The Blind Will See

We can see the beauty of creation surrounding us. We can see our family members, our friends, delicious food, our pets, and, as long as their is light, anything that lies in front of us. I've hiked high mountains for the sole purpose of seeing the beautiful view from the top. Some of us travel to foreign countries just to see what it is like. I've even opened my eyes in a pool with high levels of chlorine for no other purpose than to see. Even now, around Christmas time we decorate our homes with a tree and beautiful ornaments so that we can look at it and appreciate it. Vision is a gift that many of us enjoy using every day.

Why is it, then, that when little Sahaya Regila was wandering through a pile of trash, those that saw her did nothing? You would think that seeing a little girl crying as she dug through garbage looking for food that someone would surely stop and ask if she was OK. That was not the case. All those people with the gift of sight walked right by her, choosing to pretend she was invisible. If they did not see her, then she would not be their responsibility.

Someone finally did see her. When this man saw little Sahaya, he did not see a helpless five year old girl sitting in a pile of trash. He did not see the dirt and grime that accumulated on her face. He didn't see how her clothes were torn and she had no shoes. He didn't even see how there were little bugs crawling on top of her, as if waiting for her to perish. This man, named Mr. Augustine, did not see any of these things when he noticed Sahaya. This is because Mr. Augustine had a gift that allowed him to see beyond any of that. Mr. Augustine was blind.

As soon as he heard the quiet sobs of a hopeless little girl, Mr. Augustine reached out his hand to feel for her face. His fingers grazed her face and a picture was painted in his mind of what this girl looked like. As his hand moved from her forehead to her chin, his heart filled with sadness and wonder because what was before him was the most beautiful sight which had gone unnoticed by the rest of the world. Right in front of him was a princess. A girl with every hope of being loved and cared for. A little girl that wanted nothing more than the strong arms of a father to lift her onto his knee, wipe away her tears and hold her close to his chest as he slowly rocked her back and forth. She wanted someone to tell her that everything was going to be alright, that she is a beautiful girl, and that she is loved. Mr. Augustine did just that.

The meaning of a name is very important for people in India. Every name has a meaning and each person carrying their name knows its meaning. The meaning of their name is just as much a part of their identity as the letters that compose it. Sahaya Regila's name means, "Symbol of Royalty." It could not be a more fitting name. Sahaya is one of God's most precious creations. As God chose to be born in a manger surrounded by animals, unpleasant smells, bugs and diseases, so also was Sahaya born. She was found among the garbage with the animals, stench and all sorts of disease. A "Symbol of Royalty." The type of royalty that God chose for Himself.

It is amazing how so many of us with the gift of sight choose to overlook so much beauty. The poor in our very midst go unnoticed. The lonely are left to be alone. The sick are not visited. The imprisoned are abandoned. The distressed remain unaided and the hungry remain unsatisfied. The very vessels of Christ who stand before us with their needs are passed right by, as we choose not to see them.

Sahaya was brought to our home in Nagercoil, India. Mr. Augustine frequently visits her and I am told that when he does the staff at our home are nearly moved to tears. They tell me that he traces the girl's face with his fingers and then takes her hand and tenderly gives it a loving kiss. His love for the girl is pure because since the beginning the blind man saw her for what she was. A beautiful creation made in the image and likeness of God who was in need of love.

As we enter this Christmas season, it is a good time to reflect on the things we see. What will you choose to see? After seeing, what will you choose to do?

James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress..."

Final Day

So I made it down to Nagercoil and am just finishing up my final full day here with the Bethania Centers in India. I leave tomorrow at 8pm. But, before I leave, we are going to watch the sunrise over The Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean all at the same time. I can honestly say that I never imagined I would see that in my life.

Today, Pastor Monikaraj took me and Godfrey to the area that was hit by the Tsunami in 2004. I'm not quite sure I have adjectives to describe the experience, but it was definitely eye-opening. Pastor Monikaraj went right to the area directly after the tsunami so as we were driving he was pointing to different areas and saying things like, "That's where they had to dig into the mud to find the bodies of 90 children and mothers." There were still visible areas that had been affected by the tsunami. Then we went out to the beach of the Arabian Sea and I saw the waves crashing onto the rocks and I think that's when I began to understand the magnitude of the damaging effects of the tsunami. The water was so powerful crashing onto the rocks and the shore. Also, houses, churches, and business buildings were pretty much directly on the beach. We then saw a few memorials where they had written down the names and ages of all those who perished due to the catastrophic event.

To say the least, it made me reflect on how delicate life is. All of those kids who were taken by the sea woke-up that morning not expecting anything unusual to happen. Many of them had families and homes that were in more than decent shape. In fact, that area is known for being a little more wealthy than many other areas in India. All of a sudden, their entire lives got turned around. Some of them never lived to see another day, some   walked away unharmed and still some of the children found a new home with Bethania. One of these children, Abraham, had his entire life turned around. His family owned 9 houses, they lived very comfortably and then, in a matter of minutes, he lost everything. All he owned was what he was wearing on his back. His family couldn't afford to take care of him so they had to send him away with Bethania.You know, its one thing to read about stories like this one. In fact, we see stories like this all the time on the television or in the newspaper, but it is an entire different thing to meet someone who went through it.

Abraham is known throughout the area of Kodaikanal as having amazing character. The entire time I was with him he had a smile on his face. He was constantly jumping up to give me coffee, or make sure I was comfortable. And if I tried to do the same for him, he wouldn't have any of it. There was a gathering at Abraham's school where they asked everyone to sign-up to be organ donors and none of the boys signed-up. Except Abraham. He stood up in front of the whole school and  he did the right thing. Talk about character.

These are the type of people Bethania is giving to the world. These are the good people that we want to see more of. They come from very sad backgrounds, yet they give so much back to the world. And they do it with so much joy. They are so filled with the love of Christ that it is overwhelming. I'm going to miss these kids.

Well, I have a growing crowd of girls gathering outside the door of the office I'm in right now. They keep peering inside and softly saying, "brother!" (All the kids have either called me "brother" of "uncle." It's adorable.) I better go spend a few more minutes with them before getting some sleep.

I'll see everyone stateside! Say a prayer for me for safe travels!

God Bless,
Austin

In The Mist

Today, a small group of us went hiking through the beautiful mountains of Kodaikanal. Originally it was going to just be me and Paramadass but we convinced Godfrey to come with us, and then we got two other young men to join. One of them is Oliver. He is the son of Ruby, the woman who is the primary care-taker of the Bethel boys. The other boy was Abraham. Abraham is the oldest of all our boys at Bethel and recently graduated with a degree in automobile engineering. I'll be telling you a lot more about Abraham in the future if you have not already heard his story...


The first part of the "hike" was more like a wilderness exploration. The paths were no more than animal trails that winded through the mountains and sometimes were hardly visible at all. This was Godfrey's very first hike so you could say that we broke him in quite nicely. A few times I thought we were going to lose him on the slope of the mountain or when we were jumping from rock to rock. In the end, however, he seemed to enjoy the experience. Although the path was in the middle of nowhere, we came across the most beautiful views. There were gorgeous waterfalls cascading down the mountains, deep caves, and plenty of monkeys. It was definitely an awesome experience.

After the first part of the hike, we drove a little further to hike at a place called "dolphin's nose." Apparently there is an absolutely gorgeous view, but we were not able to see it because we were hiking through the middle of a cloud. While the mist rolling up the mountain and over my body made me feel like I was in The Lord of The Rings, I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to see too much. We got to the overlook and walked precariously out to the edge of the rocks and were taking pictures and trying to see through the mist. I was hardly nervous walking out to the edge at first. Then the mist cleared enough for me to barely see just how high we were and all of a sudden standing at the edge was not quite as appetizing.

I think there was something about the mist that made me reflect a little more on my lfie. When it was covering the view, I walked right out to the edge of the cliff with hardly any fear. But as soon as the fog cleared just a little bit, I realized how small I was and how scary standing at the edge was. There are times in my life that, whether intentionally or not, I try to keep God out. It is those times that my life is full of fog and mist and I walk on the edge of a cliff not thinking about the magnitude of my actions. I don't consider just how far I will fall if I trip or stumble. However, when I ask God for forgiveness and I open my heart to Him, the fog immediately clears and the thought of straying to the edge of the cliff scares me. When I open my heart, I stay on the path that has been cleared and leads onward to something greater!

This evening I went to the homes to take some more pictures and videos. I also surprised both the boys and the girls with tubs of ice cream! Like most children, they were ecstatic. I stayed a little bit longer at the Shalom girls home and played another game with them. Those girls are absolutely precious. If they didn't have school in the morning I think I would proabaly still be with them right now. Every single one of them are just absolutely beautiful and each one of them wanted my undivided attention. I wish I could have stayed there to give it to each of them. They truly are God's little princesses. One of the girls, Buella, has an amazing story and she is only 4 years old. If you could see her, your heart would just melt. I think she is one of the cutest 4 year old girls I have ever seen. Her parents got a divorce and both parents fell in love with someone else. They no longer wanted their beautiful little girl so they left her with a pastor and a note saying that they didn't want her. It is appalling to me that someone could look at this beautiful creation and blessing and somehow say they don't want her. It breaks my heart to think that her parents were fine with abandoning her.

The pastor was very old and was not able to take care of her, so he sought out Bethania for help. Of course, we took her in. I wish I could load pictures onto this computer because I want all of you to see her. I'll be sure to load them up when I get back.

Tomorrow I say good-bye to the beautiful Kodaikanal and head for Konnavadi. I'm not sure what the internet situation will be for the rest of my trip so this might be my last post for a while. Please continue praying for all the children in Kodaikanal! Each of their hearts are like little mirrors reflecting Christ's love on everyone they meet. We must keep praying that their mirrors do not get foggy so that they can reflect His love boldly and clearly.

God Bless you all,
Austin

(Also, yesterday was my dad's birthday and I forgot to say happy birthday in my blog. So here it is a little late. Happy Birthday Dad! You've been a role model to me for my whole life and your wisdom has built my foundation. I hold all the conversations we have close to my heart. Thanks for being such a great man. I hope it was an awesome day.)

Today I had the utmost pleasure of meeting the girls at our Shalom Home in Kodaikanal. I think I may have spent about 2 hours there and I very easily could have spent 2 or three more! (I tried loading pictures of the girls, but I am writing this on a hotel computer and it won't let me put any pictures on it.) As soon as I walked in the door, two little 4 year olds ran over to me and immediately jumped into my lap. If you could see the way they smiled, and the little sparkle in their eyes when they look at you, I am sure that even the most hardened or hearts would melt. They were absolutely adorable.

Of course, they had an entire welcoming ceremony prepared for me which included songs, dances and bible memorizations. They asked me to get up and talk, and I made the mistake of telling them that they are much better dancers than me because they made me prove it. Yes, I spent the next hour dancing with a room full of extremely energetic girls who mimicked my every attempt at a dance move. Talk about a hilarious spectacle. I think Godfrey took some video of it, but I'm not sure if that footage will ever see the light of day...

There is a funny thing about being in a room filled with little girls. They giggle uncontrollably and their giggling is just so cute that you can't help but to join them! The entire night we were laughing about everything and playing all sorts of fun games. I think my experience at the Shalom home was definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far. Especially when I was about to leave and they told me about one of the girls in the home. I'm shooting myself in the foot for not writing her name down, but I will tell you her situation anyway.

This particular girl has a hole in her heart and sometime in the next couple months she is going to be having an open heart surgery. It is so difficult to imagine a young girl that is so filled with happiness and life have to get  open heart surgery. All the girls gathered around and I had them lay their hands on her and we prayed for her healing. There is something truly powerful about laying your hands on someone when invoking the power of God for healing. When you are on the receiving end of it, you can feel a surge of love and vigor flow through your bones. We prayed very deeply for her healing and there was no doubting the presence of the Holy Spirit in that room. I felt Him move inside me and the whole room was dense with His presence. I could have stayed there praying for hours. It was truly awesome.

For those of you who do not know me very well, I also was born with a heart problem that will require an open-heart surgery. In fact, there was a time in my life that I experienced nearly the exact same thing as this girl. When I was 17, I was told that I was going to have an open-heart surgery. Of course, it made me very nervous, anxious and worried. So in a very special way, I felt a connection with this girl tonight. When I was told that I was going to have the surgery, my family, friends and church immediately starting praying for me. The number of prayers was overwhelming! I had a small pre-surgery a few weeks before the big surgery was supposed to take place, and through God's grace the doctors noticed that the problem was not as big as what it seemed to be a few months ago! To this day, I still attribute not needing the surgery to all the prayers. I know that this beautiful girl in the Shalom Home can have an experience even better than mine. All she needs is prayer. So please, start praying and don't stop. She will be healed!

I heard so many stories today and I can't wait to start telling them to everyone when I get home. I miss everyone at home, but there is something special happening here in India that will make my departure one filled with sadness at having to leave it behind.

God bless all of you!
Austin

India-pendence day

This morning was filled with beautiful moments. Many times I have heard the story of Job, and I have read sections of the book throughout my life, but I have never sat down and read straight through it. This morning I did. What an awesome book and an awesome man of God. Job was faced with every type of difficulty one could imagine. In my life, I have experienced sickness, family-loss, heartbreak, and had good friends turn against me; however, I have never had all those things happen at the same time. Job did. It is one thing to read the story and think, "yes, Job must have been suffering," but it is something entirely different to try and put yourself in his shoes by recalling the pains experienced in our own lives. I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for him. In fact, his own wife told him to curse God. Yet through it all, Job had faith.

As I was finishing the final chapters of the book, Godfrey knocked on my door and in his quiet, peaceful way he just looked at me and simply said, "Shall we pray?" It was almost like he knew I was having a spiritual encounter with God through the book of Job because as we sat down he said, "Are there any verses that come to your mind?" I then went on to talk about my thoughts on the faith of Job and then Godfrey prayed for us. I can honestly say that there is hardly a better way to begin one's day.

Shortly after, we were picked up by Gethsy (sorry if I misspelled your name!) and ventured off to meet some of the parents of our daycare children. I had no idea what was waiting for me. India's independence day is August 15th, but one of the daycares decided to celebrate it again since I was coming to visit. I should preface this story by telling you what I expected to happen when I came to India. I expected life to continue on as normal for everyone here and I would be no more than a fly on the wall who maybe said a few words or played a little bit with the kids. Yeah, right. They went way over the top. They built a stage out of their sareehs (the women's long, dress-like clothing) and some tables and made it look quite professional and festive. I felt like it really was India's independece day! They had chairs set-up right in the front for myself and Godfrey and the kids started performing. All I can say is, Wow. Talk about dancing. The little girls and boys could probably put Michael Jackson to shame (OK, that might be a stretch, but you get the point.) They were no more than five years old and they had 6 minute routines completely memorized with more moves than I have catalouged in my personal life-time library of dance moves. It was amazing.

We then moved on to visit a few more of the daycare centers and after-school care centers. Each one of these had their own set of dance moves, songs, bible memorizations and skits. It was quite a spectacle and don't worry, I got most of it on video. I'll be sharing these videos with all of you when I get back to the States. Gethsy then started telling me about how there are so many more people who want to send their children to Bethania. In fact, they have an extensive waiting list of people trying to get their children enrolled. After visiting the centers for myself, it is quite obvious why they want to send their kids there. If we ran day cares in America with the same staff that we have in India, there is no doubt in my mind that we would very soon have a monopoly on daycare centers. They are so patient with the children and you can see the love they have for the children and the work they do within minutes of watching them. In fact, I'm pretty sure I just spent the day with living saints.

There is a common trend I am experiencing everywhere I go in India. Feasting. The Indian people are some of the most hospitable people I've ever met and every meal I seem to just sit down and eat and eat and eat. If you try to say no to one of them, they just dump food on your plate anyway. (I felt like I was at my fiance's Italian grandmother's house) If you are very emphatic in your "no" you would think you just slapped them in the face. Thus I have had to eat way more than my body knows how to handle. After lunch, I actually had to go outside for a breath of fresh air because my stomach was in pain from all the food I've been putting in it. After lunch, there was a staff meeting for all the administrators of the homes. Even though the meeting was predominately in Tamil, I honestly enjoyed it. I think I enjoyed it so much because even though I could not understand all the words, I could understand how much the staff cared about the children. Their attentiveness and active participation reflected their passion for the ministry and the children. Not only that, but it was one of the first meetings I have ever attended that stayed on-topic the whole time...I think.

In the evening I went to the Bethel Boy's home where there was even more singing and dancing. This time, I participated. They taught me how to use one of their drums and then try to dance while I drummed. I also imitated a cultural dance with a flower pot precariously balanced on my head. Of course, I tried to show-off and do a trick one of the boys did, and well, let's just sayed it ended with a few of the other boys scooping soil off the floor. They were a lot of fun to be with and I'm looking forward to going back there tomorrow night.

Tomorrow, I'm going to conduct an interview with one of our Bethania Kids alumni named Abraham, who is now an automobile engineer. I'm also going to visit the Shalom Girl's home and a few more daycare centers. For that reason, I am going to sign-off for the night and try to get a few hours of delightful rest. It is 10:30 P.M. here in India and my eye lids are starting to get pretty heavy. Hopefully, I'll be able to write again tomorrow!

God Bless you all,
Austin

(P.S. if you have not read the book of Job in a while, or like myself, never read it all the way through, I challenge you to do it today. You won't be disappointed, I promise.)

Trains, plains and automobiles

Today was a very long day. In fact, it was quite difficult to keep track of what time it was and when the night turned into day and the day into night. My internal clock is completely haywire. Let me tell you about it...

I suppose it was yesterday that I got on a train around 9 in the morning. (Of course the night beforehand I only accomplished 5 hours of sleep.) For all those reading this who have never had the joyous experience that is riding a train through India, you are absolutely missing out. I don't know if this experience is for everyone, and I think the next train ride I'll have to Nagercoil will expire my intrigue for Indian train rides. There are two parts of the train - the sleeper cars and the general cars. The sleeper cars fit 4 people into closed-off sections of bunk beds. The general cars cram more people into them than it can hold (definitely a fire hazard) with people practically sitting on top of each other and hanging out the side of the train. I think it would be an interesting experience to be in those cars for about 15 seconds. Then I'm sure it would be way more than enough. Fortunately, we were in the sleeper cars. Don't worry though, the sleeper cars also held many opportunities to make a westerner feel uncomfortable. Imagine lying down staring into the eyes of a complete stranger only 5 feet across from you...

Although it was awkward at first, I recalled the words of Todd, "Once you get on the plane from London to Hyderabad, you are an Indian. Just embrace it." So that is exactly what I did (or at least tried to do.) I actually ended up having quite a lovely conversation with the fellow sitting across from me. He was beginning his first semester in engineering school in Chennai and he taught me many things about Hinduism and life as an Indian, and I had the opportunity to talk with him about Christianity and what it is like to be an American. Later that night I visited some of our fellow Board Member's sleeper cabin where I talked to yet another stranger about his experiences meeting Mother Theresa. (He even had a relic that he let me hold!) Two of his brothers are priests, his sister is a nun and he is a railway engineer. He told me all about what exactly needs to happen for a train to derail. I guess you could say I'm a little bit smarter now than I was two days ago. Those conversations made me wonder why I don't talk to more strangers in America.

Finally we arrived in Trichulli-somewhere at 4am after getting a few hours of sleep randomly scattered throughout the day and night before. We jumped into a car and made our way to Kodaikanal. We hit the first set of mountains and having never seen any other mountains besides the Blue Ridge Mountains, I was a little disappointed. I was definitely hoping for something bigger. But then we crossed over the first mountain range and there were more mountains behind. I started to be impressed. Then we crossed over those mountains and I was extremely impressed. The mountains were massive. It seemed like we just kept driving up and there was no end to it. In fact at one point I looked beside me and there were clouds even with me. Every turn we took lead to breath-taking view after breath-taking view. I am a little disappointed though because no picture I took can do it any justice. Gorgeous waterfalls and layers upon layers of hills and mountains jutted up in front of me. I honestly think I have now seen one of the most beautiful places in the world.

When we got to the top of the mountain I was re-energized from the views and ready to see our kids. Paramadass, one of our administrators/care-takers in Kodai met with us and we made our way to the Cerebral Palsy and mentally handicapped centers. I've seen centers in other countries for people with these conditions and it made me very nervous for what laid ahead. I just kept having visions from when I went to the Dominican Republic about 5 years ago and saw kids locked in cages and horrific smells. My fears subsided immediately as I walked through the door and saw a classroom full of deaf children smiling and waving at me. My face actually started hurting after a little while because there was no stopping the massive smile stuck on it. The center was filled with kids whose joy and love of Christ flowed from their very being even through their obstacles. They were so happy and you could see all over their faces that they were grateful for the lives they now have. Before Bethania, they had little to no hope, and now you can see that they feel like they are accomplishing something and contributing back to society. I'm actually starting to get a little misty-eyed as I reflect on it. It is truly a beautiful ministry.

We visited a few more centers today, including a young womens' vocational school, another special education school and a tuition center. Our tuition centers are kind of like after-school cares/providing resources for the kids to succeed. I think it was when we got to the tuition center that exhaustion started getting the better of me. We walked into the dimly lit tuition center where there were three chairs waiting at the front of the room for Godfrey, Paramadass and me. I sat down and then Godfrey looked over at me and said, "Will you tell them a story?" Yes, I did study communications, but they never prepared me for 2 second preparation story-telling sessions in front of a classroom of Tamil speaking children. I'm not going to lie, I did stumble and freeze-up for a couple minutes of awkward silence, but somehow (with the help of Paramadass and Godfrey) was able to tell them a few things, ask them some questions and even manage to tell a story about Matthew the Apostle. It is amazing what God can do through you when you can't do anything more yourself...

We came back after that long day and had a delicious Tibetian dinner at 8pm, which is a little early for most Indian's dinner meal. I know this late-night eating is not good for this gut I have been trying to slim down, but Todd told me to be and Indian, so I suppose it is a sacrifice I will have to make!

I wish I had more energy to keep typing, but I am going to go prepare a few speeches/stories for tomorrow so I don't freeze-up again. God bless you all and please keep praying for these children and the ones who we have not yet reached.

With Love,
Austin

The first few days in India

This post comes a little later than I would have liked, but I suppose it is better to have it late than never at all! My flight into India was very long and I got stuck in London for a while on a plane with malfunctions, so I barely made my flight in Hyderabad to Rajahmundry. Fortunately, I made it safely and was greeted by a big smile and strong embrace from Solomon. He took me to a hotel right on the bank of the Godovari River and I spent the next few hours sleeping. Later that evening, I finally met the Rajahmundry boys. There is truly something special about those kids. Every single one of them had a huge smile on their face and they crowded around me introducing theirselves and then making sure I remembered their names. At one point I showed them how I can wiggle my ears and for the rest of the night they were grabbing my ears and making me do it over and over again. We then played a game called "Gobodee" which was absolutely hilarious. Even Solomon and Godfrey joined us! It is definitely a boys' game, as you divide into two different teams and then one person tries to tag someone on the other team and then make it back to his team without getting tackled by the opposing team. It is what I like to call a "High testosterone game." As you can imagine, I slept like a rock that night.

The next day we visited the Narendrapuram Angel Home. It was amazing to see it in real life. The pictures truly can do it no justice. Even when I was shooting video of the home, I was disappointed because you just can't capture the "awesomeness" of it. Right now the boys live in the middle of Rajahmundry, which is a rather large city (I think around 2 million people). Narendrapuram is only 20 minutes away and it is so much more quiet and peaceful. There will also be so much room for the boys to run around, and after spending only a few minutes with these boys, you know they need room to run.

The next day we had our Board of Trustees meeting which was very productive. It was interesting to see how the decisions were made for all of our different ministries. Every one of our Board members has the children's best interests in mind when making their decisions, and it is quite obvious that they take Bethania Kids and the work we are doing very seriously. All of them maintain deeply Christian values and their passion and love for the underpriviliged children in India is intoxicating. I felt deeply humbled and bleessed to be in the presence of these people.

Today, Sunday, was a relaxing day. I went to Church this morning, and the sermon was deeply moving and made me reflect on my personal life. The pastor talked about the story of Cain asking "Am I my brother's keeper?" In his talk, he was saying that yes, we are indeed our brother's keepers. If we truly love our brothers and sisters then of course we will want to keep them from sin. In fact, that is the second great commandment that Jesus gave us. First is to love Him with your whole heart, mind and soul, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. So, if we are taking care of ourselves and trying to prevent ourselves from sinning then we are loving ourselves. God's command is to love our neighbor as ourself, so if we are to keep ourselves from sinning, then we are to help keep our neighbors from sinning. This does not mean that we should pass judgement on our brothers, rather it means that we should form bonds with other Christians. The pastor said that rather than leaving the church directly after it is finished, we should spend time with each other. We should sit beside someone we do not know and reach out to them. This is the essence of the body of Christ. We must get to know all parts of the body, and sometimes one part must help another.

After church, I spent more time with the Rajahmundry boys. I hope that all those reading this get the opportunity to visit these kids sometime... It is extremely difficult to put into words what happens the moment you see them. Every single one of them wanted to hold my hand or give me a hug. And when we left the home, they became my chariott by picking me up and carrying me to the van. (yes, it was hilarious)

I think I am about to go to a Bible study. It is hard to say exactly what I am going to do the rest of the day, because it seems like no one plans too much in India. They just take things as they come and make decisions as they arise. As Dr Gnanakan says, "Indian time is stretchable time. If you say, 'we must be somewhere at 10,' then it is OK to be there at 10:30."

I apologize if this post is not very organized, but there is so much on my mind and I can only seem to share it in bits and pieces. I hope that you are all doing well in the U.S. All the children and staff of Bethania Kids send their love and prayers.

God Bless,

Austin