Wow....this weekend has definitely been one for the books. I want to do the whole story justice so I'm splitting the weekend into three posts. Here we go:
Mona Vie is a multi-level company that is Rising Star's newest sponsor. They are just opening up distribution in India and were doing a pre-launch in Chennai. They estimated about 5,000 people would be in attendance. A few weeks before the event, Mona Vie contacted Rising Star and asked if the LifeDance team would be able to come and perform at the event. As mentioned, the event was originally supposed to take place in Chennai so it seemed like there would be no problem getting the kids there to perform. One week before the event, Shaun (the dance master) was contacted and told that the event location had been changed to Coimbature--a city that is an 8 hour car trip from Rising Star. With the last minute location change, everything became uncertain. Shaun and Dr. Susan now had to figure out transportation, accommodations, food and everything else involved with a big performance. The performance kept inching closer and closer and even though the LifeDance team continued preparing for the event, we were still unsure if they would be able to go.
Three days before the performance and we still weren't sure the team would be going to perform. This opportunity was literally a dream come true for the kids and they wanted, more than anything, to be able to perform at this event. Wednesday after practice, the kids asked Shaun if they could all pray together so they would be able to go. Manodhaya, a 9th standard student on the team, poured her heart out in prayer for three minutes, pleading for this opportunity to come through. When her prayer was finished, the whole team sat silently for another minute and said individual, silent prayers--their humble hearts open and asking for help. The kids continued to pray through Thursday, and not just the LifeDance kids, the entire school was praying for LifeDance to be able to go to this performance. Kids were continually coming up to Shaun and the other volunteers telling us that they had prayed for LifeDance and, because they had prayed, they would be able to go. Finally, at 11pm Thursday night, we got the final word that a bus would be arriving at Rising Star at 6am the next morning to take the team to Coimbature for the Mona Vie event--the prayers of 200 children had been answered.
Filled to the brim with excitement and anticipation, the 18 LifeDance members and 10 chaperones loaded onto a bus to start the journey to Coimbature. What should have been an 8 hour drive turned into 11 and boy was it a lovely 11 hours (that was serious sarcasm). Joseph summed it all up: near the end of the journey he came and laid his head on my lap and said very exasperated, "This bus is like Vomit Land!" And indeed it was. We had 5 kids throw-up and a few of them threw-up multiple times equaling at least 10 vomiting instances throughout the journey. That compounded with the length of the trip made for a very long day. Besides the bus being vomitland, though, the kids really did well entertaining themselves during the ride. After 11 long hours, we finally arrived in Coimbature.
Mona Vie is a multi-level company that is Rising Star's newest sponsor. They are just opening up distribution in India and were doing a pre-launch in Chennai. They estimated about 5,000 people would be in attendance. A few weeks before the event, Mona Vie contacted Rising Star and asked if the LifeDance team would be able to come and perform at the event. As mentioned, the event was originally supposed to take place in Chennai so it seemed like there would be no problem getting the kids there to perform. One week before the event, Shaun (the dance master) was contacted and told that the event location had been changed to Coimbature--a city that is an 8 hour car trip from Rising Star. With the last minute location change, everything became uncertain. Shaun and Dr. Susan now had to figure out transportation, accommodations, food and everything else involved with a big performance. The performance kept inching closer and closer and even though the LifeDance team continued preparing for the event, we were still unsure if they would be able to go.
Three days before the performance and we still weren't sure the team would be going to perform. This opportunity was literally a dream come true for the kids and they wanted, more than anything, to be able to perform at this event. Wednesday after practice, the kids asked Shaun if they could all pray together so they would be able to go. Manodhaya, a 9th standard student on the team, poured her heart out in prayer for three minutes, pleading for this opportunity to come through. When her prayer was finished, the whole team sat silently for another minute and said individual, silent prayers--their humble hearts open and asking for help. The kids continued to pray through Thursday, and not just the LifeDance kids, the entire school was praying for LifeDance to be able to go to this performance. Kids were continually coming up to Shaun and the other volunteers telling us that they had prayed for LifeDance and, because they had prayed, they would be able to go. Finally, at 11pm Thursday night, we got the final word that a bus would be arriving at Rising Star at 6am the next morning to take the team to Coimbature for the Mona Vie event--the prayers of 200 children had been answered.
Filled to the brim with excitement and anticipation, the 18 LifeDance members and 10 chaperones loaded onto a bus to start the journey to Coimbature. What should have been an 8 hour drive turned into 11 and boy was it a lovely 11 hours (that was serious sarcasm). Joseph summed it all up: near the end of the journey he came and laid his head on my lap and said very exasperated, "This bus is like Vomit Land!" And indeed it was. We had 5 kids throw-up and a few of them threw-up multiple times equaling at least 10 vomiting instances throughout the journey. That compounded with the length of the trip made for a very long day. Besides the bus being vomitland, though, the kids really did well entertaining themselves during the ride. After 11 long hours, we finally arrived in Coimbature.
Savitha, as well as many of the other kids, spent a lot of time gazing out the window.
iPods, iPads, and laptops from Derek, Sam, Kelli, and myself were hot commodities on the bus.
Sleeping proved to be the best way to pass the time. I swear Joseph spent 90% of the trip like this.
Not my best moment, but at least we were comfy!
Using each other as pillows was also a big trend on the bus--as demonstrated here by Ashok and Arun.
So after a week filled with long rehearsals, fervent prayers, and an 11-hour bus ride, we all made it to Coimbature in one-piece...and the best was yet to come.
Vanakkam
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