Return to Missions

David and Eleanor Fiol

July 8, 2008

Dear praying friends,

Recently I heard one of the Children’s Home graduates say, “I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anything.” That’s really quite amazing considering some of the stories that are told of getting sick of eating the least expensive vegetables of the season too often, eating cold food for lunch because it had to be cooked early in the morning (now they PREFER to eat their food cold), or getting taken advantage of sometimes in little ways by the older students, etc. The friendships made in the Bhogpur homes are lasting and strong. The teaching of the Word of God and the love of God and the demonstration of the love of Jesus Christ in the lives of their care givers must be the biggest influence. And, of course, the children know a bit of what life would have been like had they stayed in the colonies with their parents.

I thought after I sent the last update telling about the letter from our sponsored child that we might discover that everybody got the same letter ☺ --at least all of the sponsors of the children under 10. Most of the children who are sponsored are the younger ones. (We have almost 500 who are not yet sponsored). Of course all of the children are cared for equally through the sponsorship money and other donations, which are so much appreciated.

Well, we did discover that a number of us received exactly the same letter and poem. Their teachers had maybe written it on the board. But that isn’t surprising when you realize that before they came to the Home they probably hadn’t heard a word of English. I know of some American children who have heard and spoken nothing but English since they were born who don’t write letters. Now those of you who sometimes ask if the children can be pen pals know what we are up against. ☺

I visited Bhogpur last week. David dropped me off on the way to a school in the mountains where he was going to hold seminars for the teachers. It is the practice of the Christian schools here to have a few days of Biblical and professional teaching for the teachers before the term begins. I hadn’t been with the staff in Bhogpur to catch up on the news for a while, so that is about all that I was able to get done that day. In spite of their problems, not the least of which is not having quite enough money to do what they would like to do for the children and dealing with minor stomach problems and fevers, they remain positive. One of the senior staff, who is around 60 now, said he took three different groups of children out to a park to swim three days in a row since it is vacation time. “You have to go in and play with them, you know” he said. “But it surely made me tired.” Yes, I remember how tiring it was even when he was 15 and we were 25!!

I was called to the Roorkee Home early in June to be the “chief guest” for their VBS final program. There are about 200 in that Home. Gordan and Beth Taylor were there teaching classes. They have been coming each year for a month to help with the VBS programs. It was so good to see the enthusiasm of the students for what they had learned from the Word.

Now many of you will be holding your VBS programs. Perhaps some have had them in June. And many will be thinking of the Bhogpur Home as you use the MTW children’s project to educate the children about the need there for a well to provide water for the older boys’ hostel . If you would like to use the project in your VBS (or your Sunday School ) write to

Our monthly update has been going to your church's e-mail address at rpcwc@ccil.org.

There is a website at www.home4children.com.

Thank you for your concern for the Bhogpur Homes in Christ,

David and Eleanor Fiol

MTW