VBS

Today we closed up VBS with one more session of crazy English and Tegulu songs, a silly skit about David and Goliath, and some more coloring. The kids LOVE singing “My Salvation” (sung the tune of “Twist and Shout”)…especially the surfing hand motions.

We then served all the kids lunch. Harvest India makes sure that every aspect of VBS is very special, including the food. The cost for a 3 day VBS is only $5 per person.

Rally

After a short afternoon break, our team loaded into some auto-rickshaws and headed back to the orphanage. Now that was an experience!
To close VBS, Harvest India conducted a rally in a nearby village. All the kids put on crowns with bible verses and the band loaded into a van with a portable sound system on the roof. All 700 kids followed the van down the street to the village, singing praise songs and dancing and gathering attention. Once we got to the end of the village, Saresh shared the gospel with the town and told stories of what Jesus has done in the lives of the orphans to make them so happy. It was a blast to see a live band and a throng of kids stopping traffic for Jesus! It was really hard to say goodbye to the kids we befriended, especially those of us who decided to sponsor a child. The great thing about Harvest India is that 100% of sponsorship money goes to the child…no administration costs!

Medical Camp

After VBS we had the opportunity to visit a Harvest India medical camp and pass out malaria medication to the children. The doctor and Harvest India nursing school graduates then diagnose and treat the poor and neglected. What an amazing time and incredible ministry. These nurses are the real champions. They set up the camps and medicine and stay for hours serving the people.

We are so sad to leave in the morning, but are very excited to share the story of this amazing place to our friends in the States.

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We had another great VBS session today. The kids love teaching us Tegulu (the State language) vocabulary in exchange for their English counterparts.  This is a great way to connect with the older classes (ages 12-14) who want to practice their English. They LOVE singing and hand motions! The whole team, especially the women (Kara, Danielle, Heather, Mary), are doing a great job engaging with all the kids!

Indian Wedding

Today we had the incredible privilege of attending an Indian wedding party for a friend of Saresh. The girls wore saris and the the guys wore our custom tailored Indian suits! We were a fine bunch, I must say. For 10-20 days before the wedding, both the bride and groom’s families host huge parties for hundreds of people! We attended the bride’s party on the day before the wedding. We enjoyed an amazing lunch, overwhelming hospitality, and a time of prayer for the bride.

Redlight

In the evening we visited Harvest India’s prostitute ministry in the nearby red-light district. The center provides food, medicine, and a chance to break away from the trade.  The women shared an intimate time of prayer and encouragement.

A bit shorter on the post…sorry…we’ve all been a little sick and have been spending our time in the bathroom.

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That’s what we did today…dipped our chicken in some yogurt…while eating on a banana leaf in the middle of the jungle. Yeah, dinner was awesome!

The day was awesome. Let’s start from the beginning.

Some chicken, rice, harboiled eggs, fruit, and a bunch of other stuff we couldn’t see in the dark

Orphanage

After a breakfast of potato crepes, hardboiled eggs, hand squeezed grape juice, and curry, we drove over to the Harvest India school and orphanage. This school houses mainly children whose families were lost in the Tsunami. The kids were so joyful and well behaved! The school has some of the highest marks in the state! All of the orphans are from the lowest caste systems. A few shared some of their stories. It was heartbreaking to see little boys and girls trying to choke back their tears and share how hard their life has been. Yet God has provided for them a new life with new possibilities.

This was how they welcomed us:

Orphanage Greeting from Ryan Axtell on Vimeo.

Ashraya House: A Place of Hope and Dignity

Next we walked across the compound to visit Harvest India’s Ashraya Women’s Home. Harvest India buys women out of the sex trade and provides schooling and crafting for them to help them build an independent future.  Many of these women are trafficked into prostitution, sold by their families or coerced into a life of prostitution at a young age.  As we looked into their eyes, it was clear that they were still struggling with the emptiness and pain from their past and yet reconciling that with the truth that God values them more than they can imagine and offers them healing, hope, and dignity.  This is one of the hardest ministries here because in Indian culture, prostitutes are “unclean.” Once they are deemed as such they live their life with a permanent stigma, leaving them feeling cast aside and forgotten.  Women who aren’t virgins are seldom married (and about 50% of Indian marriages are arranged) and never open up about their past experience for fear of ruining their hope for the future.  Harvest India helps to arrange marriages for these women in addition to providing them much needed medical care. In the Ashraya home, these women learn to make purses, pajama pants, and pillow cases in order to support themselves in another way.  Unfortunately, since these products are made with “unclean” hands, no one in India will buy them.  They depend on foreign visitors like us to support the work of their hands, and we’ve brought a bunch back which will be sold in the Cornerstone bookstore!  This portion of the day was a highlight for Heather, who is excited to partner with the Ashraya Home with her business, Ransom Me, which aims to raise funds for programs that aid victims of sex trafficking.

Elderly Home

Driving for one hour in cramped SUV’s to an the elderly home was another experience in itself with oncoming trucks and buses playing truth or dare with our vehicle. When we arrived we were bombarded with flowers and hugs from the old people as they warmly greeted us in front of their home. The elderly in this home are forgotten by their families and have no place to go. All of us were choked up as we heard the stories of abandonment and then restoration as they come to this home to live out their final years with the care and compassion that only God can give. Many of them actually come to Christ in this home and these people become the prayer warriors that sustain Harvest in India.

Outreach Night

some of my handclappin’ pals

Saresh and one of the local pastors

We ended our day by heading out over bumpy dusty roads to a village where Harvest India has been ministering through different types of relief work. As we drove in we could hear beautiful native music and see lights in the distance. In the middle of what seemed like no where a portable sound system, lights and a stage were set up. When we arrived there were probably over 100 people (women sitting on the ground, men seated in the back, waiting for our teams. We were introduced to a local pastor,  enjoyed more Indian praise songs with me distracting several beautiful kids in the front in a random clapping game (so many beautiful smiles). I was able to lead several worship songs as more and more people arrived to check out what was going on. Marty introduced Kara one of our team members to give her testimony which was a really big step of faith for her never having done it before. Kara did an amazing job supported in prayer by all of us, she will never be the same! Chris, one of the members of the Canadian group shared a message based on God’s love for women tied to a gospel presentation. Niall closed with an invitation to accept Christ with over 100 standing and praying to receive Jesus as their Savior. Harvest India will be following up in the village to be sure there is an understanding of who the one true God is and what that decision means to them and help discern between different types of decisions. We were all able to pray for dozens of villagers as the evening drew to a close. The work of the Holy Spirit was powerful in a small village in India last night. What a blessing to be able to be part of that!

Thanks for all your prayers and support. We’ve enjoyed reading your comments and sharing our experience with you guys! Tomorrow we start our VBS…which is gonna be amazing! The kids are so ecstactic…this is 3 days of holiday for them!

Church Service

Here is video update of our church service a few days ago.

India- Baptist Church Service from Ryan Axtell on Vimeo.

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