serve one another

oh my gosh. so the past four days have been CRAZY, but so so fun. monday we went to the first school to do exhibits. the name of the school is chinmaya and it's a private school in cochin. these kids weren't just smart, they were crazy smart. one of the cool things we got to do that day was see some of their science exhibits. while we were teaching them the basics about sound and bone structures, for example, they had exhibits where they made plastic out of potato starch or created a voltage high enough where it could blow up all of kerala. needless to say, it blew my mind. when you asked them what they wanted to be they either answered doctor or engineer without fail. spending time with the kids was amazing. because there english was better than ours we could have lots of conversations with them. i know you aren't supposed to pick favorites, but i did. three little boys had made their own small, battery powered fan. i joked about how hot it was here and how helpful that would be and they offered to give me the fan. not wanting to take their science exhibit i declined. a few hours later than ran up to me and presented me with my own fan they had made. not to mention they were maybe the cutest three kids there.

after a full day at the school and hanging out with the kids during their recess we were challenged to a game of football with some of the boys. to be honest i didn't think they would be that good. but, boy were they good. with only two real soccer players on our team we were basically destroyed. we like to blame it on the heat :)

tuesday we were back in chinmaya doing our exhibits again. that morning we were invited to the assembly where we stood on a balcony with the principal while the kids were in perfect lines below. if you have heard or read that india, specifically kerala, is hospitable then you heard correctly. we were literally treated like guests of honor there. we were presented with roses and recognized in front of the whole school. they were constantly asking us how we were and what they could do for us. each day we had a helper there to help us run our exhibit. that day our helpers name was sayana. i absolutely loved sayana and getting to know her and hear about her dreams. she was such a sweet friend who is now my friend on facebook :)

leaving chinmaya was bittersweet, but what's the cure for that? well, shopping of course. shopping in india is crazy. i still haven't managed to find a sari but i did buy a few pretty tunics! that night we were invited to hear some of the chinmaya students sing at a festival at a temple in the middle of town. everyone should go download malyalam music to their ipod. it was beautiful. we witnessed a sacred flag being raised, which is supposed to bring anyone who sees it a year of good luck. despite the bug bites and the foot pain from standing barefoot on the hard ground for hours we had a great time.

the next morning we packed up early and headed to cheruthuruthy. on the way we stopped at an elephant farm and got to wash the elephants by the river. elephants here are not like elephants in the united states. they are HUGE. so even these "babies" that we were washing were big. i can't wait to put up pictures of this later!

once we got to cheruthuruthy we had the afternoon to lay out by the pool and relax (did y'all say it was snowing there...). it was much needed down time-that's for sure! yesterday we woke up early and headed to our next school. this school was extremely different than the first one. our group was split in two and i was in the group that went to the nicer of the two schools. these students did not speak a lot of english, but we were still able to communicate a little bit. what shocked me the most was the effect our presence had on the school. i went to the bathroom and i had at least 30 kids swarming me, more kids running to see me, a million little hands poking out of the crowd wanted to be shook, and notebooks and pens shoved at me for autographs. i kid you not.

i now know how taylor swift feels.

despite the overwhelming mob that constantly surrounded us, there was something bigger and more important that i will remember about those kids. one of my friends had a helper who said, "at your service" when they first met. my friend was a little taken aback by this because the last thing we wanted them to do was to treat us in some sort of special manner. but what we came to find out is that they, and i quote, "treat their visitors like gods." now i am not saying we need to treat others as a god. but the attitude of service they had for complete strangers was overwhelming. simple things like shifting the position of the computer we brought were interrupted and taken over by a student. they literally served us in every since of the word. how beautiful would our world be if we served every person we encountered as the students served us? those kids who did not know christ displayed him so well. it was beautiful.

today was our last day in the school. we are all exhausted by this point and thankful for some rest! one of my sweet friends, rachel, sent me a message that was amazingly encouraging. in it she put the following scripture:

"since God assured us, "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you," we can boldly quote,
God is there, ready to help;
i'm fearless no matter what.
who or what can get to me?"
[hebrews 13:5-6]

the Lord has not left my side at one moment during this experience. i see Him in the precious children's eyes. i see Him in the way people in this community love one another. i see Him in the beautiful creation he has allowed me to see. He has been ever present and ever faithful. it's easy to think i have deserved this for some reason, and my prayer is humility. i pray that i am constantly brought to my knees in awe of the love of my Savior.