With being gone for one week and being away from the US, you would think that people would be starting to get homesick. Well we are all in high spirits. There has been the random conversations about what we would like to eat when we get back and the conversations about “can’t wait to get into my own bed,” but all-in-all we know that we have been blessed with this great opportunity to be here, to be a vessel that God uses to show the people of India love and also to change our lives.

In this week we have seen many orphan children. These children display a joy and excitement to see us that you could not help but love them from the start. Children with disabilities, children that have been abanded on door steps and at hospitals, and children that have been shunned by the educational system. The organization that we partnered with takes them all in and we were privileged to get to fellowship with them. It was awesome to meet these children and the workers.

Yesterday we got a chance to go to a GHI village development project, and at this meeting my heart was broken. First, we were the first white people that these people had ever seen in person, and these people were amazed that we were there for them. Secondly, during meetings the team are given sodas to help keep us cool. We learned that the children of this village only get sodas once every ten years. So, as a team we gave them our sodas, they were so amazed and thankful. This was amazing because that meant some of the kids have never had a soda.

We also did some medical clinics, in which we saw a wide variety of problems. From poor hygiene to arthritis, from headaches because they had no money for glasses to lack of nutrients because of the poor food and water conditions.

Here are a couple of things to think about. First, think about how many sodas you drink a day and think that if you saved some of that money that you spend on sodas, you could sponsor a village with GHI. Secondly, pray about it and if God blesses you with the opportunity to travel to India, hang on because it is going to be a wild ride.

This has been an eye-opening experience for me. This has changed the way I see things. People will not understand what is going on here until you witness it first hand. So this is an encouragement to anyone thinking about coming to India, you will never be the same.