India. Just as great the second time.

First I want to say "Thank you!!" to all of you who prayed and supported me and the team while we were in India. We could feel your prayers, and lets just say satan could hear them as well. This trip had its trials (of course). We had many plans change, bags missing, things "Lost In Translation", dehydrated teammates, trouble with airlines, long bus rides and lots of work to get done. But through it all God was there and He was faithful. There were a lot of kids and a lot of love to give, and we gave it. It was a fantastic trip!

 To start it off lets go to the very beginning of my travels.... I left Sydney, Australia July 3rd to meet up with my team in Chennai, India that night so we could all catch the early morning flight to Madurai at 6:30 am July 4th. I got to Chennai and didn't see any of my team. All night they never showed up. So by 5 am I decided I needed to check my bag in and find my gate. I need to keep going! To my surprise one team member was there the entire time I was! We were SO happy to see each other. The only white people in the whole airport. :)

As we were boarding our plane our team started showing up. Come to find out they missed their international flight out of the USA and they came from all directions and different flights. We were still missing a few teammates. They had to stay back and figure out some flights that got canceled and missing bags. So by Monday night, July 4th, everyone was at Hope Mission Home. We still had nine bags missing though. The bags had needed dental supplies and children's ministry things. We started the clinics the next morning with the things we had and God supplied the needs everyday. When we were getting low on things, the bag with those things would show up that night. 

By the end of the trip all the bags except one made their way to us. The last bag was picked up on the way OUT of India. It was our youngest teammates, Savannah's, bag. She was such a sport about it.

The dental clinic ran well. We saw all 180 kids. Cleaned all their teeth and pulled some baby teeth. Construction crew helped build a rock wall at the front of the orphanage. It looked really nice. They did a great job. 

We had plenty of "kid time"! Lots of Games played, pictures taken, running races, hugs and kisses, nails painted, clothes mended, joking around and smiles. What a great time! These kids are great! What really touched me was the girls and how they played. They would play house. They had these little "houses" they made by some trees and they had dishes to cook up the mud soup and lay it out on leaves to dry. Just like any girl would. Kids are the same everywhere you go. Even if they grow up with hundreds of other "brothers and sisters" they still play the same. So cute!

We were able to go out and do our dramas and present the gospel message at two new churches Pastor Durairaj just recently started. The churches are right in the middle of neighborhoods, a perfect place for outreach. God did great things in the peoples hearts. One man was moved very much and he asked for prayer for his drinking problem and wanted to follow Jesus. It was really neat. God is moving in India.

Thank you all again! The kids asked me if I would be coming back in January and I said I don't know. I asked them to pray. So in broken english they would say "Kelsea mom. India. January. Come." While folding their hands and looking to heaven. I would love to go back and they could see their prayers answered. God willing....

My list of 'First's' in India

1.) Traveling there alone

2.) My First circus ever! I got to see it with all the kids at Hope Mission home!

3.) First temple experience

4.) Sat on an elephant. Sooooooo cool!

5.) My first ever foreign country car accident. Crazy.

6.) Dominoes in India?! Yep.

The land of Oz

Im in Australia!!!

Its crazy to think that I'm on the other side of the world in a different day then everyone in the States. 

I've never lived by the beach, but I'm pretty sure I can get used to it. It seems like EVERYONE exercises here. I get up in the morning and I see lots of people out running by the beach, riding their bikes, theres exercise groups out there doing their thing. Its great!

Driving used to be easy. I could even txt and drive (I know, bad idea)! Here its like a brain workout. You're on the other side of the car, other side of the road, tiny streets and tiny cars. You always have to be thinking. I drove yesterday. Crazy! But we survived and I didnt kill us or any people. :)

So winter will be here in a few days. It definitely is chilly, but it doesn't compare to our winters for sure. The thing I'm having to get used to is the darkness at 5. I'm ready for bed by 7. Ha! 

Dont worry everyone, I'm not engaged yet. There are some cuties for sure. I think its the accent though. :)

Love you all!

Rainy day today. The ocean is behind that house at the end of the street.

Peru...the fifth time.

So I cant say that I'm getting tired of Peru yet. With this being my fifth trip and all, it just keeps getting better. I sure cant compare trips because they are all SO different, and I definitely cant say I've liked one more than the other either.

This trip was very different than all the other trips for sure. We started out with a plan. We got on our boat the "Cielito Lindo" with a plan and purpose. Then God changed our plans. Same purpose. It took us two days on the Cielito Lindo to get where we wanted to be. We went up the Maranon river and then turned up the Chambria. I even got to drive the boat one day. Its harder than it looks in movies trying to turn that wheel! 


So, after two days of just chilling on our boat, we get to a village called Nuevo Esperanza. This was going to  be our second village that we saw on this trip. Our plan was to go up river a little more and visit "Washington's Village" for two days (drill a well and do dental and medical) then come down river and see Nuevo Esperanza for two days. Well... as we are at Nuervo Esperanza watching a local soccer game :) our Captain of the "Cielito Lindo" says that the water level in the river is dropping and that we cant go upriver or even stay here because we will get stuck.


So... we prayed for rain!


It didnt come. So we had to change plans. 

I guess when we were coming up river there was a village that asked us to stop and do clinics there if we had any time on our way home. Well, we ended parking our boat there the whole trip. The Village was called Dos De Mayo.


The well team was able to drill them two water wells. Dental and Medical did clinics there for a day and a half then we went up or down river on the speed boat doing "house calls." :) It was so neat! Since I was "dental coordinator" it was my responsibility to have all the supplies and to set up and keep the clinic running. With the help, of course, of the rest of the dental team. 

Dental team

Dental and Medical were able to see a total of five little villages those 4 days we worked. We got good at setting up and breaking down clinic. One village we went to was pretty much a "house call." We unload, set up in someone's little hut, and pulled two teeth. Then we packed up, loaded up and headed to the next place. :) It was great!

Drilling a well 

 God did great things on this trip. On the well crew we usually hire a few Peruvians that know what to do to help us drill wells. This trip we really got to connect with them. They stayed on the boat with us, ate with us, played cards with us, and worked along side us all day. Some of them didn't speak any English, but that didn't matter. Language may be a barrier, but its not a big one. At least not anymore for me ( I am getting a lot better at my Spanish, but sometimes I have NO clue what people are saying).


We are people that like the same things, laugh at the same jokes, give the same stupid looks, and act like we know what we're talking about. Even if we cant understand each others language we end up understanding each other through other kinds of communication. But this trip we were able to hear these tough guys cry, to share their heart. They aren't all christians either. I've been able to spend two trips with most of these same men and this has never happened where they shared their hearts.


One gave his heart to God. Its was awesome to be apart of. They add such an neat dynamic to our trip that it would not be the same without them.


Now the Chambria river is where an indigenous people group live. They are called the Urarina. This is who we came to serve. These people are very different than any people I've met. The women are very oppressed. When they come into the clinic they face the walls with their backs to us while their husbands face inward. This is the same why they are in their homes while they eat. They also believe in polygamy. So a man can have many wives. Women are looked at with no respect. They are the baby makers and home makers. Thats it. They have no social life like the husband does, they have no say in anything, they aren't respected or cherished. 

Its very sad. We tried to love on the wives as much as we can. They loved beads! Their status is shown by how many necklaces they wear. Some women have a ton! So we brought lots of bead to give them. They loved it. 



 God has long term plans for us to be there planting seeds. It may be awhile before we see change in the Urarina people. We go there, plant the seeds and then its the Holy Spirits job to change hearts. We will continue to go there and love on the Urarina people. 

India!

I'm not very good at this blog thing already :)


So I went to India January 7. I never thought I would make it to that part of the world. But I did! What an experience. I've wanted to go there since I watched the movie Slumdog millionaire. If you haven't seen that movie, you need to.


While we were there we brought Christmas to the kids. For most of them this was the first real gift they have ever gotten. It was so neat! We also brought dental, medical and construction. We worked all week as well as played and gave as much attention to the kids as possible. I didn't want to leave!

Just to give you a brief understanding of India...

-It is the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.18 billion people, more than a sixth of the world's population. 

-The population living in slums in the country is more than the whole population of Britain. India's slum population rose from 27.9 million in 1981 to over 40 million in 2001.

-11 Million children live on the streets.

-25-30% of the population earn about a dollar a day.

Street kids are considered the lowest of the low in India. They have no name. If they were a body part of a whole human, they would be the bottom of the foot. They are the trash of the streets and they are treated that way. Either they are sold into the slave/sex trade, drug trafficking or sometimes they are sold to the black market where their organs are sold.

When I was in India I was at an orphanage that is taking kids off the street and giving them a home. Its called Hope Mission Home. I was privileged to go there and love on these kids. Now not all the kids at this orphanage are "true orphans." Some of them have parents that just cant care for them.   

We showed up at the orphanage while the kids are at school so we had to wait until evening to see the kids. As we approach the home imagine the sound of 225 kids cheering, yelling and whooping! The are lined up on both sides of the road near the orphanage to greet us. Everyone of them wants to shake your hand and tell you "hello" in english. They absolutely love us! And we absolutely love them!

During the week I was there I became a "mum" :) They all called me "Kelsea mum!" I wanted to take about 225 of them home with me! I played a lot of jump rope, some hopscotch, painted a TON of nails (boys too. They loved it!), played ball, basket ball, got LOTS of hugs and kisses and gave a bunch too. They look and act just like normal little kids. They play, get in trouble, do their chores, do homework, eat and sleep. But on the inside they are hurt and broken. A lot of them have been abused, either sexually or physically. Many have never known what true love is. 

One special thing about Hope Mission Home is that it isn't just an Orphanage. It is a place where the kids learn what true love really is. It is a learning ground for Jesus Christ. The kids wake up early in the morning to sing and pray to God before school. They do go to a Hindu school, but the second they get back to the Home they get off the bus and thank God for their home. They all line up and pray before they run off to their chores or homework. Every night they are taught from the bible before they go to bed.

God is doing great things in India at Hope Mission Home. He has some big plans for those kids. If you want to check out their website it is-

www.hopemisisonhome.org 

God willing I will be going back in July! 

The start of something new...

So I've finally gave in and started my own blog. I always said I wasn't going to be a blog person, but here I am starting my own. I figured people would like to know whats going on in my life, and since I'm not around everyone all the time I thought I would start a blog to keep you all up to date on what I'm doing.

I'm excited for this new chapter in my life. For all who dont know, I am moving to Australia in March to live with my parents for a few years. I'm excited of what Gods going to do in these next few years. As of now I have no plans. I'm going to move to Australia. Thats my plan.

My life will be simplified when I get there. No cell phone, no car. That simplifies a lot. Its a freeing thing to not have any plans or expectations. All I need to do is trust. God has it all under control. Its great!