It is truly amazing to see the Lord working in the lives of these children. I am constantly reminded that He is the One who has brought each of them out from the hopeless situation that they were born into and has brought them into his loving care. Into a place where they can not only grow and learn in a safe and loving environment, but most importantly learn of the One who is at work in their lives now.
Last Sunday at our Youth Meeting we looked at the topic of forgiveness. We looked at how the world forgives compared to how God forgives and how we are called to forgive each other just as God has forgiven us through Christ. We had everyone split into small study groups and look up verses on the topic before we discussed it altogether. It proved to be a profitable time in the Word of God and everyone seemed to be greatly encouraged by it. However prayer is still needed to help these young people apply what they've learnt to their daily lives and live for Christ.
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| The boys answering a bible study test on the life of Jacob |
So after many requests from the children at the home to have a Bible study test, as they really love to show what they've learnt from God's Word, I managed to put together a challenging enough test and get it translated into Kannada. All of the children 12 years old and up sat for an hour on Sunday afternoon answering the test. There were 14 questions on the life of Jacob, three questions on how they are personally following God, and seven memory verses that they needed to write with the correct references. For example, one of the questions asked - "What did Isaac warn Jacob not to do when he sent him away?". The memory verses were also challenging with one of them listed below. It was really encouraging to see that most of the children got all the questions correct and all the memory verses correct, even the younger kids could recite the verses off by heart.
“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” - Colossians 3:23-24
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| Kids playing on a Sunday afternoon around the children's home |
It is a challenge to change their way of learning from the ROTE style that they are taught at in school where they just memorise everything without understanding it, to actually learning what the verse says, means and then applying it to our lives before memorising it.
The school's sports teams have been practicing everyday as this month there are a few competitions which other local school's get together. On the 17th there will be around 600 high school students descend on our school for a full day of sports and athletics. John Mark has been frantically organising and preparing things for the big day.
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| The boys kabaddi team at a local competition |
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| The girls kabaddi team being awarded second place in a competition |
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| John Mark, Naguraj, and Vivek with their motobikes |
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| The boys helping to water the crops around the school |
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| Sunday morning breakfast - Ganji (rice porridge) |
I am thanking the Lord each day for reasonable health and ability to keep going. Even though the Indian dust itches my eyes, the smells make me feel sick, and the food doesn't digest well, there is no where else I would rather be.
Each day I am looking around the Children's Home for opportunities to add practical support. One of the needs I saw was door mats. So last week Raju picked up seven large coconut husk door mats which everyone really appreciated.
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| New coconut husk door mats for around the children's Home |
The below video was taken last Sunday night at the Children's Home, they were having a special rice dish for dinner called Chicken Biryani. Dinner time for the children reminds me of the big youth camps we have back in New Zealand, however the camps only go for one week whereas this doesn't end. Everything works like clockwork as every child knows what they have to do.
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