A collection of joys
& sorrows :
Whenever he sees us, our outgoing neighborhood kid leads a
chorus of, “Vicki! Vicki! Kaitlin! Kaitlin! Shake! Shake!” (They
misunderstood
when Shea introduced herself.)
This catchy new nickname reminds me of how quickly kids wiggle
their way
into our hearts! (I will post more specific kid blogs again soon ..!)
In the past two days, two children at Sarah’s Covenant Homes
Victory Colony passed away suddenly.
The caring staff have had to mourn too often, but thankfully the
spirits
of these two girls are free now, and they are dancing in heaven in their
restored bodies!
Theresa, an American working at SCH, got chili powder in her
eyes while cleaning out the kitchen cabinets. An
Indian staff member immediately sat her down and licked
her eyeballs. Yes, she rolled her
tongue up under Theresa’s eyelids!
(The video is posted on-line.)
Quick thinking replaced the burning sensation with an odd
octopus-like
sucking sensation, or so she said.
While I narrated the story of the Lost Sheep (Luke
15) to
fifty village children, a herd (of goats) pranced down the street in
front of
the church where we were gathered.
As our Good Shepherd and Father, God truly does rejoice when the
Lost
get Found!
At one point last week, Kaitlin finally expressed
exasperation at having to preach yet again. We
prayed her through it, and that day, guided by the power
of the Holy Spirit, she delivered a very meaningful sermon. The local pastors told us that both her
and Shea’s testimonies spoke directly to specific situations that his
church
members were currently facing.
Praise the Lord for His faithfulness!
As we make house visits, we are able to hear people’s
stories. One church member was
secretly housing another who had fled there out of fear for her life. Her alcoholic husband had beat her so
severely that she had a permanent dent on her forehead and a broken
wrist. How do you assure someone in her
situation of the Truth that God is good?
Read what Kaitlin wrote on our team blog at
http://india-ap.adventures.org/?filename=i-will-never-leave-nor-forsake-you
Another man’s violent reaction to the Name of Jesus and his
unblinking eyes made it clear that he was possessed by many demons. We continue to pray for his complete freedom!
We were a
little offended when the church children
said, “Sari … first time?” but we were honored when the church ladies
offered
(well,
basically they just started) to unwrap and rewrap us.
At church
the other day (keep in mind that we have
seats of
honor in front of the entire congregation), Kaitlin took a big gulp of
soda (something else they honor us with) and
promptly spit it out. She hadn’t
noticed the fly on the rim until she felt him swimming in her mouth!
Despite the strong
undercurrent, we love getting pounded by
the waves in the Bay of Bengal! (We have only gone to the beach a few
times.)
Pastor Johnson shared a special beach memory with us. It was
his first
experience with underwear … at the age of 15 back in the 1980’s, he went
to the beach with visiting friends from America. Key
words: transparent briefs!
We are not at all surprised that miracle cures can be found
in nature, but the doctor actually prescribed coconut water for all our
various
ailments last week. Our contacts seem so concerned when they (text us to) ask if we
need more
of that tasty fruit.
These are just some of the many things that have made us
laugh and cry in the last two months while serving in India. Our experiences here definitely have inspired a unique
sense of wonder …
We have adopted – but
still don’t quite understand – the Indian
head
bob. How can it mean so many things?!
And this.
Really?!
* * *
Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support!
We have just about one more week in
India …
(re-posted from http://victoriaskyvalidas.theworldrace.org)
