Thursday: Feeling HOT, HOT, HOT...But still very happy

Today marks the final working day of our second week here at Rising Star. It is so amazing to me how fast time flies, especially when we so desperately want to cling to it and cherish every moment. Today was a rather rough day with tutoring the kids. Due to the A/C in our hostel being broken, none of the volunteers really got any sleep which made it very difficult to stay awake while listening to the kids read. We also have had quite a few volunteers who have been inhibited due to stomach problems over the past week, and unfortunately Jordan and I are no exceptions. But despite the heat and not feeling quite up to our 100% we still manage to have incredible experiences with these children that make anything uncomfortable 100% worth it. One positive about tutoring is how smart these children are and how fun it is to watch their progress from day to day with their reading and their math. They will come one day and really struggle with reading a particular word, and the next time they come, they read that word to perfection. I love watching their faces when they look up at you and say, "Auntie, is this correct?"and we are able to say yes and see the pride they have on their faces about what they accomplished.

We also had the opportunity of making dirt cups with our family today during playtime for talent class. After our mayhem with the pudding cups last talent class, you could imagine how nervous we were to "let the cat out of the bag" once again, but being prepared for what lay ahead of us and coming up with a   game plan truly made all our efforts a complete success. The boys in our family were so well behaved and so good at taking turns with the cooking. They absolutely loved their treat and felt so proud that they were the ones who made it! They all wore their chocolatey smiles with pride! It was so much fun and a great bonding moment with our entire family. It has been a fantastic day and we look forward to pulling our all-nighter as we prepare to leave at 3 a.m. for our trip to Delhi with all the volunteers. We'll keep you posted, but until then, we love you and thank you for all your support and prayers! 

Wednesday- Snakes and Soda Pop

Today was our second chance since being here to get to travel to the colonies to work on the construction project of building bathrooms. We had one job today, but it was a big job indeed. We were in charge of moving about 500+ cinderblocks to designated places in the colonies. These cinderblocks are what will actually be the outside structure for the bathrooms themselves. Who would think that moving hundreds of cinderblocks in 94 degrees plus humidity could be so much fun??? Our group works so well together and we found that we were most successful when we made an assembly line and just passed cinderblocks down the row to the pile. By the end of our work, we felt that we had had a very productive and successful work day and that we had fun doing it. We also had the amazing opportunity see a snake charmer in the village work his magic. I was basically jumping out of my pants when I saw him pull the viper out of his burlap sack. He put the snake's tale under a metal anvil to keep it from getting away and then would tap it with a stick to make it really mad. Oh man, that was one aggressive snake and he was not happy to be stuck under an anvil. He did everything in his power to jump and strike move the anvil off of his tail that a one point we were all standing by the door ready to book it if he happened to slither free. The way it would puff up its body to make himself seem more threatening was so cool, especially when you could actually hear him puff himself up with air so it sounded like the viper was breathing deep and gasping for air. Then, the snake charmer grabbed the viper right at the base of his head basically making it so it couldn't move the rest of its body. Then, he actually milked the viper by getting it to sink its fangs into a plastic cup covered with plastic wrap and release its venom into the cup. The reason why the snake charmer does this is because he then dilutes the venom and drinks it (yes, he actually drinks it) which allows him to build up an immunity to that particular venom. While the snake charmer was holding the snake, we all had the opportunity if we wanted to (and even if we didn't want to) to hold the viper! I was just fine with passing on holding the viper, but Jordan was so certain that I would forever regret it if I didn't at least touch the snake with him. As you can see in the picture, for Jordan, this was basically a dream come true with coming to India, for me, it more like my worst nightmare!

After our very eventful day at construction, our group got to stop in the junction to get ice cream to help cool us off after all our hard work. We don't think there is anything better than sitting in the air conditioned van eating our delectable butterscotch ice cream cones. We also got to buy two of India's most popular drinks, Appy Fizz, which is basically like carbonated apple juice, and Maaza, which is a mango that has been pureed down to juicy, mangoey, refreshing, perfection in a bottle. After a long days work in this heat, these drinks are like delicacies that we look forward to just as much as our bucket showers. Today the heat has been waring on us greatly. After working in the sun all day, we are so excited to come back to our hostel because we get to sit in our air conditioned rooms. Unfortunately we have had so many power surges today that it causes the air conditioning in our rooms to turn off so we can never get our rooms to cool off. In the evening it has actually been cooler outside then in our room. If it weren't for all the mosquitos, I would be up for sleeping outside! Anyway, with all the amazing things that are happening here, it is well worth the battle with the heat! We love you all! Thank you for all your prayers and support! 

Tuesday - Hymns and Hospitals

Today we started off our day as the medical team bright and early. We got to have the special treat of visiting Gremaltes Hospital in Chennai, so we had to be ready to leave by 6:30 a.m. Gremaltes Hosptial is a hospital founded by the German Leprosy and TB relief Association in 1971.  It’s original focus was to aid people affected with leprosy, both physically and socially.  It has now turned into a full scale hospital offering many kinds of treatments at relatively low costs, sometimes even free.  We went thinking we would be a part of the team which got to clean and re-bandage the ulcers, but we soon saw this would be a different kind of visit.  A director toured us through the hospital showing us some of the departments, the laboratory(where we saw the bacteria that causes leprosy under a microscope), and introducing us to some doctors.  However, our favorite activity at the hospital was visiting in the Men’s and Women’s leprosy wards. 

First, we got to visit with the women and there were 5 in the room.  We started by singing some songs, both fun/playful and more spiritual, and continued to mingle and connect with these sweet, smiling faces.  Courtney got to really connect with a woman who has been in the hospital for about a year.  One of the nurses told us she could probably leave in 2 weeks.  She told Courtney about her family, a daughter and two sons.  The daughter is going to take care of her when she is released from the hospital, but her sons want nothing to do with her.  This breaks her heart, and broke ours too.  Courtney really bonded with her and just sat there holding her while they cried and frequently expressed her love with words and kisses.  The woman was so grateful to think that strangers from America would come over to meet her and love her right away.  The patients who are leprosy affected suffer through so many trials, the worst often being emotional and social.  The stigma still holds very strong in the country.  We had always heard that, but today we saw a living example.  They want to know they are loved, and despite the language barrier we can show them in various ways that they are!  Visiting the men’s ward was just as wonderful.  We sang some fun songs (Oh, an Austrian went yodeling), and some touching hymns.  One of the patients just closed his eyes and held Meredith’s (a volunteer at Rising Star) hand while we sang “Nearer my God to thee”.  I think he understood enough of the words to get the message and they shared a wonderful moment. 

They are so many of these great interactions that happen throughout all the days, we wish you were here with us to experience them.  They do have some openings for later this year if anyone is interested ;) You would never, ever, ever regret it, we promise! 

The rest of our day consisted of our usual, awesome schedule.  The food was delicious (Jordan always things so:) ), and the kids were so loving.  We helped them ride bikes, and Sadhish(the little boy who I want to sponsor, with the adorable laugh and perfectly round face), was way too small for his bike, so I just ran around pushing him from behind.  We had an especially good time with them tonight, and with our house mother.  She confided in us about many things which helped us get to know her better, and love her more.  She is such a sweet, incredible lady.  The kids decided it would be fun to have a pillow fight tonight . . . big mistake.  They were introduced to my ninja skills and cat-like speed and reflexes! I doubt they provoke another attack, haha. I was saying goodnight to one of the kids, and he got this worried look on his face because he thought I would be leaving for America tomorrow.  I quickly put him at rest that we weren’t leaving tomorrow, and that we still have 11 days.  This didn’t help either, because 11 days is not very many and it is coming way too fast!  It was a reality shock for me to realize our time is disappearing far too quickly.  How difficult it must be to have someone who care about leave your life every 3 weeks.  Luckily, the next volunteers come in and do a great job, but each person is unique and offers special things.  We love these kids so much, and it has only been a little over a week we have spent with them.

Monday - Back to Work

After a weekend full of rest and fun, we were very excited to get back to work at Rising Star and start tutoring the children again. For the most part, our tutoring went very well. The kids were responsive, focused, and enjoyed working with us. However, I did have one girl I worked with who just seemed like she really did not want to be there. I kind of felt like she could have worked better with anyone else but me. After we finished our tutoring, I was feeling kind of discouraged, but that quickly vanished when I worked with the next child who was very active and excited about reading and working with me. The real fun though I would have to say came during playtime when Jordan and I got to help out with sports time. Sports time is one hour every Monday and Wednesday where a few different standards (grades) will get to come together to play certain games and sports in preparation for competitions with other schools around the area. Jordan had a fun time getting beat by all the kids in badmitton and I had a blast learning a new game called cubity. It is basically like a game of tag crossed with steal the flag and tackle football taken to the next level. It started out being a rather complicated game, with a lot of crazy rules. It felt like I would never get the hang of it. But after a few rounds of trying and failing, I kind of figured it out and it turned out to be a very fun game. It was just great to get to bond with some new girls that I had never bonded with before, and I am excited to get to play with them again on Wednesday.

Monday night during family time while Jordan went to help the boys in our family finish their homework and get ready for bed, I got to go over to the girls’ hostel and spend some time with Saraswathy, one of the house mothers, while she did henna on my foot. The time and effort she puts into the detail in her henna art is astonishing. She truly is a wonderful artist and it was fun that she got to share one of her many talents with me. While she worked, we got to talk about many different things about both of our lives, like our families, our work, our dreams, and just about what life was like in America vs. India. Jordan, during family time, got to have a great conversation with our house mother, Ghandimathy. A lot of their conversation unfortunately was about how Jordan and I had paid way too much for the things we bought in Mahalibipurum ha ha. He also got the opportunity to share a little bit of the gospel with her. These just shows me how no matter where we are, we always need to be prepared to share the gospel because we never know just when the time will come where we meet someone who is ready to hear it. I love family time because it gives us the opportunity to bond with our sweet house mothers in ways that we never would otherwise. 

Sunday - Church and a Baptism!

For the Sabbath, we were very excited because we had the opportunity to go to church in Chennai. We were on the road by 7:30 all dressed with scriptures in hand; ready to make the 2 ½ hour trip to Chennai. We joined the Chennai 3^rd branch for their services. It was so exciting because in their sacrament meeting that day they had a boy in his late teens who was confirmed the newest member of their branch. We would soon learn that four others were also baptized and confirmed in the month of June which was a HUGE success for the elders in the area. We had a wonderful Sunday school lesson about the parable of the 10 virgins and the parable of the talents. Our Sunday school teacher was so sweet and so in tune with the spirit. It was neat because she would teach the lesson in English and then she would do a recap of what we discussed in Tamil which made all of us in the class feel so included and able to participate. In Relief Society we had a great lesson on one of the conference addresses that was given on love. The sisters in the branch share such a strong bond and show so much love to all who visit. It was so incredible to sing “As Sisters in Zion” all together because it made me realize how large our sisterhood in the church is and how far it can reach. It doesn’t matter if we are from America or India, we are all sisters and are all loved equally by our Heavenly Father.

In Priesthood, Jordan told me that three of the boys who were baptized received the Aaronic Priesthood. Jordan was so impressed with these boys because they were so sharp and so knowledgeable about the Gospel and the Priesthood even only after being taught for a month. Jordan is so excited about the incredible Priesthood leaders that are being brought up in India and for the growth that the Church will experience because of them.  The people here are so prepared for the gospel, so humble.  It will be the next Brazil, mark my words.  We had a very special treat because while in Relief Society, we found out that the Relief Society President’s nephew was being baptized after church and she invited us to attend his baptism. About nine of us stayed and we will be forever grateful that we did. One of the girls in our group, Mary Katherine, actually gave small talk on baptism and I had the incredible opportunity to play the piano at his baptism. It was very nerve wracking because almost all of them were hymns that I had never played before, but I really feel that the Lord helped me to play them to the best of my ability to I could help invite the Spirit to be with us at the baptism. (A note from Jordan, she did fabulous!) We also found out that it was the Relief Society President’s son, who is serving a mission next month, who baptized her nephew. The gospel is changing this family and because these two boys received the gospel, they will be able to serve missions and bring many more people in India to the gospel. One thing that really strengthened our testimonies was being able to witness throughout the day how the gospel is the same everywhere in the world. It is constant, unchangeable, and all encompassing just like the love of our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Saturday - Haggling and Beaches

Saturday was our official first free day in India, although we still had to be up and ready to leave by 7:30 am.  Our plan for the day was to go to a beach town called Mahalibipurum, and then go to the beach before coming back to Rising Star.  At Mahalibipurum there are temple ruins that were thousands of years old. These ruins stretched over hills and hills that you would climb to get to the next temple. The workmanship on all the temples was so detailed and intricate that as we looked at it we couldn’t help but wonder how they created such incredible works of art so long ago, as well as the kind of people that lived in these temples and palaces and what their stories were. India is a land so rich in history and the more time we spend immersed in it and its culture, the more we want to know.   Along one of the paths between ruins was a tree that was home to over 15 monkeys.  It was fun to see them in their natural habitat, where you could actually touch them if you wanted to.  One of the coolest monuments in the area was actually a massive rock that they call the Butter Ball that had fixed itself on a hill. Strangely enough, this rock kind of defies the laws of physics because of the fact that it would not budge even when they tried using a team of elephants to move it. So there it stays sitting on the hill even after hundreds of years for us all to marvel at.

After exploring all the ruins, we then made our way into the village to shop. As soon as we stepped onto the streets of we were immediately surrounded by men and women shoving their merchandise into our hands saying, “look at this, only 500. But for you I give special price, 400…ok, ok…350, that is a very good offer, I only give to you because you are friend.” I think we said, “no thank you” and “I don’t need that” hundreds of times to each person we talked to. They just don’t like to take no for an answer. Through this experience I learned two things, first, that Jordan is actually a rather good haggler when it comes to making deals, and two, that if I was shopping by myself, I would have had absolutely no money by the time I was finished because I am so bad at it. Shopping and buying souvenirs was both stressful, but also fun and interesting. Stressful because you have people coming up to you, many at least three different times and never taking no for an answer, but also interesting because we got to see how much of the population of India lives their lives. It was so neat to see how they interacted with tourists as well as each other in the business world.

After our shopping excursion, we were all very much drained and excited to experience a little bit of relaxation. We went to Ideal beach resort to play on the beach and just enjoy the Indian sun. When they say it is an ideal beach, they aren’t exaggerating. When you see the beaches in pictures with the big crashing waves, the white sand, and the hammock hanging between two palm trees, that is describing Ideal beach resort perfectly. I think one of the best things about this trip for me was that we got to eat something other than rice and curry! I had an amazing homemade cheese pizza, which I’m sure probably wasn’t nearly as good as it seemed, but because we haven’t had any other food other than Indian food or the snacks we brought for quite a while, it tasted like the best dang cheese pizza I have ever tasted! Jordan got fried chicken, French fries, and rice, which he says was delectable, but not quite as good as other fried chicken because it was “Indian-ized”. He just enjoyed it because it was something different from what we have been eating for the past week.

After spending a few hours in paradise, it was time to jump back in the vans and head back to our own little piece of heaven…Rising Star, where our own little angels were waiting for us to start their movie night. Every Saturday night, if a student got at least seven stars throughout the whole week, they could come to movie night in the dining hall. Tonight we watched TRON, which the boys were especially excited about because of all the racing and battling. Besides the couple of power outages, it was the best movie night ever, especially because each volunteer had at least a few kids laying all over us. We would have one child on each shoulder, one on each leg, and sometimes also one sitting in between our legs. It is the sweetest sight to see all these sleeping kids laying on the volunteers when the light come up and getting to carry them to their rooms for bed. Movie night only strengthened the love that we feel for each of these children individually and as a whole. 

Toilets and Rain

Today was our first day our in the colonies doing construction. Rising Star’s whole construction goal by the end of the summer is to build 30 bathrooms throughout various locations in the colonies. Since we are the first session, a big part of our work has been simply moving the materials to their designated locations. You would think that moving sand, rocks, and bricks would be a relatively easy and quick job with the use of shovels and trucks…well, simple jobs like these are slowed down quite a bit when we don’t have modern technology and tools available to us. Whether it is sand or rocks, we moved it from one place to another by loading the material into shallow bowls that we would carry on top of our heads. Indian men and women make this look so much easier that it really is. It is amazing how strong their necks have to be to support the weight of such a heavy load. It was very hard work, but very rewarding work indeed. One of our favorite parts was when we would see this massive pile of rocks or sand that we had to move, and then with the help of the 10 people in our group, were able to see that pile diminish significantly as we worked. It helped us realize that even something as simple as moving materials was a huge job and is just as important as building the structures themselves. By the end of the day, we were proud of all the work we accomplished.

Despite the fact that construction was hot and tiring, by the time 4:30 came around, we were ready for playtime. It is so amazing to me how we really start to miss the kids when we don’t see them for hours at a time. By the time we got to the kids hostel, all the boys were ready to jump on Uncle Jordan’s shoulders and play soccer. I was very excited because today was a very special day, it was Archena’s birthday! Archena came to playtime all dressed up in her bright blue birthday dress and with flowers all tied up in her hair. She was so excited when all of her friends and I all sang happy birthday to her and played hide-and-go-seek with her for playtime.

 For the past few days it has been overcast for most of the day and in the evening we start to get a few sprinkles and maybe a small shower or two. When I ask the kids if they like the rain, it is so funny because most of them respond, “no, I get all wet!” The volunteers on the other hand are all so excited when we get rain and we all rush out and just stand in the rain while it soaks us through and through. After working hard all day and being constantly sweaty, there is nothing more wonderful than getting to dance in the rain...well…except for maybe a bucket shower! Those beat everything hands down! Today we got the biggest torrential rainstorm since we have come to rising star. The wind was whipping the mango trees around like crazy and the raindrops were so big that we were literally instantly soaked. As I was standing in the dining hall watching the rain come crashing, I couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite sayings, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storms to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain.”

Miracles in the Colonies & Talent Classes

Vanakkam Everyone:

Today was our first incredible day going out with the medical team! We took about a forty-five minute drive to the colony and were so happy to find the sweetest and most grateful people in the world waiting there for us with open arms. Among them was Noman, a man who only recently had lived his life in complete darkness. Not only being afflicted with leprosy, he also lived much of his life being completely blind. Through the help of Rising Star, Noman was able to receive eye surgeries that have left him today being able to see in complete technicolor. What an incredible example of faith and gratitude we have found in this man. Every time volunteers come to the colony, he will stay by us nearly the whole time singing and praising God saying "Hallelujah, hallelujah!" What an incredible way to begin our experience of helping to heal these victims of leprosy. While there, we examined patients, removed their bandages, cleaned their ulcers, massaged and prepared the skin for re-bandaging, re-bandaged the ulcers, and administered medication to some forty patients. 

I (courtney) got to assist our sweet nurse with cutting out the dead tissue, cleaning out the ulcers, and applying ointment and new bandages. This was an awesome learning experience, and although I was a careful, but slow worker, she said that I did great work and that I would be a great nurse someday. 

I (Jordan) got to assist in washing the patients feet and ulcers after their bandages were first removed. I loved doing it for a lot of reasons, I mean what's not to love? I got to connect with these amazing people while serving them. It is amazing how the Indian people consider people afflicted with leprosy the lowest of all and to be a cursed people, and how despite that, we got to be the ones to come and care for them and wash their feet. I loved looking at them as Christ looks at them, and wash their feet as He would if He were here.  Performing that act helped me feel that love that He has.  We got to look into their eyes and feel their pain, but also their gratitude.  It was a humbling and moving experience. Our hearts are already so full from these experiences and we love getting to share them with you! Thank you for your prayers each day! We truly do feel them and feel your love! Naundry (thank you)

So this is an addition to yesterday, because we hadn't gotten to posting this yet.  Today we spent the day with the kids, tutoring and playing with them.  Tutoring is always awesome to watch how motivated and disciplined some of the kids can be.  They progress on their subjects so well, and it is fun to work with them.  When we tutor we help with English mostly, but also some Math.  One fun thing tonight was to listen to one of the boys talk about how the education he receives at Rising Star is so different and so much better than the education at typical Indian schools.  He wants to go on a mission(some of the kids go to church with us on sundays), become a doctor and help the poor of India.  When we go to the colonies we are reminded what kind of environment these kids would be in without Rising Star.  It is impossible to imagine them in those places, they just don't fit there.  Rising Star makes an unbelievable difference in each child's life that attends here.  We often remark on how lucky they were to be born into a family afflicted by leprosy, so they could go here.

We did our talent classes tonight, which is basically meant to expose the kids to an experience they wouldn't have in India.  We did dirt cups, ya know with chocolate pudding, crushed oreos, and gummy worms.  Sufficient to say it was Chaos!!!  These kids come from a begging background, so once food was shown kids from other groups started coming up to us, and the kids in our group were all over it, and there were tiny little hands EVERYWHERE!!!!  "Uncle, Please", "Auntie, Please" were the cries.  It was so hard to say no, but we had to have enough for our group and we are trying to teach them self-relliance, so if they weren't in our group we had to work though them.  Maybe one of the hardest things we have ever done, it was emotionally exhausting!! We love these kids so much, and the looks on their faces were completely difficult to ignore.  We wish we could have known what to prepare for, because next week we have a good plan set up, but it was a learning experience.

My(Jordan) highlight of the day was with a boy named Sadeesh.  Each night, we are with our "families" to help them finish their homework and get to bed, but basically it turns into a wild play time until the house mother starts getting them to sleep.  They have endless amounts of energy, I swear!  There are 4 of the volunteers paired with at least 15 kids.  The youngest, this is his first year at Rising Star, is named Sadeesh and he is completely shy, or at least he was.  The first three nights I couldn't get him to even speak a word to me, let alone play with me.  The house mother says he is quiet, and just getting used to everything and he likes to watch from a distance.  But I was determined to make a connection with this little one.  He has this perfectly round face, and cute smile, I will have to take a picture.  Well, I moved slowly tonight, playing with the kids around him and slowly getting him involved, and after a while he was really warming up to me.  Then we started doing a game where he would jump up, wrap his legs around my waist, and I would help him into a back flip holding his arms.  He loved it, and now we are best buds!  I want to be his sponsor.  We can sponsor kids and pay for their schooling, which I have come to learn is an invaluable gift to them.  The parents pay each year for their kids to come here, but none of that money is spent.  It all goes into an account for them, which they get when they graduate to help them pay for college supplies and stuff.  Paying as they go along helps the children and parents appreciate the education more than if it was just given them.

I think that is all for tonight.  We love you all, thanks for supporting us and following us on this journey. Please keep praying for us, and "like" Rising Star on Facebook!  We want to raise awareness, together we can continue to help these beautiful children, and this beautiful country, develop and reach their full potential.

Days One and Two at Rising Star

Hello Everyone!

We apologize that it has taken so long for us to post again, we have had problems getting an internet connection in our hostel, but it is like everyone at Rising Star says..."this is India". What they mean by that is for the most part in India nothing goes according to plan, but when things happen like the power goes out, or we get stuck in traffic, or the A/C breaks, all we can say is "this is India". We simply go with the flow and just experience everything to its fullest. When we do this, everything always turns out better in the end. Today (Tuesday) was our first full day with the kids. We started out working in the school helping the kids with one-on-one time and their reading. It was so fun to get to spend 40 minutes with an individual child and be able to see how far each child has already come and see how we will be able to help them so they can become even better at knowing English. We also had an incredible time getting to spend from 4:30-6:15 having play time with all the kids. It is so fun to watch all the little boys cling to Jojo and say "Uncle, Uncle carry me". By the end of play time everyday, Jojo is dripping with sweat because he is playing so hard. I have become very close friends with the sweetest girl and we played the entire time during play time. She loves to ride down the slide together and have me hold her up as she swings across the monkey bars. After only two days we feel the incredible impact that these children are having on us, and it only makes us more motivated and excited to help them in every way we can. Anyway, this is a shorter post because it is pretty late and Jojo is falling asleep sitting upright next to me, so to our sweet family and friends, we love you all and will talk to you soon! Thank you for all your prayers!

Jojo and Coco

Greetings from Chennai!

Well it is about 2:30 a.m., 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and about 75% humidity! Welcome to India! After a very exciting day or two days (the time changes have really messed us up) of traveling we have finally settled down for the night in the Courtyard Marriott in Chennai, resting up for our first big day tomorrow at the Rising Star Campus. We have been very blessed traveling here because we were able to travel with about seven others from our group the entire way. This came in handy with a few of the mishaps we had along the way. We started by flying from SLC to Chicago and from Chicago to New Delhi. Upon arriving in New Delhi 1 hour and 10 minutes later than we were scheduled to fly in, we had to get off the plane, go through customs, find our luggage, re-check our luggage, and go through security before getting on our flight to Chennai. I must say, we were all a little frazzled and I'm sure we looked pretty silly with nine Americans running around the airport trying to find out where we were supposed to go next. Finally after waiting in a line for about 20 minutes to get into the ONE 6 by 4 foot elevator we got up to the main floor to check our bags. When we all rush up to the counter, unfortunately we find that passengers have to be 45 minutes early in order to get on their flight. We missed it by five minutes! After being told that the only option for us was to wait and take the first flight out the next morning we were all feeling a little overwhelmed. But, with every rainstorm there is always a silver lining and I do have to say we found a wonderful silver lining indeed. Along side us facing the same struggle of not getting on our flight, there was there was the sweetest family from Michigan, going to Chennai to visit their grandparents. When all of us, along with the Sharat family put our heads together we were able to get help from the airport staff and get on a plane scheduled to leave at 9:15. After some struggles and mishaps at security we ended up running as fast as our legs could carry us to gate 51 to get on our plane. Looking back on our crazy experiences of the day, all we can do is smile because we realize that because of those experiences, we were able to meet incredible people that we wouldn't have met otherwise, and we were able to bond as a group so early in the trip which will in turn help us better help the kids in the Rising Star School. After today, we can already see that incredible miracles and experiences are everywhere around us, and they can change us for the better as long as we can keep and open mind. Anyway, until next post, we just want to tell you all how much we love you and thank you for all your love and support!