Fun N Food Kingdom

This past weekend we went on an adventure. We have seen signs ALL OVER Rajpur advertising for Fun n Food Kingdom. When we went out to JoyBells we drove past the little road to this place, so we knew how to get there. From the looks of the posters it's a pretty fun place, so we decided to go try it out on Saturday. We had no idea if it would be open or if it would even be worth paying to get in, but we kept our expectations low and gave it a whirl. When we got there, there was no one in sight. It looked closed, but there were a few motorcycles in the parking lot and so Dave went to investigate.
Turns out it WAS open, we were just literally the only people there.

We walked into a fun little theme park. They actually had quite a few fun, surprisingly safe looking, working rides. Lots of little kid rides too, which Micah and Levi loved! We did the bumper cars, rode the caterpillar, ate lunch (that wasn't so great…they should just call it fun kingdom…not fun and food) and then went to check out the water park that's part of this place. The theme park was good, but the water park was great! We had a blast. Micah and Levi loved all of the kiddy pools and fun little water slides, sprinklers, dumping mushroom etc. They had some really fun slides for "big people only" too. There was a tube slide that you got stuck on - like literally went nowhere, but then there were four other big ones that were a blast. One of them you went down double on a tube, and the three other ones you went down single, on a mat. The BIG ones with the mat were so much fun! They were super steep and you could FLY down those things. You could get some pretty sweet air.

For the most part the water seemed fairly clean-cleaner then what we expected. The wave pool was a different story, but we didn't spend very much time there. That thing was pretty funny. Every hour they shut everything off and turn on the wave pool for ten minutes. They only have enough power to run it, if everything else is off…just a reminder every hour that yes, you are still in India :)

So for twenty bucks combined, all 5 of us had a day at the theme/water park with unlimited access to rides and almost the entire place to ourselves. It was pretty great. It was fun to have a day away from everything else and just play.
















Fun n Food Kingdom

children, joy, taxis and boys.

This past Tuesday I went back to JoyBells. This was quite the adventure :)
I’ve taken public transportation to Dehradun by myself which takes about 20 minutes, but all the way out to the orphanage is a whole different ball game. In India, they have four main means of public transportation. The most common taxis, (I think they are called tuk-tuk's) are these medium sized 3 wheeled blue things. This is the cheapest way to get where you need to go. There are two benches that face each other in the back and then a small bench in the front for the driver. They have a set route and people can get on and off whenever throughout the route. With these taxis people just pile in until there are literally people spilling out the sides, and practically sitting on other stranger's laps. It’s a close situation. Then there's the bus. Long story short, I've made the personal decision never to ride one. At least not until I know Hindi.
Then there’s the brown private 3 wheelers. It’s essentially the same thing except these are smaller and there’s just one bench across the back. You could fit about 3 people fairly comfortably. The main difference with these though, is that you can tell your driver where you want to go, and once you’re in they don’t pick anyone else up. These are quite a bit more expensive then the blue ones, but they don’t have a route. So if you’re wanting to go far, sometimes they’re one of your only options.
Then last but not least there’s the big white taxis. These are the most expensive, and most of the time not really necessary, but they are the safest way to go. These guys will take you just about anywhere you want to go.

So I left about 11:00 Tuesday morning and walked down to where all the blue taxis sit in Rajpur. The way to the orphanage was fine. I took a blue taxi to Dehradun and then a brown one to JoyBells. The guy had no idea where he was going, but thankfully I knew how to get there and we figured it out. For the most part the way there was pretty uneventful.

When I got to JoyBells the kiddos were about to go have lunch, and so I was able to sit and talk to Joy for about an hour while they ate. It was good. She told me about how and why she and her husband started this place, and also about the process of taking kids. She shared a little bit about some of the kid's stories. We talked about some of our different passions and dreams. She voiced her heart, and I was able to share mine as well. She is an amazing woman for sure. You can tell that her love and commitment to these kids comes from her passion for her savior. I love it!
We talked about where I could be of the most help, and for now I am going to go three days a week-most likely Tue, Thurs, & Fri, and teach the youngest class, which is like preschool and kindergarten age. After school I’ll just hang out with the kids and help with whatever needs to be done. I cannot wait to start spending my time there. It’s such a neat place. I’m excited to hang with the kids, and I’m excited to have this opportunity to learn from Joy and learn about how an orphanage is run.

After I talked with Joy, Eric and I (a guy that’s there right now from Canada-he goes home next week) played a few games of soccer with the kiddos.

When it was time to go I asked Joy the best way to get home. Her reply- "oh it’s very easy. White taxi vans come up and down this road every 2-3 minutes. Just stand out by the gate and wait for one and then flag it down. Take that to Prem Nagar (the first main market that you pass on the way home) and then take a blue taxi to the Clock Tower (Dehradun) and then another blue taxi from the Clock Tower, home to Rajpur. I’ll have one of my grounds workers stand out by the gate with you and wave down one of the taxis since it’s your first time." Sounded simple enough.

Well. After 37 minutes of standing there (not that anybody was counting) with this dude who I couldn’t communicate with at all, not a SINGLE taxi had come by. So eventually he just started waving down every vehicle that passed. After a while a couple of guys who looked about twenty stopped. The guy opened the door and told me to get in. I knew I probably shouldn’t, but at the same time I didn’t really have anything better to do, so I did. Talk about awkward.

They were going to drop me off at Prem Nagar, (I’m pretty sure...not that I could understand anyone very well) and then I was going to take a taxi back to Dehradun, and then another home. Well, long story short they ended up just taking me all the way home, which is about a 45-50 min drive. I have no idea where they were planning on going before they picked me up, but they kept saying "No, no. Not a problem. We take you the whole way. It is safer for you." So we spent a good long 45 minutes "talking" (sort of) and listening to Lil Wayne, Nelly & Usher so loud that the bass sounded like it was ready to explode. I found that kind of amusing since I’m sure they could only understand about a quarter of what they were listening to.
Probably not the safest or smartest thing for a girl to drive through India by yourself with two guys you don’t know, but they were nice, and I got home just fine. Plus, its certainly the cheapest way to get where you’re going haha:)
Since that "adventure" I’ve been told by several people to NEVER do that again. Oops . . . None of our Indian and Tibetan friends were too happy with me for getting into that car. I definitely got a lesson from them on how to be safe and "keep my guard up" in India. So, needless to say, I think I need to find a better means of transportation from here on out. . . maybe one that will actually get me BACK too.

I’m so thankful for the time I had with Joy. I go back tomorrow for my first full day. Can’t wait to start lovin’ on some precious kiddos.

Ps. I promise to take lots of pics tomorrow when I go back :)

JoyBells!

I have been praying since I got here that God would make it clear where He wanted me to serve outside of the Murray family. There are so many different places that I could get involved in that we have checked out throughout the month, but I just wanted to be positive that I ended up in the place that Jesus had already picked out for me.
I had gone to the Blind school as well as an orphanage and a couple of different schools. I was honestly getting a little bit discouraged, because all of these places had things that I could get involved in, and wanted my help, but it just didn’t really feel right. I didn’t want to start helping somewhere and then later find out I didn’t feel like I was where I was supposed to be, but now I’m tied to it. And I didn’t want to over-commit. There is need everywhere you look, but I want to spend my time where I can be most effective-meaning wherever it is that is God's will for me to be. I was talking to Mom about it on the phone one night and she said “don’t get discouraged that you haven’t found your place yet, and don’t be worried about choosing the wrong place. You’ll know it when you see it.”

Well, I’ve found it! And I definitely knew it when I saw it. Jesus made it so clear to my heart.

A while back Mel and I found an orphanage online, and decided it looked like a place we should check out sometime. A couple weeks ago we decided to go try and find it. We looked at a little (and I mean little) google map on their website and took a shot at it. We really had no idea where we were going and so the fact that we actually found it, was God in and of itself. After about an hour & 15 min of driving around and asking about 10 people (and being told about 10 different things) we finally found it.
It is perfect. About two minutes after driving through the gate I knew it was the place. We met Joy, the lady that runs it, and she introduced us to the kids. Oh my goodness, those kiddos melt your heart in a matter of seconds. They are so so sweet. They are clean, happy, well fed, and just genuinely joyful.
JoyBells has 62 kids at the moment and they are all so well taken care of. Their ages range from 6 months to 14 years. A few have one parent who just simply didn’t have the means to provide for their child, but most are orphans. Joy is an incredible woman who has given her life to these kids, and many more like them.

This orphanage is very different from any I’ve ever been to. Joy is a Mama to 62 kids who love and adore her. She has created a true home for these kids. Not just a place where they can sleep and be fed. The kids grow up learning about Jesus and how much He loves them. They are given education and positive attention. The older ones look out for the younger ones, and they all get along so well. Joy has created a safe haven for them. She has given them so much, but most of all LOVE. And that makes a world of difference.

About 90% of these kids are from Ladakh, and have not been back to their homeland since they’ve come to the orphanage. So about six years for most of them. This month the older half of the kids went on “holiday” back to Ladakh. To visit distant relatives (those that have them) and learn about their heritage, see where they came from. Joy said that is so important to her because she’s raising these kids to someday go back and help their people. We were there on a Sunday, and the older crew was leaving early that next morning for their month long trip. A few people had come from Ladakh to escort them back, and the kids had been working on a “presentation” for them for the past month. Well, it just so happened that we got there about 15 minutes before their presentation, and so we were invited to stay and watch. It was so fun! The kids sang and danced for about 45 minutes. They sang songs in English, Hindi, Tibetan, Ladakhi, German, Napali, and Swedish. It was pretty incredible! After their show we stayed and hung out with them for about an hour. It was such a GOOD afternoon. I loved it.

As we were leaving we told Joy we would love to come back and talk to her about how she got started, if this might be a place we could spend some time, and how we could be of the most help. With a huge smile on her face she said-"I would love that. My heart is so happy right now because I know Jesus brought you here at just the right time. I don’t even know you yet, but I’m so thankful you’ve come." That was encouraging to say the least!

This last Tuesday I went back and had the chance to talk to Joy about everything. I’ll blog about it soon.

Hope

It was dirty, hot, crowded, stinky. Poor. Sad. Little children with tummys swollen from hunger running around partially naked. Walking barefoot over trash piles that seemed to be everywhere you step, trying to find something to eat. Momma's outside working hard. Washing clothes. Trying to get clean what will never come clean. Trying to clean up and make tidy what will never look clean or seem tidy. Grandmas sitting outside in lawn chairs that look a decade old, sitting there staring at what seems like nothing for what seems like forever. They look as though they are just skin and bones. Look as though they wouldn't have the strength to move even if they wanted to. So they just sit there. Sit there and stare at nothing. Babies cry and cry. Little kids sit and whimper. There are dirty, mangy dogs and pigs sniffing through the same piles of trash the kids are picking through. Trash everywhere. Mud everywhere. Flies everywhere. You look around, and look into these sweet people's eyes and you see hopelessness. You see sadness. You see emptiness. Everywhere you look your heart just keeps breaking. Over and over again. You're filled with sadness for these people and you're filled with questions. Your heart hurts.
But then you walk across the complex and you walk into a tiny little building. You see, hear, and feel hope. The hope of Jesus and the hope of education. The hope that for these 32 kids, life doesn't have to look this way someday. It can look completely different.

Last week I visited a little school with a friend named Nuby. She is from Brazil, but married an Indian man and moved here 6 months ago. She is so sweet! She has an amazing heart for Jesus. We have gotten to know her and her husband, Dezang, pretty well since we've been here. They are a really neat couple. Nuby goes out to this village school every Friday, and I asked her if I could go with her to check it out sometime. I'm not exactly sure where we were, but drove about 25-30 minutes outside of Dehradun, to a small village.
We spent the morning at this little school. This tiny school sits right in the middle of an extremely poverty stricken area. The school is so small, but it's impact is huge. They are bringing hope in the name of Jesus and the form of education to this little community. If these kids are educated, they actually have a chance at life.

We helped with the youngest class for the morning. Their ages ranged from about 3 to 6 years old. Talk about some cute kids! They were so sweet. We worked on the English alphabet, painted rainbows, learned some new songs, and had story time. It was great.

This school has 32 students at the moment, and prays for more everyday. They have a tiny facility. Two of the classes were being held in the kitchen-if you can even call it that. They don't have much, but they are very resourceful with what they do have, and trust God for the rest. They have school from 8-2 every day and feed the kids lunch after that. More cases then not, the only hot meal they will get all day.

It broke my heart to see the poverty that these people live in. I've seen it before, but it doesn't matter. It still hurts. At the same time though, it was so good to see how God is working in that community. That school is His light in the darkness around it. His hope. It was encouraging.

Walking as Jesus walked.

Recently I read through 1st 2nd and 3rd John and wanted to share with you what I have been learning. I’ve been wrestling with this verse…it’s convicted me in so many ways. I’ve been wrestling with some hard questions that have come out of my time with Jesus every morning. I challenge you to read through these books. They are short, but they are filled with some really good stuff. Especially 1st John. Read through them and let God speak to you. Let Him challenge you. Ask the hard questions and then don’t be afraid of the answers. Jesus longs to speak to us and when we ask for Him to show up, to teach us things, to remind us of things, He will.
The following is something that I wrote in my journal a couple weeks ago. I debated quite a bit on whether or not to put this up here, but I think one of the ways that we can continue to learn and grow is through being transparent and vulnerable with one another.
So here’s what my Jesus has been reminding me of lately.

Today as I read my bible out on the back steps I felt you speak to me. I was reading in 1st John 2 where it’s talking about knowing you and being made complete in you. It’s a really good chapter in a really good book, but the part that stood out to me the most was a very simple yet very powerful sentence. 1st John 2:6 says: “Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.” This verse has been on my heart a lot today. I can’t stop thinking about it.
It’s such a high standard, but it’s what we’ve been called to. Those 11 words are so simple yet mean so much. “Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.” That seems so impossible at times.
While thinking about this verse today, I’ve felt very convicted. I felt convicted because I know for a fact that there are many times during my day that I don’t live up to that standard.
I feel like a lot of times we live up to the minimal standard that we think is ok-we do what we have to do to get by without feeling guilty, but aren’t constantly thinking about being your hands and feet like you have clearly called us to be. We’re too caught up in ourselves and we’re too caught up in what we think other people will think about us. We are worried about our self image, when in reality people shouldn’t see us when they look at us anyway. They should see you through us. We create such busyness all around us that we then don’t have time for you, and we don’t have time for others. We don’t put you as first priority in our lives like you have asked us to. We’re so caught up in everything around us that we miss what’s right in front of us. We forget that serving others is not always convenient. It doesn’t always just “fit in.” We have to MAKE an effort. We have to CREATE time. We have to TAKE the many, many opportunities that you give us throughout our day.

"Following you isn’t something that can be done only part way or halfheartedly. It cannot come after everything else. It’s not a label we can display when it’s useful. It must be central to everything we do and everything we are." It should simply be who we are.
What gets me is that we pretend it’s ok. We pretend it’s ok to love, give and serve to the minimum. We pretend it’s ok and we pretend you think it’s ok. Maybe we do it without thinking-maybe a lot of it is subconscious, but then that begs the question: do we think about it enough? Looking at my life, no I do not.

Living like you lived, loving like you loved, serving like you served, and giving like you gave, is a goal that can never be completely reached, but I say I’m striving towards it. Am I truly? Am I striving towards it simply with words, or am I backing it up with actions like I should be? Part time is not enough. Only when it’s convenient is not enough. Only when I want to is simply not enough. I feel like sometimes I’m reaching for You with one hand, but pushing you away with the other.

Am I willing to give up everything for you?
To sacrifice my time, money, convenience, safety and comfort? I pray that I am. I know that I want to be.
Father, I’m begging you for your help. I have to have your help-I know I cannot possibly do that on my own apart from you. Living the lifestyle that you have called your children to at times may go against everything my flesh desires. It goes against everything our culture tells us. It goes against the lies that are thrown at us constantly. It goes against everything this world tries to instill in us, but you have called us as believers to live in the world, but not be of it. To be a light in the darkness around us. To stand out. To make a difference.
Jesus, I’m done making excuses and rationalizing laziness. I’m ready to start taking this seriously. I’m ready to change some things. I know I will never get there completely, but I’m ready to try. Truly try, and keep trying. I’m ready to legitimately give it my best and truly strive to be more like you.

You were the ultimate example of what it means to truly serve.
You are blameless and pure. You are without fault. You are Holy and righteous. You are perfect.
I know that we can never fully attain this, but I also know you have called us to try.
This verse tells us to walk as you walked. I don’t think that’s the same thing as telling us to be perfect-you know we never will be or could be. We’re people and people mess up. I think it simply means doing our best. It means truly having the desire and motivation to become more like you. It’s a decision we have to make each and every day. It’s not a one time thing. It means picking up our cross daily. It means asking for forgiveness when we screw up. It means not taking advantage of your grace. It means having an open mind and heart. It means doing our best to follow you passionately. With everything we have-everything we are. With reckless abandon. It means to forgive always. To love unconditionally, give constantly, and serve endlessly. It simply means learning how to live with open hands.
Jesus, I’m begging you to break my heart with what breaks yours. Give me a glimpse of the people in this world through your eyes. Father, show me how to love.

Cupcakes!

While Dave and Mel work, I've been hanging with the boys and teaching them school in the mornings until their preschool starts next week. This is what we did as part of their school this morning. Super educational don't you think?

We had fun.






They turned out perfectly!


Until I dropped them on the kitchen floor.


The rest of the batter ended up baked and intact though. The finished product turned out pretty cute. We made some chocolate icing and drizzled it on top. They were yummy!

New friends.

A few nights ago we had about 20 people stop by for a little while. Some of our neighbors that we met had a bunch of family come into town for a few days and they all came up to meet us. It was so much fun! They all came inside and we hung out in the living room for about 30 minutes just laughing and talking (or at least trying to talk…lack of language makes it a little hard :)) Dave got his guitar out and played a little bit. They told us that one of the guys in the group has a really good voice and loves to sing, so Dave promised to sing if he did. They loved it!

We did have a funny thing happen though…funny I guess depending on how you look at it :) When we first invited them in Mel offered to make tea, since that’s just culturally what you would do. They wouldn’t let us make tea, but eventually they at least let us get them some cold water. Mel and I quickly tried to find enough cups. She brought them out on a tray and asked me to follow behind her with water. Well, we have a water purifier but it’s not cold when it first comes out, so we fill up a pitcher from it and keep it in the fridge. The pitcher wasn’t all the way full, so I grabbed a couple of cold water bottles from the fridge as well, and poured them into the pitcher. After I had filled everyone’s cups and about 5 minutes had gone by, our guests all started laughing pretty hard and were talking to each other. Mel and I were standing in the kitchen and had a conversation that went like this:
Mel looked at something on the counter and said-"I sure hope my medicine didn’t get poured into that pitcher, that would be bad." Me-"umm, what medicine?" Mel-"My dehydration meds were mixed with some water and in the fridge. It tastes so gross, so I just never really drank it. It was in a water bottle." Me-"that water bottle that’s next to the pitcher??" Mel-"Yep. THAT water bottle." Me-"Yeahhh. oops. I had no idea that was medicine. It’s now in everyone’s cups and they’re drinking it."
Needless to say, we had a pretty good laugh over it.

Thankfully it wasn’t bad for them or anything, and really now they are just extra hydrated :) Although, I’m sure on their way back down the hill they had quite the conversation about those Americans and their nasty water. Oops.
We had a great time with them though, and it was so good to meet some more friends. It’s little things like this that just do your heart some good. It was also a great reminder that even though we don’t speak the same language yet, people are people and you can still laugh and make friends. A smile is a smile and a hug is a hug. Sometimes words aren’t really even needed.



Love it.

So fun!

A couple of our neighbors. These girls are so sweet and always smiling.
Not the worlds greatest picture of me, but aren't they beautiful?

Some of the ladies. They were pretty excited to get their picture taken.

A few of the guys. They might have been even more excited...

Let's paint!

So this week I painted a “mural” on four walls at the blind school. That’s right, I painted. If you know me well at all, you know that I am not all that entirely gifted with artistic abilities. Like, I have hardly any…especially when it comes to painting. So why did I?? Let me explain….

Last week Mel and I stopped by the blind school to meet the couple that runs it and let them know that we would love to volunteer there some time if there is ever anything that they need help with. The couple is super sweet. His name is Samuel and I have no idea what hers is( after about 5 times I quit asking), but everyone just calls her Madame. They’re probably in their early 60’s or so.
The school is only about a 5-7 min walk from our house. The kids live there year round, except for a couple of six week breaks. Samuel told us that they have about 90 kids that attend school there. The majority of them are either blind or have extremely poor eyesight, although there are also about 15 or 20 very poor, sighted kids that come from nearby villages. They attend school there, but do not actually live at the school. The blind school is k-12th grade, and the “sighted school” goes up to 8th. When we talked to Samuel and Madame they said that they could use some help getting everything ready for the kids to come back since they were on summer break at the time. Madame (that really is what people call her…it bugs me I don’t know her name though) brought is into the boys dorm and asked if we would be interested in painting “some pictures” on one of the walls of the main room to brighten things up for them. (I found that a little bit amusing since they are blind and all.) We said sure and that we would be back that next Wednesday to paint.
Well, Wednesday rolled around and we were all sick, so we told her we would be there Thursday instead. On Thursday Mel still wasn’t feeling very good and so in the end I just went by myself.

When she had first asked us to paint I had made it very clear that painting isn’t exactly my forte, and Mel said it wasn’t what she was super good at either, but Madame assured us that she didn’t care at all what it looked like, she just wanted to make it fun for the kids. In her words “you can just do stick figures of children for all I care and that will be great. It’s ok if you are not very good.” Plus, Mel and I knew that we would be doing it together and so that would make it a little bit easier….we felt sure we could put our heads together and come up with something that would hopefully turn out pretty good.

Ok well, like I said, Mel wasn’t feeling good. And so I ended up going by myself. NOT exactly what I had in mind :) As I was leaving the house I had a couple moments of “what in the world am I doing?? I can’t paint!” and “maybe I should just lie and tell the lady that I’m still not feeling well either” and “I cannot believe I am doing this” BUT I kept walking and found some condolence in the fact that she had said that she would be happy with stick figures….surely I could at least do better then THAT. Plus, we had a long conversation about it and I felt certain that God was surely going to help me out and let it turn out….just this once.

When I got there she informed me that rather then ONE wall (like she told us) she wanted FOUR walls done. Oh great. She handed me a piece of chalk to sketch things out, showed me the collection of completely crummy paint (like seriously it was probably 10 years old…)told me to get started, and stepped back to watch and be amazed. Right.
I just kind of stood there staring at the wall with the piece of chalk in my hand, not knowing what in the world to do. I had drawn out some ideas on a piece of paper before I left and shown them to her when I got there, and she had been happy with it. It was a decent drawing…I was actually pretty proud of myself. I learned very quickly though, that drawing the same thing on the wall 15 times bigger is a completely different deal altogether. In my opinion anyways. Long story short, the first thing I drew with the chalk looked nothing like my cute little picture. After that, I just stood there staring at the wall for a while trying to figure out how I was going to make this work. Apparently I stood there too long because she took the chalk and told me to follow her somewhere. She took me upstairs to some of the classrooms that her daughter had painted when she came to visit so that I could “get some ideas.” She said that the paintings were very simple and cute and maybe I would become inspired.
We walked into the classroom and I knew right away I was in trouble. It was kind of funny because nothing looked like it went together…everything was pretty random, BUT it was painted really well. It was not simple. It looked hard and I was freaking out on the inside. To Madame I just smiled and said it was very nice, and her daughter had done a great job. On the inside I was having quite the conversation with Jesus. I was very quickly asking Him why in the world He was having me do this, and asking Him to please somehow give me some talent and ability for the day.

Well, in the end He didn’t give me amazing artistic abilities, but He sure gave me a good dose of humility. It was definitely a couple afternoons of feeling pretty helpless and vulnerable, but at the same time thankful that God was reminding me that it's not always such a bad thing. Sometimes situations that put you in that position can be a very good and growing thing. And when you allow yourself to be put in that situation I think it says a lot to the person that you are serving. It put me in a place of complete humility and vulnerability, simply doing what I know God had for me to do for those afternoons, despite how I felt about it. In the end it all turned out ok, and I think it was a good experience and reminder to me that as Americans, we don’t necessarily have “the answer” to everything. Or have the “right way” or “the best way”. In this particular situation I knew that from the very beginning - and was not expecting to - but sometimes when we come into situations of serving, especially in another country we come into things automatically assuming we know best and we can do things better, and we bring all our “stuff” (meaning ideas, teachings, ways of thinking) with us. The truth is a lot of times we cannot actually be of much help until we put ourselves in the position of learning, and make ourselves vulnerable with the people that we want to love and get to know. We have to have humility.

In the end, Madame was a pretty picky boss to be honest. And at times it seemed silly to me to do things the way that she told me to do them. In my opinion it would have made a lot more sense to do things the way that I knew how to do it. But I tried to have a very humble spirit and I just did things the way that she wanted me to. It was a good reminder to me that even though it didn’t really make sense to me at times, it didn’t hurt anything to do things her way; and it was respectful to her and it helped our relationship grow. Sometimes you have to just do things for the sake of the relationship. Honestly a lot of the little things that we worry about don’t matter in the grand scheme of things anyway. It’s about the relationship and it’s about being culturally sensitive. It’s about being a servant.

While I was painting there were a couple of little boys that sat with me the whole time. They were 11 and 12 and they were so sweet! Neither of them were completely blind, but they certainly couldn’t see very well. They would sit with their faces RIGHT next to the wall, and over and over again tell me “that is very nice Didi,(which means older sister in Hindi) Very, very nice.” It was so cute. Clearly they couldn’t see very well :) I think that was Jesus’ sweet reminder to me though, that it was all going to be ok, and even if I’m not the best painter in the world, that’s not really completely what those two days were all about anyway.

Here are some pics of the finished walls :)


In my opinion this doesn't exactly look much like a boy's dorm. Oh well. She kept asking me to paint more butterflies, so we painted more butterflies. I'd say there are now plenty of butterflies, how bout you?

Not extremely creative, but hey it works.
The green trees on either side of the door are Madame's handiwork.

This was not my idea, just for the record :) She told me what to paint and I just painted it. I found this smiley thing rather funny.

Another complete wall. The huge sunflower was originally a sun that I painted...she didn't like it and told me to turn it into a sunflower instead. So here's the giant sunflower...painted just for you Madame.

This little guy was my favorite.


Kind of a sad excuse for wall murals, but in the end I guess they don't look TOO bad. I know you all probably want to hire me now....too bad I'm in India.