...patience and faith

Dearest Family,

Man, it is great to hear from you guys every week. It is quite refreshing. I got a call from President Nichols last friday morning and he informed me that dad’s surgery went well. It was comforting to know that. Thank you for emailing him so that I could receive that information.

This past week has involved a lot of sitting inside the apartment. My companion got really sick last thursday. His voice started to leave and then he just got way sick all around. His throat was way swollen and he still can hardly talk. We took him to the hospital on sunday and he got some meds and now he is starting to get better I think. I got to go out on saturday though because the assistants came to go on exchange with us. But Elder Doss-Johnson was inside so I went with one for the morning and the other one after lunch. It was a great experience and I learned a lot from both of them.

Mahender is doing great and is continuing to prepare for his baptism in the coming weeks. It has been so incredible to watch his growth and progress over the past few months. I am very excited for him. His family is not that happy about his decision to get baptized but that is fairly common in India. Especially with hindus, leaving family traditions is one of the biggest set backs. But he is developing a strong testimony and he knows what he needs to do. It seems that over here when you extend an invitation to read and pray about the book of mormon the christians are unlikely to do it, at least the first time. But I've noticed that Hindus are quite receptive to the invitation and more often than not they actually do it.

This week Elder Leckington (AP) and I were finding in a colony full of christians. Every one who lived there had a huge dog. We were excited to see a neighborhood of christians because that means a lot of doors to knock. We got down to business, at one house we stopped outside the gate. Elder Leckington looked inside and asked me if I thought the owners of the house had a dog. I didn’t see or hear one and was like, Uh...No dude they don’t have dog. He pointed to a chain that was hooked up to the house. But in my ignorance and excitement to knock doors I was like no man there is no chance they have a dog. I flung open the gate and approached the door, Elder Leckington timidly followed. As soon as I got close to the door, the lady inside started yelling, she's all get out the dog will come! I ignored here at first and then the barking started. Actually it was more like a roar, this huge dog darts down the stairs. I push Elder Leckington out the gate barely make it out before mufasa got hold of me. Ha it was ridiculous, the dog was ruthless. Two seconds later and I would have been DONE! Anyway it was a funny day and literally every one of those christian houses had a monster inside.

I don’t really have anymore things to say this week cause I have been sitting inside a lot.

Love you guys!
Elder Tuscano

(below are excerpts from email to individual family members)

The Book of Mormon is a wonderful book. Since coming on my mission I have realized how much of a treasure that book really is. I learn new things from it each day. Today I was reading Alma 32 and his discourse on faith. But it was interesting to note that before he touches on faith he discusses humility. How those poor zoramites were humble because their poverty compelled them to be. He said that those who are humble because of their belief are blessed so much more. I never paid much attention to that advice before. It caused me to do some reflection and decide why I try to be humble… So I am going to try and humble myself for some better reasons than I have been.