Count Your Blessings

Yesterday at Tuition we told the kids about our Thanksgiving holiday the day before, and my teammate, Alex, gave them the Thanksgiving story in about 5 minutes (but the friendly, censored version) and then shared the fact that as followers of Christ we can thank Him for things He has blessed us with everyday. After all the explanations of Thanksgiving, the children didn’t fully understand what it meant to be thankful and all they could think to say was a simple, “Thanks” to all of us, which was pretty amusing with their thick accents and super cute with their confused faces, as if being unsure if they were saying the right thing. So, Alex had us share with the kids what each of us teachers were thankful for. One of our boys, George, basically latched onto me because he thought yesterday was our last day and so he didn’t want to miss a moment being able to sit next to any of us or hold our hands. So as I shared what I was thankful for, I took hold of George in my arms and the other tuition boy next to me in an embrace and said I was thankful for my time in India with all my wonderful friends at Tuition and just being able to love them with Jesus’ love. Soon after all us teachers shared how we were thankful for all these kids, all the kids were saying very thoughtfully in Hindi how they were thankful that we there to teach them about Jesus and to play with them and to love them to help them love each other. One of the older girls was shyly saying through her giggles how much she loved us. And through all this teaching time, the kids were surprisingly serene and really dwelling upon what they were thankful for, which I’m not sure they’ve ever had to do before. 

And since this wonderful moment with the children I have grown to love these past few months, I can’t help but to think how much the Lord has blessed these children. Yes, they may not live in the best conditions, or have the best family life, or do the best in school, but they are one of the few kids that get to really experience this type of love through us and through other teams that have come or will come in the future. These kids will be pushed and encouraged to do their best and to really achieve their dreams. These kids will understand better what it means to love one another and to respect each other. These kids will experience the love of Jesus that gives them all these things. 

And I hope in our last few days here that we will continue to point these kids to Christ and to really share them that this love is not our own, that we love them deeper than we ever could because of Christ’s love in us. I pray that the teachings that Christ has given to us to share with them will continue in their hearts and that seeds were really planted in their hearts to continue to be watered by future teams. And I have faith that these kids truly understand how thankful we are for them and how much we love them. 

I know I am beyond thankful for my time here, and though we are coming to a close to ministry this next week, I know that just as I have hoped to touch these people’s lives here that more than anything they have touched mine beyond measure. I will never be the same after knowing these wonderful children and these beautiful women and the families that I have grown to love, and I give thanks to my God for blessing me with not only knowing them, but really having relationships that are dug down deep. 

This is the song that we (attempted) to share with the kids in honor of Thanksgiving. I’m sure most of you know it: