Ohh..

I spoke too soon.
I know nothing of suffering...

I went to a leprosy clinic yesterday.

It was the first time I have ever seen a lepre. Their hands were mangled and their feet were falling apart. They had sores and ulcers all over their skin. And the most honest way I can describe these men... is beautiful. I looked at them and they put their hands together and greeted me with their eyes and slight head wobble, and instantly I thought- I know nothing of suffering. But of one thing I was convinced- the beauty in their hands and feet demonstrated the beauty that Jesus sees in our brokeness. Their deformed hands were Jesus to me that day. It made all of those bible stories that much more real- Jesus holding and healing and being with the lepres. We all know the feeling of a mangled and deformed heart, sometimes we can feel like the scum of the earth, like we don't deserve to be seen... and all Jesus sees when He looks at our broken hearts is beauty. And I realized, that is all that I can give to Jesus. Just as these men could only offer a greeting with their mangled hands, I can only lay down my mangled heart to Jesus. And if I could receive the beauty in their bodies, imagine how much more Jesus sees the beauty in us. Wow. I am not my own.



At Sri Ramachandra Hospital, there is also a Nursing and Medical School here. This week is their cultural week. They had American dance on Wednesday night, American song last night, and tonight is Indian dance. The students put on performances every night and the whole college attends... it was like my high school homecoming aseembly multiplied by a thousand. Let me just say- Indians know how to party. And they get funky. For real. We had so much fun watching their dance performances and they are so good! They danced to all of the American hip hop songs, including but not limited to- No Air, Cooler Than Me, Replay, and many more. It was awesome. Seriously the women here know how to shake and drop it like its hot, us American girls got nothing on them. haha. Some of the dance teams were absolutely incredible, they should be professional.. and they were all Nursing and Medical Students! After all the groups preformed on stage- complete with a full light show, smoke machine, and music so loud I lost some of my hearing afterwards, they had a dance party. So all 700 students and us 10 white kids danced. We were in the middle of the floor dancing and having a good ol time, and when we looked up the ENTIRE room was watching us, with the spotlight, AND video camera on us (we found out later the show was broadcasted on the local television). I seriously have not laughed that hard in a long time- all these nerdy white kids crashing the Indians Cultural Week. hahaha. It was so much fun.

Then last night, we (me and 5 other students) took a taxi into down town Chennai to do some shopping. When it was time to come back to the Hospital campus that night, we decided it would be a brilliant idea to take the city bus instead of a taxi since it would be cheaper. Well, we have no idea which bus to take so we jump on the first one we see (and I literally mean jump, the buses barely stop, you just kind of run along side the bus and jump in... and you have like 2 in x 2in of space to stand in, yeah its a little crowded). Then when we were on the bus the people told us it was the wrong one, so when the bus slowed down a little bit we all jumped off and ran to the side of the road dodging the seventy-million motorcycles that decided to swarm the road at that point. Only to see everyone on the bus waving us back on saying that this wasnt a bus stop, so we all ran and jumped back on... and then got off at the next stop. So we are walking along side the road looking for an auto (also called took took, rickshaw.. bascially this small cubby thing with three wheels that sits three people).. we eventurally found one and we crammed 7 people in one. We were all sitting on each others lap and got on the road.. and were sitting in traffic for 2 hours. If you thought traffic in New York was bad... yeah visit Chennai (I hear Mumbai is worse fyi). Since the wait in traffic was so bad at one point, one of the girls in the auto saw a fruit stand and she was like ooo i want some apples. Of course I was the one on the end, so I jumped out of the auto, ran across the street, gave the fruit guy way too much money for two apples, and ran back into the auto. Everyone on the road was laughing at us because we were all freakin and I definitely had plenty of time to get back in the auto haha. Anyway, it was crazy and so fun. But we decided thats the last time we try and "wing it" getting back from the city.

Tonight is the Indian Dance at the Cultural Festival. Some of the nursing students are coming to get us.. We hear its going to be a huge party with lots of dancing. Haha... o India.

Thank you so much for prayers and support. Love you!