she had gotten a picture with the girl as well, and a picture alone with one of the young men. The two young men seemed to be related to the house parents, and the young woman I believe was related to the local pastor somehow. Once again we were celebrities. We didn't mind tough, because it was a great ice breaker to talk to the older village kids about what their lives were like a little.
After a few pictures we began handing school supplies to the children. They were excited to receive their own school books and various clothing items as well as back packs and pencils. We handed out shoes as well. At this house, however, the kids begged for more stuff, wanted different shoes, wanted to trade, wanted more toys, more pencils. They were sweet, but I couldn't help but feel sad they had been so deprived. Thankfully that wouldn't be for much longer.
I was introduced to a few of the adults of the village who were all more than friendly. Though I couldn’t understand most of what they were saying, they were always smiling, which (unless you’re a monkey) is always a good thing. As an added bonus, many of the kids and a couple of the villages we went to learned one phrase in English, “praise the Lord.”
Hyderabad and the Chandrajupalem House
Heather:
We had been running like mad the first few days of the trip. Often the Christmas In India trip opens a home and or we'll each day or so, but our homes were in clusters, several hours of driving away. It seemed silly to make that drive twice, so we crammed busy days in and then had rest days. The first day in Hyderabad was one such rest day. We went shopping because the women had to get Indian clothes. There is a dss code on the trip, for several reasons. One, to prevent an international incident (it may sound melodramatic, but for example, Indian culture finds exposing your ankles very inappropriate as a woman, something which wouldn't occur to us Americans). Two, to ensure modesty and to help us act as good representatives of Christianity. And three, to be soectful to the culture, to help make the people and children we were to be interacting with more comfortable. Like an ice breaker and a sign of our willingness to appreciate their culture at the same time. Anyway, so first stop: SHOPPING!
It was a fun and challenging experience, but the customer service was outstanding. They would jump through hoops to make sure you had everything you wanted, but they would also stop short of pressuring you to get something you didn't want, something that I find customer service people in America do sometimes. I had a bit of a hard time in one of the stores as the sizes were divided into sections, like in the US, but more, and of course I couldn't read the labels. It was organized into essentially Teens, Women, Petites, and Curvy (for lack of a better word) and I couldn't find my section. Thankfully one of the helpers saw my plight and was extremely helpful. At another store when I figur out my size by trying on a few things, the staff pulled one of each style they had in that size for me to choose from. I found my favorite design because of that! Despite the fact that I loved the bright colors and got garments in red, yellow, and cream edged with bright pink, my favorites were the two from that store, a white black and silver outfit with bold monochromatic patterns, and a pale yellow, mint, and cadet blue outfit. Though they were muted, they were gorgeous. The other girls picked out some amazing stuff. While I had picked out my clothes to blend in as much as possible in India they had chosen clothes they would still use at home, they had unique blends of western and Indian culture which I found wonderful. Simple colors on Indian designs and Indian colors and patterns on slightly more western designs. In short, we had a blast. I also had a chance to pick up a book I had been eyeing by an Indian author, the equivalent of a US medieval novel but about Indian medieval era culture translated into English. It was super fun.
Mackenzie:
The mall experience was far from relaxing for me. Despite Heather’s attempts at comfort, I still felt like it wasn’t safe. I don’t think this was an unreasonable feeling either. Upon entry, they have a similar security check to the one at the airport. The power kept going on and off too, which turns out is just because the power there is not reliable. There was also a guard standing at the entrance of every single store and restaurant, some with assault rifles, but most with handguns. You must also store your hand bag with the nearby bag check before entering every store. I was able to get past this long enough to purchase a pair of gym shorts and a sweatshirt, but I was glad when we left for the hotel. I was nervous and scared, to the point where I refused to try to enjoy the experience for a couple of days. Being in a foreign country was starting to hit me and with all the security measures, I didn’t feel like I could be sure just how safe we were.
But that’s why we were there. We were to provide a safe haven for children who need it. Still though, I was nervous and no amount of comfort was enough to keep me from reminding myself that I didn’t know where I was, that I didn’t understand India, and how far away from home I really was. Not yet anyway.
Heather:
I now had enough clothing to remain respectful to Indian culture throughout the trip. We even ate at Chili's that night, which was fun and interesting. I also had a massage that day. I felt somewhat guilty using the amenities of the hotel when I was supposed to be helping the impoverished, but I have severe fibromyalgia, and the pain of all the travel was beginning to interfere with my ability to function. Mac was in extreme neck pain from an injury sustained on the bumpy roads and he got a neck massage, so I didn't feel too guilty. I realized that being in good physical condition was required. This consoled me. I realized that if I was being honest with myself, I truly was doing it to help my pain and not for selfish reasons. At the same time it was an incredible reminder of how truly blessed we all are. I can't imagine being a chronic pain patient without access to the medical care I have been blessed with, and I took the opportunity to thank God for that with which he has blessed my family.
We went to bed shortly after arriving at the Hotel from dinner, as we had an early morning - a 5:00 A.M. departure (YIKES!) as we had a long day.
When we woke the morning of the next day, somewhat groggy but not too bad since we had gone to bed early, I found out that the house I was dedicating was today! (DOUBLE YIKES!). I had to run back up to the hotel room for the gifts my family had sent with me for the children, and my notes on what I was going to say, which I intended to polish on the drive. We would be opening two houses today, the house dedicated by one of the team members Melissa on behalf of her church, and Chandrajupalem house, a 30 girl house, which I would be dedicating on behalf of my family.
Chandrajupalem house was first, and I was to dedicate it to the memory of Pastor Patricia Skinner, my pastor from childhood, who was passionate about raising up children in the faith. I could think of no better way of honoring her memory than by raising up other children in the faith.
Mackenzie:
The Indian country side looks somewhat like the American country side in that there are crops everywhere and raggedy looking farm equipment along with it. The poverty in these areas, however, is noticeable, as there is much trash lining the roads and there are more primitive...simple....homes and many of them do not have doors or other things one would normally find on a house here in America, like window glass, or even permanent walls. Animals of all kinds roam freely. Apart from the dogs, the other animals that were roaming the streets seemed to have owners, but that didn’t keep them from roaming freely, or seemingly freely. A couple hours into the trip, I’m doing homework after having awakened from a nap. I stare at my Spanish homework shutting out everything around. I began to get a headache so I look up for a second. In the distance covered partly by a layer of clouds is gigantic mountain. Just one though. A random, single, gigantic mountain in the center of what seemed to be the middle of nowhere.
Heather:
When we arrived the girls were singing hymns and Christian songs, complete with hand motions, just like we do here in the US. I watched enough times that I could start doing the hand motions with them. They got really excited when I started doing the motions. It was beautiful. They seemed so joyful and excited!
I brought balloons and a pump, and started making balloon animals for the girls while the camera crew set up and the team put together the bags of school supplies for the kids. There was a camera crew traveling with us. Tommy, our videographer was an amazing traveling companion; really fun and strong in his faith. We (Mac and I, as well as it seemed, Jessica another Christ-filled young woman on the trip) were concerned early in the trip with the focus being placed on filming the events; that is, until I realized that this was they way more people from the US could get information on this, the videos were about spreading the news and helping the kids. without those photos and videos there would be no way to share the faith of these amazing children and the way people are able to change their lives, even from far away in the US.
I was starting to get really nervous, so I asked some of the team to come pray for me. Then I got up and began to speak. I don't have the text of what I said with me right now, but when I find it I'll post it for you guys. I spoke about how Christ had a plan for all of the children, and how He was't just going to do good things for them and to them, but with them and through them. That these kids were going to be a part of a groundswell in India, that the children were going to get a chance at a different kind of life, and that God would use them because of their faith.
Mackenzie:
I was asked to help fill backpacks but some of the supplies we needed were left in the car. I made my way to the car and when I came back, Heather had not only started her speech but was finished. To say that I was a little sad is a huge understatement as this was something that I had been looking forward to since before we left for India. Admittedly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the dedication but hearing someone I admire as much as her deliver a message of hope to orphans in a country that had been through so much was important to me.
Heather:
I noticed that Mac was not with me (although I did not know until later that he was disappointed), and I called him over to help me with cutting the ribbon on the door. When we cut the ribbon, the children all ran helter-skelter into the room and plopped down onto their beds. We had put new pillows and brightly colored pillowcases on their bed, with their brightly colored blankets, and they began snuggling with their blankets. The female members of the team and I were all wearing brightly colored flower clips (which I had brought with me), and we began to pass out the gifts for the girls, which were headbands with the same kind of flower on them. Mac, Jessica, Melissa, and I each took a box of the headbands and began to hand them out.
Many of the girls put them on their head like those old doctor's headbands, with the flower in the center of the front of their heads. One of the girls just couldn't get hers on, so she asked me to help. When I put it on properly, every single girl in the house removed her headband and patiently waited for me to come around and help them put it on. I cried, it was the sweetest thing. They called me Auntie Heather and thanked me for the balloons and the headbands.
Then the little girls shared cake to celebrate the "birthday" of their new home and their new lives. Then I made as many ballon animals as I could before I had to leave. The kids loved them so much that I left the balloon inflater and balloons with the house mother and a little balloon animal book.
At the end, we prayed over the house, and had to leave. It was heartbreaking for me to leave the girls, I had fallen in love, even over so short a time.
We stopped again shortly and I saw a sign "Welcoming Heather LaPeer and Team". As this was the sign near the house I had been expected to dedicate, I had a sinking feeling I was about to get a stressful surprise.
Gabe, our team leader came up to me, "You're dedicating this too right?" he asked. Apparently I was also responsible for dedicating a well. I said "Give me three minutes," and closed my eyes to pray as they set everything up. I found a verse using the concordance on my borrowed Bible, and I knew what to say.
I spoke about how Jesus was a fount of living water, the kind of water that if we drank it we would never thirst again, and how we were called to be pure, like the pure water of Christ. I asked them to use this well as a reminder of the eternal water, that refreshed the soul, and to continue to seek the purity to which Christ calls us.
Then I was supposed to pump the well a few times to pour out the water, and fill their water canisters. I pumped the water, and when I was done, I turned to smile at the villagers. They started laughing. The silver paint on the well was not yet dry, and I had a silver paint smudge on my face, and my hands were covered in silver paint. A kind villager offered me their handkerchief, and we dampened it in the well so I could get the paint off, all the while all of us laughing.
As we had to leave, the villagers all lined up along the roadway, waving and calling out "Praise the Lord!"
We were on the way to visit Pastor Paul's grandmother, who had just had her 99th birthday. We had planned to stop in the village and meet his sister and her husband, and some of his family as well as his grandmother.
On the way to the house, the brakes on our car went out. We were going maybe 35 or 40 miles per hour, and our driver (who I am going to call Daniel, and his car the Danmobile) saved our lives, he threw the car into neutral, swerved around the car in front of us (which had stopped dead, which was why we needed the brakes) and then threw the car in park on the side of the road. It was incredibly impressive. We waited for Pastor Paul's car, and then limped our car to his family's village.
Mackenzie:
Luckily we were just around the corner from the village to which we were going. But we stopped in the village where we met up with the grandma of the leader of Angel House Ministries in India (Pastor Paul). She had just celebrated her 99th birthday.
It was quite the experience meeting with her and one of the group members took meeting her to an unnecessary extreme, which was kind of funny. Yet, since the woman couldn’t understand English, I wonder how confused she was at this particular member's affection. I also wonder how many times she said, “get off me you weirdo!”.in Hindi, as the member of our team was giving her an excessive number of hugs. Pastor Paul's grandmother complemented Heather, calling her beautiful, and asked Heather how her granddaughter was doing. Pastor Paul explained that his grandmother rarely left her village, and so saw the world as pretty small. Because of this she thought everyone in America knew each other, just like everyone in her village knew each other, and so she asked every American she met how her daughter was doing. Heather had Pastor Paul translate, and said that she was sure that God was looking out for her grandaughter.
Since our car was broken down, and the group was expected at the next dedication at a specific time, the rest of the group took their car and left us in this village to wait for the new vehicle to arrive. Melissa needed to be at the other house in time to set up and practice. So Heather, Phil, and I remained, while Daniel worked on fixing the car.
So we roamed a village about 5 hours outside Hyderabad. All of the children fought for our attention at once. It was flattering to be held in such high regard of these kids who have never seen someone who looked like me.
White skin, bright blue eyes, shiny blonde hair, humble personality. Right. Heather and I were celebrities among these kids. Each individual child introduced themselves to Heather and I, always extending their hands to shake mine and responding politely. These kids were better at social interaction than many adults here in the states.
While in the village, I kept noticing the various designs of homes, small enough to be called huts, and a few larger huts that more closely resembled mobile homes. The most interesting aspect of all the poverty was how the children responded to it. It hit me that kids did not know how hard they had it because that’s all they'd ever known.
Being born and raised in America is nothing of which to be ashamed. What is shameful is ignoring those who are dying due to poverty. Is that everyone in a third world country? Certainly not, but it is some(maybe even many), and it doesn't hurt to make their lives a little easier and maybe healthier.
Heather and I (actually mostly Heather) asked Pastor Paul's sister for a tour, and were led to the small church inside the village by Pastor Paul's sister and some of the children. In this church were huge banners with Bible verses. The children were quick to follow us into the church. They didn't exactly want anything from us, but rather it looked like they just wanted a closer look at us. I pulled out a coin and began teaching them “head or tails”. I told one kid to call it, and when the coin landed it showed that he made the right call. The look on his face would make someone think this kid just won the National Championship. It was heartwarming to see these kids get more than just excited at the simplest things.
Heather was playing with the little girls, and they helped her do her hair like theirs. The girls wore their hair in two long braids looped back up to where they started with hair clips. Heather used her flower hair clip to hold up the one side, and they found her a real flower to hold up the other side, so that it matched. It was adorable.
Then the girls asked Heather to pray for them. The way they asked was they took her hand, and placed it on their heads. Heather prayed for them as a group, tears in her eyes. Later she confided in me that she didn't really feel worthy of the honor, that being a prayer warrior was not her spiritual gift. But God hears all our prayers, gift or not, and that is amazing.
We stepped outside for a moment. We were met on the patio by a man of maybe forty-five, and his baby girl. The sight of this baby was heart-breaking. She had a skin disease over her entire body. Parts of her body were shriveled up like a dried orange. Her eyes weren't able to open all the way and her arms looked like they were covered in bark rather than skin. She looked like a burn victim. Some fingers were stuck together, and when this baby cried it was hard not to imagine her calling for help in the middle of a house fire. What’s even harder to imagine is that this was not caused by a fire. She was born with this, she will live her life with this, and she will die just like this. At the sight of Heather, the baby stopped crying. She stared at Heather, scanning her face trying to figure Heather out. Finally she realized that Heather was friendly and with what looked like little effort despite the shriveled up skin lining her mouth, the baby smiled. Heather, Phil, and I prayed over the little girland Heather and I were ultimately were asked to pray over several more people before we left,
Neither Heather, I nor Phil wanted to leave this village. It was perhaps the most fun I had on the entire trip. Ultimately, however, another car arrived ready to take us to the last house of the day. Dan, Heather, and I mourned the loss of the Danmobile.
Heather gave a few last hugs and I shook a few last hands, and then we were on our way out. As we drove away from the village, the children ran after us. Once we reached the main road though, they stopped and with every one of them beaming, they waved goodbye.
Heather:
We were on the road again. We made remarkable time to the house, but still arrived after the dedication was complete (albeit before all the photographs). We walked into a house, with all the kids already on their beds, grinning their faces off.
Understand, we were there to dedicate houses which had been opened within that year. Which means that some of the kids had been in their houses nearly 8 months, while others had just arrived. In this last house, children had just arrived. And it became clear to us all for the first time how much of a difference these homes could make for children.
The kids in this house were filching extras of all the things that we gave them, they hid their things under their bed, they were afraid all the good things they had been given would be taken away. That fear was simply not present in the older houses. I pray every day that those kids will come to know the peace the other kids had, the knowledge that good things are not automatically taken away.
But at the same time, I am so glad I had the chance to go to this house, the chance to see both ends of the spectrum, where the kids start and the hope we can help them reach through Christ. I take comfort in the near-certainty that the children at that house will have the same confidence and hope of the kids in the other homes we had dedicated by the same time next year.
Mackenzie:
While we were there, more of the local older kids came and introduced themselves to Heather and I. One of the older teen aged girls asked me for a picture with just me. I couldn’t help but go a little red and look at Heather with a “are you ok with this?” sort of look. She didn't seem to mind, she had gotten a picture with the girl as well, and a picture alone with one of the young men. The two young men seemed to be related to the house parents, and the young woman I believe was related to the local pastor somehow. Once again we were celebrities. We didn't mind tough, because it was a great ice breaker to talk to the older village kids about what their lives were like a little.
After a few pictures we began handing school supplies to the children. They were excited to receive their own school books and various clothing items as well as back packs and pencils. We handed out shoes as well. At this house, however, the kids begged for more stuff, wanted different shoes, wanted to trade, wanted more toys, more pencils. They were sweet, but I couldn't help but feel sad they had been so deprived. Thankfully that wouldn't be for much longer.
I was introduced to a few of the adults of the village who were all more than friendly. Though I couldn’t understand most of what they were saying, they were always smiling, which (unless you’re a monkey) is always a good thing. As an added bonus, many of the kids and a couple of the villages we went to learned one phrase in English, “praise the Lord.”
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