Hannah Montana is serving a mission? Days 7, 8, 9, and 10.

August 6-9

I managed to lock myself in my little apartment.  Impressed?  You should be.  Everyone else sure was.  That is if hysterical laughing is synonymous with thinking someone intelligent. 

I am teaching the kids “What Makes You Beautiful” and “Firework” for English Club.  I figure if I spend the time teaching them American songs, they might as well be semi-inspiring.  The girls love One Direction; This was the first they’ve heard of them, and I gave no biased opinions.  This leads me to believe that it is an innate trait for girls to love boy bands.

Critters: I killed my first cockroach the other night.  I was totally fearless about it, too.  No kidding, I am a new woman.  I have seen lots of monkeys.  They are so cute!  But they bite, and they eat the fruit, so they are disliked around here.  I imagine they are the equivalent of bunnies to us – cute, but bothersome.  There are two frogs that hang out in my bathroom.  They are small and terrified of me.  I asked one of the older kids if they are poisonous, and they said no, but not to touch them anyway because they will pee on you which apparently will make you itch.  Lizards decorate the walls.  I think they are darling.  And they eat bugs, so what’s not to like?  They make pretty loud noises that sound like exotic birds.  You learn something new every bright and early morning!  Spiders are everywhere, but they are more scared of me than I am of them, thank heavens.  That’s not just a lie your mother tells you to get you to sleep.  There are also these strange little red bugs that have a black diamond on their backs.  They aren’t scary or poisonous, but they love to congregate just outside my abode.  I have seen two snakes and one scorpion – kind of freaky, I’ll give it to you.  But they were killed very quickly by people much braver than I before they got too near to me.  Thus far, the scariest thing I have had to go head to head with has been the washing machine. 

Monkeys!  On the playground!  (It would make me so happy if you read that in a Zazu voice similar to "Hiyenas!  In the prideland!")

Pria (17) is my angel.  I think I spoke of her before.  She is graduated and is waiting to hear back from a secondary school to continue her studies, so she is working in the Pathway til then.  She is the greatest gift to me.  She loves me in a very real way.  She has gotten to know me, and loves me for all the silly things I do.  She of all people has seen all the silly things I do.  Poor girl.  She was making me drink milk the other night, and she called me her baby, to which I called her “Ammah,” and it is just so fitting.  She takes care of me like a mom – making me eat, explaining things when I am confused, laughing at all the silly things I do (that last one is why she’s like my mom J).  She is always finding the humor in life – such a fun personality to be around.  I love this girl.  She is always reminding me that we are sisters.  She gave me beautiful earrings yesterday, and I gave her my favorite bracelet from home.  She began telling me her story, and it is not a happy one. She literally has no one.  No parents, no relatives to go to – only a brother at the orphanage.  How blessed so many of us are to have family and how often I take that for granted.  

Pria!  Not the best picture of her, but even so, she looks so pretty.

Esther (15) is such an inspiration to me.  She told me her story on the way to church on Sunday, and I had to try so hard to not to cry.  They all have these stories that are rip-your-heart-out sad.  But she is such an angel.  In seminary, she listens so intently and will shyly tell me what she thinks about scriptures and life.  The light of Christ explodes out of her.  She is so good and righteous and stalwart and like, majestically beautiful.  Her faith is incredible.  I did cry when I told her how much I love her and how much her Heavenly Father loves her and how proud He is.  He loves her a lot.  He loves all these children a lot. I love those special moments when He lets me feel some of it specifically for one.  Ok, seriously, Sarania (3?).  The sweetest little girl the world has ever seen.  The little ones don’t speak any English, but we just have a special connection.  When I see her, I say her name and pick her up and she just grins the sweetest grin in the world and we look at each other and smile for a while.  Akash (2) is the cutest thing ever.  When he sees me, he says, “Sis!” and runs to me and wraps his arms around my legs.  If he is in line and not supposed to leave, he just makes kissy noises at me because that’s one thing I do to the kids when I shouldn’t be actually kissing them.   He loves to be thrown in the air and kissed on his face over and over.  Meetalesh (3) is the kind of cute that makes you forget everything else around you in order to stare at and smile at just him.  Even now, I am just dying to be next to him wherever he is.  He is the most independently cheerful little guy.  He reminds me of my brother Dalton in a lot of ways:  How crazy darling he is, how easily he smiles, how he is just content to do whatever, how he wouldn’t hurt a fly, how he is kind of in his own little world a lot (no offense, bud).  So I can’t imagine it would surprise anyone that the one who reminds me of one of my favorite people ever is one of my favorites here.  This morning on the playground I picked him up and held him.  We spun around a bit and played and he just laughed his sweet little head off.  Then he just put his head on my shoulder and his arms around my neck and kissed me cheek – yet another very large tender mercy moment.  He didn’t move for an entire twenty minutes, although there were a lot of distractions around him and lots of opportunities to have more fun than just being held.  The kids do not resist any kind of love here; they take what they can get.  Kids are kids, but it interesting to see the difference between kids who have doting mothers and kids who don’t.  Kids who are without crave that love, consciously or not.  They appreciate being held or being sung to or kissed.  Even the older kids yearn to be taken care of in any way a mother would.  Rather, the older kids have become mothers at very young ages and the younger kids have learned how to take care of themselves for the most part.  It is heartbreaking and inspiring all at the same time.    

Esther is the one looking at the camera.  How cute is she?  And Manju is turned toward her.  Manju is another  girl who is very near to my heart.

Akash is on the left, Suria is on the right.  They are best friends.  And the cutest bff's the world has ever seen if you ask me.

I went into town today to get myself a sari and a churidar.  The men always stare at my white skin, but the women usually don’t seem fazed by me.  That was not the case today.  I think all the youngish female employees in one specific fabric store thought I was Hannah Montana.  They called me that a few times actually.  They could not stop smiling and were very easily sent into giggle fits.  They were trying out their English on me, and were completely overjoyed when I practiced my Tamil on them.  When one of them shook my hand, she would turn to the rest of the little gaggle the way a teenage girl would if Justin Bieber touched her hand.  It wouldn’t surprise me if she swore never to wash that hand again.  They all say you need to go to America to make something of yourself, but dude, all I had to do was go to India to realize my potential for fame.
How do you describe the taste of a peach?  Or a raspberry?   And there’s seriously no way to describe a marshmallow.  Here’s that conversation:

“What’s it made of?” 

“Sugar.” 

“And?” 

“And….. white?” 

“White what?”

“No one knows.”

I feel like three or four days are smashed into one day here.  I get back to my quarters and think about the day and can’t even think back to the morning it seems so long ago.  I honestly feel like this is mission-like for me.  I would love to serve full-time, but if I end up not, I believe this has taught me many things a mission would have taught me.  But this is only a month, vs. the eighteen months I should be giving to this type of thing.  It almost feels like I am learning all these lessons that should take me eighteen months in the space of one.  The days are long and the lessons learned are many, but I couldn’t be more grateful for that to be the case. 

Other reasons this is like a full-time mission, specifically a foreign and sister one: Everyone calls me sister.  I go to sleep at 10:30 and wake up at 6:30.  I study for almost two hours every morning.  I eat food that is unfamiliar to me, and they like you to eat a lot.  I can’t understand most of what is being said to me.  I wear really long skirts every day and I choose shoes for comfort, not style.  I never shave.  I don’t have a phone.  The only time I have to myself is used in studying, recording experiences, and sometimes emailing.  I have been extremely humbled and am starting to realize in a very large way how I should be led by the Spirit.  I am learning so much about the gospel, and in turn, myself.  

Take home:  The work is not yours, just do your part.  I will remember to not worry about a lack of opportunites to do good – God will always bless those searching to serve.  I will keep in mind that road rage in America is stupid because at least you aren’t driving in India.