Jackson Oh!!!!

I don’t even know where to start! I have put off blogging because it’s so hard.  There is so much to say. First off I should probably say that I’m completely pine, in fact I am better than pine! This has been the best time of my life and I wish I could stay here forever. The people of India are the kindest happiest people that can be found, and there is no person that can steal my heart like these little kids have! I have an awesome YMAD team and I wouldn’t choose any others kids to share this experience with over them.
So this is how India has gone for us so far, and this will just be a brief summary because there is SOOO much that happens and all of it could make a great story. Every morning we wake up and us boys get up pretty much at breakfast time and hustle to get food and make a lunch before we head out, and that can be a struggle but sleeping is so nice! And you know how much I love my bed, mom! So once we finish all of that, we all climb into our expedition TATA’s and are off.  After we are ready to go we party hard on the drive while our lives are in danger.  We arrive at our villages around 7:30 and all the little kids are out yelling and cheering our names with the gifts they made us. The gifts we get usually aren’t much because they have so little, but they mean so much because they give us what they can and usually its something they made for us. The kids that are in my village, Koch Pakur, are absolutely amazing! They are the smartest, nicest, and most giving kids in the world. There are two kids in particular that I love with my whole heart. They are brother and sister; Sudip is the older of the two.  And his little sister’s name is Nissa. She is without a doubt the most adorable and sweetest girl that I have ever met and she has taken my heart like no one else can. She is always right there holding my hand or sitting on my shoulders. Sudip is brilliant, and I know he will have a bright future no matter what challenges are ahead for him. He is brave, smart, outgoing, charismatic, and he can dance like no one’s business and that hopefully will make for a bright future.

After we finish teaching in our village we go on a village tour. If any of you get the chance to go on a village tour in India, don’t eat large quantities of the bell fruit.  It turns out that there is a chance that it is “very harmful to your body.” In other words, what you’re eating might be poison!  (Don’t worry mom, Shirley said that if it was going to be a problem I would have symptoms already, so I guess I’ll be ok.) Going on our village tours is the most humbling experience. We go from house to house, and they offer absolutely everything they have to us. These people are so unbelievably grateful that we give them the time we do. When in reality, we should be so grateful to them for taking us in and giving us everything they have to give.

Once we’re done in our village, we head straight to the Day Boarding School. The Day Boarding School is packed with some of the sassiest, prettiest, and funniest girls. There is no better feeling than walking up to the school and having tons of beautiful little girls yelling your name with such joy. When were done teaching we go to the prayer room, and the little girls all recite their daily prayers and what not. When they finish, Bina has us sing a song, and we are definitely running out of songs, so lately it has been primary and Christmas songs. One day we sang “I am a child of Vishnu”.  Once we are done in the prayer room we play games like, ride that pony, or we just have an enormous dance party! These girls really like to have fun, but my posse of girls doesn’t like it when I have fun with anyone other than them. We have been working on the concept of more than one friend. It hasn’t gone over well so far, but we are working on it.

I don’t have time to go into all of the detail that I would like to go into, but this is the list of what has been going on! This has been a bittersweet experience for me. My sister went to India last year and she had the time of her life. What she did completely changed her and her values. I never really understood what she went through until now. I was hoping to have her be there when I returned home so I could share my experience with her.  But shortly after I left for India she left home to serve a mission.  She has been at my side all through YMAD and she helped me with anything and everything I needed because she knew what this experience would mean to me. I can’t thank her enough for what she has done to get me here. Thanks Olivia, you’re the best sister I could ask for and I love you more than anything. You’re going to be an amazing missionary. GO GET EM SIS!

I will see the rest of you soon!

2 Responses to “Jackson Oh!!!!”

1. Miss Lynda, on November 28th, 2013 at 11:49 am Said:

   Soooo glad that you are “pine”.

2. J-Swag, AnDrizzy, and Dantizzle, on December 1st, 2013 at 4:30 am Said:

   Glad you are having a great time homie! We miss you, keep up the good work! Ball it up J-Dizzle! WPFL