Mumbai 2/12/10

Every morning, the whole group gathers after breakfast, and Robbie leads us in worship. It’s such a blessing to be able to do that. I was always under the impression that we could not do something like that in India. Oh, naivety. I just had to make a comment about it.

Anyway, the days just get better and better. Andrew told me to take the day off as a videographer, and to hook up with the work team of my choice. It was a hard choice at first because I enjoyed being with my work team, but the Photography/Arts&Crafts team was going to Advait. My heart was with the girls at Advait so much that I had to go back. So, I joined Photography for the day, and had an amazing second day at my favorite place.

We kicked the day off with some more Bollywood dancing -- always a good way to start the day. From there, I just hung out with the photography group. We got to teach the girls how to use digital cameras, and then let them take as many as they wanted. On top of that, we brought photo printers, so the girls were able to pick their two favorite pictures and print them out. In Arts & Crafts, they made picture frames for their photos. It was great to see how excited these girls got over everything. The girls took a lot of photos with the group members and me. Some of them were making a fuss over not getting to have more than two photos, but all is well because Crossroads is donating the cameras and printers to them, and giving them all the pictures that they took. I love it.

After two days in a row at Advait, my heart was truly knitted in with the Sisters and all the girls. I have Sister Bonita’s email, so I will be able to correspond with them, which really excites me. As we left that place, I asked God to please allow me to return some day. I feel pretty confident that I’ll return to this country at some point, and will get to see some if not all of the girls. I cannot get the image of some of their smiles, and the sounds of some of their laughter out of my head.

Two little moments I will not forget about today:

1.) As I was saying goodbye, the girls were writing their names in my moleskin journal, and one of them shook my hand and said, “Please pray for me.” Ugh. That ripped into my heart.

2.) The last little moment was as we were walking away. I turned around and saw one of the girls whose smile has impacted more than just me this week, and I smiled at her and gave her that “Oh. You” point (not sure if that translates at all). She broke into her big, infectious smile and laughed. That’s an image I will always treasure -- joy on the face of one who has experienced some of the darkest things anyone could ever experience.