I'll start with some sad news. The Chennai companionship, or in other words, Elder Schmidt and Elder Tuscano came to an end. Transfer calls came monday morning. Elder Schmidt is off to new adventures in the land called Visak. He leaves friday morning. It will be sad to see him go. We had a lot of good times together in the heat of Chennai.
I am now a district leader. I hope that I can be a good one. I took the advice you gave me a while back. I have been watching my leaders closely and I will attempt to emulate the good qualities they exhibited. My new companion is Elder Gantyada. He has been on his mission almost 3 weeks now. He was being trained by both Zone Leaders but some other stuff didn't happen, so he is coming over to my area. It will be fun. He joined the church only a year and half ago. He was referred to the church by the brother of my trainer, Elder Siyyadri. He was taught and baptized by the great Elder Toleafoa. Now he is my companion in Chennai. It is amazing how small the church is in such a big country.
This past week was great. We met a sweet new brother. His name is Sherman. We were at the train station in a place called Kodambakkam. I had never been there. There were some less-active members and we went to visit them. Upon our return to Mambalam, we found ourselves waiting for the train. Some man approached us that had apparently met the elders a few years ago. He was Roman Catholic and came across a bit obnoxious toward us. We had nowhere to go, so we listened and talked with him. It wasn’t long before a few other people walked up to us and introduced themselves as christians. We didn’t think much of it; gave them our cards and told them to call us. But one of them seemed different. He introduced himself to us, specifically Elder Schmidt as we boarded the train. I was kept busy during the ride by our catholic friend. As we got off the train, my companion turned to me and said "I've never felt so good about anyone in my life." He was so excited. He stated that he felt the man was just prepared. He was. We met him two days later and discovered that his mom had passed away just ten days ago. He accepted the message of the restoration. He came to church the next day and stayed all three hours, and also for the baptism we had that day. He also set himself for baptism in two weeks. My companion was right.
We had a great baptism this week. Priya's entire family entered the waters. I will send some pictures. It might have been one of the greatest days of my life. They were all so ready. And the branch did a beautiful job fellowshipping. I don't know why, perhaps it was because two of the daughters are cute. Maybe because it is a big family. But the branch really helped us. I look forward to seeing how much they progress as members of the church. Working with them was a sweet experience. We met them at the right time, in the right circumstances, and taught them the "right" message. It was great!
Love,
Elder Tuscano
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