March 18, 2009 letter

Dear Family,

This week was great, Mahender was confirmed a member on sunday and received the Holy Ghost. He was so excited to participate in that ordinance. It is so humbling to see the change wrought in him, and even more humbling to think that I was a part of it. He is going to be an incredible member and I know the gospel will truly bless his life. He even started to bring some of his neighbors to church on sunday so he is already helping us with missionary work. Such a gem.

We had a fireside on saturday. It was originally planned to be a huge activity to get member referrals. We had planned dances from each auxiliary, dinner, and a church tour. But, due to the circumstances the district presidency suggested strongly that we limit the fireside to just members. So we had to adapt, but the fireside was great. We talked about the life of christ and then showed a little video. It is called reflections of christ. It is incredible, I don’t know if any of you have heard of it. But you should check it out. Only about 7 minutes long, but so powerful (click here to view the video).

We are no longer allowed to contact or find but there have been many other doors opened up. The members have been giving referrals and helping us so much. I actually can see how this incident happening is a blessing. The members know our situation and in response they have been working harder to give us people to teach. Member referrals are more likely to join the church anyway so I am excited to see how this works out here in the 2nd branch. Elder Tolefoa left the mission on saturday it was really sad to see him go. He was a great leader and took good care of us out here. We are all really young now, but it is exciting. We can’t rely on him for anything now, were just gonna have to figure it out ourselves. The oldest in our district is 9 months out. I’m sure well be fine though. That’s about it for this week I think.

Love,
Elder Tuscano

(below are excerpts from individual family letters)

We are being as careful as possible, being a missionary without finding is kinda weird. We are trying to stay as busy as possible. Even in the mornings we have been having extra district meetings and such.

As far as drinking water goes, there is no need to worry. The first week was adjustment, but since then there have been no problems. The water is probably not the cleanest everywhere, but my body has adjusted and it does not bother it. I make sure to drink a lot of really clean water from my apartment and bottles too though. If it tastes really bad then we won’t drink it. But I haven’t experienced that very much.