Scary Experiences and Encouraging Stories

I have so much to write about… I hope if you're reading this you don't get bored bc I am saving the best story for last-but I'll have to shorten it a lot.

So, I am in a big city here in India, doing a little bit of work/errands and meeting with friends of friends. Its amazing meeting people I've heard so much about for the past 4 months. Yesterday we were on our way to an indian couples house who have their own slum outreach here. On our way there, we were stopped in an auto-rickshaw due to traffic, when I felt a very unwelcome presence and saw two eunuchs on the side of the road. (Eunuchs are men here who grow out their hair, and dress like women in saris, and they come to you asking for money, and if you give them money they do a chant over you and "bless" you- but if you don't give them money they do a chant over you and "curse" you. A few days ago I even watched a eunuch beat a man who didn't give her/him money- then watched her "bless" him when he gave finally gave her the money.) It is crazy how much these men look and walk like women.

So they came up to my auto and I noticed one of the women wasn't walking… she crawling- not on hands and knees, but hands and feet, reminding me of something you'd see in a horror movie. The Eunuch came up to me- and even though I wouldn't look at her, she touched my arm and said "Madam- I need money- look" and I saw her point to the eunuch on the ground. I won't lie- I was scared. I never looked directly at either one of them but immediately I just started singing, "Savior, He can move the mountains… My God is mighty to save… He is Mighty to save…" and I didn't stop. Immediately the fear was gone and I felt the eunuch let go of me and just say "Madam…" before she left and went to the next auto. I don't know if she left me because she thought I was a crazy woman, or if she actually felt the presence I felt from the worship- knowing she couldn't hurt me. But I was glad she left. After the auto finally started moving, I asked Stephanie what was wrong with the eunuch on the ground… She told me it was Polio.

When we got to our friends house (the couple with the outreach) we were able to sit and talk with them about a horrible but yet extremely blessing situation they had just been through. Here is their story that started the week before Christmas.

Our friends have a slum outreach that they have been doing for about 7 or 8 years now. They have a building where they take in and tutor small slum children- and feed them 5 meals a week. All of the kids are very young, but there was one boy in his early teens (13 or 14) who was a very slow learner, so they agreed to take him in and help him too. He was the oldest of all the children.

Every year they put on a Christmas program with most of the kids for the slum families, telling the Christmas story and including singing and dancing. To my understanding this was about a week before Christmas, while they were busy with the program, a woman was at the house watching some of the children and the eldest boy lured one of the young (around 5 years old) girls away and raped her. When the girl went back crying and told the woman what happened, the lady went and found that the boy had hung himself. To make the story short- everyone blamed them. The police and government got involved- the family of the kid took the kids dead body to their house and left it in their front yard for two days- screaming and drawing a lot of attention. But the kids they work with told the government and the police the truth- when their parents were telling the police things like "they beat our kids and forced them to do these things." Their faith in God never failed- and when they were forced to move and leave everything- God blessed them 100x more than they could have ever dreamed! We went to their new house yesterday, a house much bigger than even my house in America. They got it, as well as most of what was inside (couches, big TV with surround sound, beds, ect) for the same price of their house before. It is crazy how it all worked out. It reminds me so much of the story of Job. Now they are in a new slum sharing the love of God. <3