Dear Family,
Greetings from Rajahmundry! Ha we're posted up in the village for a few days. It is nice to be here and experience a change of pace from the city life. We arrived this afternoon. We had a flight from HYD to here but the airport is quite small and when it rains...No planes. So our flight was cancelled as we were waiting to board, we managed to get on a flight to Visak and get a car to drive us down. It took about 3 hours to drive and it was nice to see the beautiful Indian countryside from the car. President and Sister Funk are excited to be here, we told them well in advance that they better prepare for the full Indian experience. There is really no trace of western culture here at all. They call our church the "A/C Church." It makes me wonder how many other buildings here have AC. Anyway I am so impressed with both of them and their desire to be with the members and missionaries. I think they would go anywhere to help the mission progress. It will be nice to see that commitment tomorrow when they're eating curry with their hands.
This past week was incredible. The most General Authorities I've ever seen in one week. On Wednesday we had Sister Wixom and Elder Pratt( from the Area Presidency) come down to Bangalore for a member meeting. We were able to be involved with the meeting and got a chance to meet them and spend some time together. Sister Wixom's husband just finished serving as a mission president in the DC south mission. She was amazing and gave a great training. Her main message was "I will stay on the path back to my Heavenly Father." I learned how to teach doctrine in simplicity from her. She was very nice. On the weekend we were in Hyderabad for a District Conference. Elder Watson(from the Area Presidency) was there. He had come down. We were on exchanges friday and saturday and met him first on sunday morning. We got to visit with him a bit and that was really cool. He is from Cedar City, so it was nice to have the Southern Utah connection with a General Authoirty. He delivered perhaps one of the best sermons I have ever heard, it was about the Book of Mormon. He spoke about how it is a witness of christ. Many other members gave wonderful talks. The Hyderbad District is going to be a stake soon. I really believe that. I have never wanted a stake and a temple for these people more than I do now. Maybe it is because I get to meet such a wide variety of them and witness their faith and sacrifice.
I am really starting to understand our purpose as missionaries. We have been placed here to build the church. I fear that I have spent too much time on my mission worrying about selfish desires. But for some reasons, things are now beginning to click. These Indian people are amazing. The church is flourishing here and the missionaries are playing just a small role. I think that's what I am starting to get. When I arrived I thought the church was all about the missionaries, but now I understand that has nothing to do with us. It is all about the members. They are going to be the ones that establish a stake. I love and trust the members here, I know Heavenly Father has a big plan for his children in this past of the world. I have felt on multiple occasions that I really have no idea what I am a part of. It is hard for me to imagine the future. There are going to be incredible things happening here. Again, not because of the missionaries-but the faithful members of the church.
So thank you all for your support. I love my mission so much. I am so glad that Cody has returned home, he sounds like he was a great missionary. Give him my love. I think I will try to send him an e-mail. But I really am having no time these days. I forgot to tell you the reason why we came to RJY. We are holding a new meeting called "Leadership Training" we invited all the leaders from the north side of the mission here, because it is geographically convenient. Begin situated between HYD and VZK. So we are starting that early tomorrow morning and we have to go an prepare for it. So I am not sure that I will even be able to e-mail any of you individually these week. Know that I love you and pray for each one of you every night. Please continue to pray for me.
Elder Tuscano
Sunday, September 26, 2010
22 AUG 2010
Dear Family,
Hello everyone, how are you all doing this week? Last week was quite an experience, certainly faith promoting. Elder Naulu and I have really been focusing on having faith lately. We have been reading some Spencer W. Kimball quotes and just getting pumped up to do work. We have been blessed with miracles here in the mission. Over the last few months we have seen alot of missionaries go home. In contrast to most missions throughout the world, departing missionaries have no replacements. So the number of companionships has been decreasing, but the work has not slowed down at all. Our baptisms per companionship is on the rise, I have learned that the way to battle losing missionaries is to focus on the ones you do have and make them more effective. That is what is happening here and the work is blossoming. I am so grateful to be here and be part of this, I will carry these experiences with me throughout my life.
We finished the transfer last week, that was a miracle in itself. There are so many transfers now, we really do have one every 3 weeks. Sorry, it is probably hard for most of you to relate to that. I'm sure Dad could tell you though, planning transfers is no easy thing. We finished this one just in time to start planning for the next one. Right now in the office we have Elder Evans and his batch, they are going home on Wednesday morning. We have their release activities tomorrow. It is hard for me to believe that they are going home. I remember meeting Elder Evans at our apartment in H-Town almost 2 years ago. I thought he was the oldest most experienced missionary. So funny, but it is a great opportunity to be here while he leaves the mission.
So please do allow me to share a faith promoting experience. This past week we made plans to travel to a place called KGF or Kolar Gold Fields. It is a small town about 3 hours outside of bangalore, we only have one companionship out there. The area has been struggling so bad for the past 6 months or so. Their zone leaders have been very concerned and a bit critical of the area because of the lack of success. So on friday morning we called up the zone leaders and asked them if they really believed in KGF. We told them we were not going to waste our time going down there unless they could honestly say that they believed in the area. They rose to the occasion and we rolled down on friday night, full of faith, ready for a miracle. We went out on saturday and worked hard. We found alot of new investigators which was great, but on sunday one of the brothers whom Elder Naulu had found came to church. He is hindu, but has a deep desire to learn about Christ. During sunday school we watched finding faith in christ and afterwards he asked us about baptism. We set him for Sep. 18 and he was so excited. His family is also going to come around. What a miracle. That area had not seen investigators at church forever, but with faith it looks like things are going to turn around. It is getting to the point where I am almost not surprised. God works according to our faith, I am starting to learn that and doing my best not to limit him by my doubt or fear. So I hope you enjoyed that.
Thanks for all your support, I love you so much. Have a good week. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.
Elder Tuscano
Hello everyone, how are you all doing this week? Last week was quite an experience, certainly faith promoting. Elder Naulu and I have really been focusing on having faith lately. We have been reading some Spencer W. Kimball quotes and just getting pumped up to do work. We have been blessed with miracles here in the mission. Over the last few months we have seen alot of missionaries go home. In contrast to most missions throughout the world, departing missionaries have no replacements. So the number of companionships has been decreasing, but the work has not slowed down at all. Our baptisms per companionship is on the rise, I have learned that the way to battle losing missionaries is to focus on the ones you do have and make them more effective. That is what is happening here and the work is blossoming. I am so grateful to be here and be part of this, I will carry these experiences with me throughout my life.
We finished the transfer last week, that was a miracle in itself. There are so many transfers now, we really do have one every 3 weeks. Sorry, it is probably hard for most of you to relate to that. I'm sure Dad could tell you though, planning transfers is no easy thing. We finished this one just in time to start planning for the next one. Right now in the office we have Elder Evans and his batch, they are going home on Wednesday morning. We have their release activities tomorrow. It is hard for me to believe that they are going home. I remember meeting Elder Evans at our apartment in H-Town almost 2 years ago. I thought he was the oldest most experienced missionary. So funny, but it is a great opportunity to be here while he leaves the mission.
So please do allow me to share a faith promoting experience. This past week we made plans to travel to a place called KGF or Kolar Gold Fields. It is a small town about 3 hours outside of bangalore, we only have one companionship out there. The area has been struggling so bad for the past 6 months or so. Their zone leaders have been very concerned and a bit critical of the area because of the lack of success. So on friday morning we called up the zone leaders and asked them if they really believed in KGF. We told them we were not going to waste our time going down there unless they could honestly say that they believed in the area. They rose to the occasion and we rolled down on friday night, full of faith, ready for a miracle. We went out on saturday and worked hard. We found alot of new investigators which was great, but on sunday one of the brothers whom Elder Naulu had found came to church. He is hindu, but has a deep desire to learn about Christ. During sunday school we watched finding faith in christ and afterwards he asked us about baptism. We set him for Sep. 18 and he was so excited. His family is also going to come around. What a miracle. That area had not seen investigators at church forever, but with faith it looks like things are going to turn around. It is getting to the point where I am almost not surprised. God works according to our faith, I am starting to learn that and doing my best not to limit him by my doubt or fear. So I hope you enjoyed that.
Thanks for all your support, I love you so much. Have a good week. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.
Elder Tuscano
15 AUG 2010
Dear Family,
What an incredible week it has been. I'm back in India and it is tuesday night. I did not get the chance to write yesterday, so here I am now. Again with little time. I feel bad that I am unable to find adequate time to write. It does not make sense really, I am in the office, I sit by the computer all day. There are just so many things to do. We are working right now on this new program called the simplified curriculum. I think I mentioned it before, but it includes a training meeting with all of the leaders in the mission. So right now we are trying to figure out how to bring in all the leaders from southern india and train them for 3 days. That is one of the many events we are planning for right now. There are so many things for us to do, I am just grateful each night for sleep.
Sri Lanka! What an experience. I loved every minute we spent down there. We arrived on Thursday afternoon, we took a flight down to Chennai and from there to Colombo. It was so exciting, it took me a while to realize that we were no longer in India. I would bobble my head in the usual Indian manner, and would get blank stares from the Sri Lankans. Many of the little indian habits we have developed over the past 22 months didn't make it down there. Ha for the first time on my mission when people would ask me where I came from I would say "India!" It was very strange, I could say this much. In Sri Lanka I felt more Indian than ever before. Does that make sense.
There were many miracles associated with this trip. But time allows me to only share one with you. So I selected the most inspiring missionary moment. Go figure! We spent 2 days in Negomobo visiting less active members. We went on splits with some of the brethren down there, we probably visited over 30 families. That was great, but on saturday night we rolled down to Colombo. It is about an hour south of Negombo, oh and by the way they are building a stake center in Negombo right now. Anyway we went to church in Colombo on sunday morning. It must have been the first time in 2 years that missionaries(Elders) had been to the branch. We were invited to bear out testimonies and that was fun. But after church we were introduced to a new family that just happened to be there for the first time. Their son is investigating the church in New Zealand and they found the address for our church on the internet. We met up with a return missionary sister and taught the gospel principles class together. The family of 4 were the only students, I think on a regular sunday they don't even hold the class. But this sister missionary suggested that we teach the Restoration. So we did, even President Funk joined in on the lesson and it was a great time. As we finished teaching about Joseph Smith the mother started speaking in Singhala to our sister friend. She got very excited at something she said, then turned to us and stated that this sister asked when she and her family could be baptized members of the church. Amazing. President Funk met them after the block and they organized a plan so that they could be baptized on september 4th. So how about that? The one week we go to church down there...I know that the Lord leads his children to the right place at the right time. We just need to be ready to receive them.
So that's a long experience. Sorry. But I hope that it was faith promoting, I would say it was a huge surprise but I have been on my mission too long. God is a God of miracles. My faith continues to grow stronger each day. Oh yeah, I don't know if you remember the experience I shared about Elder Shepherdson and I finding my former investigator SriNivas down in Chennai about 2 months ago. He was baptized this past sunday. Wonderful things are happening over here.
Thank you for your prayers, I love you all and hope that you are well.
Elder Tuscano
What an incredible week it has been. I'm back in India and it is tuesday night. I did not get the chance to write yesterday, so here I am now. Again with little time. I feel bad that I am unable to find adequate time to write. It does not make sense really, I am in the office, I sit by the computer all day. There are just so many things to do. We are working right now on this new program called the simplified curriculum. I think I mentioned it before, but it includes a training meeting with all of the leaders in the mission. So right now we are trying to figure out how to bring in all the leaders from southern india and train them for 3 days. That is one of the many events we are planning for right now. There are so many things for us to do, I am just grateful each night for sleep.
Sri Lanka! What an experience. I loved every minute we spent down there. We arrived on Thursday afternoon, we took a flight down to Chennai and from there to Colombo. It was so exciting, it took me a while to realize that we were no longer in India. I would bobble my head in the usual Indian manner, and would get blank stares from the Sri Lankans. Many of the little indian habits we have developed over the past 22 months didn't make it down there. Ha for the first time on my mission when people would ask me where I came from I would say "India!" It was very strange, I could say this much. In Sri Lanka I felt more Indian than ever before. Does that make sense.
There were many miracles associated with this trip. But time allows me to only share one with you. So I selected the most inspiring missionary moment. Go figure! We spent 2 days in Negomobo visiting less active members. We went on splits with some of the brethren down there, we probably visited over 30 families. That was great, but on saturday night we rolled down to Colombo. It is about an hour south of Negombo, oh and by the way they are building a stake center in Negombo right now. Anyway we went to church in Colombo on sunday morning. It must have been the first time in 2 years that missionaries(Elders) had been to the branch. We were invited to bear out testimonies and that was fun. But after church we were introduced to a new family that just happened to be there for the first time. Their son is investigating the church in New Zealand and they found the address for our church on the internet. We met up with a return missionary sister and taught the gospel principles class together. The family of 4 were the only students, I think on a regular sunday they don't even hold the class. But this sister missionary suggested that we teach the Restoration. So we did, even President Funk joined in on the lesson and it was a great time. As we finished teaching about Joseph Smith the mother started speaking in Singhala to our sister friend. She got very excited at something she said, then turned to us and stated that this sister asked when she and her family could be baptized members of the church. Amazing. President Funk met them after the block and they organized a plan so that they could be baptized on september 4th. So how about that? The one week we go to church down there...I know that the Lord leads his children to the right place at the right time. We just need to be ready to receive them.
So that's a long experience. Sorry. But I hope that it was faith promoting, I would say it was a huge surprise but I have been on my mission too long. God is a God of miracles. My faith continues to grow stronger each day. Oh yeah, I don't know if you remember the experience I shared about Elder Shepherdson and I finding my former investigator SriNivas down in Chennai about 2 months ago. He was baptized this past sunday. Wonderful things are happening over here.
Thank you for your prayers, I love you all and hope that you are well.
Elder Tuscano
Saturday, August 14, 2010
10 AUG 10 letter
Dear Family,
Well, another week has come and gone. I can hardly believe I'm writing an e-mail again. I can't seem to keep track of the days anymore, monday becomes friday overnight and everything just seems to blend together. I actually like it that way. So today was a zone leaders council, we got caught up afterwards and now it is quite late and I don't have too much time to write. Sorry about that. We leaving tomorrow morning at about 4:30 to get down to Sri Lanka. Sorry Mom, perhaps I was unclear but we are going there this week. I am super excited about that, it will be my first international trip as a missionary. I hear that it is beautiful, but I don't think we'll get much of a chance to see it. The district president just e-mailed President Funk and noted that Elder Naulu and I will be visiting over 25 families on friday alone. So were pumped, you should look forward to next weeks e-mail. There have been no missionaries in that country for over 2 years now, so I expect some incredible experiences.
Last weekend was in Mumbai! I love going up there, it is always a blast. We stayed with the Branch President this time. His name is John Lee and he is the dean of a film making school up there. Remember that Mumbai is "Bollywood." So he has got the hook up. He and his wife really took care of us. We got to teach and prepare Joseph for baptism. He is an incredible young man with a rock solid testimony. He was never formally taught by elders. Only us, twice. So he developed this strong testimony on his own, with help from the members. Mumbai is a wonderful branch. They are so unified and determined to do missionary work, they take their responsibility seriously. It is mostly due to the fact that they have no missionaries, but I just get this great missionary spirit each time I go up there. That branch is going to flourish. A new American family from northern virginia just moved in to the branch. But the cool thing is they just came from Dubai. Did you know there was a stake there? I just found out last week and I was fascinated by that.
We also met a sweet referral up there. Here name is Betty, she is anglo-indian. That means Indian, with british or irish heritage. Anyway, she lived in the states before. She was married but got a divorce. While living in California she had some LDS neighbors. They really seemed to have a great influence on her, she always had a great desire to learn about the church but her husband never let her investigate. So after the divorce she moved back to Mumbai with her mother. I have no clue where the referral came from, but we got it and went over there with President Lee on satruday afternoon. It was an amazing experience. This sister was so sincere and prepared. I could just tell that she was so eager to learn more about this church that made her neighbors such incredible people. We taught about the Book of Mormon to resolve one of her concerns and the climax of the appointment was this. She asked, if this church is true and good, why is there so many bad things surrounding it? We simple asked, well is what you have heard consistent with the lifestyle your LDS neighbors had? The answer was no. When she realized that I could see a light in her eyes. I feel like she will be baptized, but not because of anything we did. It will be due to the great example set by her neighbors, and its not like they did anything incredible. They just lived the gospel. What a profound impact we can have on others by simply following the commandments and reaching out to serve others in a christlike way.
So...My time is officially run out. I sincerely apologize. I have not even had time to write Mom and Dad individually. But guess what, our mission just changed the Preparation day to Monday. So although I do not have a P-Day it would be best if you could e-mail before every monday from now on. So if you get this soon, please write me again before monday. Sorry! I love you all.
Elder Tuscano
Well, another week has come and gone. I can hardly believe I'm writing an e-mail again. I can't seem to keep track of the days anymore, monday becomes friday overnight and everything just seems to blend together. I actually like it that way. So today was a zone leaders council, we got caught up afterwards and now it is quite late and I don't have too much time to write. Sorry about that. We leaving tomorrow morning at about 4:30 to get down to Sri Lanka. Sorry Mom, perhaps I was unclear but we are going there this week. I am super excited about that, it will be my first international trip as a missionary. I hear that it is beautiful, but I don't think we'll get much of a chance to see it. The district president just e-mailed President Funk and noted that Elder Naulu and I will be visiting over 25 families on friday alone. So were pumped, you should look forward to next weeks e-mail. There have been no missionaries in that country for over 2 years now, so I expect some incredible experiences.
Last weekend was in Mumbai! I love going up there, it is always a blast. We stayed with the Branch President this time. His name is John Lee and he is the dean of a film making school up there. Remember that Mumbai is "Bollywood." So he has got the hook up. He and his wife really took care of us. We got to teach and prepare Joseph for baptism. He is an incredible young man with a rock solid testimony. He was never formally taught by elders. Only us, twice. So he developed this strong testimony on his own, with help from the members. Mumbai is a wonderful branch. They are so unified and determined to do missionary work, they take their responsibility seriously. It is mostly due to the fact that they have no missionaries, but I just get this great missionary spirit each time I go up there. That branch is going to flourish. A new American family from northern virginia just moved in to the branch. But the cool thing is they just came from Dubai. Did you know there was a stake there? I just found out last week and I was fascinated by that.
We also met a sweet referral up there. Here name is Betty, she is anglo-indian. That means Indian, with british or irish heritage. Anyway, she lived in the states before. She was married but got a divorce. While living in California she had some LDS neighbors. They really seemed to have a great influence on her, she always had a great desire to learn about the church but her husband never let her investigate. So after the divorce she moved back to Mumbai with her mother. I have no clue where the referral came from, but we got it and went over there with President Lee on satruday afternoon. It was an amazing experience. This sister was so sincere and prepared. I could just tell that she was so eager to learn more about this church that made her neighbors such incredible people. We taught about the Book of Mormon to resolve one of her concerns and the climax of the appointment was this. She asked, if this church is true and good, why is there so many bad things surrounding it? We simple asked, well is what you have heard consistent with the lifestyle your LDS neighbors had? The answer was no. When she realized that I could see a light in her eyes. I feel like she will be baptized, but not because of anything we did. It will be due to the great example set by her neighbors, and its not like they did anything incredible. They just lived the gospel. What a profound impact we can have on others by simply following the commandments and reaching out to serve others in a christlike way.
So...My time is officially run out. I sincerely apologize. I have not even had time to write Mom and Dad individually. But guess what, our mission just changed the Preparation day to Monday. So although I do not have a P-Day it would be best if you could e-mail before every monday from now on. So if you get this soon, please write me again before monday. Sorry! I love you all.
Elder Tuscano
03 AUG 10 letter
Dear Family,
Hello! Before I start I just wanted to thank each one of you. The e-mails this week were the best I've had on my mission. I really appreciated them. Thank you so much for caring about me, It is such a comfort to know that each week my family will write and have good things to say. But this week, there was something different, I'm not sure what it was. I'll just say that they were very powerful, so whatever you all did last week keep it up! I think its working for you.
This past week was full of surprises. More for Elder Naulu than for me though. We knew he was coming in to be my companion, but he had no idea. The transfers were going out on friday, and Elder Singh was done on saturday. So we needed to pull him in, but hadn't told him anything. Mind you, he was serving as a District Leader here in Bangalore 2nd branch. So President pulls him in on Friday morning and extends the calling. I wish you could have seen Elder Naulu's face. He was floored! Ha but it was sweet, he has really impressed me with the way he is handling all of this. I remember when I was trained in the office and there is a ton of stuff to do. He is just soaking it all in and doing a wonderful job. When God calls you, he will qualify you. I have felt that many times on my mission and seen it in Elder Naulu as he steps into this new assignment. So continue to pray for him when you pray for me.
Early Monday morning we sent home 11 of the greats. Elder Singh and his batch are gone and that is hard to believe. I am just learning to be grateful for the time that I have. As I hear about all my boys getting back and about to go home. I realize that my time is going to end soon, but I am so grateful for the time I've had and still have left. Elder Nixon's parents came to pick him up and they went to church with all of us on Sunday. That was a nice experience for them, they were very proud of their son. As they should be, he has done a wonderful job here. It was a riot having all of those elders stay at our place for a few days on their way out. I love listening to the things they have to say. Missions are incredible. I like how Mom put it, they are a University where we learn how to live our lives. I feel lucky that I was admitted.
The work has been busy recently. We are just in the office here in Bangalore, but there are plenty of things to do. We are going to Mumbai on Friday, we have a baptism! So I am pumped for that. Next week, we will be going to Sri Lanka I am so excited for that. Things are going to get pretty crazy here. That's good though, I like it better that way. So I think I will end there. Have a great week!
Hello! Before I start I just wanted to thank each one of you. The e-mails this week were the best I've had on my mission. I really appreciated them. Thank you so much for caring about me, It is such a comfort to know that each week my family will write and have good things to say. But this week, there was something different, I'm not sure what it was. I'll just say that they were very powerful, so whatever you all did last week keep it up! I think its working for you.
This past week was full of surprises. More for Elder Naulu than for me though. We knew he was coming in to be my companion, but he had no idea. The transfers were going out on friday, and Elder Singh was done on saturday. So we needed to pull him in, but hadn't told him anything. Mind you, he was serving as a District Leader here in Bangalore 2nd branch. So President pulls him in on Friday morning and extends the calling. I wish you could have seen Elder Naulu's face. He was floored! Ha but it was sweet, he has really impressed me with the way he is handling all of this. I remember when I was trained in the office and there is a ton of stuff to do. He is just soaking it all in and doing a wonderful job. When God calls you, he will qualify you. I have felt that many times on my mission and seen it in Elder Naulu as he steps into this new assignment. So continue to pray for him when you pray for me.
Early Monday morning we sent home 11 of the greats. Elder Singh and his batch are gone and that is hard to believe. I am just learning to be grateful for the time that I have. As I hear about all my boys getting back and about to go home. I realize that my time is going to end soon, but I am so grateful for the time I've had and still have left. Elder Nixon's parents came to pick him up and they went to church with all of us on Sunday. That was a nice experience for them, they were very proud of their son. As they should be, he has done a wonderful job here. It was a riot having all of those elders stay at our place for a few days on their way out. I love listening to the things they have to say. Missions are incredible. I like how Mom put it, they are a University where we learn how to live our lives. I feel lucky that I was admitted.
The work has been busy recently. We are just in the office here in Bangalore, but there are plenty of things to do. We are going to Mumbai on Friday, we have a baptism! So I am pumped for that. Next week, we will be going to Sri Lanka I am so excited for that. Things are going to get pretty crazy here. That's good though, I like it better that way. So I think I will end there. Have a great week!
27 JUL 10 letter
Dear Family,
A warm hello to everyone back on the home front. I am happy because it is thursday and I actually have some time to e-mail you. What a great thing. Again, I apologize for my inconsistency and will try to improve. I hope that everyone is doing alright and its not too hot down there in the STG. It has cooled down a lot here at least in Bangalore, the monsoon is pouring on us this year.
We spent the last week in Hyderabad. It was a wonderful trip, we departed last friday and were able to get a lot of things done. It was good for all the members to meet President and Sister Funk. They are really adjusting so well, and the members love them so much. It is really cool to see that. Indian people really do have an incredible capacity to love, its almost a inherent trait. Their transfer of love from President Nichols to President Funk seems almost instantaneous. I really admire their example in that way.
We were able to conduct a few exchanges while we were in Hyderabad. We went with the Zone Leaders, I went with Elder Talk. For any of you that know my BYU counsellor, Lavay Talk, that is her son. He is an incredible Elder, he went to harvard before his mission. He has just done miracles out here. He was a zone leader in Coimbatore and now in Hyderabad and both of those Zones are on fire. So I was excited to go on exchange with him and stay in their apartment all week. He is a quiet guy, but he reminds me of that phrase "Speak softly and carry a big stick." So while on exchange with him we wanted to work on teaching from the scriptures. We had an appointment with a lady who did not speak much english. We asked her to open her telegu bible and we tried to stop her occasionally and expound the verse while she read in Telegu. It was quite the experience, I wish you could have seen us trying to translate and expound simultaneously. Ha but anyway were having a blast.
Zone conference went really well in Hyderabad. A lot smoother than Bangalore, it was also great for President to finally meet all the Elders. It was tough to do that first transfer when he had not meet any of them. So this morning we finalized the coming transfer and it felt really good, my companion is coming into the office this morning but he still does not know that he is going to be called as the next assistant. So I cannot tell you who it is yet...
Anyway I love you all and hope you have a good week.
A warm hello to everyone back on the home front. I am happy because it is thursday and I actually have some time to e-mail you. What a great thing. Again, I apologize for my inconsistency and will try to improve. I hope that everyone is doing alright and its not too hot down there in the STG. It has cooled down a lot here at least in Bangalore, the monsoon is pouring on us this year.
We spent the last week in Hyderabad. It was a wonderful trip, we departed last friday and were able to get a lot of things done. It was good for all the members to meet President and Sister Funk. They are really adjusting so well, and the members love them so much. It is really cool to see that. Indian people really do have an incredible capacity to love, its almost a inherent trait. Their transfer of love from President Nichols to President Funk seems almost instantaneous. I really admire their example in that way.
We were able to conduct a few exchanges while we were in Hyderabad. We went with the Zone Leaders, I went with Elder Talk. For any of you that know my BYU counsellor, Lavay Talk, that is her son. He is an incredible Elder, he went to harvard before his mission. He has just done miracles out here. He was a zone leader in Coimbatore and now in Hyderabad and both of those Zones are on fire. So I was excited to go on exchange with him and stay in their apartment all week. He is a quiet guy, but he reminds me of that phrase "Speak softly and carry a big stick." So while on exchange with him we wanted to work on teaching from the scriptures. We had an appointment with a lady who did not speak much english. We asked her to open her telegu bible and we tried to stop her occasionally and expound the verse while she read in Telegu. It was quite the experience, I wish you could have seen us trying to translate and expound simultaneously. Ha but anyway were having a blast.
Zone conference went really well in Hyderabad. A lot smoother than Bangalore, it was also great for President to finally meet all the Elders. It was tough to do that first transfer when he had not meet any of them. So this morning we finalized the coming transfer and it felt really good, my companion is coming into the office this morning but he still does not know that he is going to be called as the next assistant. So I cannot tell you who it is yet...
Anyway I love you all and hope you have a good week.
21 JUL 10 letter
Dear Family,
So right now I am at the church in Hyderabad. It feels great to be back, it is President's first trip here. He is loving it. Ha I never had the opportunity to train someone in the field, but I now feel like we are training the Mission President. Ha, that's true in a lot of ways but he is still training me on a lot more stuff than I do him. It is a great experience though. The trip to Visak was very successful and it was so cool to see everyone again. Swarna Lata is now the Primary President and I was so excited to see her at church. President and Sister Funk won the love of all the members on saturday evening when they ate dinner at the church. There were some training meetings and afterwards they served some rice and chicken curry and they ate with their hands! They are naturals.
We had Bangalore zone conference this past week and it went very well. Except for some major technical difficulties, we made it through just fine. It was a lot different than Zone Conference with President Nichols, but the elders really enjoyed it. President Funk really knows how to conduct a meeting, they are truly revelatory meetings. You know in the scriptures how it talks about meetings being conducted by the holy ghost? Yeah, President Funk has got that on lock. But that's about all this week, sorry if this e-mail is bland. Next week will be better. Just for an update, Elder Singh goes home this next saturday so I will be getting a new companion. I am excited for him, I think it will be a surprise to him and to all of you as well. But I will tell you next week who it is.
Thanks, love you!
So right now I am at the church in Hyderabad. It feels great to be back, it is President's first trip here. He is loving it. Ha I never had the opportunity to train someone in the field, but I now feel like we are training the Mission President. Ha, that's true in a lot of ways but he is still training me on a lot more stuff than I do him. It is a great experience though. The trip to Visak was very successful and it was so cool to see everyone again. Swarna Lata is now the Primary President and I was so excited to see her at church. President and Sister Funk won the love of all the members on saturday evening when they ate dinner at the church. There were some training meetings and afterwards they served some rice and chicken curry and they ate with their hands! They are naturals.
We had Bangalore zone conference this past week and it went very well. Except for some major technical difficulties, we made it through just fine. It was a lot different than Zone Conference with President Nichols, but the elders really enjoyed it. President Funk really knows how to conduct a meeting, they are truly revelatory meetings. You know in the scriptures how it talks about meetings being conducted by the holy ghost? Yeah, President Funk has got that on lock. But that's about all this week, sorry if this e-mail is bland. Next week will be better. Just for an update, Elder Singh goes home this next saturday so I will be getting a new companion. I am excited for him, I think it will be a surprise to him and to all of you as well. But I will tell you next week who it is.
Thanks, love you!
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