Leaving India

This will be my final post from India. I will post more when I can, but I won't be in India to do it. My flight leaves in an hour. It's been a remarkable couple of days. I have experienced a wonderful outpouring of love from these Indian people that I have been able to associate with. They have little in the way of material possessions, but they are very rich in love. It is difficult to put my experiences into words, but I'll do my best:

Today, we left Rising Star and drove to Chennai, where we spent the day. It was a fun day with friends, shopping, visiting, and tasty Indian food. Last night on the other hand was a difficult, and wonderful, night. It was a night of goodbyes. I said goodbye to the teachers at the end of the school day. They were all very kind and told me about ways that I had helped them to become better teachers. They also all told me that they will look forward to seeing me again at RSO, preferably by next summer. I had my last playtime with the kids, and then my last dinner with the other volunteers. We shared things that we had learned in our experience here. After dinner, Life Dance performed for us. As always, it was fantastic. Their dancing is very moving. Or sometimes just fun. Either way, I love it. I took some videos that I will post on this blog when I get the chance. I headed over to the hostels after the performance to say goodbye to the children. Some of the boys in my house had prepared a present for me. It was a wonderful gift - a simple box that they had made and covered with stickers that they purchased with stars from the Star Store on campus and then filled with notes for me. Saying goodbye to them was hard. I also said goodbye to Rajakumari, who gave me a gift of some small things and a kind note. She doesn't have much (when she asked me how much my plane ticket cost in rupees, she was shocked), but her gift means that much more because of this. Of all the notes and gifts that I received, I think that the most moving for me was a note from a boy who has been having difficulties in school. He has been refusing to do his homework and has gotten into trouble. I have worked with his teachers, the counselor, and others on creating a behavior plan for him. He hasn't been happy with me on numerous occasions because I haven't let him get away with things like not doing his homework. He told me that he wasn't sad that I was leaving because I bothered him about homework and studying. But when I returned to the volunteer hostel, I left the room for a few minutes and, when I returned, my roommates told me that a boy had come looking for me and had left a note on my bed. It was a page-long letter from this boy, who hates to write and complains about it constantly. He told me that he loved me and would miss me and that he understood why I wanted him to study and do his homework. You can see why it is so hard to leave these children.

My flight is being called, but I want to take a moment to share what I learned, as I did with the volunteers last night. During the last five weeks, I have felt tremendous love for the people that I am serving and working with. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love these people in India. I have had the opportunity to experience a little piece of the Savior's love for them as I have served them. I have been able to enjoy the gift of charity. For this, and so many other gifts, I am truly grateful. India is a special place. I'll be watching it disappear out of the airplane window soon, but I know I will not forget it.