faith and blessings...

Dear Family,

The weather is beginning to heat up here in Viask, but it’s still very cool compared to the Chennai heat.

Elder Ward and I are very grateful this week. We learned a lot over the past few days. I think the lesson we learned was best stated by my mission prep teacher at BYU. He said "Heavenly Father does not bestow superior blessings without significant trials to prove them." So this week we learned that was true.

Last calendar week was rough. All aspects of the work were looking a little down. Finding, teaching, and just about everything was not working out for us. We were, at times, a little frustrated. But we did our best to keep the faith and work hard. By doing our best to be patient in tribulation we were able to receive some of those superior blessings President Bott was talking about.

Jyothi the hindu girl we have been working with had some incredible progress with her situation. She is 17 and her dad was opposed to her joining the church. But fasted for her this month and all of a sudden he started asking about us and our church. We were able to meet with him, and it looks like he is really warming up to the church – that was a miracle.

We have been meeting with this kid named Bhargav. He is about 16 and probably one of the most intelligent kids I've ever met. I think I mentioned him a few weeks ago. Anyway he has an aunt named Bharati who is about 28 and we started teaching her on monday. As we taught the restoration it became very apparent that she was a prepared individual. She asked great questions and really wanted to know the truth. We committed her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We called her last night to follow up. I remember being a little nervous because I knew that she would have actually kept the commitment. Sure enough she did, and she received an answer! Every time I discover that one of our investigators has received a witness of the book of mormon I am so grateful. I consider each experience to be a miracle.

Many more wonderful things happened this week and we are very excited for the future. Visak is a special place.

I love you all and hope you have a good week.

Elder Tuscano