another AMAZING day in India!

Well hello there! We are coming to the close of yet another day here at Happy Home, and I have the task of re-telling the days events. While there wasn't any elephant riding, or monkey feeding today, there was definitely never a dull moment.


The day began with our team arriving at H.H. at 8 am, just in time for breakfast. The kids got some added entertainment today during the meal, because we had Jordan playing worship songs on guitar while we all sang along. Luckily, it seemed like the kids loved it. After that, we headed back to Irenes house to have our breakfast and devotions/prayer.

A highlight of today (at least for me) had to have been getting fresh avocados off of their tree. We are going to be making dinner for everyone here sometime this week, and we all collectively decided that having guacamole would be a must! Even though it was raining like crazy, Melissa, Anthony, Mike, Roshan and myself ventured out to get some off the tree. It was quite the experience! We ended up with 17 total!

When we were finished, the boys ventured off to do man things, and build new bathrooms and shelves for H.H.
I would argue that the girls got perhaps the better job, of being able to just hang out and love on the kids. We joined them while they were still doing class and physical therapy, but we were more than happy to help.



(Kellie helping with the therapy)



(Ashley helping with the schoolwork)

And as always, no day would be complete if these amazing kids didnt do a dance (or two!) for us!



The rest of the day was filled with more laughing, playing, mopping, sweeping, rain, and being incredibly blessed by everyone here. This blog doesnt even begin to explain how much happened in one day! Everyday here has been such a blessing in its own way. Tomorrow we are off to Jog Falls, which is an incredible waterfall. I hope you all are having a wonderful time back in the states!

-Emma

The most CRAZY-AWESOME 2 days yet!!!!

Hey home base! It's J-HUGE (the tall guy)

Sorry things have been crazy (in the best sense of the word) so I'll try to cover the last 2 days the best I can in this blog! A lot has happened in a short amount of time so here we go!


Anthony and I looking in the mirror at how gross we look after being sick!

Day 7----

We survived! The previous day half the team got pretty sick (I got it the worst I think, I stayed in the hotel room for around 30 hours). But today we were all "resurrected" and happy to be alive! After feeding the kids breakfast Roshan took all of us out to the "Lions and Tigers Safari." Roshan went up to the gate to pay for all of us but when Mike went up after him the price to get in went from 30 rupees each to 200 each (which 200 rupees is only like 5ish bucks but still, that's lame). Once we all got inside our tour bus monkeys pretty much surrounded us. I'm not sure but it might have something to do with throwing nuts out the window? The Safari was a lot of fun and we all got some pretty sweet pictures!



After the Safari we headed back to Happy Home for a show, i would argue, way better than the Safari! The kids had prepared a bunch of dances and skits to perform for us. It was a blast to sit and watch all these kids performing to Indian-praise-hip-hop dance music! One of the coolest parts was that some of the older kids did a skit from Mark 5 where the woman is healed by touching a corner of Jesus' garments. Mike had just taught a devotional out of that passage to us that morning! I thought that was pretty cool!



Day 8----

I have never done this much in one day as i have today! Our day started with Roshan getting us up early to go to an elephant reserve. It was INCREDIBLE! We drove out to this place and walked down to a lake straight out of the Jungle Book to see a bunch of Indian men scrubbing down elephants in the water. We got to go help wash them and sit on them and take a ton of sweet new facebook pictures. But this was only the beginning. All 14ish of us loaded onto a big canoe type thing and we went for a little boat ride along this amazing lake. On our way back it started pouring down rain and on top of that Roshan almost flipped the boat over! It more just added to the adventure but if Rosh had flipped us over we would have all been pretty unhappy!




After taking a few more pictures with our elephant friends we took off to see the new property for the new Happy Home. It started raining again so we couldn't stay long, but we all huddled up in our rain jackets and our feet literally covered in mud and prayed over the land. Keep praying that everything will come together in the building of the new Happy Home!




As we were returning to Happy Home Roshan decided to take the scenic route back. However, driving this way with Roshan reminded most of us of the Indiana Jones ride in Disney World. We ended up getting to a part of the road where the mud was SUPER deep so Rosh tried powering through it in his little but mighty van. However, we got stuck. Really stuck. For the guys though, it ended up being a really fun bonding experience as we pushed and lifted this little van out of the mud. It was quite the adventure!




We got back to Happy Home to hang out with kiddos, mop some floors and the MEN are working on building a medicine cabinet and fixing up the bathrooms. Just another eventful couple days at a very special place in this world. :)

Thanks for all your prayers friends and family! Your posts are a huge encouragement (we all sit and read them together)! We are all learning and growing so much each day we spend here! I'm sure there will be tons more stories to tell once we get back about all that God has showed us during this time. Thanks again to all to all you guys! Be blessed!

Jordan HUGE

A day of rest and other India Adventures!

Hello friends and family! It's Jess!

We are several hours into Day 6. Yesterday most of the team was down and out sick. But praise the Lord, by His grace and mercy we are back to normal health!

Yesterday, we got the chance to wake up early and greet the BEAUTIFUL children and feed them, wash their faces, and get them ready for the day. I can say on behalf of everyone that we are learning more from the children than they are learning from us. It's so cool that although communication should be a barrier between us and the children, love is the common language that ties us and we are yoked together even still.

Here are some of the kids making silly faces!



Watching the children sit in their perfect rows, singing us songs while waiting patiently for their meals taught me a huge lesson. I looked at their throats (as weird as that sounds) and it was so precious to see the strain on their faces. It was convicting to see even little children sing of the Lord with their whole hearts; with their whole being. It was such a reminder of true worship, and how as we get older we start to fear man above the Lord. It was such a beautiful picture and a sweet reminder.

We were able to go shopping downtown. It was awesome to see a different part of Shimoga. Probably my favorite part of the trip was seeing sweet Irene "takin' care of business (as Melissa would say)." It was fun to watch her barter for a good bargain. :)


A few of us bought rad Indian tunics and beautiful Saree's!


As the day went on, more people began to feel sick, so we dedicated the rest of the day to rest, fellowship, and time with the Lord. We also got to watch Roshan sing a "worship remix!" He sang "Anchor of My Soul" as a rap! SO awesome!


We love you guys. Thank you so much for all the prayers, comment, and emails. Every day a part of us is being broken and it's so freeing to let go. God is teaching us so much about Himself and so much about His heart. It's a funny feeling.... Feeling like we've been here forever- in a good, comfortable way. :) but at the same time, feeling like we just got here! God is at work and it's so cool to watch and be a part of it!

Grace, Peace, and many blessings!!!
Jessica

This one's for ya Allison! Chitra! :)

Learning the Ropes...

Once the kids were off to school today, it was time to prepare the afternoon meal. As the girls were cutting up onions, smoke was billowing from the kitchen... and the combination caused many tears to fall. Once lunch was cooking, it was off to wash laundry. As the monsoon rains came down, the girls beat the clothes over rocks and hung them "to dry" on clotheslines in the open courtyard. The chickens watched in suspicion...

Meanwhile the boys ventured off in search of supplies to build a roof for the new bathrooms. They also bought tools to build a medicine cabinet and to reinforce the bathroom walls. When they came back we all served the kids their lunch of rice and curry.



Speech therapy class followed soon after lunch, but quickly turned into an energetic routine of song and dance, with the kids grooving to Father Abraham and the Hokey Pokey. After dancing for a bit, Kellie brought out stories and stickers. STICKERS were the BIG HIT!



It was amazing to see each child's face light up at the sight of a colorful sticker. They marched around the room proudly showcasing their stickers as if they were badges of honor. The room was filled with happy chatter (all of which we did not understand) as they placed them on their cheeks, chests and cherub-like faces.



They also were thrilled with story books galore that afternoon. ABC books, farm animals and counting filled several hours. It struck us that even though they could not read the words, every child was delighted with the books. They looked at the pictures and asked us to read them over and over.



As the rain continued to pour down, a friend of Roshan's climbed the palms to toss down some coconuts. The guys likened it to catching bowling balls mid air. Coconut is used in many of the dished here. We also got to sample a bit of fresh coconut meat!



The day wrapped up with the kids coming home from school and a late dinner. Looking back on this day we are still in awe of the children's pure joy in simple pleasures. They have so little and yet they love life and jump so quickly at any opportunity to help one another. The love of Jesus shines through their faces. This truly is a happy home!

We are home at Happy Home!

We are finally here! After months of planning calls back and forth to India and our other family in Shimoga it all became a reality as we loaded 26 X 50 lbs bags onto our 10 hour flight to Frankfurt and a 9 hour flight to Bangalore. Thank you everyone for your prayers on getting us here safely. We arrived on time and all together in one peace. Once we arrived in Bangalore we had a short 7 hour bus ride to Happy Home.


This is everyone at the Portland airport.


Our short layover in Frankfurt. We started our bible study through the book of Esther here and had many people bend an ear to our discussion on Gods word.

We arrived at 7:30 am to happy home after roughly 30 hours of travel just in time to start the day... All of the kids were waiting eagerly for us to come and meet them all. This was profound experience. All of the pictures we see do not do justice the beauty of these children. It is impossible not to get wrapped up in God's heart for the orphan and the fatherless when you are embraced with such a pure love and never ending hugs.


We were welcomed with flowers and coffee (so good, better than peets)



Just in time for breakfast!


The walls each of us had built up in our own lives started to break immediately. This has become home and the name is fitting, this truly is a "Happy Home". Roshan and Irene have welcomed us in as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. Gods hand is upon this place in such a power way. You start to see a bigger glimpse of the size of God when you enter into to His work in such a pure way.


Roshan has been teaching some martial arts to a few of the kids

We have a full day ahead of us, waking up the kids, bushing teeth and washing faces, school and breakfast, dishes and moping and that will only bring us to 10am. The family does this tirelessly day in and day our 365 days a year with such a joy. It has given me a new understanding of God's word "The joy of the Lord in my strength". The family here prays for you daily and thanks God for there family at Solid Rock for all that God is doing through you.



Jordan is the jungle gym of the team.


This is our faces after driving with Roshan through Shimoga...

God, break our heart for what breaks Yours.

We will now be reading this blog and writing something new each day so please continue to pray that God would lead and guide each of our steps as we humbly submit to His will for us over these nesxt few weeks.

In His Grace,

Mike Melissa, Craig, Whitney, Ashley, Danah, Emma, Jessica, Kellie, Jordan, Anothony Bob,

All Good Things.

All good things come to an end. As we are wrapping up the final days in our adventures here in India, we are all taking some time to take stock of the experiences we have had here. The canvas for this time of reflection just happens to be one of the 7 built wonders of the world…the Taj Mahal.

We spent 27+ hours on a train to get us to Agra…I (Tony) must admit, the time flew by much quicker than I had expected. It was a beautiful time of rest, reading, and introspection. We all found our nose buried in books and journals, and before we knew it we were here in Agra with anticipation of children at Christmas, knowing the Taj Mahal was on the day’s agenda. We slept for 3 hours or so, and then began our early morning to the Taj. This required us all to “push through” with little sleep and achy limbs and stomachs.

The Taj Mahal is actually quite a beautiful thing to behold. As most of you know, it was built as a tomb to enshrine a love lost to death. It glistens with a brilliant white from all over the city. From every brief glimpse of the towering minerettes, or the beautiful domes, the Taj Mahal has an ability to excite even the most apathetic sight see-er. Although the structure and grounds are incredibly impressive and beautiful (and we were all quite elated to be there), I think many of us at one point were also saddened by it. Man spends so much time and energy glorifying the wrong things.



Two quick things about our team at the Taj: we all sweat more than any of us has ever sweat before, assuring us that heaven will be a temperate place, more like San Deigo than Agra; and we all did exactly what we set out to do at the Taj, get the perfect Facebook picture.

With that said, as is the case during our debrief, I have been reflecting on our trip and wanted to put a few things in writing for you all. I hope it encourages and challenges you as it has me.

Reflections from Happy Home for the Handicapped: This is a place that can only be described as Ben said upon our first arrival “A piece of heaven on earth.” Not because it is a beautiful building with brilliant white, but because the people there make it so. The families and staff that live and work there evince a true servant’s heart every day, and show Christ to the children on a daily basis. The children themselves are welling up with a pure joy and peace that could only be a part of their existence were it for Christ in their life. Their stories are too sad to generate the love they do without Chirst in their lives. It is a truly beautiful and special thing happening there, and it is still very much with our team and me as we continue toward home.


Reflections from Ongole: The villages of Ongole have left me with a heavy heart. We saw the darkness idol worship and false gods can have on communities and families, and two things Jesus said keep echoing through my mind. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) We had one specific interaction with a man who had lost his faith, and claimed that there was no God because of his circumstances. He didn’t see the Lord saving him from his troubles, so he presumed God not to be. I love that verse in Matthew because it put into proper order the priorities we should have. The kingdom is our heartbeat…and if it is, everything else will work itself out. “Some things can only be done with prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29) We need to be prepared for troubles in our life that we might not also turn. Keeping our mind and attention on the Lord is of paramount importance.


I know I am getting a bit long here, but I also wanted to take a minute to mention what a beautiful team we have and spend a minute encouraging them and you about the ways I have seen Jesus in new ways through them all. Here is just short list of the qualities I have seen through my team that show how Jesus is alive in their lives, and molding them into creatures more like Him: selfless servant-hood, childlike joy, unabandoned love for one another, extreme patience, authenticity, tender compassion, gentle love, and sacrifice for each other. I am proud to have been a part of such a beautiful group.

Tony

Extra Extra Read All About It...

Hey all, it’s Danielle! No worries we are safe! PTL (Praise the Lord) as Jordan would say. We had no access to the internet in Ongole. We arrived in Ongole early in the morning around 2 AM. We finally got settled in, and got some rest for a long day ahead of us. We stayed in Ongole for 3 days and somehow managed to get our photo in the daily newspaper. Let me tell you, us white people have Hollywood status. There was a small article about us, explaining that we were here to see the Prime Minister. Apparently she was in town the same time we were.

Aside from having our day of fame, the Lord had many blessings ahead of us and was at work. Every morning after breakfast we headed over to an orphanage with about 200 children to sing songs with and love on. In the Afternoon we headed over to the Jr. College to share our testimonies and words of encouragement. Both the orphanage and Jr. College are part of Beulah Ministries. While we were there we performed 2 skits from the Bible, which the kids loved. We had such a great time performing out silly skits; we felt like kids again. It was definitely a blessing for us to spend time with those amazing children.

The first day we were there, the Lord specifically had a blessing for me. We were having lunch at the hotel restaurant and a man comes over to me saying, “Hello, Miss Danielle.” I look over in confusion and soon realize I know him! It was one of my student’s parents from last year. His son Abhinav was with him. They were just passing through to get some lunch and go further with their travels to see their family. What are the odds? I got to chat with them for a little while and went to go finish my lunch. As I was finishing I couldn’t help but think that this was one of Gods divine appointments. So I prayed and prayed asking the Lord to give me words to speak hoping to at least plant some sort of seed. I finally got the courage to go back over and chat some more We talked about the Hindu religion which they practice once in awhile and how different the cultures are compared to America. I was able to share why we were here in India and what we were doing. Our conversation was coming to an end and I got that panic feeling inside thinking, “what else can I say?” The first thing that came out was, “Can I pray for you?” He was a little caught off guard but seemed open to it as well. So I got to pray for them and wished them the best! So I pray that the Lord used that time for seed planting! The Lord had more to come.

After visiting the Jr. College Wednesday and Thursday we visited some villages. We had the privilege of sharing the gospel and praying for people that were ill. In the first village we prayed with a man who was barely able to walk. He kept asking us to pray that he could walk to the village church and join in the service. With great faith we surrounded the man and laid hands on him, speaking Jesus’ name. By the grace of God he arose to his feet and with Ben on one side and the pastor of the village on the other, he led a processional to the church. It was amazing! To see the hand of God so strongly on this man’s body brought tears to our eyes. The next night we visited another village, where we met a woman who was quite hardened to the gospel. But that didn’t stop it from spilling out of our mouths. After sharing scripture and telling her of the life Jesus had to offer her, we asked if she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart and she said YES! What a blessing it was to witness salvation for this woman.

All in all, Ongole was fun, it was intense, and we got to end the trip by going to the Bay of Bengal. A day at the beach was just what the team needed to end a great few days In Ongole. We hope all is well back home! See you soon!

Danielle