Dear Family,
Things in Visak are going well; it is really heating up again. The memories of Chennai heat are returning quickly. Anyway, it’s good for me; I just tell myself that walking around in the heat builds character. So by the time I get back to Utah I should have built plenty of it!
This past week was full of train rides. We came back to Visak last Friday. The train ride was about 14 hours. We figured the distance is actually about 300 miles or so…the trains travel a bit slower than you would think. But that is just fine because the Indian countryside is beautiful; all of the rice patty fields and chili fields are quite breathtaking. If you’re in the mood for a scenic journey the train would be your choice mode of transportation. It was a fun journey and zone conference was good, but I was very eager to get back to Visak and get to work.
Elder Ward and I are working with some incredible people. One of our greatest successes this past week was with a sister named Puspha. She is actually the cousin of a recent convert family and has known about the church for some time. About two weeks ago we decided that we would start to focus on her. She was OK at first but it seemed like she wasn’t that interested. At the end of one appointment we challenged her sincerely to read and pray about the book of mormon. It was close to a week and a half before we saw her again. She seemed different. There was nothing incredible about it, but we could certainly sense a change in her. As we taught her, she was much more attentive and became excited when we would extend commitments. She had felt the spirit. The process of conversion had begun, and we continue to watch it take place. I feel so privileged to be a part of it.
Church was also good. We continue to have great people come to sacrament, and they seem to enjoy it a lot. There are a lot of great people in Visak and the church is really a fun place to be. There are always new and exciting things that happen. I will go into detail on another occasion when time is sufficient. But it really is always a riot. Anyway I love you all and hope you have a good week. See you next time!
Love,
Elder Tuscano
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
09 FEB 10 letter
Dear Family,
Greetings from Hyderabad! We just arrived last night at about 7 in the evening. The train ride was about 12 hours, it was a nice trip. The Indian countryside is so beautiful and it was nice to get to know more of the elders in our zone and Rajamundry. It is a cool experience being in H-town again; in some ways it feels like nothing has changed and I’d never left this place. I am so happy to be serving in this mission and to have these cool experiences.
This past week was great. On Sunday Deepthi was baptized! It was incredible. After all that she has overcome, watching her be baptized just seemed so right. One of my favorite things as a missionary is the gratitude expressed by recent converts towards us. I know that the Spirit does all the work, and we really are just instruments in the hands of God. But hearing a recent convert sincerely express their appreciation to you for bringing them to the knowledge of the restored gospel is perhaps the most rewarding experience of a life time.
Also we have been meeting with Kishore Kumar and his family. They are so good, we gave an invitation to be baptized and they accepted. All except for Kishore, he is so busy with work that he hardly had time to meet with us or come to church. He has less interest in spiritual things, but he has made progress and we feel that he will come around. He told us on Friday that he feels like he is returning to the good habits of his childhood. After moving out, he stopped going to church and praying and hadn’t resumed until we met him a few weeks ago. Swarna Latha is a saint. She has been trying for years to get her entire family into good worshipping habits. She has been unsuccessful until now. With the knowledge of the restored gospel and the fellowship of the members their family is making significant changes and Swarna Latha is so happy. It is exciting to see.
I went on exchange with AP Mehan on Saturday and it was a great experience. He is a great missionary and a good friend. I learned a lot. I was most impressed with his ability to work, when finding I truly felt like we were working. That was a contrast to a common feeling that elders have when finding, which is they are just simply walking around. Elder Mehan didn’t waste a minute but talked with everyone everywhere we went. He had faith that we would find good people and he exhibited that faith through his work ethic. I am grateful for my leaders and the many things I can learn from them. Thank you all for the support. I hope you have a good week!
Love,
Elder Tuscano
Greetings from Hyderabad! We just arrived last night at about 7 in the evening. The train ride was about 12 hours, it was a nice trip. The Indian countryside is so beautiful and it was nice to get to know more of the elders in our zone and Rajamundry. It is a cool experience being in H-town again; in some ways it feels like nothing has changed and I’d never left this place. I am so happy to be serving in this mission and to have these cool experiences.
This past week was great. On Sunday Deepthi was baptized! It was incredible. After all that she has overcome, watching her be baptized just seemed so right. One of my favorite things as a missionary is the gratitude expressed by recent converts towards us. I know that the Spirit does all the work, and we really are just instruments in the hands of God. But hearing a recent convert sincerely express their appreciation to you for bringing them to the knowledge of the restored gospel is perhaps the most rewarding experience of a life time.
Also we have been meeting with Kishore Kumar and his family. They are so good, we gave an invitation to be baptized and they accepted. All except for Kishore, he is so busy with work that he hardly had time to meet with us or come to church. He has less interest in spiritual things, but he has made progress and we feel that he will come around. He told us on Friday that he feels like he is returning to the good habits of his childhood. After moving out, he stopped going to church and praying and hadn’t resumed until we met him a few weeks ago. Swarna Latha is a saint. She has been trying for years to get her entire family into good worshipping habits. She has been unsuccessful until now. With the knowledge of the restored gospel and the fellowship of the members their family is making significant changes and Swarna Latha is so happy. It is exciting to see.
I went on exchange with AP Mehan on Saturday and it was a great experience. He is a great missionary and a good friend. I learned a lot. I was most impressed with his ability to work, when finding I truly felt like we were working. That was a contrast to a common feeling that elders have when finding, which is they are just simply walking around. Elder Mehan didn’t waste a minute but talked with everyone everywhere we went. He had faith that we would find good people and he exhibited that faith through his work ethic. I am grateful for my leaders and the many things I can learn from them. Thank you all for the support. I hope you have a good week!
Love,
Elder Tuscano
02 FEB 10 letter
Dear Family,
This past week was fun; we had a lot of success and are seeing a lot of people make incredible changes in their lives. The foremost this week is Deepthi. She is finally ready for baptism. She has overcome a million obstacles over the past few months. I will be sure to tell you all the details at a later time, but she really overcame just about every kind of problem. Family, Job, and any other trial you could imagine. She is so excited for baptism, and with so many problems in her life right now she understands that this is the best thing to do. Her faith and courage have been and always will be an inspiration to me. I know things will turn out OK for her, and that God has got a great plan for her.
This past Sunday was a great experience. Elder Ward and I were able to give talks. Church started about 30 minutes late because someone forgot to bring the bread for the sacrament. But we were eventually able to give our talks but I don’t think they were received well. Throughout the day we asked people if they enjoyed the talks and they all said yes. Then we would ask if they remembered what we talked about, and each time, without fail, the response was a blank stare! Elder Ward spoke about Enduring to End and I spoke about Covenants.
Yesterday was also a funny day. I was able to do some baptism interviews. Two kids, they are brother and sister and I think cousins of a member family. Anyway the girl, who is about 16, was so nervous for her interview. She studied in a telegu medium school and her English is not so much. She was so funny; there was one point in the interview where she was so frustrated with me because I was not reading the baptism interview questions word for word. She had prepared to answer those questions exactly and couldn’t answer the others! Anyway she is really good and the Elders did a great job preparing her for baptism, it was just a hilarious situation.
The weeks are really flying by, I can’t believe that it’s February. I was thinking the other day about coming home. I realized that once I come back that’s it. There is no more mission in India. It made me sad and strengthened my resolve to give everything while I still can. There really is no reason for me to think about things at home and how great it will be to be back in Utah again. Once I’m back, I’m back for good. But my days in India are numbered and I want to get more out of them. I am so grateful for this, my opportunity to serve the Lord full time. I love you all and hope you have a good week!
Elder Tuscano
This past week was fun; we had a lot of success and are seeing a lot of people make incredible changes in their lives. The foremost this week is Deepthi. She is finally ready for baptism. She has overcome a million obstacles over the past few months. I will be sure to tell you all the details at a later time, but she really overcame just about every kind of problem. Family, Job, and any other trial you could imagine. She is so excited for baptism, and with so many problems in her life right now she understands that this is the best thing to do. Her faith and courage have been and always will be an inspiration to me. I know things will turn out OK for her, and that God has got a great plan for her.
This past Sunday was a great experience. Elder Ward and I were able to give talks. Church started about 30 minutes late because someone forgot to bring the bread for the sacrament. But we were eventually able to give our talks but I don’t think they were received well. Throughout the day we asked people if they enjoyed the talks and they all said yes. Then we would ask if they remembered what we talked about, and each time, without fail, the response was a blank stare! Elder Ward spoke about Enduring to End and I spoke about Covenants.
Yesterday was also a funny day. I was able to do some baptism interviews. Two kids, they are brother and sister and I think cousins of a member family. Anyway the girl, who is about 16, was so nervous for her interview. She studied in a telegu medium school and her English is not so much. She was so funny; there was one point in the interview where she was so frustrated with me because I was not reading the baptism interview questions word for word. She had prepared to answer those questions exactly and couldn’t answer the others! Anyway she is really good and the Elders did a great job preparing her for baptism, it was just a hilarious situation.
The weeks are really flying by, I can’t believe that it’s February. I was thinking the other day about coming home. I realized that once I come back that’s it. There is no more mission in India. It made me sad and strengthened my resolve to give everything while I still can. There really is no reason for me to think about things at home and how great it will be to be back in Utah again. Once I’m back, I’m back for good. But my days in India are numbered and I want to get more out of them. I am so grateful for this, my opportunity to serve the Lord full time. I love you all and hope you have a good week!
Elder Tuscano
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
26 JAN 10 letter
Dear Family,
This past week was full of surprises. We had a big disappointment on sunday because the two families we are working with did not come to church! Well, one came but they were about 2 hours late. So we felt bad about it, but this week will be better. We are sure about that.
This week one of our investigators revealed to us that she was basically an alcoholic. We were blown away. She is 17 and after the word of wisdom lesson we had last week she had been acting weird. She has a little different personality but I assumed that she was a just a special girl. But I have now learned never to assume anything. It sounds like she is pretty bad and we will start to work with her this week on repentance and addiction recovery.
We met a man named Pavan Kumar last week. He lives in an area called Gnanapuram (pronounced "Yan-ah-poor-um"). It means village of wisdom, but could more accurately be named the village of Roman Catholics. This brother is incredible. He is about 21 and at the end of the first appointment we challenged him to say the prayer. During the prayer, he proceeded to ask God if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. A different feeling entered the room at that time. He recognized it immediately. Yesterday we met with him and challenged him for baptism and he accepted. But his parents will be the obstacle. So we will see how it goes.
I went on exchange twice this past week. First with Elder Lohat, he serves in 2nd branch and is from New Delhi. He is an amazing elder and we share a lot in common. It was fun to go with him and learn about his life in Delhi. From the way he describes it, Delhi seems very western. So it was cool to learn about that. Yesterday I went with Elder Mickelson who is serving out in Gajuwaka branch. If you remember he was in H-town 2nd branch with us for a while and served with Elder Ward. So it was fun to be with him, it brought back memories of the good old days in West Marred Pally. So that is about it for this week. Thanks for your prayers!
Love you,
Elder Tuscano
This past week was full of surprises. We had a big disappointment on sunday because the two families we are working with did not come to church! Well, one came but they were about 2 hours late. So we felt bad about it, but this week will be better. We are sure about that.
This week one of our investigators revealed to us that she was basically an alcoholic. We were blown away. She is 17 and after the word of wisdom lesson we had last week she had been acting weird. She has a little different personality but I assumed that she was a just a special girl. But I have now learned never to assume anything. It sounds like she is pretty bad and we will start to work with her this week on repentance and addiction recovery.
We met a man named Pavan Kumar last week. He lives in an area called Gnanapuram (pronounced "Yan-ah-poor-um"). It means village of wisdom, but could more accurately be named the village of Roman Catholics. This brother is incredible. He is about 21 and at the end of the first appointment we challenged him to say the prayer. During the prayer, he proceeded to ask God if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. A different feeling entered the room at that time. He recognized it immediately. Yesterday we met with him and challenged him for baptism and he accepted. But his parents will be the obstacle. So we will see how it goes.
I went on exchange twice this past week. First with Elder Lohat, he serves in 2nd branch and is from New Delhi. He is an amazing elder and we share a lot in common. It was fun to go with him and learn about his life in Delhi. From the way he describes it, Delhi seems very western. So it was cool to learn about that. Yesterday I went with Elder Mickelson who is serving out in Gajuwaka branch. If you remember he was in H-town 2nd branch with us for a while and served with Elder Ward. So it was fun to be with him, it brought back memories of the good old days in West Marred Pally. So that is about it for this week. Thanks for your prayers!
Love you,
Elder Tuscano
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
faith and blessings...
Dear Family,
The weather is beginning to heat up here in Viask, but it’s still very cool compared to the Chennai heat.
Elder Ward and I are very grateful this week. We learned a lot over the past few days. I think the lesson we learned was best stated by my mission prep teacher at BYU. He said "Heavenly Father does not bestow superior blessings without significant trials to prove them." So this week we learned that was true.
Last calendar week was rough. All aspects of the work were looking a little down. Finding, teaching, and just about everything was not working out for us. We were, at times, a little frustrated. But we did our best to keep the faith and work hard. By doing our best to be patient in tribulation we were able to receive some of those superior blessings President Bott was talking about.
Jyothi the hindu girl we have been working with had some incredible progress with her situation. She is 17 and her dad was opposed to her joining the church. But fasted for her this month and all of a sudden he started asking about us and our church. We were able to meet with him, and it looks like he is really warming up to the church – that was a miracle.
We have been meeting with this kid named Bhargav. He is about 16 and probably one of the most intelligent kids I've ever met. I think I mentioned him a few weeks ago. Anyway he has an aunt named Bharati who is about 28 and we started teaching her on monday. As we taught the restoration it became very apparent that she was a prepared individual. She asked great questions and really wanted to know the truth. We committed her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We called her last night to follow up. I remember being a little nervous because I knew that she would have actually kept the commitment. Sure enough she did, and she received an answer! Every time I discover that one of our investigators has received a witness of the book of mormon I am so grateful. I consider each experience to be a miracle.
Many more wonderful things happened this week and we are very excited for the future. Visak is a special place.
I love you all and hope you have a good week.
Elder Tuscano
The weather is beginning to heat up here in Viask, but it’s still very cool compared to the Chennai heat.
Elder Ward and I are very grateful this week. We learned a lot over the past few days. I think the lesson we learned was best stated by my mission prep teacher at BYU. He said "Heavenly Father does not bestow superior blessings without significant trials to prove them." So this week we learned that was true.
Last calendar week was rough. All aspects of the work were looking a little down. Finding, teaching, and just about everything was not working out for us. We were, at times, a little frustrated. But we did our best to keep the faith and work hard. By doing our best to be patient in tribulation we were able to receive some of those superior blessings President Bott was talking about.
Jyothi the hindu girl we have been working with had some incredible progress with her situation. She is 17 and her dad was opposed to her joining the church. But fasted for her this month and all of a sudden he started asking about us and our church. We were able to meet with him, and it looks like he is really warming up to the church – that was a miracle.
We have been meeting with this kid named Bhargav. He is about 16 and probably one of the most intelligent kids I've ever met. I think I mentioned him a few weeks ago. Anyway he has an aunt named Bharati who is about 28 and we started teaching her on monday. As we taught the restoration it became very apparent that she was a prepared individual. She asked great questions and really wanted to know the truth. We committed her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We called her last night to follow up. I remember being a little nervous because I knew that she would have actually kept the commitment. Sure enough she did, and she received an answer! Every time I discover that one of our investigators has received a witness of the book of mormon I am so grateful. I consider each experience to be a miracle.
Many more wonderful things happened this week and we are very excited for the future. Visak is a special place.
I love you all and hope you have a good week.
Elder Tuscano
Saturday, January 16, 2010
gospel bonds
Dear Family,
Hello to all from Bangalore. We just now finished ZL council and it was edifying to say the least. I love hearing the trainings prepared by President Nichols. Sister Nichols made beef stew for lunch and it was incredible, she takes good care of us. I have got to say that this ZLC was incredible. Probably one of the most edifying experiences I have had in awhile. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve in this assignment. There are times when I feel like I am not doing a very good job. I make a lot of mistakes because I have never been a zone leader before. But I am grateful for my mistakes because they teach me a ton. I have learned to take that attitude. Just take the good and leave the bad from them. This experience has also provided me with an excellent opportunity to rely on the Lord.
This past week has been so fun. Elder Ward and I are working hard and doing our best to help the people in Visak. We have this one area called Kancharapalem and it is about the only place we ever go to proselyte. It is a relatively small area, but the population is so dense here that it would never be fair to run through the streets once and move on to another area. Our church moved to 2 in the afternoon, so on sunday morning we were able to visit everyone of our investigators and invite them personally. That helped a lot.
I think I mentioned that family named Kishore Kumar last week. They came to church again and they got such good fellowship. They really enjoy the church; we have high hopes for them. We challenged them for baptism on sunday, the mom and daughters seem willing. Kishore is a bit skeptical but hopefully we will be able to help him resolve that concern.
The biggest highlight of the week was yesterday. Our journey from Visak to Bangalore was through Chennai. We had a 3 hour layover, we decided to go eat lunch and at the last second we decided to catch an auto out to Priya's house. Ha we just walked right up and they were SO surprised to see us. We only had like 20 minutes, but everyone was there and they are all doing so well. Soloman was telling us how he had just finished the book of mormon. I remember that I was sitting on the couch in their home I felt ecstatic. I tried to recall other moments in my life where I had felt that good. I don't recall being able to.
There is such an interesting bond that is created when you help someone come unto christ. It is a relationship and feeling that is very difficult to describe. I can confidently say that if that visit we had with them yesterday would have been the only good experience on my entire mission, the two years would have been worth it. Luckily that is not the case and there have been many more and hopefully more to come. But it was pretty cool. And by the grace of God we were able to return to the airport before our flight left...
Love you all,
Elder Tuscano
Hello to all from Bangalore. We just now finished ZL council and it was edifying to say the least. I love hearing the trainings prepared by President Nichols. Sister Nichols made beef stew for lunch and it was incredible, she takes good care of us. I have got to say that this ZLC was incredible. Probably one of the most edifying experiences I have had in awhile. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve in this assignment. There are times when I feel like I am not doing a very good job. I make a lot of mistakes because I have never been a zone leader before. But I am grateful for my mistakes because they teach me a ton. I have learned to take that attitude. Just take the good and leave the bad from them. This experience has also provided me with an excellent opportunity to rely on the Lord.
This past week has been so fun. Elder Ward and I are working hard and doing our best to help the people in Visak. We have this one area called Kancharapalem and it is about the only place we ever go to proselyte. It is a relatively small area, but the population is so dense here that it would never be fair to run through the streets once and move on to another area. Our church moved to 2 in the afternoon, so on sunday morning we were able to visit everyone of our investigators and invite them personally. That helped a lot.
I think I mentioned that family named Kishore Kumar last week. They came to church again and they got such good fellowship. They really enjoy the church; we have high hopes for them. We challenged them for baptism on sunday, the mom and daughters seem willing. Kishore is a bit skeptical but hopefully we will be able to help him resolve that concern.
The biggest highlight of the week was yesterday. Our journey from Visak to Bangalore was through Chennai. We had a 3 hour layover, we decided to go eat lunch and at the last second we decided to catch an auto out to Priya's house. Ha we just walked right up and they were SO surprised to see us. We only had like 20 minutes, but everyone was there and they are all doing so well. Soloman was telling us how he had just finished the book of mormon. I remember that I was sitting on the couch in their home I felt ecstatic. I tried to recall other moments in my life where I had felt that good. I don't recall being able to.
There is such an interesting bond that is created when you help someone come unto christ. It is a relationship and feeling that is very difficult to describe. I can confidently say that if that visit we had with them yesterday would have been the only good experience on my entire mission, the two years would have been worth it. Luckily that is not the case and there have been many more and hopefully more to come. But it was pretty cool. And by the grace of God we were able to return to the airport before our flight left...
Love you all,
Elder Tuscano
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
finding treasures...
Dear Family,
Our week was pretty cool. Sunday was a huge day for us; we had a lot of people come to church that we had been waiting on. Also some new people decided to show up. One family was this guy named Kishore Kumar. Elder Ward and Elder Mehan had actually met them 2 weeks ago when they were on exchange. It was just after zone conference and they didn’t have much time so they went caroling! They ended up caroling at this guy’s home. The family was very surprised to see two americans singing Christmas songs on their doorstep, but they did welcome them in. He is a hospital administrator for all the hospitals in the Visak district. Everyone in the family is well educated and they all speak perfect english! We were so pumped. Elder Ward and I returned to teach them. The lesson went OK, we weren’t sure how interested they were. But on sunday all 4 showed up at church. Elder Ward and I were a little surprised, but so happy. It just showed me that sometimes people are more interested than they let on. So we will see what happens with them.
Last wednesday we met this kid named Bhargav. He is a neighbor of one of the recent converts in our area, who happens to spit out referrals like every other day. They are sweet. Anyway, he is about 16 and loves Jesus Christ. His family is Hindu but they are way chill. We taught him the first lesson and he was just so prepared. At the end of the lesson he said, "So if the book of mormon is true, then everything else is true?" His understanding is perhaps the best I have encountered thus far on my mission. Anyway he came to church and we set a date for his baptism him last night. The only concern his parents had was that they wanted to see some changes in him before he does it. We basically committed him to do everything his parents ask. I remember when I was sixteen and how I would have reacted to that kind of commitment. But he gladly accepted it and I think that speaks volumes of the kind of kid he is.
Another Family is Uma Maheshwar Rao and his wife Kalpana. They are so sweet, they are both "christian" but have never been baptized. Kalpana just decided to start liking Jesus Christ about two months ago. Her english is less, but she has a desire to learn. His is enough to communicate properly. Anyway, as we taught about baptism, Kalpana was a little apprehensive and it was because she didn’t know what baptism was. I thought that was very impressive. The reason being, most hindu's simply view baptism as "conversion," or, changing from Hindu to Christian and giving up your social status and all that is related to it. But she was different, so we made her a nice colorful poster and put Jesus’ baptism photo on it. We wrote simply about what baptism was and she was so happy because she could understand what it really was. I think we might make a few more baptism posters...
Love to all,
Elder Tuscano
Our week was pretty cool. Sunday was a huge day for us; we had a lot of people come to church that we had been waiting on. Also some new people decided to show up. One family was this guy named Kishore Kumar. Elder Ward and Elder Mehan had actually met them 2 weeks ago when they were on exchange. It was just after zone conference and they didn’t have much time so they went caroling! They ended up caroling at this guy’s home. The family was very surprised to see two americans singing Christmas songs on their doorstep, but they did welcome them in. He is a hospital administrator for all the hospitals in the Visak district. Everyone in the family is well educated and they all speak perfect english! We were so pumped. Elder Ward and I returned to teach them. The lesson went OK, we weren’t sure how interested they were. But on sunday all 4 showed up at church. Elder Ward and I were a little surprised, but so happy. It just showed me that sometimes people are more interested than they let on. So we will see what happens with them.
Last wednesday we met this kid named Bhargav. He is a neighbor of one of the recent converts in our area, who happens to spit out referrals like every other day. They are sweet. Anyway, he is about 16 and loves Jesus Christ. His family is Hindu but they are way chill. We taught him the first lesson and he was just so prepared. At the end of the lesson he said, "So if the book of mormon is true, then everything else is true?" His understanding is perhaps the best I have encountered thus far on my mission. Anyway he came to church and we set a date for his baptism him last night. The only concern his parents had was that they wanted to see some changes in him before he does it. We basically committed him to do everything his parents ask. I remember when I was sixteen and how I would have reacted to that kind of commitment. But he gladly accepted it and I think that speaks volumes of the kind of kid he is.
Another Family is Uma Maheshwar Rao and his wife Kalpana. They are so sweet, they are both "christian" but have never been baptized. Kalpana just decided to start liking Jesus Christ about two months ago. Her english is less, but she has a desire to learn. His is enough to communicate properly. Anyway, as we taught about baptism, Kalpana was a little apprehensive and it was because she didn’t know what baptism was. I thought that was very impressive. The reason being, most hindu's simply view baptism as "conversion," or, changing from Hindu to Christian and giving up your social status and all that is related to it. But she was different, so we made her a nice colorful poster and put Jesus’ baptism photo on it. We wrote simply about what baptism was and she was so happy because she could understand what it really was. I think we might make a few more baptism posters...
Love to all,
Elder Tuscano
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