Monday Update

It is Tuesday and we are enjoying Goa. I wanted to update you all on the amazing day we had yesterday. We met Maheswari, our Compassion child. She and the director of the project where she attends and a social worker made a 3 hour trip (each way) by train to meet us in Chennai. It was an unbelievable sight when this sweet girl showed up in our hotel lobby. There were a lot of tears shed. Her father died 6 years ago and she calls me Papa. She lives with her mother in poverty with her 2 other sisters. They have no electricity and she had never been in a car or train before yesterday.

We spent some time talking with her. She spoke some English. Our kids immediately were attached to her. We then went to a shopping mall (Chennai's version of the Mega Mall) and bought her and her family some clothes. On the way out we asked her if she wanted anything else and she said "video game". Even in her rural community in India, they know of video games. We couldn't find one, but we gave the director some money to buy her one when he was able to find one.

We then took her to a nice restaurant for lunch. She was overwelmed by the big city. Our last stop was to a Christian book store to buy her a Bible in her native language of Telugu. Then the time came that we needed to take her back to the train. We all were sad to see her go, especially Natalie, but we were so grateful for this special time that we had with her.
I am sure that Gloria will have more to add to this tommorow.
Kurt