January 25 –
We arrived at the Little Lights Children’s home on the outskirts of Chennai. These 34 Children are Children of Lepers, rescued from a life in a leper colony…a life of hopelessness and poverty. These kids all have at least one parent living in the leper colony. As children of lepers, they are in the lowest cast in this society and are “untouchables”. Everything changed when they entered the doors of the Little Lights home, they go to a great school, and their futures are radically transformed. We went into a small hall where the kids danced with joy on their faces. The first song they danced to was talking about how Jesus came to earth as a humble man to save the world. Then they shared their memory verses. The next song was “Blessed be the Name of the Lord”.
We passed out oranges at the conclusion of their performance. This small act of love touched them deeply.
At the end of our time we met a little 5 year old boy named Joe. Joe is not a normal India name. We asked about him, and we heard his heartbreaking story. When Joe was little, his parents would chain him to a mango tree like a dog when they went out to beg on the streets. They paid so little 
attention to him that they had never even given him a name. When he came to the home, they asked him what his name was. He said “I don’t have one, but can you name me Joe?” It’s wonderful to see Joe and 34 clean smiling kids that have hope for a good future because of the love of God and the Little Lights home.
