Rajahmundry, India Week 1

Hey Y'all,

This week I was sent to Rajahmundry.  It took a plane and a 3 hour car ride to get here from Bangalore. Before coming here, I was told Rajahmundry was the most non westernized place in the mission. My companion is Elder Spencer Conrad. He is a great guy and we get along very well. Nothing much really happened this week, besides going around and meeting some of the ward members and our investigators. The place I'm staying at is very clean, but the A/C is broken. Our water heater is also broken so no hot water for showers. It is very hot here, even though its basically winter here. I would rather take a cold shower anyways. I have been adjusting to the food, and am having less problems eating it. We talked to this girl Shanty who is investigating the church. I asked her what Americans eat. She told me, Burgers, Turkey, and Chicken Lollipops.. I looked at her funny and asked what a chicken lollipop was, she said it was a chicken's leg.  I laughed and told her we call them drumsticks. The majority of the people here don't speak much English. They all speak Telugu so it is hard to communicate with them. We helped a family move into their new home yesterday and couldn't help but notice they didn't have a toilet. Instead it was just a room with a hole in the ground, which is called a "squat-er". During our process of moving them, their next door neighbor who happens to be in the ward bathed himself right in front of us. It is an interesting experience watching a 50 year old man bathe on the side street. One of the missionaries had a birthday yesterday so we woke up at midnight to sing happy birthday to him and eat India's version of a cake. I did not get a Thanksgiving this year it was just a normal day for us. We will have something for Christmas though. Until next week!

Love,

Elder Magnusson

The first photo was taken in Bangalore at a members house.... the lovely large cow and the little dog are in Rajamundry... Levi says he'll take more photos this week!

I asked Levi some specific questions, so here are his answers:

Me:  What is Rajahmundry like?

Levi: its not too big, and is a very back woods indian town. The people are nice and humble though, but are still very poor. There are some wealthy people here,. but even to american standards its very poor. They dont have any american restaurants but they do have them in Bangalore but they dont taste as good so I've heard.

Me:  Do the missionaries end up learning the language, how do you communicate?

Levi: no its english only, only few times can we use Telugu to teach lessons. But thats what the indian missionaries do. We just use simple words they understand. If you point to stuff they will know what you're saying

Me:  How many elders in your apartment?

Levi:  4 so that is two companionships

Me:  Is there a branch there?

Levi:  Yes, we cover Rajahmundry third branch

Me:  Where do you send your emails from?

Levi:  The church

Me:  Are you on bikes or do you walk everywhere?

Levi:  Bikes

Me:  Are you adjusting okay? Remember that time will go fast when you start to love what you are doing!  Truly love!!  Give yourself time to adjust!  I warned you that you might feel funny for awhile.. part of it is the emotions of being from there... but never having experienced things there.. it's emotional as well as physical!!

Levi:  It's a hard mission, and am trying to not think about how long of a time I have left.  I do have a bed so that's good.  It's good it's shaping me to be the man I need to be in life, but dang does it hurt!  I've been praying for motivation and I'm finally starting to truly see how short my time is here.  But missions are really hard and I knew that going into it.  I just wish I was more like 6 months in because I'm tired of being the "new" one here.  

I'm praying for love.  It's hard to love this place especially when it's exhausting work!  I am hoping to love it soon!

Me:  Do you know yet the plan for Christmas?  Do you get to call or Skype?

Levi:  Skype.  Can you send me your Skype address?

Me:  Yes!  Can't wait!  Remember, YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS!!  Love you so much!!