Child Restoration International
Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings!
Psalm 61:1-4
It felt like a good day to be reminded of our rock and refuge. May we cry to Him and take heart in knowing that he hears us and is with us.
Every time I am in India, I am reminded what hard workers Indians are and how lazy I can be. Because we have so much at our fingertips, we forget what it is like to make a meal from scratch for every meal, every day. These women (and sometimes men) labor over the food for hours to provide delicious meals for their families. As soon as one meal is done, they begin cooking the next! They make something called roti, or chapati depending on where you are, that is similar to a tortilla. It is eaten at least twice a day. And it takes SO much work! Mixing the dough, kneading it, rolling it, pounding it (and I mean pounding it- it takes lots of work to make it a perfect circle and evenly flat throughout), and cooking it on a flat pan over an open fire and flipping it with their fingers. And that's just one part of the meal. I am consistently blow away by the meals I get to eat in India. The food is always incredible thanks to all the work that is put into it. Every dish has multiple spices mixed together just right. This is just one example of how incredibly hard the Indian people work to make things the best they can be. This is why we need each other. May we all learn from one another and be the best we can be together.
Here's a picture to make your mouth water even more. This chicken is phenomenal and I cannot wait to be back for more.
I am so pleased to share that all of our 10th grade girls at Zion home have done incredibly well on exams! 10th grade is a very difficult year for children in India. It is when they take final exams to see if they have passed their schooling. It is comparable to our 12th grade. After 10th they still have 11th and 12th but those are more like community college. They pick a specific track and prepare for university in 11th and 12th. So 10th ends the main elementary through high school education. The tests at the end of 10th are incredibly hard and students spend hours and hours studying for weeks. Our girls (who come from an area where most girls are married by 14 and certainly don't go to school through 10th) got the highest possible scores on these exams. All of our 10th grade girls. We are blown away and so so proud. What an exciting success this is. We can't wait to see what world changers these girls become as they continue on in their studies and their futures.
We are so excited to share that one of our friends is (hopefully!) coming for a visit! Manisha is applying for a 6 month tourist visitor visa. Please pray that she gets it! Her interview date is August 3rd (August 2nd U.S. time). We are already excited to have time with her in our homes! She will be doing a leadership development training program half of the time she is here, but the other half we get to spend time with her. We are especially excited because when she returns to India she will be getting married and moving to a more tribal area of India with her husband, so we won't be able to visit her as easily. We really look forward to her visit, so please be praying with us that it all works out.
