I am Like a Star Shining Brightly

Pay no attention to my silly guitar playing skills. Just soak in the beautiful voices of my new best friends. Oh how I love them so!

Friends

Yesterday could possibly be the best day I’ve had since being here in India. I got to spend all day with three of God’s beautiful children at the Chennai hospital as I helped them get through their eye exams. There was Bhoopathyannal, an older woman with no fingers, no front teeth, little boy Velcro shoes, short gray spiky hair, and a smile that could win the hearts of millions. She stayed close by me all day. She wouldn’t go anywhere without having me walk with her. She would tap me with her stub of a hand and she would mumble in Tamil words that I didn’t recognize but that I still understood. The patients all had to get their eyes dilated and I guess Bhoopathyannal was very tired so she insisted on laying on my lap for a good half an hour while we waited. She really liked that.
Her husband, Dastha Giri, was also with me all day. Dastha Giri was a fast moving man with very leprosy effected hands and feet. He was missing his thumb aong with the ends of some other fingers and all his hands and feet were very scrunched in and not very usable. He had very tall gray spikey hair and was very thin. He was more independent and kind of took care of his own business and I didn’t really talk to him much until he wouldn’t close his eyes to let them dilate. So I had to keep telling him to do that, and he was a good sport about it.
And the third woman I was with was named Noorjahan. She was probably around 4 feet 6 inches tall with some teeth missing, some fingers missing, but none of her spirit was missing. She was the most talkative of the group and would vocalize her opinion of the woes of the eye exams whenever she could. Don’t get me wrong she was a very happy woman and she liked having me around, and she even tried to teach me a little Tamil. We were going over food because all of us were tired by the time 2 o’clock came around.
So since I was not able to speak with these three I had a hard time really knowing what they were thinking or what they wanted. But as the day was coming to a close we found ourselves with one of the nurses and these three were just going off. Bhoopathyannal was clearly telling her how I let her lay on my lap because she kept doing sleeping motions with her hands and she kept tapping my lap with her hands. I don’t know what Noorjahan was saying but she was very excited and even Dastha Giri was letting his voice be heard. It was funny seeing this nurse’s reaction to what they were saying. She was just kind of laughing and bobbing her head until she told me “ they have affection for you. They like you very much. Friends”. All three of them looked at me when she said that with smiles across their faces and we all just laughed together. There was no need for a facebook confirmation to know that we were official friends.
From that point we were a lot more relaxed and they all talked a lot more. Laughing at my terrible Tamil and getting very excited when we started taking pictures. I asked Noorjahan to pose for the camera and a told Dastha Giri to get in but she pushed him away because she wanted to be the only one in it. Haha. And then Dastha Giri had to be in his own picture too.
Seriously this was the best day ever. We usually don’t get this much time with the patients and I got to spend a good four hours with all three of them. I pray that I will be able to see them again before I take off for home. But even if I can’t I know that God will keep them safe and that when I do reunite with my friends, whether in this life or the next, it will be a happy reunion indeed.

The Worth of Souls is Great

In a little Leprosy colony in the more rural part of Chennai, India we drove out with the medical clinic to clean out the wounds of the leprosy affected. It was a long drive. I got to clean one man's feet. There were four other volunteers and a doctor there who could have done it. this man can't even feel that his foot is infected and is falling off. He feels none of that pain. And by the time his foot falls off or his hand falls off he'll be so old he'll most likely die soon after. Why am I sacrificing so much to wash the feet of a man who I've never met and who I will never see again? Because the worth of every soul is great in the sight of God.

India is HOT! I feel like I’m melting every second. But in a way it kind of feels good, because I’m constantly drinking water and I don’t have to worry about make up or smell☺
But life is great here in India. The country is beautiful and the people are wonderful. Yesterday we finally had the chance to drive out to the Leprosy Colony. We’ve all been waiting for this and our expectations were completely satisfied. The village Bharthapuran is made up of Leprosy infected and their families. This is the most advanced of the colonies because they have made there own businesses and have risen up from the every day begging. A woman named Padma Venkataraman has built up a micro loaning program to get the colony members to start working for themselves and stop begging. She is the daughter of the last president of India and has quite the resume.
So as we were walking around the colony I was invited into one of the houses by an Indian women. I followed her inside a small, three room, cement house. It really wasn’t that bad, I mean they had tv and a stove and stuff, but they didn’t have any plumming… not fun. So she lead me into her kitchen to show me something. She started to gesture toward something and as I looked up to this shelf I found Christ looking back at me. This woman went on to show me that she believed in Christ and that she was Christian. From that point on we had a connection that allowed Christ’s love flow over us. She would just hug me and kiss my cheeks and show me the pictures of her family and I just loved it.
Today I helped tutor the little kids who are struggling with school. We sat under the mango trees in the shade and read books and did math. I helped the youngest girl in the school recognize numbers 1-5. She was so cute and good. These kids are so great but they have the craziest names that I can never remember. Like Vegalashmee, Surya, and Mahnishaw, well I guess I remembered those names but the rest of the kids are impossible.
Last night we went to the junction to get some ice cream but it was the most sketchy ice cream freezer I have ever seen. Almost all of the wrappers were open and it was all sticky and stuff, but we all still got stuff because we hadn’t had ice cream for a while. As we were getting in the us to take off Carly was held back outside. An Indian man had asked her if he could take a picture with her. Haha and then two more made her stay and take a picture! Haha so funny. But I guess she’s used to it from being in China.
Today we go to the colony to talk to people about their history. I’m very excited.

Day One: Singapore!

Wow we really kicked this trip off with an amazing day in Singapore! We landed in the Singapore airport around 2:00 AM and headed over to our hotel to wait out our 20 hour lay over. The next day I woke up to a beautiful view outside my window and was ready for an adventure. We arranged for a van to take all 14 of us around the city to see the sites. This mostly comprised of temples and shopping marts and china town. The other volunteers are so great. There are four guys and 10 girls and all of us really do get along really well so we really enjoyed being together all day and will hopefully work well throughout the next couple weeks. Here are a few fun pictures.