Days I Will Never Forget

I will begin by telling you all about yesterday and what a fun day that was. I did not write because I was too tired and exhausted from my day doing absolutely nothing requiring hard labor, but sometimes I have noticed myself getting tired just because. Weird right? Well, I went to the colony with the Bindu Art School again to visit my old friend with the broken hip. For some reason he was in low spirits and by the look of it when we came in did not want to be seen, cared for, touched, or even looked at. We brought him food, but he said he did not want to eat. We brought him water, but he did not want to drink. He said he was full from milk. I looked over to Paul and asked him to translate if he was happy, which he said he was, but all the emotion given off by him did not look like it. I asked Paul if I could bathe him, and at first the man said no, but after a few seconds he shook his head and said ok. Kristin, Nicole, and I all bathed him, and as we bathed him we sung a few hymns we knew hoping he would regain his happiness. I don't know why he seemed so melancholy. I asked myself several questions hoping I could come up with an answer, but nothing came. Was he lonely because he wasn't with his friends? No, his friends came and saw him when they had time. Was he humiliated or possibly embarassed? I think a part of him was whether we came or not, and the humiliation and embarassment he felt would probably be of one I could never fathom. He was more so the first few times we came, but after a while he seemed to let it go. Every question I could think of I had an answer to it, but these answers were probably not ones he would give, for mine were just from a few minutes of contemplation and hypothetical assumption. I finally thought about one question I did not want to know the answer to, for it was too depressing to think about. Had he lost hope thinking it better to give up? From the looks of him it seemed the question was rhetorical, but I did not want to believe it. Nicole looked to Kristin and then to me softly whispering, "Do you want to say a prayer for him?" I felt a little bit overwhelmed, but in what seemed to be one motion, I slowly bowed my head, closed my eyes, and put my hands together. Thoughts were moving at a thousand miles per hour; words were uttered I was not forcing to say. I felt as if I was learning to run before I knew how to walk. I prayed words of comfort, so he would not feel alone or abandoned, I prayed for strength, so he might be able to do certain tasks better, and most importantly I prayed words of hope, so he might feel happiness and joy in however long he has left. Words cannot describe how overwhelmed I felt praying to this man, but somehow I knew he would be happy. After staying there for what seemed like two minutes, we left to go back to the campus where I got to talk to Padma. She was there speaking with Ron and Joyce, but also glad Nicole and I went to visit this man, so she wanted to catch Nicole and I to appreciate what we had done. I did not know Padma tried to get people to come visit him to a point of offering a thousand rupees, which is about twenty dollars, to go visit. I thought Ron and Joyce one day felt it was great if Nicole and I went, so for me to be appreciated felt great, but I was more honored to have the opportunity to go. Padma told me out of any experience so far she has had in India it would be this one she would always remember. She gave me a hug and told me she was very proud of me. I have never felt more honored in my entire life than I did in that moment. It came time for Padma to leave and a few of us came along because we had to make a few errands in Chennai. It was great talking to Padma about her life and RSO's success and how she is excited about its future. It also was very cool to see her many awards inside of her home. Today was a very quiet day. We had three new volunteers come, which is nice because now we have more people to add to our group. I hope it is not so quiet anymore. One of them was Sharon Thompson, who apparently remembered me from when I was little, but I had no clue who she was, but we talked for a little while and she seemed really nice. Today I really just spent cleaning and organizing things around, so not a lot really happened. Dinner was Chappathi, which is one of my favorite meals here in India. It is this huge tortilla looking bread thing similar to parotha, but has more of a thicker consistency, and you wrap it up like a burrito with this chunky sauce with rice. Sorry my description is not too great, but it is the best I can do. It is one of those things you just have to be there for, so come to India and try it! I promise you will not regret it! Well this is what is happening out here in India! I hope all is well back home! I miss and love each one of you! I love the people here and I love what I am doing! Please try to be great in everything you do and count your blessings everyday because I know for a fact each one of you is blessed beyond what you may think! I love you all!