One Lesson Learned, Another Taught

The past two days have been so amazing and unbelievably touching! Yesterday I didn't have a lot to do. I was sort of getting tired and about ready to shutdown for the day until Joyce asked Nicole and I to go visit an old man who had been thrown out of the hospital with a broken hip. This man is 84 years old and all I knew was the hospital he was in did not want him there because the doctors thought it pointless to keep him alive. When I heard about his situation I was shocked! How could the hospital act so cruel to actually throw a man who was dying out into the street? My heart ached for him and I gladly went to help. He had been sent to the Bindu Art School, an art school for leprosy affected. I did not know, but this had been his home for quite awhile. Thoughts were rushing through my head not knowing what to expect, and all I could think about was this poor man who was in complete despair and misery. I shortly arrived with Nicole and our nurse. Nicole and I had brought food and water for him thinking he would be hungry, and he was. This man was laying down on a mat with his head comfortably placed on a rice bag. His whole body was completely emaciated. It was difficult looking at this man, but for some reason unknown it did not bother me. Paul, his art teacher at the school, told both Nicole and I he has no hope, and looking at him I noticed it. The nurse treated all of his wounds while Nicole and I helped out with as much medical knowledge we knew, which was close to none actually, but somehow it got the job done. After the nurse left, Nicole and I sat with him holding all that was left of his hands. Humming silently I prayed for this man to receive comfort and hope. For the longest time I sat there pondering to myself how lucky he really is. As each day passes, this man gets closer and closer to celestial glory. Paul came over to where I was sitting and we had a short conversation about how it would be better if this man died, so he could go to heaven instead of suffering in pain and agony. I told him if he is alive there is a reason God wants him alive. Maybe he needs to learn one more valuable lesson before going to see God, but whatever is holding him back from being in heaven I know is all through the Lord's plan. Nicole and I wondered what he was like in his youth as we sung silently the children's hymn "A Child's Prayer". Tears raced down my eyes as I sung, and the feeling of the Spirit was so powerful. I cannot describe in words how I felt, but the feeling was one of comfort and joy, and I knew this man would be ok. There is a line from "A Child's Prayer" I really like, and it seemed to suit this occasion. "Some say that heaven is far away, but I feel it close around me as I pray..." This line hit me powerfully as I sung because heaven for this man did not seem so far away, but actually within reach. I asked Nicole if she wanted to pray for this man, and as we began to fold our arms the man seemed to understand what we were doing, and slowly he did so as well. We prayed that he would find hope, comfort and joy in this time of suffering, and we told him God has a plan for him. Our time to leave slowly sneaked upon us, but I did not want to leave this man alone with no care. On the way back home, Veil, Nicole and I stopped for parotha in Uthiramerur to ease our emotional evening. The rest of the night I was in a state of peace, but not the kind of peace usually felt being at ease with yourself, for this kind of peace was one words cannot portray. I hope one day you all may be able to feel this feeling I struggle to express. Today I had the opportunity to go with the medical van and check up on the man. Walking into the school, Paul saw Nicole and I coming in, so he kindly came over to greet us. Paul was shocked we came again, and all the words he could utter were God bless you two! Nicole and I brought him breakfast, and again we sat with him for awhile. I asked Paul how this man was feeling, and Paul said, "Yesterday there was no hope, but today he is happy, he is laughing, and he has hope." God had answered my prayer, and in that moment I felt the same feeling come over me again. As Nicole and I sat there with him I noticed an awful stench coming off of him. Smells of urine and infection stung my nose. I asked Paul if we could bathe him, so he would not have to feel so ashamed and humiliated. At first, Paul looked at us like we were insane, but after awhile he got us a bucket of warm water and a bar of soap, and surely enough we began to bathe him. It was really sad because any small movements made would hurt him immensely, so we had to be extremely careful making sure we were fragile with every touch. Paul could not believe what we were doing, and every so often he came to tell us God was going to bless Nicole and I. To see him happy and laughing was amazing! He even sat upright as we fed him! I could not believe how much improvement he had made in one day! I do not know the next time I will see this man, but he has a special place in my heart and he will always be in my prayers. The rest of the day Nicole and I helped with the medical unit. We gave out different medicines as people one by one came up to our van. One man outside of this building, in the colony we were in, with the only English he knew told Nicole and I the same thing. He told us thank you for the medical services we had offered to the people, and God is always going to be watching over us. The gratitude of these people always amazes me! Small acts of kindness I see as nothing are huge to them, and because of these acts their lives will be completely altered. I held the hands of this man and told him God will always be with him. Today, again, was another remarkable day! Everyday is a remarkable day for me, but these past two days have completely altered my life. The experience from this man, the feelings I have felt and the overall joy I have attained while being here are incredible! I can never portray my feelings about what I feel here sometimes as well as I would like to, and for that I apologize, but hopefully the times I do explain my feelings well can give you all an idea of what it is like to be fully immersed in an amazing work! I never thought about life and certain things the way I have seen them here, so hopefully all of this will stay with me when I come home. I miss and love each one of you! You guys are always in my thoughts! I love this work and I love these people with all of my heart! Goodnight or nalla thoungunga, which is Tamil for goodnight and I love you all or naan unnai virumpukirén, which is I love you all in Tamil!

Great Expectations!

Today started out slow because I woke up late. I still have not started on my project, so I do not have a schedule to follow. I am still talking and planning about it all, so when I have more details on it I will be sure to let you guys know. I am anxious to find out so I can begin, but in the meantime I am helping tutor kids with Nicole, our tutoring coordinator who was a volunteer, but is now staying till December. She's so fun to work with so I think this will be great until I get started on my assignment. Tutoring the kids today was a little stressful like it can be, but some of them were so smart and managed to do the work without our help. It is so great to see the kids wanting to learn. One of the kids I tutored today was on a roll getting everything I was teaching him, and he noticed some of the other kids struggling, so as I taught he would translate everything I was saying into Tamil for the other kids, and then he would help them. At first I was not aware of this, but after awhile I finally saw what this kid was doing, and to watch it happen totally caught me off gaurd. This kid may not know how great of a thing he did today, but what he did, and if he continues to do so will greatly shape the future of India. A handful of our kids struggle with English, so it is extremely important to teach them properly. I am always amazed when children set a better example for me. The innocence of a child can teach us a lot if we look closely. After tutoring, Nicole and I went with the teacher drop to go run a few errands. Shama, one our house mothers, came along with us. Shama is a perfect example of the most loving person. She loves the kids with an undescribable amount of unconditional love. She is one our youngest house mothers, but by far the best! I always see her with a huge smile on her face knowing the work she does could never make her happier. I both admire and look up to her, and someday hope I could reach a state of happiness in doing something I love to the amount she does. One by one we dropped off the teachers at their designated stops, and I could not help myself, but to say a few words to Shama. I indulged myself in our conversation, and from it I picked up a few words in Tamil. She told me pretty soon she was going to be married off, and by next year she would probably not be with RSO anymore. I cannot imagine RSO without her. Every house mother tries to follow by the example she sets, and the children love her with the same amount of love she gives to them. I got back to RSO in perfect timing to be able to teach my first family home evening lesson to the children. I taught the lesson of making both wise and foolish decisions. It was great seeing every child looking at me with full attention ready to learn. I told the story of the wise man building his house upon a firm foundation, and how we should makes choices beneficial to us. I also told the story of the foolish man and how he built his house upon sand, and choices he made are symbolic for detrimental ones. All the children knew this story, but I hope and pray they will grasp the concept of it carrying it with them throughout their lives. Everyday we make choices. I pray for the children here at RSO, the staff making this possible, my family, who I love dearly, and myself to make the best choices. After family home evening, before dinner, I ran into Jon, one of our security gaurds. Jon is one of the most amazing men I have ever met! Jon, when he is not in his uniform is teaching at his ministry The Book of Mormon to many people. Jon has given out so many books here in Tamilnadu they now cannot print anymore, so people have to patiently wait until more copies are printed. His knowledge in the gospel is phenomenal and his faith in the church is extraordinary. Jon's faith is so powerful; a church closer to our campus may get built, or better yet India's first temple might be built because of Jon's remarkable faith. We talked a good bit about The Book of Mormon, and his misunderstanding of The Tree of Life. He inspires me to seek more knowledge from questions he asks, and I told him to come back if he had more questions. I know Jon is going to bring thousands of souls unto Christ, and from doing so he will be blessed tremendously. I love what I am doing, and I love the people here! I would not trade this experience for any other! I miss and love each one of you! I pray for each one of you back home, and I hope you strive to do your best in everything!

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.