Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Bats and Jog Falls...

Hello there loved ones!!

Another exciting day here at Happy Home (and the surrounding area)! But before we go into today we have to share an event that happened last night after the blog was written. For the past several nights we have been admiring the HUGE bats flying over Happy Home, who sleep in the tree in the center of the courtyard, and last night Edwin, Irene's brother, shot one out of the tree with a pellet gun. Roshan, a lover of animals, was upset with him, but the bat was mostly just stunned by the combination of lights and the pellet gun and flew off by this morning. It was pretty incredible to see though!



Here is a picture of the proud Edwin and his prize!

Back to today: It was another early morning visiting Happy Home, the amazing Irene and Roshan, and the incredible children. We sang a few songs, prayed to bless the meal, and served breakfast to the little ones; we never cease to be swept off our feet by the heart of the kids here, the incredible servants hearts they have for each other, and how clearly and purely we see the face of Christ in each and every one of them. What a humbling experience, being broken down in this way yet utterly fulfilled and overwhelmed by Gods love.

While we have been experiencing this love, tenderness, and mercy of Christ at Happy Home, Roshan took us on a wild ride out to Jog Falls today where we got a little glimpse into the power and might of our great God.



Here is Jog Falls...isn't it breathtaking!?!

We drove for a couple hours each way to get there, weaving in and out of cars, cattle, rickshaws, children, and stray dogs, through countryside that looked straight out of a National Geographic magazine. [On a side-note: we hire a driver to take us places since we don't have enough room in the Happy Home van, and it's incredible to see the ministry Roshan and Irene do with these Hindu drivers with their idols on the dashboard. They treat them as brothers, serving them with the love of Christ, and it is obvious they are not frequently treated in this manner. ...One of the many little "side-lessons" I feel we are learning here daily :-) ] When we arrived at Jog Falls it immediately started POURING DOWN RAIN...monsooning to an extent that even us Oregonians were taken aback by (if you can believe that)!! It was the perfect kickstart to the neverending stairwell through gorgeous greenery that led to the falls. We were stoked for the adventure, encountering friendly Indian tourists wanting to take pictures with us, aggressive monkeys battling for our snacks (turns out Mike is somewhat of a monkey-whisperer though!), and so much more.

We'll let the pictures speak for themselves from this point on, but God moves mightily in this place of such great faith, and we are so blessed to be here to experience it and offer up a little fellowship to God's servants here.







Love and miss you all, thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement!!
Blessings,
Craig, Whit, and team :-)

2 comments:

Simon said...

What a great story and photos. I particularly liked the small lessons of spreading Christ's word through love and kind actions with all people.

Unknown said...

Hi guys, we are continuing to pray for all of you!!! We love the Blog, seeing the work that the Lord is doing "having the eyes of your hearts enlightened.." in the team! How cool for us to get a chance to see "what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints" as we look at the smiling faces of these amazing children, who reflect Christ even through snapshots posted on the internet. What a privilege you have to experience the hugs, smiles (and dances) of the kids in person. Hug them for us! We will continue to pray for each of you that you will have His strength and that you will know the "immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe"!

Love ya! Doug and Terry Rathkey