My other family in India :)

 Grant, my sister, dad and a team from Mission of Mercy went to India on a medical mission last year.

I was a little weary of India.  Whenever I had thought about a mission trip, I thought of Africa or Haiti, but India never really stood out. 

India has forever changed my life.

I never knew that these sweet little kids could make such a difference in the way I live, love and walk in my everyday life.

We went there to serve these kids and to show them love that they have never seen before.  I do not have a medical background, but I worked in the pharmacy and after they had been through exams and given a little sheet of paper that had lists and lists of what they were going to need to try to make them a little healthier, I was able to see each smiling face and love on them.

There is a slum in India that has been given the name "trash pickers." To make some sort of living they sort trash. We walked through this slum and I just could not believe my eyes. But you know what was crazy, these people were happy and the kids didn't know any different and ran around like any other child in this world. WOW, what an example.

The whole time we were at this slum, there were 2 boys that seems to take a liking to Grant and I.  They would wait for us to arrive and follow us everywhere.  We would give them bubbles and even though we didn't speak the same language, we connected with them.

These boys Saddam and Sawakat did not attend school.  All the children we were seeing in the clinic were sponsor kiddos who went to the school where the clinic we set up was at.  The last day all the other kids in the town could come to get an exam and get medicine. Me and Grant knew something needed to change with these 2 boys.

Here is a picture that will forever be in my mind.  We wanted Sawakat and Saddam to be able to learn about Jesus, go to school and get a good meal each day.  We asked this sweet couple who was in charge of the school and sponsor program if we could sponsor both of these boys and register them into the program.  

Here we are explaining to them through translation, that we are going to sponsor them each month until they are 18 and for the first time in their life they get to go to school.

Though Saddam and Sawakat do not speak our same language or live in the same country, Grant and I both consider these boys apart of our family.  We have received 2 letters from them and they are loving school and learning about Jesus which they had never heard of before.  

They make my heart happy.

While we were there we also got to go to the Taj Mahal.  It was SOO hot, but a pretty neat site to see. SO beautiful!

The Dr. we were with would write a blog everyday while we were there.  This is an excerpt from his blog on the last day...

"The smiles of the children, the glisten of tears of thanks from the parents, and the soft touch of a calloused hand that has felt nothing but garbage all of its life, gives me solace in knowing that at least for now, for even a brief moment, they feel worthy of being valued. They feel the warmth of dignity, the pride of being recognized as human, and the love that they may not have felt for a very long time." Dr. Beyda

Have you ever thought of sponsoring a child? It really does make a difference.  If you don't know where to start, you can start here.