Up until about four weeks ago we were teaching weekly English courses at an all girls college. On our final day there Indu, a young girl, in broken English, told me that her family lives just down the way from our house in Tenali. While Indu lives on campus throughout the year, she would be returning to live with her parents once the school year was finished (one week before we depart.) I encouraged Indu to stop by our house when she was around. After a few weeks I kind of forgot, until three days ago when Indu showed up at our gate. In the past three days we have seen Indu quite a few times. Taylor and I have sat in her house, with her family, twice now, sipping Sprite and trying as hard as we can to have a decent conversation in all Indu's broken English and our very few Telugu words. Indu and her family are Hindu and very rooted in their beliefs. We are so sad to go with this relationship just now starting. Please pray with us that God would continue to work in their lives and reveal His Spirit to them.
Suresh shared an amazing miracle with us yesterday. Apparantly the residents at the Harvest India campus; including the Ashraya women, the RH children, and the multiple staffers, have reported cobra sightings over the last five years. Cobras are incredibly poisonous and absolutely to be feared here in India. They are territorial and their venom kills quickly. There is a Hindu god that represents the cobra. She is worshiped and given sacrifices in the hopes that she will keep her cobra from biting her followers.
Although it was rather costly, Suresh felt it was time to hire a crew to clean up the campus, cut down the overgrowth of trees and hunt some cobra. Sure enough a snake pit was found with a family of 5 cobras. From the size of one's head, he appeared to be very old; meaning he had probably been there longer than the RH children's home has been. The older the snake, the more potent the venom. PRAISE JESUS that in five years of having 300+ children living at the RH home, not a single cobra bite has occurred. This is truly a miracle.
Tonight, Taylor and I will enjoy our last sunset from the roof of what has begun to feel a little like home. It has been an amazing three months (more thoughts on that later) and we are torn on our feelings about leaving. It finally feels like we are getting our feet back under us, emotions are not running quite as high, and we are finding so much joy in the daily things. However, we are truly ready for a break. We can't wait to eat baguettes, nibble on cheese and enjoy cooler weather. We can't wait to hug our families or to sleep in our own bed again (our bed here is slightly more comfortable than rock hard & two twin beds - I Love Lucy style.) We have experienced God in truly new and amazing ways here. While we are ready to come home we have been given an opportunity to travel through Northern India for the next week, and then through Europe for three more weeks. God has been SO gracious and it is costing us next to nothing. India is not expensive to travel through and Europe is a gift from Taylor's parents. The Thompsons felt that this would be a good time for a family vacation and are meeting us, with Taylor's brother, in London. Taylor and I are overwhelmed by God's grace and the amazing opportunities He has allowed us to take part in. It feels slightly too good to be true that we are getting this dream vacation. We are going to take this time to visit a few friends, check out some awesome churches, and relax as a family.
We will be back in the States the evening of Wednesday, May 4th and can't wait to see you all face to face!
Our love and prayers are with you,
Taylor and Bethany
Suresh shared an amazing miracle with us yesterday. Apparantly the residents at the Harvest India campus; including the Ashraya women, the RH children, and the multiple staffers, have reported cobra sightings over the last five years. Cobras are incredibly poisonous and absolutely to be feared here in India. They are territorial and their venom kills quickly. There is a Hindu god that represents the cobra. She is worshiped and given sacrifices in the hopes that she will keep her cobra from biting her followers.
Although it was rather costly, Suresh felt it was time to hire a crew to clean up the campus, cut down the overgrowth of trees and hunt some cobra. Sure enough a snake pit was found with a family of 5 cobras. From the size of one's head, he appeared to be very old; meaning he had probably been there longer than the RH children's home has been. The older the snake, the more potent the venom. PRAISE JESUS that in five years of having 300+ children living at the RH home, not a single cobra bite has occurred. This is truly a miracle.
Tonight, Taylor and I will enjoy our last sunset from the roof of what has begun to feel a little like home. It has been an amazing three months (more thoughts on that later) and we are torn on our feelings about leaving. It finally feels like we are getting our feet back under us, emotions are not running quite as high, and we are finding so much joy in the daily things. However, we are truly ready for a break. We can't wait to eat baguettes, nibble on cheese and enjoy cooler weather. We can't wait to hug our families or to sleep in our own bed again (our bed here is slightly more comfortable than rock hard & two twin beds - I Love Lucy style.) We have experienced God in truly new and amazing ways here. While we are ready to come home we have been given an opportunity to travel through Northern India for the next week, and then through Europe for three more weeks. God has been SO gracious and it is costing us next to nothing. India is not expensive to travel through and Europe is a gift from Taylor's parents. The Thompsons felt that this would be a good time for a family vacation and are meeting us, with Taylor's brother, in London. Taylor and I are overwhelmed by God's grace and the amazing opportunities He has allowed us to take part in. It feels slightly too good to be true that we are getting this dream vacation. We are going to take this time to visit a few friends, check out some awesome churches, and relax as a family.
We will be back in the States the evening of Wednesday, May 4th and can't wait to see you all face to face!
Our love and prayers are with you,
Taylor and Bethany
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