A year ago this month, our family was blessed to help out at the Good Shepard Agricultural Mission. Thanks to John Marshall‘s book Wide Open World, we were compelled to volunteer there, like John and his family had done.

Looking back at that time, and in the context of our entire trip – our circumnavigation, it was our favorite experience. Ask our kids. They’ll say that the best part of our adventure was India, and that was because of GSAM. It was joyful, enriching, enlightening.

As I’ve described it since, especially as an “orphanage,” I emphasize the idea that the kids there are having a fabulous childhood. That many other children, while they may have parents, families, even money, vacations, and a world’s worth of opportunities, don’t have the same relationships, structure, purpose, and love, love, love!

Here’s a little slide show of our time there…