August 1984

Dear Saints

Greeting in Jesus name from Nagpur, India.

The low scudding clouds, the high humidity, the all - pervading mud, the increase in the bug population, and of course the rains, all tell us that the rainy season is upon us. The long summer with its high temps, scorching heat and winds that seem to originate from a blast furnace is once again behind us. Life has returned and the lush greenery that meets the eye everywhere is a welcome change from the drab, lifeless brown - the summer's favorite color.

Around the 9th of June, prior to the rains and unrelated to them, was "the life" that returned to our home in the form of a bunch of laughing, shouting, active little kids - 22 in addition to our old kids. They were supplemented by Reshma's and Gawli's wife\wives. Both got married in the first week of June the former in the village and the latter here at the home. Another supplement was Reekya's baby. When another "supplement" a little boy from a different part of India, turned up we were sorely tempted to send him away but - compassion overruled common sense and so ... Our compassion" almost failed us when two more "Supplements” showed up with a crying mother as an advocate ... Now we are 71 here on the farm. That however does not include people from the outside who work here or whom we support like the two ladies who help with the cooking a nurse, a full time farm helper, the medical team I alluded to in my last newsletter and two translation teams and "all look to us for their food in their season" ...

While in spite or all those kids the playground still looks pretty empty, the "hall" definitely does NOT ... Anybody who wants to walk the length of the hall at night has to do so over a carpet of little and not so little bodies - or not at all ... This leads to interesting situations.

On one occasion a cat, trying to escape from a dog, "flew into the hall" with the dog in hot pursuit. The cat's attention was only on the dog and the dog had eyes\ears only for the cat and neither of them gave much thought as to what their paws were trampling on - till the "floor" moved ... The moving of that "living carpet" did nothing but to enhance the fear of the cat and the dog, hampered thereby in his progress, got even more furious which in turn had no "pacifying effect" upon the carpet. The ensuing bedlam was total ...

The "dangers from without" are augmented by "dangers from within" namely the onions which "decorate? the ceiling. They are tied together by their stalks which the rats, at night, delight to chew through with the result that the so carefully tied onions drop on whatever is below ... The onions, lacking any aerodynamic devices for steering either speed or direction, must obey the law of gravity which allows for no change in the "flight path" not even on humanitarian "grounds" ... This makes for the odd bruise of black eye.

Even before the influx of new kids we lacked cupboard space for their belongings and so everything is more of less in the open. One very little fellow, probably more by accident than by design, "misappropriated” two Rupees from another kid but when caught denied it vehemently. Then Gawli, who is also the house father, had a bright idea. He took the stethoscope from the clinic and told the kid it was a lie detector - it worked ...
Space is not the only thing we lack, Since I believe in taking kids first and worry about facilities later, some other interesting situations arise. Three kids have to share one mattress - and it ain't because they like "close fellowship" either ... We have to use the lids of pots and pans as plates and on occasions two little fellows share a big plate. I am only surprised nobody has thought of using the Frisbee as yet ... Neither are we lacking trouble. The kids, one after the other, are getting sick. A flashflood tore a hole in the retaining wall which we had built to ”retain the flood".

Boulders are tearing loose inside the well and it is getting bigger and - we don't like that. In the summer the calf died. Then with so many people around interpersonal relationships are a bit strained at times. One missionary once told me: "Missionaries are like manure, spread them around they will do an awful lot of good in one pile they make an awful stink". This holds true of any group of people with a common bond or common purpose living in one place and - we are no exception. The temptation arises to stop being concerned for other people when inconveniences show their face. for seemingly, more often than not concern touches our emotions rather than our wills. And love, so I am learning, is something we DO and not something we might FEEL.

Lest you get alarmed, neither do we lack challenges and joys. The other day while walking through the field and thinking about the kids and how we have grown in numbers and still were not financial any worse of than before, actually better, the thought came to me that God would give me a 1000 kids - of any number, why stop at a mere 1000 - provided that I was willing to look after them and take upon me the worries, headaches, troubles etc. that a obviously would accompany such a number of kids. It certainly is a fascinating Too, two more sections of the farm building got a roof, a six to eight member medical team is coming three times a week, most of the field is under cultivation with rice, corn, Soya beans, peanuts and a lentil variety. We did have a good crop of onions.

Gawli's wife got baptized just before the wedding. Jeeven, one of the big boys, accepted the Lord and stated this before all the kids.

The building of the dormitory is slow in progressing. It is as if the Lord tells me, "I know you can work and now let us see if you can wait ... ". Anyhow, we got of the walls up to roof level and the next phase will be the roof It will consist of a concrete slab. After that is poured we can work on the second floor . The nine rooms at the bottom about 12,x 12' will be for the big and medium boys while the three rooms at the top 12' x 40 ' will be for the little fry.

Admittedly we lack many things but we do not lack joy, happiness and laughter, we neither lack fun and games.

And to judge by the many nice letters and the many gifts we receive we do not lack friends either. Thank you, very much for that.

In the love of Christ

St. Francis and Saintlets