Quick Prayer Request

(Please forgive the spelling/grammer I wrote this quickly)
At the red-light area there is one boy who I think is real special. I creatively call him "Special Boy." He was the child of a prostitute, the son of a "John." When his mother gave birth she took off and left her son behind. Over the past couple months I noticed that he is treated as the village outcast. Everyone beats on him (sometime he deserves it as you can imagine he acts out a lot but no one deserves the treatment this kid gets). We today I go into the Red-light area and notice that Special Boy is not wearing pants. Ok, not completely unusual for India but when he turns towards me I see his little left leg leg has a terrible 6 inch burn down the inside of his thigh. When I see it of course I must of looked startled. So I started asking who did this and then he showed me his hand; 1/2 of it is covered in a blister from being burn. I guess he runs away a lot (I wonder why) and so as punishment they burned him.
Please pray as tomorrow I am going to speak to "Big Mamma" about taking him out of there and putting him in either the RH Home or Suresh's home. Please pray for the staff members at the RH home that if SB comes to the home that they be prepared to deal with the many issues and difficulties that will arrise as we care for this child.
I will post a picture of him so you have a face with the "name."

Hindus believe today and the next 2 days are auspicious days for marriages so they cram in as many marriages as possible. But at 2am in the morning when I was awoken by the piercing sounds of a wedding band, I thought to myself how could it get an worse than this. Well, it is now 6pm and time for the Sai Baba temple to broadcast their chantings for 2 hours. So now the temple is chanting over their 1940 staticy megaphone and the wedding band continues to play. It is like some weird battle of the bands. I kind of feel like a prisoner of war and they doing some psychological mind melt on me. Please pray for me!

.....Ok, so that was a couple of days ago ,and you know what, it wasn't that bad. For some reason the weddings only went for 24 hours. I'm thinking maybe they moved local so as not to upset the surrounding houses. Anyways, I am so glad that is over!

Love you all!!!

Here I Am

I am sorry friends and family for keeping waiting so long for an entry with real substance. I could blame it on being so busy but the truth of the matter is that a wonderful couple gave me the first season of LOST and I am finding out what all the hype is about. No, but really, since the moment I got back from my holiday with Claire (and I mean the night I got back) I have been pulling double duty. Even now I am on a stage at a double wedding and I am writing this journal entry (by hand to be typed later) just to keep myself from dozing off.

... Well, that is all I got written before it was time to go and now I am in my room. It is 9pm and all I want to do is lay down so not to be rude but I think I am going to put a LOST on and call it a night....

Of course I wouldn’t leave you with nothing...

Below is an entry I wrote a couple months ago but never had the chance to post it.

(Quick prayer request: Joyfulness would carry me through my days here. And that I would be an example of God's love to all the people)

11/27/06

Ok so today was a rather interesting day. At the front of the red-light clinic right at the bottom of the stairs is a liter of brand new baby puppies. So cute, but if I learned anything from the day Dr.Kishore made me hold the baby goat it is to avoid scabbies at all cost which means don’t touch baby animals in India. But while I was at the clinic I heard this atrocious squealing sound. So I looked out the window and there was momma dog and another dog chomping into a live baby pig as it struggled to get away. After I squealed, I thought to myself, is this some kind of twisted wild animal show? Evidently it was entertaining to some because a group of young children sat mesmerized watching the whole thing. I swear kids in India seem fearless. Nothing frightens them. It is very common to see toddlers literally toddling along any road as car, trucks, motor bikes race past them with only inches to spare; no flinching from child or driver and I have never seen a child run into the street.

Anyways, that is how my day started. After I left the red-light area I accompanied the doctor to the hospital where one of our girls from the RH home was having her appendix removed. Little did I know that when they said they wanted me to be there for the surgery, they meant they wanted me THERE for the surgery. Bare foot and with my “surgical mask” firmly tied over my mouth and nose I entered the surgical theater (as they call it). Really it was just a room with a big light and some surgical tools that’s it. The procedure started right away; I watched them cut her, open the cut and cut deeper, clamp the skin, etc. etc. etc. I can save you the gory details. Bottom line is please pray my appendix doesn’t need to come out anytime soon because I will gladly die before I go under the knife in rural India!

And all this was before lunch!

What a crazy life I live!

Claire and I at the Taj!

Doesn't it look like backdrop instead of the real thing?! The whole time I was there I couldn't believe what I was seeing; it seems so unreal.

Escaping India

I am in Goa right now and let me tell you, it is amazing. I don’t even feel like I am in India. Not to diss India but I really needed a break from the craziness. Claire (with the help of the T-Town Life group, my brother and grandma) has put us up at a VERY nice hotel and has arranged massages for us tomorrow.

The beds are amazing; like sleeping on clouds: the mattress has a huge down pillowtop, plus a down comforter and four down pillows. I keep yelling “I’m a princess” and I feel like it. Claire, in her dry sarcastic tone, says that any bed would feel this good after what I’ve been sleeping on. Well, we are going to leave our luxury the day after tomorrow and go to south Goa where there are bamboo hut on the beach. Not sure about the hut part since I can sleep in a hut any day but we will see.

Oh, we got to see the Taj and that was really cool. As soon as I get home I will post some pics.

Love you!

As I promised here are pictures of Lalitha taken at bath time... We ain't in Kansas anymore that's for sure! 

After you bath the baby of course you have to place her over a plate of steamy smokey ambers...right? I mean, what else would you do??? 

baby bath India style 

RH What a Blessing

I am having a wonderful time with the Rockharbor team. It is so great to have familiar faces and good friends around me.

When the team leaves, Claire is staying on and taking me to relax in Goa. I can’t wait. I will definitely post pictures of our time there. Thanks for all of your encouragement and prayers!!!!

Happy New Year!

Galatians 6: 9-10 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we donot give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to to those who belong to the family of believers.

May others experience God's love through you this year.

Little Lalitha 

Delayed Reaction

Oh my gosh, I forgot to tell you... Suresh and Christina had their baby!!!!!!!!!
Little Lalitha Kumar was born December 8th and named after Suresh’s mother who was the founder of Harvest India

She was quite a surprise because, well, she is a girl and S&C were certain it was a boy. She is just the sweetest thing.

Of course at 12 days old she doesn’t do much except sleep and eat. But the most interesting thing to me is bath time.

Lalitha was taken outside and given to Bashama who had her sari pulled up to mid-thigh and was sitting on a very low stool with her legs straight out in front of her and her heels on another stool. Bashama lathered up Lalitha while she was laying on her legs and at the same time another woman poured water on Lalitha. ***It’s hard to explain but it looked really cool. I will try to get a picture of it.

Anyways, just wanted you all to get a good look at Lalitha. Please keep her in your prayers as I believe God has great big things planned for her life.

Only 6 days until Rockharbor & Claire are here! Praise the Lord!!!!!!!

So Much to Lose Here in this Lonely Place

I was listening to Sarah McLachlan tonight while typing out applications for the vocational center I am setting up in the local red-light area. As I was writing out these women’s ages and what little info I could get out of them like what they want to learn, if they have children, and can they read and write. I realized that most are just teenagers and many were born and raised in the red-light area.

As I am placing their pictures next to their bios, suddenly I hear Sarah’s song, Fear (my favorite) in a whole new light. I really never thought the meaning could get any more heart wrenching than the meaning I first attributed to it but now…well, you tell me what you think.

You really should listen to the song if you can find it. But if you can’t here are the lyrics…

Morning smiles like a face of a new born child, innocent unknowing
Winters end, promises of a long lost friend, speaks to me of comfort

But I fear
I have nothing to give,
I have so much to lose here in this lonely place
Tangled up in our embrace
There is nothing I’d like better than to fall
But I fear
I have nothing to give

Wind in time, rapes the flower trembling on the vine
Nothing yeilds to shelter it
From up high they say temptation will destroy our lives
The never ending hunger

But I fear
I have nothing to give
I have so much to lose here in this lonely place
Tangled up in our embrace
There is nothing I’d like better than to fall
But I fear
I have nothing to give
I have so much to lose
I have nothing to give
I have so much to lose

*****************************************************************************
Please pray for these girls. Pray against the drugs and alcohol used to self-medicate. Pray against HIV and STDs. Please pray for the center; that it would be a place they feel the presence of Jesus, His love & His peace. Pray that through this center we might be able to bring these girls hope for a future and show them the value they have through Christ.
Also, if you could pray for me. I need wisdom beyond my education and experience as many of these woman are struggling with deep psychological issues, emotional instability, and severe illnesses. I really need the Lord to work through me, to touch these girls. Lastly, I will be going into the area at night to run the Night Care Center which is right in the midst of it all. I feel completely safe with the women but I don’t know about the “customers.” I stick out quite a bit and really don’t want to get harassed. So I guess what I am saying is please pray for my safety.

Thank you and I will keep you posted as things progress!!!

Me and Sudheer (Suresh�s brother) greeting the people at a relief camp
 

Crowds of people attend the relief camps 

Water pump submerged 

Here all you can see are the roofs 

This is how they live... 

An apartment in the red-light area 

All the Bombay Teen Challenge girls working for IPP and me