Painting, Praying, and Playing: A Sunday in India

I was so caught up with my spaghetti dinner in my last post that I forgot to mention that after we left the orphanage, we went to a local paint shop to purchase a few gallons of paint. We had learned from John that the girls' dorms hadn't been painted in over 5 years. They were in serious need of a new coat of paint! We ordered three [very bright] colors: pink, teal, and green. Time, we were beginning to learn, is very relative in India. Though the paint shop workers said mixing the paint would take half an hour, they actually meant that it would take an hour and a half. So we waited and walked around and ate some ice cream [Side note: I realized that while most Indian food is mushy and spicy, they can still do ice cream right. Thank goodness.]. Eventually we got all of our paint, momentarily panicked that we did not have enough, and then headed home.

One of the dorms pre-paint. 

It was nap time on the porch while we painted. 

Sunday morning rolled around and after our usual breakfast and devotions routine, we headed to the orphanage for a full day of painting. I wore my camoflauge pants because in my mind, that's what a painter would wear [though come to think of it, painters traditionally wear white, don't they? Whatever.]. We began by tackeling the biggest of the three rooms first. This would be the Pepto-Bismol pink room. Pepto Bismol, by the way, is a wonderful drug. Definitely right up there with Advil for me. Anyways, when they asked some people to volunteer to go play with the kids for a while, I jumped on the opportunity. Though I was happy to paint, in my opinion, playing with little Indian cuties is just about ten million times more fun.

Suganthi & Megalyn

Playing in the tree[less] house with Suganthi.

Debok on the swing. 

Later in the day, I took my turn to paint.

There's me in my camo pants! And the very pink walls.

One of my favorite parts of my entire trip to India took place after we had finished painting for the day [mostly because we ran out of paint...gallon to liter conversions are tricky!]. Every Sunday, two pastors come to the orphanage to have a church service with the kids. The service was mostly in Tamil (the dialect spoken in Coimbatore) but the pastors could also speak some English, so it was in a mix of the two languages. It struck me that afternoon that though these people I was worshipping alongside of have so little, they are so filled with joy. They thanked the Lord for every little blessing that He had given them. When is that last time I did that? Encountering this joy time after time in India impacted me powerfully. I have so much stuff and I am so ungrateful for it. Most of the stuff I have is stuff I expect to have. I don't even think to be thankful for it because it's just always been there. But hearing some of them audibly thank the Lord for every little thing He had given them, convicted me to be more thankful for the many, many things He has blessed me with.

Some of the boys singing one of their songs. 

Kneeling to pray. Little Praveen in the middle is so precious. 

The service was very hands-on. We sang a song [Father Abraham, of course]. The kids sang us a few songs too. The pastors read verses in Tamil. We read verses in English. We sang some "hymns." The kids kneeled on the floor and prayed. And we took communion. There are few times in my life when I have so strongly felt God's presence in a place. He is there at the orphanage. He is there watching over those kids, and guiding their caretakers. He created each of them and He loves them unconditionally. Though people may leave them, He is always there. That realizaton was a comfort to me then and continues to comfort me every day.

Church was in the afternoon, so after it was over, it was almost dinner time and it was already beginning to get dark out. We had two more things we wanted to do before the end of the day: manicures and the big room reveal. Since there were only a few girls at the orphanage and we were painting their room, we wanted to make them feel extra special. It was Heather's idea to paint their teeny tiny nails before suprirsing them with their new bright pink room! We showed them the room and they seemed to like it but they were still pretty shy, so none of them had particularly strong reactions. Don't worry, though, we later found out that they LOVED the colors. They were just a little too shy to express it.

Manicure time with Nandini, Megolyn, and Suganthi. 

The big reveal!