Well, I forgot my journal here in India, so I decided to reopen my Gospel blog and share this amazing experience. India is awesome. It's very different than I expected. The culture is very different, but I've already fallen in love with it and the people here. It's super hot here too, maybe close to 100 degrees during the afternoon... it's taking some adjustment, but I love it!! Let's say, that I've never slept so well at night in a long time due to the heat haha. It's really crowded here, there are people everywhere. They are so friendly, waving to us all the time and asking how we are! I love it. I'm so excited for the experiences we'll have here and for the service we get to do!
I feel very blessed being here, especially over Easter weekend. Christ's service and love are such profound messages of Easter. He led his entire life this way before he gave himself up so we too can live again. So it's been great to serve others over this holiday weekend. It's really true what people and Christ has told us that we're the happiest when we serve others. I only hope and pray that the kids and others we serve can feel our love and Heavenly Father's love for them as we're helping them. The week before I came here was a tough one. The timing of this trip has been an amazing tender mercy in my life. I've realized that I need to serve more in my life. I know it's what really makes us happy, and when we're serving others, we're serving our Heavenly Father and Savior... nothing better than that!
Here's an update from the past few days....
We got here on Friday.... 3 flights later at 4 am in the morning. We had all slept on the plane and we had to get up at 7 am, so we didn't sleep at all. Travel was great and I'm blessed to be with my wonderful family. No bias, but I'm blessed to have the best family in the world.
After no sleep, yet still having energy, we had a great first day in Chennai. We went shopping in some city a bit away from where we're staying. We also went to the Ideal Beach Resort, where they have a pool and beach! It was so fun. There are all these tiny shops. The city is known for their stone carving, so it was neat to see all the talent these shop owners have. We found some pretty sweet souvenirs and gifts for friends and family. In one of the shops, we met this adorable 2 year old girl. That's when I first fell in love with the people in India. Her smile killed me and her father's care for her was really touching. This made me soo excited to work with the families and kids at Rising Star. The beach and pool were soo fun. We went body surfing and relaxed all day long. I even got sunburned for the first time in 2 years, after being home from the mission too. So worth it! It was a fun day to get to know the other families who are volunteering at Rising Star. We have an amazing group... take a look :)
Sunday was awesome! Happy Easter. I'm grateful for the experiences I had Sunday in India. We got to go to church, which was amazing. It was Fast and Testimony meeting, so it was awesome to be able to hear the testimonies of the sweet Indian people there. The church really is so amazing wherever you go. It's so true and I saw and felt such great faith from the people in this ward. The church seems pretty similar here to the Philippines where I served, kind of new. A lot of the members were talking about their conversion stories. They were amazing and I felt of their love for the Gospel and our Savior.
I felt prompted to get up and bare my testimony. I seriously ALWAYS get prompted when I'm not in my actual ward, but I couldn't fight the feeling this time either. I had a cool experience on the bus ride to Chennai for church. It was over 2 hours of driving, so I had a lot of time to read the scriptures and ponder about Easter and what our Savior has done for us. I read John 20 every year on Easter morning, which talks about after Christ had risen, how he appeared to Mary Magdalene at the tomb. Usually I pay attention to the account between the two of them and the example of Mary to all of us, seeking Christ out. However, this time something new stuck out to me. Christ tells Mary to go tell all the brethren and disciples what she has seen. She does and later the disciples are gathered. They know that they will see Christ and it says that they were somewhat fearful. The first thing Christ says when He appears to them is, "Peace be unto you." Especially in the previous week, I feel like I had had so many worries and Satan had been on my back. Things were totally fine at this point but reading that brought such peace to my heart. I thought about how grateful I am for what Christ has done for us. He knows how we feel at all times in our life and if we use His Atonement through anything we're going through, we always will feel that peace. The peace and hope of the Gospel are such central parts to Easter message and what Christ has done for us. I'm grateful to have a testimony of that.
After church, we went to the mall in Chennai. Rising Star is about an hour and a half away from the main part of Chennai, so it's the only day we have to shop there and get groceries. So that's what we did. I got some cool souvenirs and gifts for some friends. The mall there was CRAZY huge and so crowded. It was cool to experience it, though.
The rest of our day was full of orientation and getting ready for a week full of service at Rising Star. I'm beyond stoked to be able to serve the wonderful kids and others who live here. We get to do construction, medical work and serve in the schools. It's cool because we live on campus where the school is and the leprosy colonies are super close by too. It's all set up soo well. Tomorrow... drumroll please... we're assigned to education rotations. We get to tutor, read with, and help the students on campus. I'm super pumped for this day since I want to be an elementary education major. This will be right down my ally and I just know I'll fall in love with the kids!
I feel very blessed being here, especially over Easter weekend. Christ's service and love are such profound messages of Easter. He led his entire life this way before he gave himself up so we too can live again. So it's been great to serve others over this holiday weekend. It's really true what people and Christ has told us that we're the happiest when we serve others. I only hope and pray that the kids and others we serve can feel our love and Heavenly Father's love for them as we're helping them. The week before I came here was a tough one. The timing of this trip has been an amazing tender mercy in my life. I've realized that I need to serve more in my life. I know it's what really makes us happy, and when we're serving others, we're serving our Heavenly Father and Savior... nothing better than that!
Here's an update from the past few days....
We got here on Friday.... 3 flights later at 4 am in the morning. We had all slept on the plane and we had to get up at 7 am, so we didn't sleep at all. Travel was great and I'm blessed to be with my wonderful family. No bias, but I'm blessed to have the best family in the world.
After no sleep, yet still having energy, we had a great first day in Chennai. We went shopping in some city a bit away from where we're staying. We also went to the Ideal Beach Resort, where they have a pool and beach! It was so fun. There are all these tiny shops. The city is known for their stone carving, so it was neat to see all the talent these shop owners have. We found some pretty sweet souvenirs and gifts for friends and family. In one of the shops, we met this adorable 2 year old girl. That's when I first fell in love with the people in India. Her smile killed me and her father's care for her was really touching. This made me soo excited to work with the families and kids at Rising Star. The beach and pool were soo fun. We went body surfing and relaxed all day long. I even got sunburned for the first time in 2 years, after being home from the mission too. So worth it! It was a fun day to get to know the other families who are volunteering at Rising Star. We have an amazing group... take a look :)
That's the sweet girl and her father we met while shopping.
Look what I found... Mogu Mogu from my mission.
Rising Star group at Ideal Beach Resort.
Got these cool leather sandals made.
There are cows everywhere... kinda like karabaw in my mission.
Sunday was awesome! Happy Easter. I'm grateful for the experiences I had Sunday in India. We got to go to church, which was amazing. It was Fast and Testimony meeting, so it was awesome to be able to hear the testimonies of the sweet Indian people there. The church really is so amazing wherever you go. It's so true and I saw and felt such great faith from the people in this ward. The church seems pretty similar here to the Philippines where I served, kind of new. A lot of the members were talking about their conversion stories. They were amazing and I felt of their love for the Gospel and our Savior.
I felt prompted to get up and bare my testimony. I seriously ALWAYS get prompted when I'm not in my actual ward, but I couldn't fight the feeling this time either. I had a cool experience on the bus ride to Chennai for church. It was over 2 hours of driving, so I had a lot of time to read the scriptures and ponder about Easter and what our Savior has done for us. I read John 20 every year on Easter morning, which talks about after Christ had risen, how he appeared to Mary Magdalene at the tomb. Usually I pay attention to the account between the two of them and the example of Mary to all of us, seeking Christ out. However, this time something new stuck out to me. Christ tells Mary to go tell all the brethren and disciples what she has seen. She does and later the disciples are gathered. They know that they will see Christ and it says that they were somewhat fearful. The first thing Christ says when He appears to them is, "Peace be unto you." Especially in the previous week, I feel like I had had so many worries and Satan had been on my back. Things were totally fine at this point but reading that brought such peace to my heart. I thought about how grateful I am for what Christ has done for us. He knows how we feel at all times in our life and if we use His Atonement through anything we're going through, we always will feel that peace. The peace and hope of the Gospel are such central parts to Easter message and what Christ has done for us. I'm grateful to have a testimony of that.
The rest of our day was full of orientation and getting ready for a week full of service at Rising Star. I'm beyond stoked to be able to serve the wonderful kids and others who live here. We get to do construction, medical work and serve in the schools. It's cool because we live on campus where the school is and the leprosy colonies are super close by too. It's all set up soo well. Tomorrow... drumroll please... we're assigned to education rotations. We get to tutor, read with, and help the students on campus. I'm super pumped for this day since I want to be an elementary education major. This will be right down my ally and I just know I'll fall in love with the kids!
Man, I feel very blessed to be here. The blessings are unreal. I've been reminded of the scripture in Matthew that says, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." I love that and I sure am feeling that while here in India. This week is already so unreal. More to come :)
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