Second Day: Humbling and Beautiful

Some of us in the morning before heading to the colony

Polambaakam Colony

Yesterday, we went to the leprosy colony called Polambaakam.  Once we arrived, we unloaded all the supplies and set up the stations.  There were a number of Indian nurses there that work with Rising Star Outreach and they did the work needed to be done by a nurse. 

We had sevearl stations: giving eye drops, taking blood pressure/glucose levels, removing old bandages, soaking and washing feet, oiling feet, cutting off old/bad skin, and re-bandaging the wounds with nice, clean bandages.

As we headed over, I kept praying in my heart that love would flow from me to those we worked with and got to know.  Even though I'm not a super duper clean person, I've noticed through the years an aversion to dirty hands and feet, especially feet.  For so long, I've wanted to meet those with leprosy or affected/afflicted with the disease, and have felt this burning desire to come here, and yet, I have had this other fear that I would struggle with the very reason I wanted to come.

In my prayers, I kept thanking the Lord for this experience and asking Him to please soften my heart and help me get over myself and be able to give love and give their feet the care they needed from us.

As we began with the first man who was missing most of his foot and simply had his big toe left, and as I lifted his legs and feet to clean each ulcer, I felt completely free and felt so very happy.  It was peacefully thrilling to be with these beautiful people, if that makes sense.  And there was no problem with working with their feet.  It was my privilege to wash their feet and it was such a sweet experience.  We would try to communicate with each other, them in Tamil and me in English, which is funny to watch, but that went as far as hello ("vanacum") and thank you ("nandri") for me, and it was okay, there seemed to be enough communicated through our smiles and hand gestures :)

The last guy who is in the picture with me above, and below, he had a very special spirit.  It was so strong that we all sensed it and commented on him afterwards.  Man, such beautiful souls, and it almost felt like you could see right into them as they looked down at you.  Such a happy experience.

Our beautiful singing and praising friend.  He clapped his hands towards the heavens and very energetically and enthusiastically thanked the Lord after we finished working with him.  Huge spirit in his little body.

Random monkey we passed on the road.  She's carrying her baby in her pouch-like thing.

Some of us on our way up to the Christian Holy House

Play time: 4:30-5:50pm

Students' Hostel: One side for the girls and the other for the boys.  They are divided into families and at night time from 7:30-8:30pm I'm assigned to one of the boy side "families" for the end of the day family time.  They are such great kids, many study so hard so that they can do well...and they play hard too :)  This "evening family time" has been one of the sweetest times with the kids for me thus far.  The smaller group dynamics is nice because it's easier to give focused and individual attention to them than when they are in a bigger group.

They're so beautiful!  Quite smart too :)

Many of the children getting ready for prayer time and then dinner.  They rotate 3 types of prayers: Hindu, Muslim, Christian.

First Day Videos

I forgot to upload some fun "beginning of the trip" videos, so here you are :)  While taking these, I thought I was talking loud enough, but it's actually hard to hear what I'm saying.  Mostly, I wanted anyone watching them to get a sense of what it is like here as we drove out to Rising Star Outreach.  Fun times. :)

First Day: India with hints of Thailand :)

Major hints, that is... :)

Last night I meant to finish this but fell asleep trying.  It was a great first day in India - and I can tell there is much for me to learn from this wonderful country, people and culture.  And we have an awesome group - and it's neat how each has had a strong desire to come and has a story on how they got here at this time.  There are other more long-term volunteers at RSO as well.

Our group leaving the hotel :)  We have Kay, Toni, Cassidy, Allison, Nusly, Marilyn, Birdie and me

First off, I flew from Seattle to Frankfurt, Germany to Chennai, India.  That was quite fun - awesome folks on the flights - people from so many countries around the world - so many fun languages filling my ears throughout both flights.  One of my favorite scenes from the Frankfurt airport was watching a little family as I walked behind them - with I'd taken a picture.  The man was in his native dress, a full white colored, long shirt type outfit that went to the ground, his young son in a similar white long shirt/outfit, and then the wife/mother, in her black dress, long sleeves, outfit to the ground, head and face covered except for her beautiful eyes, all in black.  I don't remember if the dad wore a white hat-like thing or not, but I just remember feeling great vibes from their little family conversation that all three were having with each other, happy, friendly, loving and a little funny.  They all three walked together, side by side, and I appreciated seeing that.  

 

After arriving in India and getting through the fun airport pickup experience, Allison,  Nusly, Cassidy and I all made it to the Marriott hotel where we had a wonderful room with a hot shower and very comfortable beds.  Such a great set up!  In the morning, we ate an amazing breakfast, and then headed off to the Rising Star Outreach campus, a couple of hours from Chennai.  

 

As you'll see in the pictures, it is a fun place.  And man, it reallllly reminded me of Thailand...except with folks from India, not Thais :)  So fun.  I truly can't believe I'm here.  I've wanted to come here for so many years, always feeling a tug in my heart to come, so many times praying that I could find a way, and here I am, so humbled and grateful to get to know a little of this blessed spot on earth, and especially, to finally meet the beautiful leprosy affected people I've read about and longed to meet for so long.  We all literally are a family on this earth, and there is something amazing about meeting family that you've perhaps not know in this life, but who is filled with light and love that is so familiar.  More on that later.

Love this woman on the back of a motorcycle as they weave through lanes of traffic :)

They have tuk tuks here!  Some call them tuk tuks and others call them rickshaws.  So fun!

Good times and big fruit :)

Beautiful souls - Nusly and Alli

We stopped for gas on the way to RSO and these folks were super fun to smile and wave at - they were probably headed to work or something.   Look how fun and bright their clothes are!  Well, the women's clothes are bright - they are such beautiful people!  Happy smiles :)

Yep :)

There are fields like this everywhere.  The cows are also everywhere :) 

Gotta love this little shops - they are everywhere!  So reminds me of Thailand, El Salvador, Guatemala, and other places.  So great!

As we arrived at RSO, we were oriented by Callie and Julie who are over the work we're doing here, and then we got settled in our rooms.  We had play time with many of the 235 students/kids after that - so great.  There are so many children here...and I'll have pictures of them later.  They are beautiful.  Many have parents or grandparents that have leprosy and so they live here in this gated campus like they would at a boarding school.  There are house mothers for the kids and they do a wonderful job of keep order and love here at RSO.  And that is the theme here.  "It's all about love."  That is so good for us to remember.  It isn't about being perfect or doing the fanciest thing around, but it is about truly loving each other, treating each other as the Savior would treat us.

At dinner time, which is on our roof top, our director asked each one of us to state the "high" and "low" point of our day. A volunteer shared that his low point was that today, he went to one of the many leprosy colonies and saw some of the people who had lost their legs and thus had to drag themselves across the ground to get assistance. He said he felt so sad that we couldn't get these individuals wheelchairs. Then one of the other directors said, "Well this session isn't doing construction. Usually a portion of the program fee that you pay goes towards construction. That money went to purchase 3 new motorized wheelchairs for these people. So your low point just turned to a high."  That really was neat to hear and it was obvious it touched and excited everyone at the table.

Before going to bed, we split up into "families".  Mine was a house (3 connected rooms) of boys.  That was honestly one of my favorite parts of yesterday.  I felt like I really connected with them - they wanted me to throw all types of math problems at them for our time together (7:30-8:30pm).  That's the type of "playing with kids" I can do well at - learning activities.  Their beautiful faces were eager to get the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems correct.  It was all in our heads, or sometimes they would draw with their finger on the ground so they could see the problem better in their head.  They are so smart and their eyes danced excitedly as they successfully worked out the math :).  Note: In that picture showing my hair, they gave us Jasmine flowers as we arrived and put them in our hair.  So fun, and they smelled soooo nice!

Alli and I

It was sobering as we sent them to bed as I looked in the next room and all they were sleeping on was a covered cement floor with a few thin blankets to kids slept on, but even then many didn't have that.   Sometimes cloth was used as a pillow...and I realize they have it good compared to everyone in the surrounding villages.  It was just a little reminder of how blessed I am.  I have sooooo much to be thankful for - and these kids, they have so much as well even though they have so little compared to me.  But they don't see it that way.  Like I said earlier, the school here has about 235 students from standard 1-10 (kind of like 1st - 10th grade...but some kids get in early because their parents' lie about their age so they can join early).  And the school boards most of them because they often times can't live with their families or they'll most likely eventually contract Leprosy themselves.  Here their bodies area much stronger and more healthy - and they are really trying so hard to learn all they can because they realize that it will free them from the poverty cycle...or at least help them :)

Alli, Nusly and I room together in the Elephant House.  I really admire them and their desires to love and serve others.

Stand By...

Um...it's pretty cool that I haven't blogged on here since last January...2011!!  But, guess what, times are finally changing.  Why?  Well, I'll tell you.  Two reasons:

1. I'm heading to India in a little over a week (wow, that makes me smile) and so I will be blogging some of my experiences from our location there in/near Chennai.  For years, I've dreamed and wanted to go to India to volunteer with the Leprosy colonies, and it almost makes me cry because I am finally going to go.  I can't wait to learn from them...and hopefully it will be one of many similar adventures.
2. This year, I have been reading the Bible, cover to cover, in a new way, not some here and some there, and I have just got to say, I LOVE the Bible!!  It lifts me, it brings so much light to me, and is absolutely fascinating.  Whoever said the Old Testament is not interesting surely needs to give it another try - it's incredibly captivating for Becky Castleton!  One day recently, I was just thinking that I would love to blog about why I've loved this journey through the Bible so much, what it is teaching me, the connections I'm making to my own life, etc.  If that's not your thing (not that I have many readers ;)) feel free to bypass that stuff, but if you're interested please read on.  I'd love your comments as well.  Right now I'm in Ezra...so I may do a little backtracking to share a few gems from earlier pages.

Thanks and bless you to anyone who reads my blog  :)  It impresses me to see that folks used to, and I hope that what I post will be uplifting and fun for any future readers.

Love Flows  ~  Rebecca, Becky, Bex, Becks, the Bexster...me  :)

Forward

Of course there is no going back, but only forward. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future.

-Thomas. S. Monson

The following YouTube Mormon Message and talk given by Elder Holland correspond so well and have reminded me how I want to start 2011 and how I want to live my life, looking forward. Enjoy.

Look Not Behind You ~ YouTube Mormon Message

Genesis 19:17

The Best is Yet to Be ~ Talk given by Elder Holland

Happy New Years 2011!

It was a Merry Christmas

December 23rd

This year, for the first time ever, the Castletons enjoyed Christmas in Arizona at the lovely estate of Rachel and Dean Delap :) It was a splendid time had by all, beginning with a Castleton Family Christmas Concert for Rachel and Dean's friends in Rio Rico and Nogales. Featured numbers included favorites like Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming, Past Three O'Clock, and Coventry Carol, as well as some newer additions including Rogers High School Jazz Choir's version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was so nice to sing together.

December 24th

On Christmas Eve, some of us took a Trip to the Boarder to find something fun and different for the White Elephant Exchange. Needless to say, there were some really great finds!

Bethlehem Dinner

Besides Christmas Caroling, for which without, our Castleton Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas :), Bethlehem Dinner is a special, looked forward to part of celebrating our dear Savior's birth. Since we were kids, mom and dad would put white sheets over everything, lay out a long piece of wood, and light candles throughout the downstairs basement living room... Well, they'd invite others to participate as we turned off the lights, sang Christmas carols to candle light, and enacted the Christmas story in Luke while Dad read it for us. Dinner consisted of a great assortement of dates, cheese, crackers, figs, olives, nuts, tabouli in pita bread, grape juice, water...hopefully close to what they might have eaten. Dad would always remind us that Mary and Joseph were very tired and hungry as they came to the stable where Mary would birth the Lamb of God, the Savior of the World. So, we could do with waiting a bit to eat as we remembered the Holy story. We would imagine the shepherds, the wise men, the beautiful bright star leading their way, and all those who came to see and worship the Christ child. Someone was usually a donkey, at least one angel, and others played the rest of the parts. During some years, neighboring children would play the parts as we got a little big for the roles. But, now it has come full circle and our children will play the parts that taught us to love the story of the first Christmas.

After dinner and caroling, we had a bit of recorded fun...enjoy :)

A little Trumpet mixing with the Ivory Keys ~ Below is a YouTube link to a great piece played by Abbs, Joel, and Joe. I hope you can access them this way. For some reason I couldn't upload them properly to the blog.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas: Abbs, Joel & Joe

Dancing the Night Away ~ More YouTube links to some awesome footage of Christmas Eve dancing that made us all laugh til our stomachs hurt.

Part 1: Quite the show from Joe & Abbs
Part 2: Amazing moves from Joe, James, Mary & Abbs
Part 3: Sass from Joe & Abbs
Part 4: Teaching Abbs how to keep it right here...

December 25th

Christmas morning gave me a beautiful gift with Abbs, the Christmas Elf, taking me on a lovely run in the morning sun. She really got me through the that. Thanks Abbs! And she never complained through all my out-of-shape panting!


We came back for a morning full of fun times with the fam as Lena and Caleb gave us our stockings and gifts...with the assistance of course from a special red and white capped elf, and his other helpers :)


Hope you enjoy the pictures...it was so fun, I had to include a bunch. I love the pictures of Elena and Caleb with their BYU t-shirts on down below. They are such beautiful kids with great parents. They really took their job seriously...well both jobs really...the one of giving out gifts and the other of opening gifts! :)


Now, of course, Christmas doesn't need tons of presents under the tree to be wonderful...no, the time together, laughing while we opened gifts or watching the kids open theirs and play, or even listening to each other talk of this and that...the combination of all that is enough to make the day wonderful, with warm feelings to accompany the memories in years to come...but there were gifts given this Christmas and truly, the fact, that opening gifts got us together in one room, joking with each other, teasing and laughing at one another, interested in what wordage

Dad would use on his tagged gift that he and mom gave each of us...that really made the morning meaningful and fun. It seems to be like that every year...and that's why I love the tradition of presents under the tree. Mom's and AA Laura's well stacked stockings with oranges, dried bananas, almonds, and of course some hot chocolate from dad...that doesn't hurt my experience either :)

There were some pretty wonderful gifts, soft gifts, hard gifts, incredibly creative and meaningful gifts, and then some darn right practical and funny gifts, ahem, the batteries, one in every accompanying present to that lucky receiver!

Awesome Aunt Laura made little glass place holders with pictures of us as kids way back when, for Rachel and Dean (she was their Secret Santa this year :) ...and well, as I said, there were so many gifts, great, fun, wonderful gifts that I can't name them all.

I will mention a special gift I received from my Secret Santa, Abby. It is the picture below of a wooden frame she painted and decorated with pictures of Christ from an old calendar that mom had given her. She is so creative! There couldn't have been a better gift for me, thanks :)










And thank you to all my family for the fun love you all share with each other and me. Being able to Skype with those not in Arizona and singing and playing games with each other really blessed my Christmas this year.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

We had another very special event, on Christmas Day afternoon... we managed to get 10 of us gathered together and off to Nogales to see Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. And, having arrived there 37 minutes early [we should all pat AA Laura on the back for that one!] we had time to sing carols to some of the moviegoers! The movie was incredible, and afters, some of the local moviegoers thought we should sing again. Here are two YouTube clips a lovely listener took:

Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

Past Three O'Clock

Now, time for some close ups on little Isaac and lucky baby holders...can the little one be more perfect? :)

Here is a fun little show with Elena and Caleb dancing to Joel's piano playing...they loved his music!

December 30th

Can you guess what this is? :)

Scripture Study with the family...you have to watch for Caleb's face at the end of this clip...it's classic funny Caleb!

Happy New Year to all ~ 2011!
May it be full of all the experiences you really need.