Doctrinal Insights from India

Charity:
I have learned more fully what it means to have the pure love of Christ by associating with people who are full of His love. Charity comes as one learns to rely wholly upon the merits of Christ. As one softens their heart before Christ, His love can enter in and in turn, that light penetrates the soul on the inside and out. As His love affects the mind, heart, and actions of the individual, he/she becomes charity--they become as the Savior is.

Repentance:
One night when I was trying to fall asleep in India, my roommate (who I actually struggled with for the first week) started talking about her new found hopes in repentance because of her experience here in India. She expressed her desires to return to the Savior and she could feel His love through these people she served. She learned more about God's love and realized that the Savior's arms were stretched out toward her still.

Seeking out for the One:
The leprosy patients as well as the children have an incredible way of making you feel so loved and special. Although they have dealt with hundreds of previous volunteers throughout the whole summer, we were still so special to them. They approached us individually hoping for our love and time, as they were so willing to give the same. No person was overlooked by these people.
As I pondered this, I have realized that by spending time with one and giving my full love to that individual, great and beautiful things will be released within the person and in turn, with myself.

8/30: Continual Learning

Although I have returned from India, I will continually be learning from what these wonderful people have taught me. I will continue to record my insights that I may never forget this amazing experience that I've been blessed with.
As I am still recoveriong from jet lag, I woke up at 4:00 this morning and my thoughts were turned to India. Here are just a couple insights I gained:
I consider the leprosy patients who are full of joy, love, and humility. I consider their immense pain, not only physically, but emotionally, socially etc. Why do they have such joy when they have every reason to sorrow and have pity for their external condition? While their focus should naturally be cast inward, they manage to do the exact opposite. They have immense love and gratitude for the people who are coming to help. They value the joy and happiness of others more than for themselves. This is service. What I've done is minimal in comparison to the love and prayers they have offerred in my behalf. As we work with them and are causing pain to their sore feet, they can do nothing but love us for the fact that we are there with them. It's not so much our actions, but our presence that touches them. It is the building of relationships and love shown. Their heart melts as I kiss their hands. I have learned the importance of being with the one. Service is about who I am rather than what I am doing. These leprosy patients are the perfect example of that.
Next, I consider the children. They have come from homes of abandonment, disease, poverty, and heartache. They have come to Rising Star in hopes for a brighter future. They have incredible gratitude for this blessing of a solid education. They desire to take this blessing and shift it upon the lives of others and who they hope to be able to serve in their future because of the education. Little do they know that they are already shifting the blessings upon every person they come into contact with as they fully and unconditionally love their peers and volunteers. As they look into my eyes, it's as if they're saying, "You've changed my life" but then I consider the fact that I am a mere 'one' of hundreds of volunteers who have felt a similar love from these children. They are fully aware that my visit is short and still give everything inch of love that they have to me and to the other volunteers. This makes the departure all the more bitter, yet all the more sweet. They have taught me how I ought to love.

I will strive to love selflessly, considering the joy and happiness of my brother before my own. I pray that I will be able to give every fiber of being of love to the Lord and in effect, to my fellow men.

8/26: I left my heart in India

Today, I got to tutor the blessed children! It was fun Friday, which was seriously a relief. We played bingo and around the world. It was really refreshing, especially because children who struggled so much with focusing on the work, became excited to do the task at hand. I really enjoyed it. The kids were yelling bingo and singing the bingo song while we played. They also became so excited when they finished each math problem. Who ever knew learning could be so much fun? Haha. Sathya stole my water bottle during break J Such a little teaser. I just love her so much.

After tutoring, we all went back to the hostel to paint our session wall. We decided to paint a lotus and it was a great experience. The members of our session became really close to each other.

Becca put on a saree…it was ridiculous. Then she unraveled and did a strip show for Lyndee and me. It was fabulous.

I went to play time and all the girl’s were dressed up to go to Saraswathy’s party for her marriage. The kids looked absolutely beautiful. Little did I know that this would be the last time that I had to spend with my beloved Rutish.

After seeing the kids all lined up we ran back to the hostel for dinner. We reflected on things that we learned throughout the trip. Many people spoke about the love of the children, the examples of the fellow volunteers, and the hope in a brighter future because of the experience. I spoke about the difference in serving and serving at the side of God. As I wrestled and began to humble myself throughout the experience, my service was far more meaningful and profoundly based.

After dinner we went to watch Life Dance. They are incredible, especially considering their lacking experience. After their performances, we did a dance off. The kids are seriously incredible dancers. It was so much fun.

We ran to family time after that ended and it just wasn’t the same. I was in absolute denial that we were leaving and this was the last night with them. I sat with the girls on the floor for a little while. Sang a few hymns to them for the last time. Some of them were in the process of making bracelets for us. They are so loving and willing to give all they have to bring joy into the lives of others. I then ran over to Rutish’s family house and gave him a big hug goodbye. That was rough. I seriously love that kid so much. His smile brightens anyone’s day. When he runs, he kicks his legs up really high and keeps his arms straight flinging them back and forth. It’s adorable. Ha, it kills me. He would always see me from a distance and strategically place himself somewhere so that I would run into him right away. Then he would just stand there with a huge grin on his face and I would run up and grab him yelling, Rutish! He would cling to me as we walked around. He is the most beautiful and loving little boy. He’s so sweet. I already miss him.

Anyway, after saying goodbye to him, I went back to Saraswathy’s house to spend a few last minutes with Sathya. The whole day she kept telling me that she would be my sponsor. I kept saying “No Sathya! I’m the last person who needs a sponsor!” Haha she’s so funny. Anyway, she gave me a sack with so many gifts that I know meant a lot to her. It was so sweet of her. She wrote me the funniest and sweetest letter with a piece of her hair taped to it. So funny. Then she said, “Kelsey. I will be your sponsor, we will write all the time…I love you my sponsor child.” I laughed so hard at that. I was just so happy that I couldn’t cry. She’s so sweet and I just love her to death. She is so loving and caring of others and just the biggest tease. She gave me her Rising Star T-shirt, a gorgeous homemade bracelet, her keychain, and colored pencils. She’s so amazing. I gave her a huge hug and said good night. I went out to the main room where most of the girls sleep on the hard cement floor. I kissed all their hands and they kissed mine. I broke down. It was so tender. I love my girls so much and they have taught me a great deal. It was a great last day. I will strive to keep the spirit of love within my heart as I go back home to Idaho. I will look for the one and strive to release the joy within those I come in contact with as I have learned to do here in India.

I love you all and thank you for following my blog J

8/25: Ear Cancer!...false alarm.

Today was a phenomenal day! I got to do medical today but we went to a special needs orphanage for a couple hours before going to a colony. The whole focus of Rising Star is not only becoming leprosy focused but rather an emphasis on breaking the stigmas within India. Those with handicaps in India are cast out from society and abandoned by their families. It was heartbreaking to see. These people seriously had nothing. But they were so happy to have people come and pay attention to them for even just a couple short hours. We walked into the orphanage and all of the kid’s faces just lit up. I played games with some girls and then found some quieter girls in the corner to spend some time with. A sat by a girl named Jessie and had a two other angels on my right who I couldn’t get past the language barrier to find out their names. Jessie held my hand the whole remaining hour and half that we spent together. That simple gesture of love meant so much to her. I stood up to use the restroom and she was horrified that I was leaving. She was so precious. I reached over and touched one of the other really quiet girls that I was sitting by. Her face lit up and she just started giggling uncontrollably and was stroking my arm back and forth. I could tell that she wasn’t entirely ‘there’ but was so precious nonetheless. I felt my Father in Heaven’s immense love for these children and knew that He had a plan for them. It was so hard to leave them. Jessie was really upset. As soon as I stood up, she wouldn’t give me a hug. She couldn’t face the fact that it was time to say goodbye and that in a sense, someone she loved was abandoning her once again. It was probably the most heart wrenching experience of the whole trip.

I learned that it is so important to strive to connect God’s power in these situations. Doing so brings a greater strength and power in the bonding with these patients.

After visiting the orphanage, we went to one of the leprosy colonies to work with a few patients there. They were again incredible. I was able to take their blood pressure. It was a beautiful colony with so much foliage. The people there were wonderful as always. There was a man there with the most beautiful smile who had a gnarly ulcer. He cringed as he was being cleaned and treated. I can’t even imagine the pain. These people are so strong physically, spiritually, and emotionally. The light of Christ radiates from their faces. It has been such a privilege to work with them. We pulled water from their well before we left which was a really cool experience.

We had talent activities in the evening and I taught my girls how to make friendship bracelets. It turned more into me cutting their string and then they just went to town. They’re already so talented. They don’t need me. Ha, the girls really just love having supplies to work with for the next few weeks so I went home with no string. Ha they even took the box that it came in. I was really happy with it. My girls are so sweet.

After spending time with my girls, Maria, a nurse in our group specialized in ear wax removal started checking out my ears. She told me that my ear had polyps. That totally freaked me out. Ha, when someone has colon cancer, they get polyps in their colon. So, I thought I had cancer of the ear for a second. Maria explained to me that it was just a extra flap of skin. However, I do have tiny ear canals and my left ear has an infection. Woot! Sure beats cancer.

We are such a success.

My highlight for the day was at family time with a few of my girls. We went into one of the back rooms and they were just so happy and loving tonight. Nagesh was giving me a hug as were Ramia and Anita. I told Ramia and Anita to join us to do a group hug. While we were hugging, we lost our balance and tumbled to the ground. We laid there and just laughed and laughed. They wanted to reenact it. It was hilarious.
I was assigned to construction and got to paint the latrines. It was awesome. Ha Kim 2 (our coordinator for construction) was wiping the paint off our bodies the whole time so we wouldn't break out in rashes. She was super sweet. She mentioned something about Lyndee failing miserably and I turned around and said, "Lyndee, you are SUCH a success." And that has just become our little inside joke. Seriously? Who says that. We just laughed the whole time we were painting. It was a blast. Uncle Phil was belting it while he listened to his ipod. Ya. He's nuts. It was great. We then went over to the art school to purchase paintings that the leprosy afflicted have painted. They were beautiful. I just love those people. They were so happy that they were buying some of their art.
We came home and I completely crashed on my bed until play time. I am still SO tired, but so happy :) Heavenly Father has been answering my prayers and has been helping me grow through this experience. I am so grateful to have His hand through this experience.
We had a great dinner and Lyndee shared a thought about being at peace with our fellow men. Then of course went to family time. I spun the girls around and realized that my stomach and head are much weaker than I thought. Haha, Sathya was upset today about something. So every time I tried to spend time with her she tended to shoo me away. But I got to grow closer to some of the other girls so I'm really grateful for that.
I just love it here. It's coming to a close but am so excited to be able to reflect on the experiences I've had and learn even more from that.

Will you be my Sponsor?

I AM IN LOVE WITH RUTIHSH! (Pictured above) Holy moly, cutest little boy ever. Before I dive into my experiences through the day I must first expound on this. We had a little gathering with all the kids and volunteers during free time as a little goodbye to the coordinators and stuff. Anyway, as soon as I started looking for Ruthish he appeared out of nowhere and flashed his movie star smile. Ha my heart just melts every time I see him. I told him that his smile makes me so happy and brightens my day. After that, he wouldn’t stop smiling. J Later on, when I was playing with him, he came up and asked, “Will you be my sponsor?” Ah! That little boy! I yelled, “Of course I’ll be your sponsor!” Haha I felt like I was being proposed to. It was so precious. He was so sad that he only has two sponsors and I’m so happy to be his sponsor so I can keep updated on his life. He is just my favorite little boy ever!

Anyway, I got to do education today. It’s hard to stay motivated when the kids aren’t really all that motivated either. However, I was given some real champs who stuck it out and finished their assignments. One girl named Kavia, went way above and beyond. I was giving her three digit division problems and she was asking for ten digit division problems! She got the answers all right and I was so proud of her. We became good friends through our experience.

Education is probably the hardest for me. I love kids but I just don’t have as much patience as I would like when it comes to tutoring them. Hence, I am not an education major. I admire Lyndee a lot for that. P.S. she’s been so amazing on this trip. She is so loving toward the patients that we work with and the kids just really love her, as do I! We’ve had a good time together.

This morning, the girls from room Stork went around writing nicknames for each of us on our doors. I was given the nickname Sunshine and Lyndee got the nickname Super Dope. Anyway, I was talking to Maria, one of the girls from Stork and she was just complimenting me up the wazoo. She told me that I was so loving and just a ray of sunshine. Haha…India has done some crazy things to me apparently. Ha, it was so sweet of her though and made my day.

I walked through the school before play time and saw Kylie singing primary songs with some of the girls. Related to that, my house mother was drawing henna on my foot tonight and while I was with her, I could hear a girl singing “I am a Child of God” alone in the other room. Just some major highlights.

I pretty much just spent all day with the lovely children. Ha Chrisraj stole my water bottle and started drinking out of it. He’s so funny. I always ask him how he’s doing and says, “I’m fine! I’m fine! Are you fine?” Haha, I just love these kids so stinkin much. Leaving here is going to be super heart wrenching.

I spent a lot of time with Sathya today. Our highlight together was probably when she read a book to me on her bed all snuggled up against me. It was some great bonding time that we shared.

I had some good laughs with my roommates today and had a few bonding moments with other members in our group. I talked to Micah on the way home from getting Perota just about the culture of San Francisco and about his life and so forth.

It has again been a very happy day!

8/22 The day at Chetty Parnyum

Today was wonderful. I went to Chetty Parnyum to work with the leprosy patients. We told life stories on the way there. I have a great deal of respect for these wonderful people that I serve with. They're such great examples.We arrived at the colony and I was immediately embraced in the love of the people. Maria hugged each of us. I was introduced to another woman whose name has slipped me but my heart ached for her. She was in a great deal of pain and I felt so helpless. She could hardly walk and it hurt her to eat. We helped her lie down and as Lyndee and Halee left, I kissed her hands and could see the light that filled her eyes. She was so tender. I then went over to help set up the medical needs for the patients. Oh and I got to go to the restroom in the dirt. I felt pretty hard core. Haha, anyway we were set up and I was taught how to wrap the patients ulcers with the bandages. I felt very inadequate but very grateful to have some help. The patient's love is simply incredible. They are all so grateful and bring healing to the soul. I only wish that I could bring healing to their infirmities. I thought of the incredible miracle it was when Christ healed the lepers. Oh the joy they must have felt. I was most touched by my last patient, Lukewanti. She's pictured here on the right. Because my station was one of the final one's, everyone was packing all the medical equipment while I finished wrapping her foot. After I finished I kissed hands, saying namaste (meaning I can see divinity within you). She laid her hands on my head and prayed for me. She then collapsed at my feet and we embraced for about a minute. I was in shambles as you can see from this lovely picture. We walked back together hand in hand to get washed up. She is so beautiful.

After getting home and taking a quick snooze we headed over to play time with the kids. I went over to play time. Chrisraj came running full speed into my arms. He's such a neat kid. I held him for a long time as he laid his head on my shoulder. I was also embraced by Ruthish, Vicky, and Ranjeet. They're just the neatest, most loving boys. We played telephone for a little while, hide and go seek, and then played Mother may I. Ruthish's smile gets to me every time. I just love that kid! Sathya called me over while I was playing with them looking very blue. I went over to try to comfort her but she was silent and didn't want to talk to me. I felt helpless and wasn't sure how to help. I don't think I've been spending as much time with her as she would like so I'll step it up. There are just so many kids and it's hard to make everyone happy.

Some of the older kids here have seminary every day. I went with them for about ten minutes before dinner. These kid's testimonies are so strong and their motives are so pure. They have no outside pressure to go to seminary and read their scriptures other than their love for the Savior. It was amazing.

On the way to family time I had a really nice conversation with Halee, my roommate, who is just incredible. She is the sweetest girl who is so good at looking out for the one. We talked about the pure love of Christ that is within each of the patient's that we work with.

At family time, we had the girls write things about each other in order to put up a little bio for those who are interested in sponsoring them. They loved being able to write nice things about each other. Sathya still seemed upset with me but as I wrote down nice things about her, she started softening up. We spent time together throughout the evening and I enjoyed the time we spent. As I left Sathya's room to leave for the night, I came out and our house mother was crying along with many of the girls. She has lived with these girls for a year and a half and is getting married in a week. She doesn't even want to get married to him and is so distraught about leaving these beautiful children who she has cherished as her own. The girls are also so torn apart about it as she has become their mother in the past while. It was heart wrenching. Two men from the program came in to give her a blessing. It was really touching and I just love the spirit that is here. It is so calming and so full of love.