Laxmi: The Story Continues

“My name is Laxmi. I am 7 years old. I live at Dharampur in Amritsar, Punjab, India, beside a dumping ground. Next to my house is a pile of garbage sacks, each one almost as big as my house. Every day my mother and father sort through the sacks, separating plastics and paper and other recyclables….”

We were bumping along in our little omnibus, leaving Amritsar after an amazing tour of a trash-picker settlement. The scenes and one child’s face had impacted me so strongly that I had to respond in some way. It seemed I heard a little child’s voice in my head, begging to be heard, “My name is Laxmi….” I pulled out my laptop and wrote the words to Laxmi’s Story, wondering how far her voice might be heard and hoping to give her a chance to live life more abundantly.
Back in America, Beth Curnuck, a kindergarten Sabbath School teacher in Stateline church on the Washington Oregon border read the story in the JFA e-newsletter. She had been praying for a way to get her little charges involved in missions, and Laxmi’s story seemed just right. “This is something they can relate to!” She thought, excitedly. She read the story to the kindergarten class. The children got excited about raising funds to provide Laxmi and her friends with a school like the Bethel schools that have already been established in South India.
First, Beth set up a collection jar for the children to put their pennies in. She built a hut out of garbage bags inside the classroom, and brought in tin cans and other “trash” for the children to sort through so they could see how Laxmi spent her days. Then she gave the children “self-denial boxes” to take home. Instead of buying trinkets, the children put their money in the boxes and each week brought back the contents and dumped them into the big jar.
Before long, the adults in the Stateline church became interested in the project. By this summer they had raised enough money to start Laxmi’s school and for the first three months of operation. Now what?
When we bumped out of Amritsar that day, leaving behind the scenes of Laxmi’s home, it never occurred to us to mark GPS coordinates so that we could come back. As a result, the location was just a guess. On hearing of the Stateline church’s fundraising, we began looking at fuzzy images on Google Earch, hoping to see something familiar. Plans were set in motion for Israel Prasad, JFA director, to travel to Amritsar with Sonu Kumar and Ikthiar, our driver, to find the place and make connections with the local SDA church.
Beth and her husband Bruce shared their story at FaithCamp, handing out self-denial boxes to the children present and encouraging people to consider feeding a child in the Bethel schools for just $0.23 a day. Jon had talked to me once before about finding someone who could go back to India to help establish the school, and as I listened to the Curnuck’s testimony and watched the children collecting their self-denial boxes, I felt strongly impressed that my work for Laxmi was not finished.
And so it has come about that I will be returning to Amritsar to work with Brother Prasad for a couple weeks to start Laxmi’s school. I will leave July 13, spend about ten days in Amritsar, then a few days in Madras, to observe the established Bethel Schools, and then return home July 30th.
In my reading this morning, I read about God asking for Abraham’s only son in a sacrifice. I’m not foolish enough to think there is no risk involved in taking a trip like this at 6 months pregnant. However, I also know that if my husband and I are serious about working for God, we will be challenged sooner or later to give our children to Him completely. What better time to learn to trust Him? I do not believe the test will get easier. And I do trust that He has commissioned me, and He will watch over my little unborn baby as I follow His will. What an amazing task to be called to!
Laxmi will have a school!
These are the specific things we are praying for in regards to this trip:
1. That God will guide our steps in locating Laxmi’s dwelling without delay.
2. That God will provide faithful, honest, loving personnel in Amritsar to staff the
school and with whom I can be in touch with after returning home.
3. That God will provide just the right location for the school.
4. That God will provide a caring Adventist family for me to stay with.
5. That I will have easy traveling and not have any sicknesses or complications.
6. That I’ll return home safe and sound.
7. That my husband will be at peace while I’m gone.

Please join in praying for these things!