Leaving India

It is our last evening here in India.  What an amazing, Spirit-filled time we have had!  The pictures Kristin posted speak volumes!

One question we asked all along the way was "Where have you seen Jesus?" and a related question, "Where have you been Jesus?"  We have been able to answer the first question easily - we have seen Jesus in the faces of all of the children we have encountered!  They are so amazing!  So full of hope and love and light and life.  And so beautiful!  We have also certainly seen Jesus in their care-givers who provide food, shelter, clothing, education, socialization, and most importantly, love.  We have seen Jesus in the man, John, who drove us most of the time, and brought us safely through to all of our destinations - that is no small feat considering Indian roads and driving conditions!  We have seen Jesus in our guide, Paramadass, and his amazing faith, and sharing of the gospel.  Alternately, we have been  Jesus as we cared for the children we met, listening to their stories, blessed them, and offered prayers of support and thanksgiving for them!  We have been Jesus as we prayed for Paramadass and John.  We have been Jesus as we cared for one another as we traveled, and encountered minor illness (congestion and coughing).

One of the most powerful experiences of seeing Jesus was when we visited the daycare program in a town call Pumbari.  The children in the daycare program all have disabilities.  One boy  particularly touched us.  He was 12 years old, but because he couldn't use his malformed legs and feet, he looked more like he was 3 or 4 years old. His parents were ashamed of his disability, but after attending the daycare, and receiving training, care and support from the staff at Bethania through the daycare, his parents are no longer ashamed.  He is a bright and beautiful child, and believes in Jesus Christ.  This is no small thing, since only 35 of the nearly 10,000 people in Pumbari are Christian. The rest are Hindu. The 35 Christians are a result of the work of Bethania kids and the daycare program there.  It was amazing to see these children with disabilities and hear how their lives have been resurrected from shame and despair by Bethania Kids and their work.  We truly knew we were touching the wounds of Jesus as we heard the pain and sorrow of these kids' lives, but were also able to experience the power of Jesus' resurrection hearing of the transformation of their lives and situations.  We know how truly blessed we are to be part of such an incredible experience.

We are eager to return and share more with you, and bless you, like we have been blessed, by sharing more of this amazing ministry!

Peace and Many blessings!

Heidi

Our driver, John, was amazing. He drives like a crazy person, but he's crazy like a fox. He avoided the following without incident: a herd of sheep, a gazillion cows, old dudes, angry scooter/ motorcycle drivers, hunk of junk school buses, three wheeled thingies, a million partially paralyzed or too stupid to care to stay out of the road stray dogs, flicks of chickens, random stray children, and did I mention the lazy cows?????

 
We learned how to mush up our rice and eat it with our hands off a banana leaf. I'm sooooo native  


 
The Nagercoil girls drew us beautiful pics out of chalk.


 
 Gus and I enjoyed the sunset at the very tip of India, where the Indian Ocean, sea of Bengal, and the Arabian Sea all meet. It was gorgeous.


These girls are so smart and so kind. This has been a truly wonderful trip.


These are the older girls dancing for us!


 
Even in India, cats bring me presents!!  

More pics from Kristin's facebook page.

These are the orphaned girls at Shalom Home. They are soooo well behaved. Their teachers are nothing short of amazing.




Every child is so precious!!!


The open air market was really impressive. We did just a little shopping.



 




These young boys are orphans. They live at the Bethel Home. I love this pyramid!!!! They are great dancers as well.

Pictures from the Mission

The photos and captions below are taken from Kristin DeHaven's facebook page, with her kind permission.  Captions are below, if that's not clear.





This is the group at Dulles, before the eleven hour flight!



 
These boys were so excited to see us. They loved pointing to things and telling us it's English name.



 
 I showed them how to take a "selfie!" Oh, the life skills I have imparted... And then I taught them how to make the "I heart you," sign.



 
They have a flock of chickens and a lone duck.


 
They are very proud of their belongings. This water filter works only part if the time. I'm pretty sure that Bethel Lutheran Church can help fix that problem


 
 They have a very dedicated family that fixes their meals and takes care of the facility.



 
This is the Bethania School in Kannavidi. These beautiful children are orphans. Many have lived here for most of their life. Please keep this powerful mission in your prayers.


They sang songs, and were able to recite scriptures, the alphabet, and little ditties about manners and hygiene.


 

More beautiful faces.


 
This is the greeting we received from these beautiful children in Kodai kanal











   
This beautiful young lady is learning life skills at a day care center for children with disabilities in Kodaikannal. Even to this day, families will hide their children with Downs or CP out of shame. This group is doing amazing things! She is making shopping bags out of old newspapers. Other children made plates out if banana leaves. You really feel the love and purpose that these children need!

 
Gus is handing out gifts of pencils and paper to these children. I couldn't be more proud! He's done really well.


 
These young ladies prepared a dance for us. It was great to see them in their beautiful sarees.



 
This is a view from the porch of another Bethania site. This village is much smaller and follows a traditional lifestyle where the men play and talk while the women work.

     
 


 

We are continuing to be amazed by this country and its people.  We were in Chennai for only one night, but went to see the Mount where St. Thomas (doubting Thomas) was martyred.  A very holy place indeed.  We saw where his remains are buried there in the church, and took in the incredible view.  As a group we prayed in Centering prayer and aloud there on the Mount and read from John chapter 20 and the story of doubting Thomas.  The words Thomas spoke to Jesus after seeing him resurrected and after touching his wounds were "My Lord and my God!". These words are posted above the door of the church, outside on the wall of the church, on the side of the mount itself in stone.  What a powerful impact they made as I contemplated my own doubt and faith!  Truly a faith filled experience!

We visited the very first Bethania home in Kannavadi after leaving Chennai.  It is a home for both boys and girls and is led by a lovely woman, Priscilla Mohl.  Her grown children live and reside in Reston, Va and Sterling, Va and she visits frequently.  Next time she is stateside, I am hoping she can visit us at Bethel.

The children there were all so beautiful, inside and out.  They range in age from 3 to 18 with the majority of them being young teenagers.  They all introduced themselves to us (all 30 of them).  We introduced ourselves and brought greetings from Bethel.  We prayed with and for them, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing their rustic, but incredibly beautiful and love filled home!

The blessings of our journey continue to abound!  Please pray for our continued safe travel, and the strength and courage to share with others our faith, and our continued health.

Blessings to you!

Pastor Heidi

Our first visit to a Bethania's Kids home was to the Angel Home here in Rajahmundry. It is appropriately named because all 45 boys who live there are truly angels!

We arrived to a joyful and excited welcome by all the boys. They were so excited to share their lives with us. Each of us were surrounded by a group of the boys and led lovingly around their beautiful home. They don't have much materially, but they had so much to share with us! They showed us their beautiful rooms where they have their bunkbeds and colorful comforters - a different one on each bed. They shared the beauty of their garden repeatedly telling us the names od all the treesand plants they are growing proudly in English. They showed us their banana trees, their guava, and mango trees, their flowering bushes, their roses an marigolds. They even showered us with flower petals as we entered their multi-purpose room for the first time, and tore up more flowrer petals spontaneously later on to shower upon us. They led us up to the second floor rooftop to show us the beauty of the view of the rice fields that border the Angel home on two sides. They caught the domesticated chickens and baby chicks so we could pet them. They caught their pet duck around the neck, and let us pet him. They loved it when we took their picture and even got to use my and Kristin camera themselves a few times! They shared songs,and skits with us. They recited the 23 Psalm for us, deeply moving all of us. They re enacted 4 Bible stories with such creativity and joy that it delighted us all. They performed a Christian song for us by forming a band with 2 boys on the guitar, 2 boys on keyboards, one on drums, one on bongos, and two maraca type instruments. Simply amazing! We talked for awhile with Solomon the Director and founder of the home and learned more about his deep and abiding faith. They fed us a delicious meal, and the boys surrounded us again as we left giving each of us drawings they had just made and a poster to bring home to share with everyone at Bethel.

We reciprocated in small ways. Rex Ritchie led us all in singing "Jesus loves me this I know" as well as chants of "O-H-I-O" for the Ohio State buckeyes. We each had the honor of offering prayer and blessing for each one of the boys. We loved them as best we could, and we listened.

I shared greetings from everyone at Bethel, and let the boys know how they were being Jesus' presence to us that day.

We truly are blessed to be here in this place! Thank you for your co tines love, support and blessing!

Pastor Heidi