My heart is full of India

When I look back at my India trip, today is one that will definitely stick out in my mind. Today was an AMAZING day. One of those days that will never leave me. We went to the colony to help the leprosy afflicted people receive some medical attention. My job today was washing and cleaning the ulcers that these people have. A little about the disease- it’s a bacteria or an infection that causes permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. Basically it kills the nerves so they can’t feel certain parts of their body. So when they are sitting for long periods of times, unlike you and I, they don’t feel the same thing we feel. Our body tells us to get up or move when or legs fall asleep or pain and numbness kicks in. For them, the reason they have all of these ulcers, their body doesn’t tell them when to move. So when they sit long periods of time cross-legged or something, the skin by their ankles starts deteriorating and forms an ulcer. There is a lot more to the disease and I don’t know a ton about it but that is why they have all these huge open wounds. Anyways, it was my job today to wash the ulcers and scrub them. It can be a really hard job, because I can see how sore it looks- but most of them can’t feel it. However, there was one woman who pointed to her sore and by her facial expressions I could tell she was in pain. It really gets to me when these people are suffering so much. It’s almost to the point where I don’t even want to ask about their life stories. Almost every person I talked to had one of their close family members pass away. One lady today was sitting in front of me as I cleaned her ulcers. I asked her if she is married, and she said her husband died. Then she said she has one kid. I asked her how old, and she did these hand motions and I finally figured out that her daughter died. Another little girl, Trisha, from the school was with us at the colony. Her grandma is very sick and probably in her last days, so she came to see her. I asked her how many brothers and sisters she had. She told me one older brother and one little sister. I asked her how old her sister was, and she told me she died. I said I’m sorry and asked how old her brother was, hoping to change the subject. Trisha told me he died too. For this little girl to have to go through so much loss and heartache just blows my mind. There were so many moments today when I felt the spirit so strong and wanted to just tell all these people how much our Heavenly Father loves them. One of the most amazing thing about these people is their faith. No matter who they believe is the greatest power, none of them stop believing. No matter what disease they have, what loss and pain they have to go through, they always keep that constant faith. Being in the colonies with these people, I have seen so many prayers being said. These people are not afraid to just start praying and thanking the Lord. One man slowly walked by my station with his cane in hand, and he was saying something in Tamul. He stopped and looked at me and said in English, God bless you. Right there was one of those moments. One of those moments that makes me stop and realize how much God loves every single one of His children. He gives us each different trials and obstacles pertaining to what we can handle. He gives us each our own personal problems in our lives, knowing that we have the strength to overcome them. He would never give us something too hard to handle. Each trial we go through is specifically given to us because He knows we have the capacity to gain strength from it. Like these people with Leprosy, never lose faith and hope. Don’t be afraid to share the things you believe. Life is too precious to not share the things you are blessed with.

In between washing two peoples feet, I ventured off into the next little room from where we were working. There was this man who was painting this beautiful picture. I sat next to him, and watched as his disfigured hands held this paintbrush. He slowly dipped his paintbrush, and carefully touched it to the paper. He had immense concentration while he tried to perfectly continue the beauty of this painting. I told him it was beautiful. I found out that his wife died, and he has 2 sons who are now married with kids, but he doesn’t get to see them very often. He already has so little, and his family is almost nonexistent. I sat there and watched him finish his painting, adding the last white dots. I was amazed. Not only is it hard enough for him to hold a paintbrush, but for him to put together this precise painting was unbelievable. Can ya’ll guess what happened next in the story? Yep. I bought it. I mean how could I not right? The money for this art program they have going here helps pay for the art supplies, as well as gives money to the artist and the colony. To see how happy and accomplished he felt when I handed him the money for the painting he just finished was amazing. That is definitely something that I will cherish forever.

As we finished washing feet, I could just feel how thankful these people were. They kissed my hands and had the most sincere heart melting smiles on their faces. I can’t even describe the love that I have for all of them. I think its kind of a cool thing to do- wash their feet. I know our Savior washed His disciples feet. I thought about this today, and what this act truly meant. I know that I am simply medically helping these people who have these ulcers, but it hit me when I was washing one lady’s feet today. They have to wait and soak their feet, waiting to be oiled. It sometimes takes a little bit of time to wait for the oil, and the people usually get really antsy. This woman was sitting at my station, with her raw feet soaking in the water, wanting to go to the next chair. I told her she had to wait, and I figured while we were waiting I would wash her shins and massage her calves. I know she can’t feel when I am washing her sores, but she definitely could feel her legs. I kept eye contact with her, to make sure I wasn’t; hurting her or anything, and she smiled and sat back in her chair. She said “super” and gave me a thumbs up. She was relaxed. It hit me right there, the literal act of washing another’s feet. With the right attitude, it’s a service of humility. Our Teacher and Savior, washed His disciples feet, an act which is usually done by the lowliest of people. He taught that if He were to wash their feet, they must wash others feet as well. He teaches that we are all of the same equality, and we all must serve each other. Because our Savior died for us, we were able to be cleansed from our sins. However, we are all of the natural human, and we may “dirty our feet” while living in this world. Washing of the feet is an amazing literally and spiritual way to cleanse ourselves as well as the people around us. I just think it is so cool that Jesus Christ was able to sit and wash peoples feet. I think it is so important to serve others. It is such a humbling experience to wash the Leprosy afflicted peoples feet. To be able to get down below them, and do something for them, while they just sit a minute and be able to be served. I just love it.

We said our goodbyes, cleaned up, and went back to the school! We surprised the kids with a water balloon fight at playtime! SO much fun. We had buckets and buckets of water balloons, and the second we unleashed the beasts, the balloons were gone. Of course it turned into grabbing the buckets and any bottles and filling them up and soaking everyone and everything in sight. It was so much fun. I felt like I was 10 years old again. Running around with these kids throwing water at them. They were all so happy and excited. They would dump water on me and laugh and run away. Hearing these kids laugh and play is the best thing in the world. After a long time of water fights, we were all by the music as some of the kids just started bustin out these moves. Most adorable thing I have ever seen. Some of these kids have such a passion for dancing- ahh I love it. I just wish you all could see everything I saw today. It was a magical day.

 

San Jay- what a little punk. :)