By Polly Rosario*

VARANASI, India — My team led Vacation Bible Schools in villages outside of Varanasi. We got snacks for the kids on the way, then, piled into a school bus for an hour to get to the villages. We taught a different story from the Bible each day. Then, they re-enacted the story for us through drama, to make sure they understood it and make sure the translator was translating it correctly.

One Friday, we were doing the drama where Jesus told Peter to “feed my sheep.” One little boy acted out the part of Peter. Another boy acted out the part of Jesus. I stood in front with three other kids as a part of the drama. We were kind of squatting up there and eating our fish. We had gotten to the part where they threw their nets out and brought them back in.

Then, Jesus and Peter were talking. Jesus looked at Peter, and said, “Peter, do you love me?” And Peter said, “Lord, you know I love you.” And then Jesus said, “Well then, feed my sheep.”

At this point, the little boy playing Peter looks at the translator, and says, “Who are his sheep?”

We didn’t understand it because it was in Hindi, but the translator told us what he said. The translator looked at me and said, “He wants to know who Jesus’ sheep are.” I told him to say, “Well, tell him it’s everybody. Tell him we’re all his sheep. We’re all his flock. We’re all his children.”

All of a sudden, the kids started “baa’ing” like sheep — all 120 of them. We just lost it. “Peter” didn’t know what to do with himself. “Jesus” just stood there. I fell over in the dirt because I was laughing so hard.

We were excited to see that they were starting to understand in the way that kids do. It brought joy to my heart.

When I came, I thought I would teach these people about the Lord, but they taught me. I learned that kids in a village outside of Varanasi can learn about Jesus and are not that different from kids in the U.S. They like to have fun. And, they need to hear that Jesus is their shepherd.

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Polly Rosario is a recent graduate of Liberty University, Va., and a member of Virginia Beach Beacon Baptist Church, Virginia Beach, Va. She recently spent six weeks in India as an SA101 volunteer. For more information on SA101, visit the website for South Asian peoples, southasianpeoples.imb.org/special-interest/sa101/.