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It is Sunday night, and by now we have each reached home and, no doubt, had some joyful reunions with you all, who we have deeply missed during our two week trip. When Eric and I left Rhode Island, the grass around our house was dead and we had to wear jackets outside. Now, it is a rich green everywhere, and even some daffodils are blooming in our yard. It is absolutely beautiful here.

We came home yesterday morning and found wonderful “welcome home” surprises on our coffee table from our Sherpa Family: a beautiful Indian patterned card, an album containing all of the blog postings and comments, a bottle of wine and pack of Red Bull (guess which one Eric snatched immediately? ) Thank you SO very much! We love you and missed you, and we can’t wait to see you tomorrow…

Part of my mind and heart is still back in India. This was such an amazing trip, and one that was drenched in God’s grace. Looking back at the amount of miles we covered, the things we were able to see, the safety, health, laughter and friendships we enjoyed - it is nothing short of a miracle. We were planning to see 7 or 8 orphanages; we visited 11 orphanages, 3 slums and a leper colony. We had no travel issues - no lost luggage, no flat tires, no accidents and no scheduling problems. Most of all, we come home with tons of information about the children, orphanages and pastors, having conducted countless interviews and taken hundreds of pictures.

And we have memories in our hearts that will never disappear. I am so thankful for each child I met, for each hand I got to hold, and each smile exchanged. Here are some moments, both joyful and heart-breaking, that I pray will always stay with me:

The laughter of a 2 year old village boy as he sat on my lap outside the church
Praying together with a mother for her blind 5 year old son
Shaking the fingerless hands of a man living with leprosy
Having a 14 year old orphan girl ask me to take her to America
Hugging the pastors good-bye
The singing of the children at an orphanage, who sang the following song:

I have a maker,
He formed my heart.
Before even time began
My life was in his hands.

He knows my name,
He knows my every thought,
He sees each tear that falls
And hears me when I call.

I have a father,
He calls me his own.
He’ll never leave me
No matter where I go.

He knows my name,
He knows my every thought,
He sees each tear that falls
And hears me when I call.

I am so grateful for all of your love, support and encouragement. Eric and I could really feel your prayers during the trip. Whether or not you ever step foot in India (and I hope that you do), I hope that the orphans’ and pastors’ stories have stolen a piece of your heart. Who better to lose it to?

God Bless,
Allison

We have had a busy couple of days. On Monday, we took a 16 hour train ride from to our destination, arriving at our hotel at 6 am on Tuesday. After resting for a few hours, we went to the Pastor’s home for a great breakfast. Then we went to his orphanage, which now has 7 children. Six of the boys were there for us to play with, while the only girl was back at the house to help prepare lunch and dinner for us with the Pastor’s wife, mother and grandmother. We noticed right away that there were no toys on hand for us to play with, just one flat soccer ball. So, Mike, Herb and the pastors headed out for some sports equipment while Mat and I came up with some silly games. The boys now know how to limbo, play musical chairs, and (of course) play slaps. When the rest of the team returned, there were soccer balls everywhere and a cricket game began. Adam also played some indoor badmitton with a boy for at least an hour.

I have had so much fun with the kids over the past days… The girls I’ve met have been teaching me Indian dance moves, we’ve been spinning til we’re dizzy in the yard, they’ve been braiding my hair and pinning in flowers, playing Simon Says and collapsing on the grass in laughter. It’s been a blast. So, at the Pastor’s orphanage, I found myself looking out for the little girls again. And then there they were, on their knees peeking into the orphanage hall where the guys were playing with the boys with their faces and fingers pressed against the entryway steps and stoop. They were the extended family of the orphanage’s watchman, and lived in the run down “house” adjacent to the orphan hall. This was just what I needed!

I spent the rest of my time on the front porch with these 13 people, 6 of which were little girls ages 1 to 6. I got to paint their tiny fingernails pink. Their hands were so small that only 2 light touches of the brush covered their entire nail. It was so sweet to sit with each of them, and then to watch them move into the shade afterwards, with their fingers spread wide apart, and sit still for the polish to dry. It was fun to see their mothers pushing the babies toward me and to have them help hold the little ones still. It was very special to hold the girls’ little hands, see the dirt caked under their nails, and see their smiles as they felt they were becoming more beautiful with each brush stroke. I’ll never forget it.

Now we are going to check out of the hotel, have breakfast at the Pastor’s home again (our 4th meal there - excellent food!), and ride 4 hours or so, where at 4:30 this afternoon we catch a flight. Tomorrow we are visiting our last orphanage before boarding the plane back to the States. This was not a planned stop, but will be amazing, I’m sure. It is an orphanage with 130 children run, almost single-handedly, by a woman.

We will blog more tomorrow! We love you, miss you and can’t wait to see you next week! Oh, also today is Mike Clowe’s birthday! Send him an email or post a Comment - he is turning 22!!!

Love, Allison

This morning we are at our destination. By 9:30 am it was already scorching. We took a short bus ride into the heart of the nearby slums, unloaded from our bright purple AC Coach bus and stood in the alley not knowing what to expect. Our new guide, led us briskly up and down sets of uneven concrete stairs, through very narrow walkways, around broken water pumps and under dangling electrical wires to a small, dark 6×6 room which turned out to be the home of 5 children. We all piled into the space, ducking our heads under the spinning ceiling fan. Our guide introduced the kids to us and asked us to pray for them. Two of the girls (ages 4 and 6) had just lost their mother to AIDS. A picture of her hangs on the wall. Their father, also HIV positive, works all day in construction, so they are mostly alone. Then our guide dropped the news that these sisters, too, have HIV. They are the prettiest, sweetest girls. We got on our knees, they put their hands together and squinted shut their eyes, and we prayed. It was the only thing we could do and the most important thing we could do, all at the same time. When we climbed out of that room, we wiggled our way through more of the slums (to the residents’ great surprise) to the very edge of the riverbed, where there is a small orphanage for about 25 children. The “river” is completely dry. Children were using the land to play cricket. It is also about a 50 foot descent to climb down from the slum’s edge. Separating the river from the slums is a landslide of trash that doubles as the community bathroom. We were quickly surrounded by at least 50 dirty and curious children. They seemed fascinated by Mike, Mat and Adam. The group following me showed off their English skills in a little pointing game — naming the colors of their shirts, the surrounding animals (dog, water buffalo, bird, eagle). It had to be over 100 degrees and we were all looking like we came straight out of the shower. The pastor of the orphanage showed us the 15×15 foot foundation where he dreams of building his church for this forgotten community. After spending a little time with the kids near the riverbed’s edge, we climbed back up into the slum to an 8×10 patio. We introduced ourselves to the smiling children, prayed for them, and sang “Amazing Grace” in the middle of swarming flies and the stench of raw sewage. Then, in a matter of minutes, we were back on our purple AC Coach bus and in the heart of city traffic, all wondering what had just happened. This trip has been a birrage of surreal experiences, and we will not come back the same. Our hearts are broken for these people, but I pray that each scar we are experiencing builds up our faith. I just keep thinking that we have so much to learn about how to love each other. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we travel 4+ more hours today by bus. Please pray that we continue to be a unified and effective team, and that we can bring joy into these undesireable and unloved places. Megan, thank you so much for your letter to me that you sent with Eric. It really touched my heart. I love you, I hope you are feeling well, and can’t wait to see you on the 26th! We hope to write again very soon. Love, Allison

Hi Everyone, We are at the Jaipur Airport about to board a plane to Hyderabad, and we just wanted to send out a quick update. This morning we said good-bye to Veer, Belssy and their 10 kids after a little media stint at Veer’s school. We all got to pass out report cards to his kids. A journalist was there, and supposedly our pictures will be in the local Beawar paper tomorrow. Whatever we can do to help promote enrollment! It was a rough good-bye, and a few of the boys were in tears (the orphans, not Mike and Eric - haha). It’s amazing how attached you can become in such a short time. The bonds formed during playtime, and especially prayer time, definitely overcome any language barriers. We are all excited to see them again on future trips, and to see the fruit of their own ministries in 15-20 years. I have to hurry so we can check our bags… Tomorrow holds a visit to two more orphanages, and we are really excited! A few of us have been sick during the past 2 days, but seem to be better now. Thank you again for all of your prayers and Comments. They mean more than you know. Love, Allison

I’m not sure what day of the week it is anymore, so I will just number them… We’ve been posting our blogs from the business center of a neighboring hotel. Right outside the door in the lobby I can see a copper elephant god statue that is draped with flowered leis and illuminated by a single candle. (It definitely one-ups the Sherpa manequin ) This morning we rode 2 hours by bus where we toured a leper colony of about 900 people. Not everyone there has leprosy; many are family members of lepers that are shunned by society just by association. All of the leper colony buildings are painted Pepto Bismol pink so there is no wondering where the “zone” begins and ends. The Pastor we visited today, is doing significant ministry in this community, which has to be self-sustaining. We saw the small doctor’s office, poultry farm (which is currently empty due to the bird flu), school (there are 300 children living there and just 2 teachers), and meeting hall. We also saw the loom mill where the lepers spin their wool and make beautiful “blankets” (they are more the thickness of table cloths). We basically bought out all of their blankets - our small gesture of support - and we will give these out during the rest of our trip. You might think this is not the best idea in the middle of a 90+ degree springtime, but these items are used as carpets to cover the cement floors in the orphanages, and also as bedding for the children. We were able to sit down with the lepers in the meeting hall and hear about their need for a new water system. They barely have running water now, and people will surely die of dehydration if this huge problem is not fixed before summer. We are bringing back all the facts we have and their proposal.

After touring the leper colony, the Pastor brought us into the slums where he runs a school in a room no bigger than a bedroom for about 100 kids. And yes, he pays rent for this space in the middle of a slum… It was shocking to walk through it. There were naked children in the alleys, flies swarming everywhere, random starving dogs, goats and other unidentifiable rodents scattered around. I can’t believe his heart for this dark place. He has a goal to start even 2 more schools in this area. The Pastor himself was raised until age 5 in a leper colony (his dad had leprosy) before he was taken into an orphanage.

I have to hurry up as my minutes are getting used up… the last thing we did with the Pastor was visit a plot of land where he hopes to one day have his own orphanage for 50-60 children. He has a great vision for this land and community; God drew him to the location, and he does not yet even know whether it is up for sale. He is praying for 5-6 million rupies (maybe $125,000?) so that he can get the broker and purchase the land. A normal reaction might be to think that he is off his rocker to think this is possible, but I58 Projects has seen and prayed over empty plots of land that now house buildings, thriving children, and growing churches. The Pastor’s faith reminds me of something our friend/pastor/guide said yesterday over breakfast: “If you tell someone your vision and they do not laugh out loud, you are not dreaming big enough.” He himself has a vision to see his school in serve 1,000 children next year. As of today, he has signed up 11 students.

I can’t wait to see the Pastor’s school and orphanage tomorrow. We are leaving at 6 in the morning and it will take us until about 9 at night to get there by bus. We are stopping at an orphanage along the way. Please continue to pray for us. Thank you for all of the Comments you have posted, and we are so privileged to be here to share the funds you have helped raise with these amazing children! Love, Allison

There is so much to tell already, and it is only our first day… For all of the obstacles we faced to get here, we’ve had a miraculously smooth trip this far. Nobody missed their plane, everyone got their luggage (an India trip first, I think). Some of the things I’ve seen out the bus window so far:

-a man walking his 3 foot tall monkey on a leash
-a four-year-old holding the hand of a three-year-old and running, unsupervised, down the median of a four-lane highway
-the 16 foot barbed wire fence surrounding the opposition party compound
-a husband driving a scooter with his wife side-saddled behind him holding their newborn

We are definitely tired, but feeling well. We went to our first orphanage today in Delhi and had an amazing time playing with the 21 kids. Their newest addition is a baby named Asha (meaning Hope). They got her from the hospital 3 months ago when she was 3 days old. Her young mother wanted to give her up for adoption to a Christian orphanage. She is beautiful, and Abraham and Grace (the director and his wife) enjoyed showing her off. I think Herb held her the most.
While washing dishes I also met Oba, a 24 year old girl who works at the orphanage. She went to bible college and now “wants to help the poor children.” Only later in talking with her did I find out that she lost both of her parents in a train crash when she was 16, and grew up in an orphanage herself. Four years ago, Eric met her with the I58 team when they visited Kota. She’s praying for her passport so she can spend 6 months in Georgia… it’s a small world!

Mat and I had a chance to sit in on an English class for the kids taught by Joy, a University of Michigan grad who has spent 8 months teaching here in Delhi. She said that in the last month, she has lost 3 friends to motorcycle accidents. She also wanted to know who won the Rosebowl, if anyone had won the primaries yet, and whether the US was really entering a recession (in which case, should she pull all of her money out of the bank?).

The children sang a dozen songs for us, and were full of “pep” as my Pappy would say. They danced around, used wide hand motions and shouted at the top of their lungs. Yesterday, many of the kids visited the dentist and had teeth pulled. Others are missing their two front teeth… You should have seen their faces of concentration when trying to deliver the line, “Satan has zero power!” over and over, but they didn’t let it slow them down!
Thankfully, we were able to bless this orphanage by purchasing 4-6 months of food and toiletries for them. Mike got to pick out all of this, which included around 1 1/2 tons of rice. Herb also made his own trip around town to collect baby food for little Asha. When the food arrived and was piled inside the orphanage gate, someone pulled me aside and said, “You don’t know how much this means to us. We pray every Sunday that somehow food would be found for the kids, even that it would be brought by total strangers. Lately it has been extremely tight, and this is such a great relief.”

There are even more stories to tell, but the randomness of those above kind of describe how it has been so far… hit by every different emotion…sensory overload at its best. But this group’s been great - we’re laughing a lot and are off to a good start. Mat fits right in, too. Keep checking back with us, and thanks for your prayers! Tomorrow we head off to a leper colony three hours away…

Much Love,
Allison

Finally! After a month’s delay and what felt like a million obstacles, we take off for India tomorrow. Coming from four different states, we will meet face-to-face as a team for the first time at an airport gate in Newark, NJ. But not to worry, we will have 14 1/2 hours on our flight to bond. Thank you again to all of you for your prayer and financial support. We are so excited, and cannot wait to meet these children, who will no doubt bless our hearts more than we could ever bless them! Check back again soon…

Dear Friends and Family,

Welcome to the blog for the I58 Projects March 2008 India Team! I’m excited to say that in one month I will be going back to India for the second time! God has drawn together six people from four different states (FL, NC, OH, RI) for this two week mission trip, and I hope that you will use this site to meet us and follow us along our journey.

The next few weeks of preparation will be crucial as we each get our visas, immunizations, and funds collected. Please pray that we are wise in our planning and that our resources would stretch to cover all our needs. Please pray that we would be in good health leading up to the trip. Mostly, please pray that our hearts, and those of the orphans, pastors, teachers and orphanage directors that we will be meeting, would be prepared for our brief time together, and that we would make a lasting impact on each other to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Check back for more messages from this new volunteer team. We love you and couldn’t do this without your support!

In Him,
Allison