The orphans and lepers of India, the people who we have come to serve and be Christ to, have already taught us more about love and generosity than we could have ever imagined.  I remember feeling very nervous on our first drive to the leper colony and doubting whether these lepers would really accept us as their friends.  But when we entered the colony, my fears quickly subsided. It was pouring, so we waited in our van for a while for the rain to die down before getting out of our van. The children, however, did not want to wait and immediately began reaching inside the van windows to greet us and ask us our names. As soon as we got out of the van, they grabbed our hands and led us through their colony to play with them. Without even knowing us, the children already trusted us as their friends.

On that day, I discovered some of the most generous people I have ever met. Our team was outside playing with the children, and I saw this man holding his adorable 2-year-old son. The baby stared at me with his gigantic brown eyes, and seconds later, he was in my arms. After holding him for a while, the man invited me into his small, one-room house, where I met his sisters, his mother, and his mother-in-law, who were all sitting together. Soon after I sat down, they offered me a plate of rice and meat-- before they even knew my name, where I was from, or what I was doing there. As I struggled to eat the rice and meat with my right hand, they laughed and talked amongst themselves about my awkwardness. But rather than just watching me struggle the whole time, the woman who served me the food taught me how to eat with my hands. She made herself a plate of the rice and meat, mashed the food together with her hand to form a small, round clump, and then put the clump into my hand for me to eat it. As this kind woman continued to put clumps of rice and meat in my hand for me to eat, God was teaching me many lessons about what it means to truly love and give to others. Through experiences like this, our team is becoming more humble. We realize that we do not have anything to offer to these lepers but that God can use us to minister to the lepers and that He can also use them to minister to us.

That same week my team visited our orphanage ministry site for the first time, and the children there were just as welcoming and generous to us as the lepers. On our first visit, Kat and I sat in a room with several of the girls at the orphanage, as we watched them make beaded bracelets. After only minutes of sitting with them, they soon were tying bracelets around our wrists, and before I knew it, my left arm was covered from elbow to wrist with colorful bracelets made of foam beads and yarn. 

These girls have gone out of their way to serve and give to others on many other occasions since that first week. On our second week at the orphanage, Matt accidentally left his baseball cap at the orphanage while he was helping build a shelf in the girls' bunk room. I remember him realizing that on our drive home and then saying to me, "I'll probably never see it again." 

The next time we came to the orphanage, Supna and Puja, two of the orphans, came up to me and asked if I would call for Matt Uncle (out of respect, the orphans call us "Auntie" and "Uncle"). Matt and I were a little perplexed about why these two girls wanted to speak to him, but when we made it over to them, we saw that Supna was hiding something behind her back. Sure enough, it was Matt's baseball cap. But it wasn't the same dirty, discolored hat that Matt remembered.  The girls had washed it, and it was now bright white and looked brand new. Matt and I were both astounded by the girls' kindness. The orphans and the lepers have both demonstrated what it means to love and to give unconditionally. We are all excited to see what God will continue to teach us from interacting with these amazing people.