Crazy Day

Oh, how I love the smiles of children. When they laugh, my heart melts. When they sing, I feel a special joy in my heart.

Today we visited the International Justice Mission (IJM) office of Chennai. We learned about the work they do here for bonded labor cases in particular. It’s crazy to think how many people are enslaved here today. Although the justice system is corrupt and broken, it’s encouraging to hear them talk about the successful cases when people are rescued and restored to a better life.

After IJM, we visited CMCT, a mission that facilitates many different ministries. First we saw many women making their own handy-crafts for fair wage. Next we saw their medical clinic that does not cheat people who need medical care. They have everything from dental and vision to pediatricians and an oncologist. There is also an orphanage in the building where at least 24 girls live in a small space. We also visited a school that those girls study, plus many other girls and boys.

 The rest of the afternoon was spent eating together, preparing for VBS, shopping at the craziest store of my life, and surprising Varun. I enjoyed playing a joke on the rest of my team when we were practicing our VBS songs. I told them I was going to add a new song. They didn’t catch that it was an iffy pop song until the part where it said “addicted” and the motion I told them to do was something having to do with drugs. Everyone seemed to not know what to think about it (or didn’t notice because they were thinking that they knew the song somehow). Then Zach spoke up and said, “I’m really not okay with doing this song! Is anyone else not okay with this?!” Then I revealed that it was a joke. I played it on a few other absent group members later and received similar but unique responses. It was fun.

The store we visited was the craziest of my life because it was so huge and there were so many people there at once! Stores like that are difficult for me because I like things to be organized and I also prefer stores to have less items to choose from. We surprised Varun with a cake because he has been working so hard and being so patient with us. Most of the team hid in one of our bathrooms while Zach told Varun that Gen was sick. As Varun approached the room, I started making puking noises in the bathroom. This was also incredibly fun—we were so giddy and excited about the surprise!

Tomorrow is the first day of VBS. There have been scheduling changes I’ve had to deal with, but it’s working out and I’m still really excited to begin! I love teaching kids new songs and being crazy! Please pray that it goes well—that the girls are attentive to God’s word and that they may learn more of Him through all we do.