Faith to Move Mountains

I am so sorry it’s been so long since we’ve been able to update you on all that has been happening here in Bangalore. Internet has been scarce, and when we have had it, it’s been short-lived. That being said, I wanted to fill you in a little more on the people we’re working with here.

Helping Hands India was started in 2001 by Pastor George Fernandes and his wife, Jyothi. The organization itself does everything from seminary school to widow and old age care to medical camps to orphan care to church planting, but the main focus is the children’s homes, known as New Hope Children’s Homes. In the beginning, they began taking children into their own 1-bedroom home, and since then George and Jyothi have sacrificed everything and done whatever necessary to keep the children’s home going. Their family (they have three children of their own) has moved several times, giving up their own home to make more space for more children. They sold their car several months back to pay for school tuition, and George sacrifices a lot of time with his own children to take care of all the paperwork and office details.

This is George, Jyothi, and their three kids, Sunny, Joshua, and Lenty. We took this picture on a weekend trip to the jungle

George has a pretty incredible story himself. He grew up in the slums and came to know God when he was a teenager, but during his late teens he turned away from Him and lost hope in life. At one point, at his very lowest, he decided to end it all by laying on a train track. The train had not come by the time it was supposed to arrive, and George felt the Lord speak to him, telling him he was meant for more than this, that He had a purpose for his life. So George got up and walked away from his suicide attempt, and the train came by less than five minutes later. When George’s father died, George was offered his government position, and George also gave that up to follow God’s call for his life to continue taking in children.

In the short time that we’ve been here, he’s told us countless other stories of struggle and despair, unbelievable faith, and God’s love and provision. They are funded entirely on support, which means there are times when they have to rely entirely on the Lord to prompt someone to give enough to get them through the month. One month they were exceptionally low on funds, and George told us that he had 20 rupees in his pocket (that’s less than 50 cents) with a week left in the month before they would receive support again. God led a couple from South Africa to their doorstep; they had a flight leaving the next morning, and they had wanted to visit one children’s home while they were in India. After trying to contact 10 other children’s homes and being told they were closed to visitors, they called George pretty late in the evening. Without thinking, George told them to come on over. After they had visited for a while and George mentioned their predicament, they wrote him a check for 14,000 rupees and left.

The amount of stories like this that we’ve heard has kind of blown my mind. George and Jyothi have a faith stronger than any I’ve ever seen; they are consumed with serving the Lord, and they trust whole-heartedly that He will provide for their needs. The thing is, anyone can say they have faith. But to be tested over and over again like George has, to go through struggle after struggle and be faced with losing everything he’s worked for time and again, and still hold onto God’s promises and believe in His never-ending grace and love, is beyond inspiring. They are truly servants to Christ, striving daily to die to self and give all they have so that others might know His name. It’s beautiful, it’s humbling, and it’s incredibly convicting. You see, we don’t “need” faith like that in America. We are able to rely on our jobs, the comfort of our own homes, our bank accounts, etc. The American way of life is to be independent and provide for ourselves, but that is the exact opposite of what Jesus teaches. But it’s not just the poverty, the lack of ability to provide for themselves that instills such tremendous faith in these people. George could have had a decent job and been able to make enough to provide a nice home, food, clothes, education, and comfort for his family. Instead, he chose to live like Christ calls us to live, to give everything to those who have nothing, and lean on God for the rest. He chose to need the Lord every day. We know we’re supposed to need the Lord, and, as sinners, we recognize that all of us need His grace and mercy. But do our actions show that all we need is Him? Do we trust that He will provide our next meal or the shelter over our heads? Does Jesus not say that we are precious to the Father and that He will meet our every need? Why don’t we live like we believe Him?

I have felt called more than ever to live a simpler life, but not because the children and people around me have so much less than I do. It’s because a simpler life leaves less room for distractions and self-provision, and more room for trusting the Lord to fill our needs. Tyler and I are feeling the Spirit move us to make Helping Hands India a permanent part of our lives, and that is both extremely exciting and equally scary. Exciting because it’s the first thing that we’ve felt a passion about enough to want to dedicate our lives to it, and scary because it’s a huge step in the direction that our lives will go and a pretty big leap of faith. Please be praying for us as we continue to sort out God’s call for our lives with Helping Hands India, and continue to pray for the people here as they lay themselves down daily to serve the Lord.

First Taste of India

India is a country much less decrepit than people in the Western world think. To America’s standards, yes, it’s a bit dirty and crowded, but health care is improving, industry is growing, and big cities are thriving. The public water may not be safe to drink, but they have a system for treating it and providing citizens with clean water. India as a whole is no longer a country that is in desperate need of “western civilization.”

But I don’t want to paint the wrong picture here. Though the image of a country with no infrastructure is false, the poverty and brokenness in this country is still heart-wrenching. It is one of the leading countries in sex-trafficking, and there are still many children on the streets. The poverty and population lead to starvation, with many people (mostly children) dying daily from lack of food. The big cities are nicer than you may expect, but the slums are worse than you can possibly imagine. The cost of living may seem cheap, but the average Indian family makes roughly the equivalent of $50-$100 per month. Christianity makes up 3% of the population’s religion, and the rest put their hope in false gods and idols.

Despite the difficulties about life here, despite their struggles and hardships, these people are gracious, friendly, hospitable, and incredibly generous. I have never felt so welcomed in my life than by complete strangers at the New Hope for Children’s Home. The children are beautiful and filled with joy, and the staff goes out of their way to serve. What they lack in English communication skills (though most of them know at least some English) they make up for with love, kindness, and humility. Although we came here to serve, at times it feels like we’re the ones being served, the ones being blessed. Tyler and I have fallen in love with the country and the people, and we’ve been here for a week. 

The children at the orphanage gave us a wonderful welcoming ceremony the evening we got there.

So what does a day in our lives look like over here? Well, we get up at 5:30 with the children for morning prayer and exercise time. The staff heard that we were “exercise people,” as they called us, and asked us to lead, so we do walking, jogging, stretching and calisthenics. The kids get washed up, have breakfast, and head to school, where they stay until 4:00 in the afternoon. Helping Hands India has a small Bible seminary student group, and they’ve given us a couple of those classes a day to teach. Devotion is at 9:00, and then we teach English at 9:30. We had no idea we could be capable of teaching English, but it seems that they're actually learning from us, and they seem to be improving. At 11:30, I teach first aid to the seminary students and the staff of the orphanage. We were also able to put together a first aid kit for the children’s home to have, so it’s cool that they are learning how to better take care of the children. 

After first aid is lunch, and then we have the rest of the afternoon off. We’ve been using it to plan the next day’s lessons, nap, blog, pray, walk around, or whatever else we feel like doing. When the children get home from school, they have a little bit of time to play before they start on their studies, so we play with them and then help them study until around 7:30 when we have evening devotions. So far all they want is for us to teach them songs and tell them Bible stories, but we really love observing what they usually do. They know a plethora of songs, from hymns and worship songs, to kids’ Bible songs, to songs in their language, and it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. Hearing children singing is usually an automatic source of joy for many people, but children who have very few possessions and are singing with all their might to the God who loves and protects them is beyond moving. 

By the time we’re done with studies and devotions, it’s about 8:00 in the evening and time for dinner. Speaking of dinner, the food has been incredibly delicious and insanely spicy. They've even tried really hard to "tone it down" from the spice level they usually eat, and it's still hot! The days are very long, but more fulfilling than anything I’ve ever done in my life. The kids go to school on Saturdays as well, but only for a half-day. When they get home, they have the entire afternoon and evening to play (no studies on Saturday!). So you can imagine that makes for a very long day as well…running around non-stop for 5 hours will wear you out. Especially when you don’t have the energy of a 9-year-old. But it’s a blast! They laugh constantly and find joy in the simplest things. I taught the girls Duck-Duck-Goose, and they loved it and were content to play it for over a half an hour. Tyler played the children’s version of hide-and-seek for hours and he still doesn’t understand the rules. We also learned a game called Lock and Key, which is kind of like freeze tag, except you freeze yourself.

Please continue praying for us! We love it here, but each day it’s difficult to give ourselves wholly over to the Lord and His purpose for us here. It’s easy to want to be selfish and take time to ourselves, but we’re not here to rest. And don’t get me wrong, we are having a blast and loving the work we’re doing here. We just want God to bless these people as much as possible through us, and that means putting ourselves aside, serving humbly, and giving wholeheartedly. We love you all! Thanks again for all your support and prayers.

India at Last

Hey everyone, just wanted to touch base and a) apologize for the lack of blog posts lately and b) let you know we have landed in India! We arrived in Bangalore yesterday morning and have been, in the past 36 hours, blown away by the love, joy, humility, and generosity of the people here. We've got a busy couple of months coming up, and we'll hopefully be able to give you a fuller update on what all that entails soon. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support! We're so excited to see what God is doing here and will do through us while we're with Helping Hands India. Love you all!

Not Home Yet

Earlier on our trip, Tyler and I watched the third Narnia movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Although I haven't read much of C.S. Lewis' work, I love his metaphors in the Narnia series. I particularly like the scene in Dawn Treader where they stand at the shore of Aslan's country. You can barely catch a glimpse of it, and it looks beautiful. It's described as better than any other place in the rest of the world, a new and exciting adventure, where Aslan resides. Because you can't return from it once you enter, you are there for forever. Sounds marvelous, doesn't it?

We have been traveling the world, and it's incredible. Seriously, there is nothing like seeing the changing landscape, experiencing different people, tasting different foods, and reliving history. Each new day I am mesmerized by the beauty around me and still shocked by the fact that Tyler and I are blessed with this opportunity. Now that we've been settled in Bulgaria for a little while, I've had some time to reflect on all the amazing things we've seen, and I have had a wake up call: I'm not home yet. "Well obviously," you say. "You're still abroad." But I'm not talking about my temporary home in the States. I'm talking about my eternal home.


Heaven is going to be so much better than anything, anywhere, on this earth. That sentence, describing how little we know to expect, can be mind-boggling. I will come right out and confess that sometimes, because of how intangible and incomprehensible heaven is and how tangible and wonderful this life can be, I have a hard time desiring heaven over this earth. I am guilty of being so caught up in the here and now that I don't think about the future (no, I'm not talking about what job I will get or how I will handle taxes...I'm talking about our eternal future). When I do stop and think about dying or Jesus coming back (look, one or the other is going to happen, ok?), I want to be able to say, "I can't WAIT to get to heaven!" But if I'm completely and totally honest with myself, my first thought is more like, "I'm sure heaven'll be great, but I still have a lot I want to do before I get there, like have kids and see the world and figure out a way to procure a life-time supply of free ice cream." I know, I know, it sounds terrible. And I promise that I don't want to feel that way! But we are sinful by nature, and that nature desires worldly, temporary things. I think it's doubt's way of creeping in. Every Christian has doubts about something or other in their faith, and my struggle with it makes it hard for me to let go of the things of this earth.

You see, whenever I try to imagine what heaven will be like, visions of all the good things about this world come to mind: a tropical beach, majestic mountains, laughter, all you can eat of the best food, etc. The problem with this is that those things, although good, are the things I like about earth. Because I have them here, I'm excited about being in heaven, but I'm in no hurry to get there. And that's where this mindset comes from: "Heaven will be an awesome place to spend eternity after I've had my long and fulfilling life here on earth."

It's when I take the time to really think about who God is, what He's done for me, and the vastness of His existence that I am taken aback by the reality of life here, and an unexpected joy about eternity fills my heart. The important thing to remember is that heaven is more than a place. Yes, it will be glorious as a "place," more beautiful than anything we can imagine, no more pain or tears, joy unlike we've ever known, etc. But heaven is eternity with God. It is forever and ever and ever with our Father, our Savior, our Friend, our Creator, our Lord, our Comforter. If that doesn't give you goosebumps, check your pulse. Whenever things are tough, I can remind myself that I'm not home yet, but I will be soon. Maybe not in three months, but I will be home with my Father soon, forever.

The title of our blog is Awake My Soul. This is actually the title to one of Tyler and I's favorite songs by Mumford and Sons, and I find that the lyrics are very fitting to the cry of both of our hearts as we continue on this epic adventure. One line says, "In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die. Where you invest your love, you invest your life." Life is so temporary! We are called to live with eternity in mind, and that means investing in the right things. Our prayer since the start of this journey has been for God to awaken our souls to new life, to purpose, to a deeper desire for Him. That is especially my prayer when I think about heaven: I want the clouded veil of this complicated worldly existence lifted so that I can see Jesus clearly and desire Him above all else. I was made to meet my maker!

"Awake my soul, for you were made to meet your maker."