Strong Farm

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake… my cup overflows. – Psalm 23

 

I will sleep well tonight. I have spent the last 6 days at Strong Farm, the orphanage I told you about in my last post. In short, this was an amazing experience.

 

That is, aside from actually getting there and coming back. Traveling in India is quite the experience. A typical bus ride to Khatima, the nearest bus stop to the orphanage, from Delhi is about 8 hours. The bus is supposed to leave around 10 PM and arrive around 6 AM. However, my ride was anything but typical. First of all, it was 15 hours long. The bus I took is called a sleeper bus, which means above all the seats are some makeshift bed-like things that are somewhat comfortable. They are close to the size of a twin bed, except contrary to popular practice the bus company prefers that two people share the one space. I decided to bite the bullet and pay for a double sleeper. I know, luxurious.

 

So the bus ride was terribly long and hot (no air conditioning). There were two fights on the bus and a man tried to convince me to share my sleeper with him. It was hard to resist, but I said no.

 

Believe it or not, the bus ride back to Delhi was even better. Although this bus ride was 7 hours shorter than the previous, it was slightly less comfortable. This time I did not have the luxury of a sleeper. But I did have a window seat, which means that I was able to soak in all the wonderful aromas and smells of the streets of India. Any preconceived notion I had of what a “bad smell” consisted of was dramatically called into question and redefined last night. I don’t know how to explain it, except that my eyes were often filled with tears (not of joy) and I had to hold my breath at points so I would not throw up. Oh, and I made a new friend. He sat next to me and used my shoulder as a pillow for about 6 hours of the trip.

 

Pretty miserable huh? Well, maybe… except that it was completely worth it to spend those days at the orphanage. The last week is sure to stand as one of the major highlights of my time here in India. It was the perfect retreat.

 

Upon my arrival, I was greeted by the boys swimming in a pool. To my knowledge, swimming pools didn’t exist in India. I have never been so glad to be wrong. I stayed in the hostel with the boys. I woke up at 6:30 for breakfast and would then work the farm with them. I actually drove a tractor while I was there, pretty ridiculous. I climbed trees with the boys to pick their favorite fruit, lichis and closed out every day playing cricket with them. Oh yeah, I went hiking through the Jungle, visited Nepal, and went on a motorcycle ride through the Himalayas.

 

This was an amazing week! The children at this orphanage were absolutely phenomenal. I was so thankful that I was able to go by myself and be completely immersed into life with them for almost a week so that I was actually able to get to know them. Truth be told, six days was not enough.

 

I am so thankful God opened this door. He is surely at work in this place. The orphanage comes from an extremely grim situation from just a few years ago, and God’s restoration is at work in this place. I look forward to sharing more with you soon, but for now I am going to bed. I have been looking forward to this all day.