study, spirt, strength

Dear Family,

It is still burning up on the streets of chennai but we are lovin it. You can sometimes wring out your tie at the end of the day!

This past week was great. The fifth sundays here are "missionary" sundays and we were in charge of the sacrament meeting. It was pretty fun; we sang a song together as a district, missionaries gave talks and I was the chorister. Anyway, everything at church is fine except for attendance. This branch is huge on paper, but not that many are coming to church. It’s been said the reason is the holidays and because people are out of station. But those days are coming to a close pretty soon here so we'll see how valid that reason proves to be. I hope it does.

Jeremiah is doing so great. I told you about him. I talked with President Nichols about him this past week. He keeps all his commitments and is prepared for baptism. But his family lives in that dangerous area of India called Nagaland. So I was on exchange with Elder Siyyadri (ever heard that name before – he was my first companion and now home from his mission) and we talked to him about how joining the church is a life long commitment and about how it should be a determining factor as to which places he chooses to settle down if he wants to be near the church. I was impressed at the strength of his testimony, because he knows this is right. He committed to live in an area of the country where the church is. I was very excited to see his sincerity. I understand that he is 19 and nothing is set in stone, but he understands the importance of the restored gospel.

We have been spending more time than usual working with people who struggle with the word of wisdom. We taught a few lessons to people in the past week that were actually under the influence at the time. It was amazing to notice how when we were just talking to them, we did not have much control over the situation. But as soon as we said a prayer and started teaching, the power of the spirit became extremely evident. Those people became completely subdued and listened intently to every word we spoke. I have truly gained a stronger testimony this past week about the power the spirit has.

My studies have been great lately. I have been spending some time reading the parables in Matthew. They are amazing. I find that as I read and study from the bible and keep the book Jesus the Christ open beside it, I learn so much more. I was reading today from the 22nd chapter of matthew and came across a parable I'd never studied – the marriage of the king’s son. There are some amazing implications in that parable. I was especially intrigued by the concept that we all have to "put on" the wedding garment to enter the kingdom. You should check it out.

I’ve grown to know more about other denominations of christianity since coming on the mission. I remember dad showed me that chart which told about different beliefs of christian sects. No one else believed pre-mortal existence right? How is that possible? Revelation is pretty plain in explaining it…

Anyway, all is well and I'm lovin my time here in Mom's hometown.

Love,
Elder Tuscano