Hi everyone! This
is Carson again. Faith and I have said goodbye to our friends in India, and have arrived back home safe and sound. These past few months in India have been perfect. Now, from an
outsider’s perspective, all the changed plans, food poisoning, worms, visa
problems, and threats of arrest may not sound like the perfect summer, so please
let me explain:
When I say this
summer has been perfect, I mean that it has been exactly what we needed. Our
faith has been tried again and again, our prayers have been answered in every
way, and the people we’ve met have changed our lives forever. If I were to draw
up on paper what a perfect summer would look like, I could not have done it any
better than how it turned out.
Not everything
went as we expected, but it just goes to show that God knows far better than we
do what we need. How could we have ever guessed that we would meet some of the
most amazing people on the planet, or that the government would conveniently threaten
our arrest due to a visa violation right before our family reunion, and right
after I had enough hours for my BYU internship? We were blessed and protected
and provided for beyond the best I could have imagined.
Time, and time,
and time again I have been astounded at how these leprosy-stricken individuals
can forget themselves and still focus on serving and uplifting others. From our
friend Raja who cleaned our water basins with his finger-less hands, to an
amazing man named Appu (pictured below), whose face was so deformed by leprosy that he could no
longer speak, but that didn’t stop him from smiling and laughing all the time. His
quick and enduring smile taught me more about happiness than any amount of
words ever could.
Gordon B. Hinckley
once said that “Generally speaking, the most
miserable people I know are those obsessed with themselves; the happiest people
I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others.” By combining our service with faith, we can be
happy, and also make a difference, wherever we are in the world. “Thus God has
provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore
he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings” (Mosiah 8:18).
It is so easy to
forget about how deeply God loves and wants to bless those we hardly notice. We
don’t have to travel across the world to become a great benefit to our fellow
beings. In order to become that great benefit in someone’s life, we need only
show them how special and important they are. As Hilary Weeks sings, “There’s a
shortage in this world of ‘I believe in you’s, and there’s somebody somewhere
who needs one.”
I came to India
with many fears, worries, and uncertainties. Through every test, trial, and
unexpected turn of events, God has always shown me that He is there, and that
He loves His children more than I could ever comprehend. No child of His is
ever forgotten. Seeing and serving the poorest of the poor lets me catch a tiny
glimpse of the love God has for these people. I pray that my eyes will always
notice the lonely, the sick, the destitute, and that I may also notice how I
can help them in some way.
There are countless
lessons to be learned from this part of the world, and Faith and I will be
reflecting on this time of our life for the rest of our lives. Thank you
everyone for your never-ending love and prayers. We have been safe, protected,
and sustained in every way. We have felt His spirit and His peace as we have served
His beloved children. I know that God loves and helps us more than we will ever
know. He hears and answers prayers.
This summer in
India has not been easy, but it has been life-changing, humbling, inspiring… perfect.
