03 OCT 2010 letter

Dear Family,

I cant believe that this will be one of my last e-mails home. I must admit, I really have enjoyed this correspondence. I know I have mentioned this before, but I feel that these e-mails have provided us with an opportunity to come closer together. Weird, right? I am on the other side of the world and we have had very limited contact, but I have never felt closer to any of you than now. So thank you for your uplifting and thoughtful e-mails each week.

This past week has just flown by, every week seems to be that way now. We are so excited for General Conference this weekend, I feel that it is a great blessing that I will be able to hear it at this special time. We have been in Coimbatore and Hyderabad since I last wrote to you. We were able to go down to Coimbatore on Thursday and do some interviews and training down there. President made some great comments about faith an miracles. It was appropriate because that is what is happening down there right now. When I first arrived on my mission there were 12 or 14 missionaries down in that zone. There is now 6, but those 6 are doing twice as much as those 12 when I first arrived. So the attitude and morale down there are just sky-high. I met some of Elder Jeppesen(one of my batch-mates) convert families. They were baptized just 18 months ago and she just became the District Relief Society President and her husband serves in the Branch Presidency. They are going to the Hong Kong temple this week to be sealed. I though that was the coolest thing, Elder Jeppesen was pretty stoked. It might be tough for you to realize just how difficult it is for our Indian members to get to the temple. If there is one thing I will never take for granted for the rest of my life it will be a temple that is close. After seeing the sacrifice members put forth here, I cant imagine living in St. George or Provo and not going to the House of the Lord on a regular basis.

So Hyderabad was pretty cool. I was able to go with one of our youngest missionaries, in fact he is the newest American. Elder Bennett is his name and he is the batch-mate of our beloved Elder Pope so let him know that I was on exchange with his boy this week. It was a great exchange, I was so happy to be with a missionary that is only 3 months out. I remember when I was 3 months out, it was easily the most difficult time for sure. I was able to comfort and encourage him and just let him know that everything would work out. That felt good. I attended church in Hyderabad 2nd branch on sunday, it was really cool. That was the branch where I started so it was cool to be back and see all the members. The branch is doing really well, I went with Elder Gantyada remember him? He is amazing, I learned so much from him. Just watching him and how much he loves others was an inspiration. Ok but I am done for this week. Sorry my individual e-mails are going to be short. Time is about to be out. We had ZLC today and there are a ton of other things pending. So we'll look forward to the word next week.