05 SEP 2010 letter

Dear Family,

Well I am happy to report that today I will have a reasonable amount of time to e-mail. So each one of you can expect a sincere and lengthy message. It sounds like things are going well back at home. I am glad for your updates, to be honest with you I can hardly remember Utah and the USA. I feel like India is the only place I know, now that's not true- but I feel that way. I am not sure why.

This past week was a blast. One of the most spiritual and uplifting weeks of my entire mission. On monday morning we set out to fly over to Rajahmundry. Everything looked fine until it started to rain, and when that happens they shut down the airport in Rajahmundry. So our flight was cancelled at the last minute. Which would have been OK if it were just me and Elder Naulu, but we had President and Sister Funk with us. We had to do some quick work, and got a flight to Visak and drove down there. It is about a 3 hour drive, it was nice to see the Andhra countryside. We got President checked into the hotel down there, I was very impressed with their ability to adjust. The difference between the hotel in Hyderabad and Rajahmundry is extreme. One is the Ritz Carlton and the other Motel 8, or less. So I was happy to see that they're willing to go where He wants them to go. Ha.

We had this new set of training meetings called "Leadership Training." It has been prescribed by the First Presidency for all the missions throughout the world to do. It was a little difficult to implement in our mission because of distance, but we divided the mission in two and had all of the Leaders from the north side join us for a few days in RJY to have these meetings. It was a huge success, President trained on the "simplified curriculum" which is a set of lessons that teach Elders how to use Preach My Gospel and become more powerful teachers. Ha, this probably seems boring to you all but it was exhilarating for a missionary to experience. So we received training in the morning and were able to go out in the evenings to apply what we learned in real situations. I had some incredible experiences. One thing I learned was there is no harm in inviting people to make commitments. As we do so, we give them an opportunity to exercise faith in Jesus Christ. That is why we teach anyone anything, without the commitment invitation there is no purpose in teaching. They cannot trust Jesus Christ until they have tried to live one of his commandments. That goes for any human being, irrespective of religion. It is our responsibility, as missionaries or members, to provide people with an opportunity.

We were able to be in all of the zones in Andhra Pradesh this past week. It was nice to see all of the Elders. There is just a wonderful feeling throughout this mission, there is optimism and hope. Though the present circumstances might not be the most favorable in terms of number of missionaries, the Elders are moving forward powerfully. I am about finished with the report this week. There were many other things that happened, which are noted in my journal. I will be sure to give you details in the future. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. And the birthday card! It was very funny, It made me feel happy. Have a good week everyone.

Elder Tuscano