Going to Kota

On our way to Kota, we stopped in Tonk to visit an Emmanuel School (and use the facilities). “Baby” Thomas is the pastor here and they have facilities for 700 students and about 35 orphans. I say, “they have the facilities for…” because even though they had that many in the past, due to the problems this past year (see the post from my trip in January), many students and orphans left. Currently, they have 350 students and 10 orphans, but they are expecting 10 more orphans to return within the month. Slowly as confidence rebuilds, hopefully the school will fill back up. Traveling through northern India, we’ve seen several Emmanuel Schools spread out, and upon arriving in Kota, we met Alex who works in the main office of Emmanuel Ministries who told us they have around 50 Emmanuel Schools all over the country. What an amazing ministry to raise up orphans and send them out to plant schools. “Baby” Thomas was another example of an orphan raised up through the ministry and put through Bible School to begin again multiply the ministry. Cool stuff!
When we arrived in Kota, we met Dr. M.A. Thomas and his son, Dr. Sam Thomas at the Bishop House. The Bishop House is where the Thomas’ live, but it also serves as like a missionary hotel for guests. Several of the orphan girls who have come through the ministry run the hospitality, and Rose’s beaming face met us with a wonderful meal. I can’t even count how many times Mrs. Bowen said, “She is SOOO cute!” They truly were joyful servants.
After a meal, we headed out to the tailor to check out the clothes. Ashok (the owner of the store) met us and was actually very involved in helping us get our measurements and find just the right materials. He even showed us a DVD of his son’s wedding (just happened 3 weeks ago). Although, he only showed us clips since he had 8 HOURS of footage. It was quite an ordeal… these traditional Hindi weddings. Just to give you a small idea, he reserved the Umet Palace in Kota for two days… all of the rooms… AND had another hotel on top of that reserved for two days for all of the guests. Needless to say, they go all out.