Snake

We were just finishing up work time yesterday afternoon when someone far off yelled in Hindi. Immediately the boys all around me got huge smiles, picked up big sticks, and ran through the fields yelling more Hindi words. I was clueless as to what was happening, but then one of the boys informed me, “Snake!”

So we all went running to see the action. Here’s Brave John with the dead snake dangling across his shoulders. Sure enough, Harjeet (age 16) was out working in the field and spotted an 8-foot- long white snake. He alerted “the troops” and Kiran Uncle (one of the house-parents here) came and beat it with a stick. (Last month Kiran was the hero when he killed a 6 foot cobra, also on this property.) As I walked to the scene, I heard the beating sounds and saw the dust flying. The boys were all cheering and hollering loudly. They were running, jumping, dancing, screaming, and then becoming braver all the time…they each wanted to try to hit the snake with a stick too (after it was dead). You could feel the testosterone in the air. Never a dull moment here…

On a side note... Jeff leaves with ten of the oldest boys to go on a five day hiking trek in the Himalayas tomorrow. Please pray that God will work and do great things in their lives!