Sunday's in Chennai

I have to back up a day and say that yesterday, Sunday, was a pretty good day. I was dreading getting back on the bus for our two our ride to church, but when you subtract the 18-20 kids and add A/C, the drive goes much smoother. Also, it was cool to have some quality time with some of the awesome people we have with us at RSO right now--namely Jean (a legendary photographer--she's most well known for sneaking into Afghanistan about 15 years ago in the midst of all the craziness with another female photographer--her work is incredible), also Doug (he has done quite a few documentaries on non-profit organizations and won a Emmy for his last documentary of RSO)...I could go on, but that's enough for now. Point is, the bus ride went much better.... On that note, I have to say I was glad I wasn't on the kids bus going home Saturday night after their performance. I thought it was bad that we had one little girl throw up, but they had three kids throw up on the way home :|

Church today was interesting. I know that only about half the people reading this blog share my religious beliefs, but I just couldn't skip over this, so hopefully it makes sense.... The first three hours followed the standard format--although they did make a special announcement in Sacrament meeting to say that David was in the congregation and would be holding a special "fireside" (meeting/presentation) afterwards. Also, their were two people being baptized (Ron Gunnell, a RSO Board Member from Utah, was instrumental in introducing them to the church and performed the baptisms) after the regular 3-hour block of church. It was great to meet the members in Chennai and see how strong they were in their beliefs. One comical moment during the meetings was when the power went out (that happens pretty regularly here--usually once or twice a day for a minute or so), the teachers just kept on going with their lessons though. Most of the rooms had a small backup light, just for this reason, but one of the classes didn't so they just continued on in the dark!

The baptisms were neat to witness and the fireside with David and his mom was awesome. David sang a couple of songs ("I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" & "How Great Thou Art"--both amazing of course) and talked about his decision to try-out for American Idol. Apparently, at the time of the auditions, he had just landed a job after quite a bit of searching and he had to quit in order to try-out. He figured his chances were pretty slim and wasn't going to bother, but then he prayed about it and felt like he needed to believe in himself and give it a shot--he said he felt like he had something to learn from the process. He said during the season he got lots of letters from fans saying they felt something special when he sang and they wanted to know what it was. He always tried to pick songs that had a special meaning to him, but was surprised that his fans could feel it as well. I've been really impressed with him and how eager he is to use his talents for good. He and his mom both brought a strong spirit/feeling of love with them, and by the end of the fireside, many people had been moved to tears.

With the regular 3-hour block of church, plus the baptisms, and the fireside, we were in the church building from 2pm-7:30pm--a new record for me I think! By that time we were all starving so we got some pizza on the way back. Usually I'm a little picky when it comes to pizza, but I have to say that pizza, mystery meat and all, was one of the best things I've ever eaten!