Encouraging the Encourager

Over the course of this trip there
have been many frustrating days, particularly at our Leper Colony. Each time we have gone, a few relationships
begin to bud but the overall climate of our trip is uneasy. The neighborhood around the Leper Colony is
classified as a slum and therefore there are tons of children running
around. It’s been a joy to have children
to play with while we are there but it seems to have inhibited our
relationships with some of the adults. It’s been so easy to play with the children, which is definitely a good
thing to do, but we have fewer and more shallow relationships with a lot of the
adults because our time has been split.

On Wednesday many children followed
us into the Leper Colony as usual. Some
of our group split to talk to a few of the adults while others went and played
with these children. This day was
different though in that the children were unusually aggressive with each
other. The kids began to fight with each
other and cause a lot of problems. We
had to break up a fight between two of the girls and that caused chaos. Our translator, Sapna, had to tell the
children that if they were going to fight they had to leave. More chaos ensued as an angry parent came to
yell at us and then later questioned why we didn’t beat her child for starting
a fight. The whole scene was
heartbreaking because these kids are so hurting. Hurt people hurt people. 

Despite the hard day on Wednesday,
we entered the Leper Colony on Friday hoping to form some strong relationships
with the adults. Friday turned out to be
my favorite day so far. I had talked a
few days to a beautiful young mom named Jaya. She has two children, Presan (who is 1) and Suman (who is 3). He husband went to Bible College and works at
a local school. She doesn’t have
leprosy, nor does her husband as far as I know, but her father does and so she
still lives in the leper colony. I am
always so encouraged by her joy and generosity and hope that I am able to be an
encouragement to her also. She is funny
and vibrant and the love of our Savior seeps out of her.   Her love for her parents and her children is
evident in all of her behavior. The
first day that I met her she showed me her wedding photos and a few pictures of
another girl from America who she bonded with. It has been such a blessing to meet her and develop a relationship with
her. 

Occasionally a group of Hindu’s
come and feed the people at our Leper Colony. The people there say they are all believers. When the Hindu’s come, however, most of them
go and worship at the Temple in order to get food. I pray that they are believers and this is
simply a sin they struggle with. It is
such a powerful reminder of the idols that we all worship at in our own lives
as well. We can be so tempted to
criticize them for resorting to worshiping a Hindu idol to receive food while
we will go and bow down to our idols of entertainment or consumerism and don’t
even receive anything in return.   But as
we were watching these families walk from their houses to worship at the
temple, we saw a few families stay back. They had the strength to resist getting food at the cost of idol
worship. They were stronger than that. Jaya stayed back and relied on God’s ability
to provide for food for her family. What
a powerful testimony of reliance on her Savior. We have two more days at the Leper Colony; four more hours to spend with
this lovely woman and her family. I pray
that God will bless that time and allow us to encourage her as much as she has
inspired and encouraged us.