The Search for Greatness

Sunday I woke up feeling really tired. Going to church was slightly weird, and not because the idea of going was weird, but weird because there were 3 of us in the car when normally there are tons of people. So, right now there are 4 other people staying here if you do not count me, but I have been hearing some rumors about a London girl coming here next week, so I am excited to meet her, and welcome her to RSO. Church was fun, but due to being tired I slept through all of sacrament, which I guess is bad, but even when I am awake I want to fall asleep because the talks are always in Tamil, and I know none. After sacrament, Mrs. Mitchell, the woman I stayed with when I was with Esther, called me to play piano for her primary class. She knew I did not play well, but she said any help was needed. Seriously I had no clue what to do because all the help I gave them was playing the first key of every hymn they wanted to sing, and to me that is no help, but hey if helping people is that easy then I love helping. I do not know what is worse. Is it worse doing it one Sunday thinking you will never have to do it again, or being permanently called as the primary piano player, and expected to know hymns by January, so you ecan play for their program? I do not know what sort of blessings are to come out of this, but I think I will find out in a very painful way. I think back to when I was taking piano lessons, and now I regret having quit them. Mom I think quitting piano was a bad idea, and now you can tell me that you told me so. It is nice because I am not completely alone on this, but I am sure you can see the frustration/humor to all this. Anyway, after church, I had a nice, but rather quiet ride back to the campus. Later that night, I got to experience an Indian wedding reception, which was very fun. Dr. Senthilkumar, our doctor, is now getting married! I arrived there with a few other people from RSO, and our car went up this huge ramp to the entrance. I was greeted by this lady standing behind a table. As people walked in, she would dip her finger in orange stuff lightly placing it on their foreheads, and then shake some sort of shaker, and little drops of fragrance would come out to sprinkle you. It was so cool! Loud music was being played inside by a band called The Nightingales, and quiet honestly they were no nightingale. The experience of how our ears would feel after was best put by Ron Hanson. He said, listening to the band felt like getting your eardrums thoroughly cleaned out, and he was right. Now do not think I mean to offend the band because they were great, but it could have been a little softer. We sat down and listened to the band while drinking a fruit drink of some sort. We sat in the front row, which was nice because we could see pretty much everything going on, but bad because the cameraman's light blinded everyone. There was a t.v. screen set up showing everything the cameraman would view. On top of the stage, there was an enormous golden couch with flowers and beautiful decorations all over it. It was quite the couch. After sitting down for awhile, I had the pleasure and honor to meet Padma, the daughter of the former president of India. She is such a remarkable woman! I told her I was going to be here for awhile, and how I would be staying at RSO. We talked for a little while, and I enjoyed every second of it. Finally the screen changed, and now it was showing Dr. Senthilkumar and his beautiful wife making their entrance, but instead of entering right away they stood there being blessed by many women. I guessed it was some sort of good luck for marriage from the Gods. After their blessings, they walked up the stage, and had their picture taken. I am sure from the light they too were blinded. The line to congratulate them was huge, so being one of the many people to go first was great. After I had the chance to greet Dr. Senthilkumar and his wife, we all went to the dining hall to eat. The food was great, but the best thing I had was the ice cream. The ice cream here in India is amazing! I must have gone to get somewhere close to about 6 bowls of it, and I even grabbed one to go for the road! The reception was awesome and I totally had a blast! When I left I received a bag with a coconut inside it, which was cool, but odd. I was completely exhausted afterward. The whole way back the thought of laying down was the only thought in my head. Today was not too exciting, but it did have its moments. I had to move out of my room and into this other room, which I guess is nice now because I have my own room, but the room I moved in has now become the toy room, so I am hoping I do not get bombarded with kids everyday. I cleaned out the kids' supply closet, which is good because now you can see everything inside, and I am hoping it stays this way, but anything cleaned here does not have a long time until it gets messy again. The staff is hoping through this new system things will stay organized better, but who knows. T.I.I.(This is India). Later in the evening I went to Uthiramerur with Radhika, our dance teacher and Nicole, one of our volunteers staying here until December. Radhika needed to buy some bangles, and Nicole and I are always excited to see more of India, so we went. We had parotha for dinner, which is my favorite thing to eat here. The parotha was so much better in Uthiramerur then in Chengalput, where we usually go. We did not spend a lot of time there, but it was still fun, and places new to my eyes are always fun! Before we came home, we stopped at Selvi's house in the village, and gave her some parotha. Selvi does our laundry back at RSO. She always greets us with a huge smile on her face. She is going through a tough time right now because her husband is losing his eye, and on top of that she can barely feed her three sons, so helping her out was the least we could do. I do not know the full details on how her husband lost his eye, but they do not have enough money for the surgery, so the only way to fix his eye is to remove it. I can't imagine losing one of my eyes. I use them everyday, and this man can't use them in the same way ever again. I pray for Selvi's husband, so hopefully he can overcome this tough trial. Everyday I learn something new. I love these people and I love everything I am doing out here. I hope each one of you back home is learning something new and worth your time. My dad wrote in his latest weekly reader, which I will never forget that sometimes being good is not good enough. Out here I am doing great things, and I know I am becoming better, but sometimes it is never enough. Everyday I want to become better than the previous day, and I want to carry that same ambition to do so everywhere I go, and in everything I do. What my dad wrote inspired me, and from the inspiration it brought a new logic into my thoughts. I had never thought of ambition to become great the way my father had, but I am now understanding what it truly means to be great. I still have a long way, and in the eyes of some I may be closer than I think, but there is no road to perfection man can simply teach me, for God is the only one to teach that path for me. I know in time I will learn more about becoming great, but as for the journey here I do not think I will learn it fully, but yet a part of it, for there is more than I could ever imagine on becoming great, and certain people in my eyes have that greatness. God, my parents, and my family are the people that obtain the greatness I desire. I know this type of greatness will come to me in time with patience in myself, faith in God, and humility with others. The greatness I desire and speak of will fulfill me, and make my life complete. I love you all so much! I miss each one of you! God has a great plan for each one of you, and you do not have to be thousands of miles away to see it.