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!