Life can be bittersweet sometimes

The past 3 weeks have been the best time I have had at Rising Star Outreach. I had my sister here to hangout with and I started and completed the construction project. I was also able to go up to the Taj Mahal with my tangachi.

French restaurant in Pondicherry 

Church in INDIA!!!

Tangachi and Anna love!!!

I thought the 3 weeks that I spent in India last year were the fastest 3 weeks of my life but the past 3 weeks seemed to go by twice as fast. It was an amazing experience to have my little sister Emily serving in India alongside me. We had some amazing times hanging out with Sanjay, Enokelee, and Praveen. I am so happy that she was so willing to come out to India with me and spend 3 weeks with these kids and the Leprosy patients. Emily truly is an amazing person and I love her so much.

Enokelee, Emily and I wish we could take him lol. He is just so cute!!!

I’m sad now that she has left, but I’m happy that she had such an amazing experience. I was talking to her last night on skype and we talked about how impossible it is to explain the experiences we have here in India. It was like my talk I had with Annie the night before I left.

 Sanjay misses you Emily

 Bicycle Rickshaw ride around Old Delhi!!!

I am going to try to explain what it feels like to be at Rising Star. The second you get here it is work, work, work. When you get out into the colonies the spirit is overwhelming and you cannot help but to be happy. You feel the love and gratitude from the patients that you can feel no place else (I feel that it is because this is the only time these people get to interact with people from outside their colony that love them). At first you think you will feel bad for the Leprosy patients because they have Leprosy but after you visit the colonies and help treat their ulcers you realize it’s the stigma that goes along with Leprosy that is the real disease. It’s like Mother Teresa said, “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted”. The people affected with Leprosy are not sad because they have the disease, but because they are unwanted in their community. Then you go to the school/hostel and you feel the overwhelming love from the kids. The second these kids see the volunteers they go crazy and just want to play with you and hug you (it will be weird going back to the US and see kids that don’t jump and climb all over me the second they see me lol).  

My sister now knows what it felt like to go back home and not know how to describe her trip to India. Its just one of those experiences that is too hard to describe.

Some of the coolest people ever infront of the most beautiful building in the world!!!

Over the weekend we went up to Delhi and Agra and we had a blast. We went with some amazing tour guides Ramesh and Benson. I saw the Taj Mahal for the second time and it was just as amazing. I was telling Emily that it is one of those places that never disappoints. I just love hearing about the history of it and just looking at it, because it truly is the most beautiful building I have ever seen. We then went to Agra Fort, which is more of a palace than a fort. It is also an awesome place to see, because a lot of its history is tied into the Taj.

The group at the TAJ MAHAL!!!

Agra Fort is so cool!!!

A Jain "buddha" (its not actually called a buddha lol)

"come to as, and if you think something, it be alive" Guru Gokul Raj

Gate infront of the TAJ!!!

Berlyn and Emily at the TAJ!!!!

Tangachi and Anna

We then all got on the bus to go back to Delhi to get dropped off at the airport. It really did not feel like we were leaving. Berlyn, Emily and I were just hanging out the whole ride and Berlyn taught us how to do a “woodchuck face” which was amazing. Even when I got back to Chennai I didn’t feel like Emily had left. It only hit me today when she was not there at morning conclave. 

These are the "woodchuck faces"... AMAZING

I Love India!!!

There has been so many things happening the past couple of weeks. I went into Chennai and met up with my little sister Emily and hungout with her all weekend. We went to a Hindu wedding. Then I drove back to Rising Star with the new session. Oh... i finally started a construction project at the colony last week!!!

Let me start by saying that I have the best and strongest little sister ever! She is such a trooper, I am so proud of her. She got to India last weekend on Friday the 13th. The second she stepped off the plane EVERYTHING went wrong. She waited at the airport for 2 hours for her bags just to find out that they were lost. She then went outside to find the driver from the Marriott but he was not there; so she called the Marriott and Dr.Susan (she works at Rising Star) to get a ride to the hotel. Once she got to the hotel she found out that her reservation at the Marriott had been canceled. The one thing that was good was the Marriott set her up with a room at the Radisson and gave her a ride over there. I then met her there a little after 5:00 in the morning. She looked exhausted and like she had the longest night of her life. She handled the situation so well! I could not imagine traveling all by myself and have all of that happening to me at the age of just 17. Emily is so strong and so ROOMBA SUPPAAAAA! I love her so much! 
Words cannot describe how happy I am that she got here safely!

The next day we woke up at 9:00 (not even close to getting enough sleep) and caught a ride to our friend Shanmugam's (aka Eskay) house. There we had an amazing south indian meal served on a banana leaf. Emily learned how to eat with her hand (a very useful skill her in India). The food was so good and we were so full after that we had to take a nap afterward. After our nap we hungout with Shanmugam's family and we went shopping for clothes for the wedding that we were going to on Sunday. Emily found a very nice indian dress and I got a nice white Kurta to wear. Shanmugan then paid for the clothes for us or pulled a "Billy" as I would call it (Not letting us pay for the stuff ourselves). I then may or may not have splurged and bought a pair of RayBans...(dont worry dad I bought them myself). After shopping we went out to eat with Shanmugam's family and got some more great south indian food (I love real south indian food... A LOT).

On Sunday we went to a Hindu wedding and it was so much fun. Emily and I got dressed up in indian clothing and we got to eat more yummy south indian food! It was really interesting going to the wedding because I have never seen or heard anything about Hindu weddings. We had a blast with Eskay and his family there!

The stage where the wedding was taking place.

Where the bride and groom were most of the time. So many flowers, it smelt so good!

The bride and groom getting married!

They look so happy. I cant believe I got a picture of two Indians smiling that aren't Eskay lol. 

The band at the wedding.

Eskay's beautiful daughters Aku (on the left) Abi (on the right).

Emily eating with her hands at the wedding.

The amazing food they served us at the wedding.

We were having a lot of fun here but she didnt want to take a picture with me lol.

 Emily and I in Indian clothing.

CONSTRUCTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Im not going to lie, I have been a little down ( and when I say "a little" I really mean "a lot") up until last week about not being able to do a construction project in the colonies. But now that I am doing the job I am suppose to, I cannot be more happy. I love being the construction coordinator here at Rising Star! I love going out to the colony Barathalapuram and helping the people there. The people at this colony are so nice, I love them so much!

The project we are working on is installing septic tanks and bathrooms for about 10 or more families. These people will sometimes come out of their homes and show the other volunteers how to use an indian shovel or offer us coconuts and soda. These people have so little but are willing to give us so much. They are some of the most amazing people and I cannot tell you how much I love them. I came here to India to serve these people but it feels like I am receiving and learning more from them than I am giving them. I am reminded everyday here that charity works both ways. 

Incredible India

Last year I wrote/journaled my experience at Rising Star.

Incredible India!

I came to India not knowing what to expect. One random afternoon Annie sent me a text saying “do you want to go to India” and within seconds I responded, “Yes”. I did not know why I said “yes” at the time, but by the last night at Rising Star I found out why (or at least I think I did). It was to experience love for people that I barely know and to be loved by the same people in return.

The last night at rising star, everyone stood up at dinner and said what they have learned here in India. I knew that we were going to do this and thought of something to say. But by the time that it was my turn to say what I learned, I forgot everything that I was going to say. I never felt the way that I did when I stood up. I somewhat knew what I was going to say and I knew I had to talk about how much I love the kids here and how the kids have loved us ever since we arrived at the hostel. I started with saying how I found out about rising star (that Annie text me one random afternoon and I did not know why I said yes). After I said that, I talked about how the Lord works in mysterious ways, because India has changed my life perspective forever. I talked about how I loved the kids and how I learned to love people in such a short time.

The main reason I am writing this is because I want to expand on what I have learned in India. This trip has changed how I look at everything. When I got here, I thought this trip would only make me appreciate the states more (boy was I wrong). I did not think it would change who I am, but I was mistaken. I have a whole new outlook on life and I’m so grateful for this. These kids and leprosy patients that I have grown to love have so little but are some of the happiest people I have ever meet. I have learned to appreciate the little things in life and learned material items do not make people happy. Money and all the things in the world cannot make people happy. It is love for people that truly makes people happy.

Everything in this world has a purpose. This thought popped into my head when everyone was saying what they learned. I’m not sure why, but it did. I feel that I was meant to come to India to learn something because I feel that I have gained so much more than I have given. This saddens me because I came here to help people and the people of India have helped me even more than anyone will ever know. I only wish that these people appreciated me as much as I appreciated them.

Tonight I had to say goodbye to the kids. We saw the kids at Life Dance (and it was such an amazing experience). After that I walked over to the children’s hostel, I have never felt so many emotions at once before and was overwhelmed; I felt happy, sad, excited, and a bunch more emotions that I’m not even sure of. 

I was sad because I knew it would be one of the last times I would see the kids, if not the last time. I felt that it was harder walking up to the hostel because all the rush of emotions. I never knew that I could love so many people so much, in such a short amount of time. But by the time we had to leave I only felt a couple emotions, love, happiness, and sadness. I never knew how calming it would be to actually say goodbye and have closure. I guess that is why it was much easier to walk away than to anticipate walking away. I also concentrated on how much I loved the kids and by this time, I already made up my mind that I would come back.

My experiences at rising star have changed not who I am but have reminded me what love and joy truly are. I once knew this as a child but being in the service of others has reminded me. I have felt a shift in priorities. I no longer care about material things as much. India has taught me to enjoy the “Little Things” (as Joel said on our last dinner). I have also learned to enjoy the company around me and to love people for who they are.

What I learned in India is so personal and close to my heart that it would be impossible to truly explain what I learned here. 

I was talking to Annie and I told her “thank you for inviting me… I feel that there was
a reason I replied to you so quickly”. She said your welcome and then we started
talking about what will happen when we get home. This subject scared me because
I knew I would be going back to the same place that I left only 3 weeks ago. I knew
I did not want to go back to the way I was before. I told Annie that when I get back
it truly is going to be one of the biggest trials in my life so far. Her reply to this was
simple “I will pray for you”. When she said this, my heart sank. I cannot even explain
how much her saying this to me made me feel. I am grateful to have a friend like
Annie.
I could never tell Annie how grateful I am, for her inviting me to India. It has been an
experience of a lifetime! India has not only strengthened my relationship with Annie
but also with my Heavenly Father.

Testing Testing Testing, Party Party Party

This week has been crazy and exhausting! Right now there is not a construction project so I have been helping out at the school. I have been giving UKG (kindergarden) to 3rd standard (3rd grade) english tests. They have to be given one at a time and sometimes the kids do not understand a word I am saying.  We have also gone to a wedding for one of the nurses that use to work here at Rising Star. Then we had a dinner party for the 4th of July!

Administering the english tests can be very exhausting. I thought working on construction was going to be tiring but testing/teaching takes much more out of me. I give props to those able to teach everyday. The other day I was testing this little boy named Captain Karan (yes that is his name lol) and he had no idea what I was saying. He is a new kid here at Rising Star and is in 2nd standard. He knows almost no english so he got almost everything wrong. It was so hard to give this boy the test because he would lose focus and try to leave the room every 30 seconds. Now that im looking back at it, it is funny. Every 30 seconds I would call out "Captain we need to finish this test" and calling a child "Captain" is just hilarious to me, I feel that im talking to one of my dad's friends from the navy.

The 4th of July party was a ton of fun. We got to have a couple of the kids over and they loved the "semi-american" food that we had. We had hotdogs, fries, corn, chicken and chips. One of the boys, Vimal, wanted to use a fork and would use the fork to eat the chips. At the end we had some soda and ice cream. We made floats for the kids and they loved them, some had 3 or more floats. After they were done with the floats we had a bunch of left over ice cream that got used for a food fight (started by Amy). I avoided being the food fight until the very end when Amy threw some ice cream in my face and Deepan slapped some butter in my face (yes I did say butter). After we sent the kids back to their hostels we cleaned up and were cleaning up the mess from the ice cream fight. Once the water buckets came out I knew it would turn into a little water and it did.

 This is us having our 4th of July Dinner!

 Some of the kids that came for our 4th of July dinner party! So much fun!

 Amy smering ice cream all over Joseph's face in the ice cream fight lol. 

After the mini water fight!

We may not have had a traditional 4th of July party but we sure did have a lot of fun.

The next night we went to the wedding of one of the nurses that use to work here at Rising Star. It was a catholic wedding and was a good experience. Everyone was dressed in Indian clothing, the girls were in Saris, Dane was in a Dhoti and I was in a Kurta (we were all looking awesome!). At the reception the Bride and Groom had to stand and take pictures for hours. They would look super serious while the pictures were being taken and the second after they would have the biggest smiles (Indians for some reason hate smiling in pictures). Although my friend Shanmugam (Eskay) smiles in pictures all the time... and he's Indian...

The ladies looking good in their Saris! Dane and I looking like studs in a Dhoti and Kurta!!

 The Bride and Groom not smiling in their wedding pictures. As soon as this picture was taken they smiled lol. 

 The food at the reception! They were super pushy and just wanted us to eat and then leave. It was like a factory line.

India is Amazing!!!

Let me start by saying "India and Rising Star are both amazing", I love them both! The past couple of weeks have been great. We just got done with session 1 and they were an awesome group! It was really sad to see them leave. I hope all the groups coming are as amazing as them.

It has been an eventful couple of weeks, we went to Mamallapuram, there was a fire behind campus, I got to go with medical to a colony, and I went to education.


Mamallapuram was a ton of fun. I hungout with some of the other long-term volunteers. We went to a restaurant called Moonrakers and I got some yummy butter chicken (one of my favorite India dishes). We also did some sight seeing and went to the shore temple and the Five Rathas. Then we went to the resort called "Ideal Beach" and just hungout at the pool and worked on my tan lol.


It was really cool to finally get off campus for a change and go to one of the colonies with medical. This colony was only about 30 minutes outside Chennai. I remember it from last year and I remember a couple of the leprosy patients. One of the leprosy patients was dancing and singing and then said a prayer in tamil. It was so awesome to see that he appreciated what we were doing there. I remembered this man from last year and he still has the same attitude, he is amazing. 



This is the view of the beach from the shore temple in Mamallapuram, it was so amazing!

 The shore temple is pretty cool, I believe they said there are 6 more but they are underwater!

When your allowed to sit and take pictures on really old ruins, you have to do it. GO BULLS!!! AT the five rathas in Mamallapuram.

 Me and some of the long-term volunteers at the five rathas.

So this is part of the fire that was right behind campus/behind the house im staying at...

This is how close that fire got to setting a giant pile of leaves/ palm leaves on fire. If that pile would have caught fire so would the house im staying at... It was a miracle that it stopped just a couple of feet away...

Construction Day 2!!!

Yesterday Dr.Susan came up to me during playtime with the kids. She told me "be careful for what you wish for" and boy was she right. She later went on to say she has a real project for me. This project was to help with the second story construction on the "Green House" (the green house is where I am living now because the sessions are too large for me and Dane to live where all the other volunteers are living). We started at 0900 and ended at 1600 which is a couple hours longer than we normally work for. Our job was to move the 5 towers of bricks up to the second floor. We did not just do a ton of work today we did a couple tons of work today. How I am able to write this now in a miracle, i really should be asleep; I am that exhausted! I am so happy to have a real project but man standing outside in the sun for 6 hours throwing bricks is a lot of work. I just hope that I can keep up the hard work for the rest of the summer!!!

First Day of Construction

Oh man today was crazy! The title of my blog says it all "TII". Today was just one of those days where you feel that you are going to lose it. It started with me running around at 8:45am trying to gather all the supplies needed for the projects that were planned for the day. I was told that the supplies would be ready the day before but of course that did not happen and I spent about 45 minutes preparing for the projects. Then we started doing the projects, which were cleaning out some storage rooms and organizing them (i was not too thrilled about the projects).

At first I thought the projects we were doing were just busy work and not very important (and I feel that is what the volunteers thought too), but then I had a meeting with Dr. Susan (she is the director here on campus and is pretty much in charge of everything). She was telling me that the work we are doing is needed and not just busy work. This is taking some weight off of her and the 2 yard workers here on campus. 

Before today I was a little upset that we were not doing a true construction project at one of the colonies for this session. But then I realized the only reason I was upset is because I had "expectations" from last year that we would being building bathrooms or some other project. What we are doing on campus does make a difference for the staff at rising star but also creates a cleaner environment for the kids here at rising star.

THE KIDS ARE BACK!!!

The past week and a half have been a ton of fun; the kids have come back and I have been playing soccer and just hanging out with them everyday. It is so great to have the kids back, I have missed them so much. It was awesome to have some of the kids remember my name. I loved seeing the 3 boys that I sponsor: Karthik, Balakumar, and Sanjay. I will post pictures of all of them once I get a battery charger for my camera.
We watch movies with the kids every Saturday night and it is a lot of fun. The past two Saturdays we have watched tamil movies and it is awesome to hear the kids laugh at curtain points of the movie and get romba excited when the "hero" is about to beat up the bad guys (those scenes are pretty funny). Its great to just sit back and just chill with the kids. I can not explain how awesome these kids are, they are just the best!
This past weekend I went to Puducherry with all the volunteers. It was nice to get off campus and rest a little. A couple of the long term volunteers and I got some Italian food at a restaurant on top of a roof and it had an amazing view, I wish I had a picture. The cook/owner of the restaurant was this older Italian man that has been living in India for 30 years and he was super funny and played us a bunch of "american music" for us (Ali I think you would have liked this guy lol).

One Week in India

I went out with the Medical team 2 days ago to a tribal village that was suppose to be only 3 hours away but it ended up being 5 lol. It was a long drive but it was really cool to see the tribal village. The village was pretty remote, after the long drive we had to walk about 30 minutes to get to it. This village was beautiful, it was in the jungle and had small mountains on both sides. The people here live very simple lives and it was awesome to learn about these people and there way of life.

I did not do any of the medical stuff because they already had enough people, so I was free to walk around the village and just talk to people and see how everyone was doing. All the villagers were super nice and were giving us a bunch of food. I was given a mango that I would call not ripe yet, so it was a little tart. They also cut open a ton of coconuts (which was funny because some of the volunteers did not like coconut water).

The pictures above do not show how beautiful this place was. It was just so awesome to see a place like this.

Yesterday a couple of us long term volunteers went of campus at Rising Star and walked down the road to the neighboring village. This is the first time that I have done this and these people are super. One of the older boys that goes to Rising Star for school told us that Kala was staying down the road (Kala is a house mom at the hostel for the kids). I was so great to see her again, we talked for a little and I asked her about her two sons that are both on missions and she said they are doing great. I am getting super excited for the kids to come tomorrow! I cannot wait to play soccer and just hangout with them! They are all so super. 

Church in India

Yesterday I went to Church in Chennai and it was super cool. They just got a new building within the last couple months. The old building I went to last summer was underground (kinda weird), but the new building is super nice and has 3 floors. It is a very pretty building.
They talked a lot about going to the temple and I just love hearing these people talking about go to the temple. They have to sacrifice so much here in India to go to the temple. The closest ones are in Hong Kong and the Philippines. Many of them have not gone but there are 3 families that are making the trip to the Hong Kong temple this week. I love the enthusiasm these people have about church (I feel this is how church is suppose to be).
Some other exciting news is that India is getting its first Stake soon! It will be located in Hyderabad, India (Its in the state north of Tamil Nadu in Andhra Pradesh. Approximately 400 miles northwest of Chennai) .  This is a major step for the church in India and very exciting for the members here.

Today the medical session starts so that is very exciting! And the kids come back to school at the end of this week! I am roomba ("very" in tamil) excited for this!

One More Day in The US!!!

I will be jumping on a plane tomorrow that arrives in Chennai, India and will be there for 3 MONTHS! A couple weeks ago I thought I would be nervous about going back, but I was completely wrong, I am more excited than ever. I had the best time of my life last year at Rising Star, in those 3 short weeks, and I know this summer will be even better.

Last year I only stayed for 3 weeks and those 3 weeks went by fast! I did not want to leave at the end of my session. I knew, as we were driving down the road away from the elephant house, I would be coming back. And now tomorrow I will finally be going back!

There was something at Rising Star that changed me. All of my family and all of my friends have seen it. Some of my friends may not know what exactly what it was, but I guarantee that my family knows. While at Rising Star I finally gained a testimony of Christ and because of this, Rising Star will always be a special place to me. I was told while at Rising Star "I would be given more than I can give"(or something along those lines) and that was so true, I worked hard everyday and gave it my all but still could not give more than I was given. Rising Star is an amazing place and this summer will be my best and most exhausting summer yet!

First Blog Post EVER!

I want to talk about the organization that I am volunteering for this summer. Their name is Rising Star Outreach and they are a non-profit organization that’s mission is to “…help the Leprosy colonies become thriving, self-sufficient communities”. They are doing this by: Economic rehabilitation through micro-lending, Providing medical care through mobile medical clinics, Educating children; providing opportunities to become productive citizens and Creating life-long humanitarians by providing service opportunities for volunteers.

Many people have asked me what I did last summer while volunteering in India. I cleaned leprosy patients’ sores and helped provide them medical treatment, I worked on a construction project (installing septic tanks at a colony), I tutored kids (that come from the colonies), and I played and had a great time with those kids. My best experiences at Rising Star last summer were with those kids, both at playtime and family time at night.

Those 3 weeks that I spent in India last summer were the best 3 weeks of my life and probably the 3 most exhausting weeks of my life. I cannot think of a better way to spend this upcoming summer then at Rising Star!

Let the 1-month countdown until I leave for India begin!