We have finsihed working on the list of current children here at Reach. Many are in need of sponsors. See item below. We are now getting ready for the big celebration were the children prepare a meal for 100 widows in the near by villages. They are each given a new Sari to wear. They are very grateful and this is an opportunity for the children to learn service and share Gods word. So... I have to get into my Sari and prepare for the children to entertain us and serve the needy.

Penny

sponsorship of chidren

To sponsor a chid at the Reach Home where we have been serving it is $365 per year. This will give food, shelter, clothing, and an education to te chidren.
If you are interested please send a payment to:
St. Mark's lutheran Church
C/O Sela Mogren
2499 N Helen
North St Paul, MN 55109

You will receive a picture and letter from a child. Please keep in mind that many of the chidldren are long term residents here. However because some children leave for a variety of reasons, at some time your child may change. Your donation helps all of the children. The funds are essential in the lives of the children to keep the Reach Home open. Plese open your hearts and pray for these beautiful children. If you are unable to sponsor a child, donations are very necessary and extremely appreciated.
In Christ
Penny

Lots of work being done

Thanks to the help of Laxmi and Premalatha the dental work on everybody at REACH is almost done.  We also have arranged for all the children to get eye exams. Several of them need glasses and they get to pick out whatever pair they want.  We are waiting for the estimates to get the bus fixed and to repair the pipes at the girls home.

On Monday after school, several of the girls were teaching me Telugu. One girl named Anuja knows English very well,  She taught me to write my name in Telugu and how to say the vowels and consonants.  It was fun to learn.  I need to have her write down the "This is the Day" song for me.

Yesterday we went to the leper colony, but I mostly stayed in the car because shortly after we got there I started not feeling well.  I was sick all day yesterday and this morning, but now I am starting to feel better.

Tonight will be the celebration when we dress up in the saris Kusuma got for us.  We have to pack all our things tonight so Kusuma can take them with her when she leaves early tomorrow morning.  We will leave tomorrow on the 11:30 pm train.  The plan is to sleep on the train, then shop in Hyderabad on Friday.  On Saturday morning we leave to return home.

The time has gone by so quickly, but we have done so many good things here.

God Bless,
Kimberly

Sights and Sounds



The children eating lunch.




Penny, Dan and Betty doing dental work.




The bus is broken so this is how they get the village children to and from school.





Siri, Kusuma, Mike, Leah upon arrival to Hyderabad.



Siri, Dan and Sharon upon arrival at Hyderabad Airport.



Morning assembly and prayer at the beginning of the school day.




Picking out fabric for saris



The sweaters collected from St. Mark's, Washington, IL. Those are boys wearing the turtleneck and pink

Laxmi, Dan, Kimberly and Betty doing dental work.

The wonderful welcome we received upon our arrival to REACH.

Siri and Laxmi screening a girl's teeth for cavities.

The children practicing brushing their teeth.

The train to Bapatla.

A Trip to Town

During the afternoon Sharon, Lynn, Mom and I went to the girls' hostel to visit.  I brought my guitar and some embroidery floss to make bracelets.  We sang several songs with them.  We took requests for songs that they might know.  "This is the Day" they requested and then sang it in Telegu for us.  I had Kusuma translate the songs that they didn't know because I wanted them to know the songs were about Jesus.  I taught them the "Be Like Jesus" song I wrote and it is neat to hear them singing it after I walk away.  After my fingers started hurting, I got out the thread and three of us passed it out to the girls to make bracelets.  I was going to teach them, but they indicated they already knew how.  I told them they could only have one each, but they girls would get one and then go to another line to get another. I was surprised how much thread was left over, so I gave it to Laxmi (one of the nursing students) to distribute it later.

Laxmi and Premalatha, and Pete helped Dan in the dental clinic.  They also trained one of the older boys, Venkat, to sterilize the tools and he worked the list.  All the staff who were here were screened and everyone but Kusuma had their teeth done.

Last night we had some free time and we wanted to go to town.  Pete wanted to take a rickshaw, but Kusuma insisted we take the van.  When we arrived the short distance to town, Pete told the drivers to leave and that we would get a rickshaw back to REACH.  We walked and looked at the shops.  I bought my daughter a beautiful pink traditional Indian outfit and some bangles.  She will love them.  When we decided it was time to go back Pete found us two rickshaws.  The ride was a little scary, a couple times I had to tuck my feet in when another bicycle passed us.  Mom was facing backwards and was quite intimidated by a bus that got rather close.  I think next time she will insist we take the bus back!  When we returned the van was missing, the drivers had waited for us downtown.  So Baby (Kusuma's neice who helps run the home), had to call them back.

I figured out how to use Skype on Mom's netbook.  This morning after breakfast we Skyped my husband and our virtual crew member, Joanie.  The children were very excited to talk on Skype.  I'm going to try to Skype church later this evening (which would be Sunday morning then). We will leave soon to go to the girls' hostel for worship. Oh, never mind, apparently the girls are coming here because I just saw them all pass by the door.  After lunch we are trying to arrange a visit to the leper colony.

God Bless!

Happy New Year!

Greetings from Bapatla India!  It is the new year here and the kids have a holiday.  We will still run the dental clinic today for the boys who are here.  The kids drew a beautiful Happy New Year greeting in he sand last night. We really didn't do much to celebrate last night, most of us retired early and relaxed and caught up on sleep. Currently Mom and I are trying to get Skype going to call into Faith Lutheran and give Happy New Year Greetings at midnight.

So today we will take turns running the clinic some of us will go to the girls hostel to visit and tomorrow we may go to the leper colony.

It is Friday Dec. 31st here in India, new Years Eve. We had a program last night with the chidren performing that lasted til 11:00. We are very tired, so we hope we can stay up to watch them. They love performing their talents.

Today was another day at our dental clinic. I was again the assistant for the morning. We have Kusuma's neice who runs the orphange when Kusuma isn't around, to interpret for the children. Many of them are very frightened about the shots and dental work. We are mainly filling teeth and pulling teeth. Whatever we are not able to do wil be referred to the local dentist. We were moving along with the patients til we blew a fuse in the equipment. There is a loss of electricty during different times of the day. They have a generator for a back up when needed. However the power surge wasn't good for the equipment. We had to shut down for an hour while new fuses were found. I was able to take a break from the dental work when one of the nursing students from the orphanage helped out along with Kimberly. It was good on the back for a break.

Over all, things are going great. We had requested sweaters from church to bring over with us because the children think 80 degrees is cold. I helped Kusuma pass out the sweaters to the children the principal selected. To my amazement, I was told by Kusuma the pink turtleneck shirts were boys. The girls agreed, and the boys seem to like them. I tried to set them straight to no avail. So I have pictures to show te children wearing the sweters. The new little 1 year old boy is now wearing a pint sweater with a pink furry collar. Well...I tried.

Penny