India Trip - Day 9

Today we went back to the place where they make shoes for the lepers and some of us had shoes made while we watched. I was hoping a new pair of sandals would relieve my blisters that I got from the ones I was wearing and some of these sandals were quite fashionable. Turned out that I just developed new blisters with these new ones, but I am still glad that I got the sandals. I will get used to them.





There is also a bookstore on the grounds and I picked up one by Paul Brand and Philip Yancy called, "Beautifully and Wonderfully Made". It is a really good read. They also have another book that I am on the quest for and almost picked it up when I was there, it is called something like, "Ten Fingers to use for God". Can't wait to find it. I would definatley recommend reading them.

We went to the leprosy colony and visited with them there, they give us smiles and we are blessed to meet them. It is sad when we learned how these lepers are treated by most people. This disease is not as contagious as once thought, but the stigma remains for them and not many people will still go near them. Even sadder is that it causes some of them to commit suicide. I am really glad we got to come and meet them. From there we head over to the land where the future HOPE House orphanage will be built. It is so good to finally see this place as I had only seen pictures before. It will make a wonderful home for those who will need it in the future. It is really beautiful out here with hills in the distance and palm trees and open land around it. We pray over the land and God's use of it, this is a special time for me as I really wanted to see this place and just be a part of it. I got lots of photos to be sent to the architect for building.

We had lunch at the guest house, it was very good. Here I had my first taste of Appy Fizz. You will hear more on this on my last post. We went back to the hospital (CMC) to see how one of the babies is doing on the kind of formula that we brought. Looks like the child is doing well, it is a good feeling. After a rest we headed over to the HOPE House to see the girls! On the way we came up behind them again and surprised them as they walked home from school. Some of us jumped out of the vehicle and walked the rest of the way back to the orphanage with them, it was a good time. When we got there we had fun letting them paint our finger and toe nails after they had done their own. I brought some suncatchers along for all the girls to paint. After they dried, the girls decorated the room by hanging them up in all the places that they could find. We also had some birthday cake that someone brought to share with the girls for their celebration and we had a special rice pudding for dessert tonight.

Something else I discovered while here is that there are people who teach others how to drive and everytime the car they use backs up you hear a snippet of classical music played. I am so getting this for my cell phone ring tone when I find it. I got to hear this play several times a day and it will bring back some good memories of India everytime my phone rings.