The V Team

This past week, almost 50 recent high school graduates came to our city to spend about a week of their summer serving the Father here.  Let me tell you, 50 recent high school graduates can really liven a place up. There excitement, humor, and fresh perspective on things were very refreshing to me.

Mom was here during the first couple days of their trip, so she also got to experience some of my fun with them.  One of the first days they were here we went shopping.  I know you are thinking, "Shopping--that is no big deal!"  Well, let me tell you, it was quite a day.  We walked to a place in our city called New Market and spent a good four hours there shopping.  When you think about shopping in a developing country, this is it--shops everywhere, a bunch of people, and haggling is a must.  There are even men who are "Market Guides" who will not leave you alone even if you tell them 20 times in as many languages as you know.  Oh, but it was fun!  I generally do not like shopping in this market, but the five other wonderful ladies I was with made it quite an enjoyable adventure.

Shopping in a jewelry shop with some ladies from the team.

We also wandered into the meat part of the market and saw some chickens.

Mom sari shopping

On our shopping trip, we also went to the hotel I stayed at four years ago.  The upstairs of this place has memorabilia everywhere and is quite a site.

Look at those lovely ladies!

We also enjoyed some marsala chai from what I consider to be the best chai stand in the city.  Yummy!

I suppose I might be a bit bias since this was the first chai I ever tried here.

After the first day of shopping, it was time to get to work.  I skipped out on the first day of work to say "goodbye" to my mom and put her on an airplane, but then the next day I was 'all in.'

In the mornings, we split up to work at two of Mother Teresa's homes.  I served in a girls' home for girls who are mentally disabled.  Other girls served in the women's portion of this home.  Still other girls and all the boys served at a home for the destitute and dying.  Watch in the coming days for my reflection on serving in this home.

After a health contentiousness person's dream lunch (ha) of a cheese, butter, and bread sandwich, chips, apple, cookies, and mango juice (which Julie drank for me everyday), the girls loaded the bus and headed to homes for young women and girls who had been rescued from human trafficking.  This was one of the main focuses for this trip as the week started with us learning about an organization that works with local police to help rescue girls,  helps them gain justice through the court systems, places them in safe home homes, and then helps them transition to a new life.  For some reason or another, I never made it to these homes with them, but I heard they had a great time doing crafts and visiting with these ladies.


The boys and, most of the time, I went to several different places in the afternoon each day they were here. We worked with several Shepherds who are passionate about reaching their people.


On the first day, we went to an after-school children's program.  We didn't know we were going to be going there in advance or what to expect (typical South Asian style), so we kind of had to bunt.  They presented a nice program for us and then we spit the over 100 kids into three groups.  I was with the older group and we ended up playing Rhythm.  I love this game, but I wasn't sure it would translate.  We did pretty good though.  Take a look:

Playing Rhythm 

The next day we met with a group of high school students.  The boys talked about leadership and I was very, very impressed with their mature answers to some on-the-spot, hard-to-answer questions.

The following day, we went to a family's home that rescues boys and girls from my city's huge rail station.  Some of the boys told us their story and then we had some fun with them.  One of the volunteer boys was prepared with balloons and make the kids' day with dogs, hats, swords, and even flowers.

One HS grad even taught a boy how to play a song on the mandolin. 

On the last day we spent with these Shepherds, they gathered together over 200 people from the local community.  About half were children that their organization sponsors and attend their children programs.  I think most of the adults were their parents.

They presented us with a wonderful program full of singing, testimonies, and dancing.  After the program we went to several people's homes to lift them up to the Father.

The last day they were here, we took them to the mall close to where I live and they got to see some of the great contrast of this city.

To be quite honest, before they came, I was a bit leery about it.  But, they completely blew my socks off.  I never dreamed recent high school graduates would be so grounded in their Walk, so ready to serve where ever needed, ready to tell their story at a moments notice, have such heavenly insight on things, or be so much fun to be around.  It was a wonderful week watching the Father work through their lives and then seeing how He was working in my life by them being here.

To the team:  Thank you so much for letting the Father use you in such significant ways!
To the Father:  You blew me out of the water on this.  Thank you for the opportunity to serve alongside them and to see Your hand at work.