Medical

When we arrived at the Colony we were waiting for the other medical bus, and as we sat there this man started praying. "Father, Father, Father, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you" It was such an incredible moment for all of us..seeing how this man in our eyes does not have much..yet his capacity to love is so huge. I have found this in most of the people of India. We were all talking about how we just can not explain anything..you just have to experience it for yourself. These are moments I will cherish for the rest of my life...

I had the opportunity to put oil on their legs, and sores. {I also had to cut their toe nails...hehe} It is so painful for them, but you can just see how grateful they are for all that we are doing for them. There is such a stigma when it comes to leprosy...and as we have been here they have challenged us to not call them "lepers" But the "leprosy afflicted". We are trying to break all the negative thoughts that surround these wonderful people.

Today I am on medical again! I am so excited, these are by FAR my most favorite days, because of all the beautiful people we get to help.

Here is another video of little Elle!! Ahhh I miss her.

*side note: College starts today, and I missing the first week... :| Not the best feeling in the world..hopefully it will be okay though!!

Back Home at RSO

Guys. I am sorry I have not blogged!!! What the heck! I am just having the time of my life right now, and I dont want to miss a second of it. We all are having a hard time blogging, cuz we are just having so much fun! This last weekend we went to the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, went to the Delhi Spice Market, just pure greatness. It was fun because we had a six hour drive to and from Agra to Delhi, so we got to know each other a lot better! I just cant explain how incredible this experience is here. I love the entire group, I love all the kids, and I love the people. I seriously love Bujji. She is my favorite. Tonight I was laying down with her telling her goodnight, and she gave me a kiss on the cheek. It basically melted my heart. Here are a few pics:

Me and Bujji!!! She is just pure greatness. :)

I rode an Elephant!!! It was SO much fun. I dont have a picture of me on it , because it wasnt on my camera...but I will post one soon!

I LOVE THIS MONKEY!!!

Tomorrow we are doing Yoga. Micah is a Yoga instructor, and it was seriously incredible when we all had yoga last week. I am also working medical tomorrow!! Yay!!

Love you all and miss you!

T.I.I.

This Is India.

We had a huge storm and the internet has been down. We always say "TII" because usually something goes wrong, or the power goes out, or our driver cant understand us..little things..but thats how it goes in India. Everyone actually loved the internet being down because we didnt have to worry about emails, and the "real world"..but we are back on. So I will post a video for your viewing pleasure! I'm not even sure if this will work..hopefully! This is Elle..I love her. She lives in a Leprosy Colony, and we were walking through the colony before Medical, and she saw me, came running up to me..I picked her up and she gave me the biggest kiss. She is the happiest little girl I have ever met. Such an example to me. Side note: I am going to Delhi this weekend, and not taking my computer because we dont want to have to worry about them. I LOVE IT HERE. It is simply amazing, and I dont want to go back to America! I love everyone in our group, I love all the kids, I have not had one thing that I do not like here. It is just pure greatness. Love you all! Its late, and I am getting up in a few hours to go to the airport so Peace Out!

Hello Shower..Hello Potty..

This is our shower. Isnt it great?!

This is our Potty. Pure excitement. I know...

I LOVE INDIA!!!!!!!

{this is not sarcastic...I seriously love it!}

Wide Awake at 4 a.m.

Wellllllllll I am awake everyone. Slash I cant tell if it is raining or the fans just sound like it. But here I am wide awake. Dang jet lag....dang you to heck!!!!!!!! With my luck I will be on construction tomorrow, and crash mid day. I do wish I were on a bottom bunk currently so I could get up and turn the AC on. Heat rises people. I'm trying to think of something else that is exciting, but I cant. I will now post random pictures..cuz I am bored..hehe enjoy.

These girls were on my flight from Utah to Chicago..sadly after that we split up, and I was on my own.

This is a picture of Chennai as I was landing!

This is the picture I attempted to take as I was coming out of the airport=FAIL. haha

Dancing in the Monsoon

Today is a day for the record books. OH. MY. WORD. Pure amazingness. I seriously dont know where to begin, slash what to say. I shall just start at the beginning. The group (17 of us) were picked up at the Marriott at 10:00 {after eating a most delicious buffet, last meal happiness} We drove about two hours to Rising Star campus...we made two pit stops along the way..getting bread, and probably to Jasons surprise MT DEW! haha We drove through organized chaos, poverty, and what I like to call Flinstone cars. Seriously they are so small and cute they look like Fred Flinstone's car! Hilarious. After driving through all of that..we made it to Rising Star. We live in what we call the Elephant House. I have come to find out that I have "squatter phobia" {I made it up...but seriously} *squatting on the toilets is a serious talent..and you know something is wrong when everyone is discussing their technique!!! All the girls got dressed in our chudidar's and started unpacking. For a good 4 hours it was a torrential down pour!!! I was determined to go dance in it..So me and Anna ran out and were going nuts..and then everyone came and joined in on the fun. It was seriously like we were taking a shower. So hopefully it happens again tomorrow, and we will all be taking our shampoo with us! It was such a surreal experience dancing in this rain, the loudest thunder I have ever heard, with people I have never met before, all in India. So much fun, such a great memory. We then had a tour of the school, and the dorms where the children live.

The kids just melt my heart. They see you and they come running. Give you hugs, call you "auntie auntie!!" It seriously is adorable. They just love everything about you. They play with my hair constantly, climb on me, and the biggest crowd pleaser of the day is my Monkey/Gorilla impression. Which I then had to do for all of the volunteers. I told this little girl today that I liked her earings, and she said "oh, would you like them?" and started to take them off!!! They are just the cutest little things to hit the world. I didnt take many pictures today..but hopefully I will post more tomorrow. So far I have no complaints. It is just so much fun.

I am living in the jungle in India.

*{side note: Frogs coming into the squatters at night=kephy holding it until the morning..if you get what I'm saying. hehehe}

Other side note: I am on the top bunk, and there is not bar to keep me from falling off.

Pray for me. :)

Arranged Marriage

NEON lights on our plane...they were normal in Brussels...and BOOM they changed when we got to India. Awesome.

I learned more on my plane from Chicago to Brussels than I ever wanted to know. I sat next to an Indian man..Which was great because I followed him to our gate to get to Chennai. Anywho, he asked me what I was doing in Chennai and I told him, then I asked him what he was doing. "I am going to go pick up my wife!!" Naturally I got so excited! She just got her visa, and she is coming to America! He lives in Kansas. He then told me their story of how their parents arranged for them to be married. He has seen her 4 times, this will be his 5th. He told me that they had to go to astrological people to find the date of their wedding, when the stars would align and what not, and he was like it just happened to fall on her menstrual cycle. {TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!} It was pretty funny because he kept asking me "Do you have any tips for me about women?" haha He was saying how they have to learn to love each other after they are married, along with just the silly things like getting to know you. SO crazy. He was also like a bird, I swear. He would like eat and then spit it in to a napkin. so weird. haha I would put my headphones on, and he would keep talking. It was hilarious. That is all I can currently think of...slash...I am now at the rising star Elephant house!! It is just pure greatness! And let me tell you all..I am sweating like a sweater. man. life is goooooood!