Hindu man looooves Jesus

Hey y'all,

This week wasn't too bad i have had some interesting experiences this week though. But first about the missionaries in Coimbatore; Coimbatore is a city in the state of Tamil Nadu there are a couple of mission areas within this state. Because of the incident that had happened President Berrett has said that all the missionaries in Tamil Nadu are to not ride bikes, wear name tags or ties, a lot of the people recognize our outfits and this will help keep the missionaries safer. Right when Elder Conrad and Elder Pereira left the A/C in the apartment broke, so it has been quite hot  at night. especially when its just about 104 degrees everyday. I also was minding my own buisness when an auto side swiped me and I hit the median. My chest hit the handle bars, but its okay I'm Built Ford Tough. Also when Elder Kommalapati was riding his bike his handle bars snapped in half (someone's been eating too much rice). Satish our recent convert thought I was 25-30 years old, I'm nopt sure if thats a compliment or not. A lot of our investigators have been out of town or not answering their phones. We were able to meet our goals this week, but didn't have a busy week. We taught a lot of recent converts and less actives which kept us busy. We have Sri Ram and a lady named Satya on a baptismal date for the end of April. Satya is the mother of two recent converts. Elder Pereira used to play the piano during church but since he left no one is playing the piano (since no one else knows how to), so the people hooked up a speaker and put a phone to the speaker and that is how we are getting the music for our hymns....All I can say is... INDIA...I met this Hindu man and he told me he loooved Jesus ( what he said next didn't support the statement he just gave me). He then goes on about how there is no need to proselyte and what Jesus did on the earth was done when he died, and there was no need to continue his work. I told him there are lots of people who don't know who Jesus Christ is, and he said I was wrong and that in India you can go to a town and find 5 churches on a street, and in the western country you'll find 5 bars. He also said that we should be worshiping our mothers ( a lot of the Christians here worship Mother Mary for some reason) He said our mother's love is much stronger than Jesus Christ's love. He said if you told your mom you wanted her heart she would cut it out and give it to you, and that he (the hindu man) could crucify himself right now and it would be much more powerful than Jesus's Crucifixion. (remember how I just about lost my temper with Drunk man a couple weeks ago?) This man didn't make me too happy either, but I managed to keep a smile, and just said; "okay have a nice day". In church a member announced that his wife and him are expecting, and after the meeting they handed out sweets to everyone. Apparently in India when you announce that you're suppose to feed people or something. The whole zone went to a wedding this week, but sadly my Companion and I didn't know about it, so I missed out on an opportunity to see an India wedding. But I was able to go to a village today and pet an elephant. They are a lot bigger than I thought, and scarier. Lately missionary work has been a little rough for me, the people that we meet and teach aren't progressing. Its seems as if the only reason a lot of them want to meet with us is so they can either talk to an American or I can teach them English. They aren't understanding why I'm truly here. The lessons we teach them are suppose to give them hope, and find happiness in this life. The message we share will help them and their salvation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for us, and helps us draw closer to our savior, but the people don't understand. Its been hard meeting with people who don't truly care what we are teaching, or understand the importance of our message. I know my mission is to teach me humility and to truly convert myself to the gospel, it doesn't seem like much is happening in my area, but I guess its good that God is the one leading my proselyting area not me. 

Love,

Elder Magnusson

6 month mark

March 28, 2016

Hey y'all,

This week was pretty good and relatively busy. Elder Conrad left so we have been visiting a lot of church members, so that he could say goodbye. This week we also had the holiday Holli, which was a great time, it isn't very big in Rajahmundry, but in north India its huge! All they do during Holli is throw colored water at people at crack eggs on peoples heads, pretty normal right? We had a missionary fireside this week which was a success, and was able to have everyone sing "God be with you till we meet again" for Elder Conrad, and Pereira since they were leaving the next day, They even got a cake, which isn't a surprise, everyone here buys cake, even for the little things they're celebrating. The temperature is getting much hotter here, this week it was 104 degrees outside. The conditions here are bad in general, so adding heat makes things a lot worse here. Dogs are dying, in fact the other day, we watched a dog eating another dog (a puppy) that had died from the heat. Its really weird to see a puppy dangling out of another dogs mouth. Elder Kommalapati is from Bangalore, and his dad got baptized this sunday, so we flew to Bangalore so he could baptize his dad. I know it was a really neat experience for him and his family, as they have waited a long time for his dad to be baptized. We stayed in Rammurthy Nagar in Bangalore ( which is the place I was temporarily at when I first got here for 6 days, till I  was assigned to Rajahmundry) so it was good to see some familiar faces and they too recognized me. I hit my 6 month mark this week, and am very excited about that. The mission tradition here is to burn a tie at the 6 month mark. I have a video and will try to send it. We taught a few families this week. We conducted Family Home Evening with the Chiddapi family, and played Jenga (we played that a lot this week). I will be staying in Rajahmundry this transfer, which would complete 6 months here by the end of it. Easter isn't that big here, I actually didn't even realize it was Easter, until I went to church, but even yet, they dont have any Easter traditions. 

Love,

Elder Magnusson  

Update on Coimbatore missionaries,and also a great week

March 21, 2016

Hey y'all

This week was great the missionary from Coimbatore came and his name is Elder Kommalapati, who is from Bangalore. The great thing is, is that he speaks Telegu, so we can now teach Telegu speakers (which is everyone here). We were able to get 9 new investigators and will hopefully start getting some good work done here. Elder Conrad will leave on Friday, and will be headed to the Philippians.. Its not a definite that Elder Kommalapati will be my companion but I'm sure he will. He was also born in Pune, and moved when he was a baby. As Elder Kommalapati and his companion were at a store, a guy started talking to them telling them his name was "Savior" and that he used to be Hindu and was now Christian. He said he would like to meet with them, and said he will call his brother so they can also meet them. About 10 minutes later 20 guys show up and start circling around them, asking them a bunch of questions such as, why are you here? Who are you "converting"? (we are not allowed to say the word convert here, or else people will go crazy and will kick us out). They start attacking Elder Kommalapati and his companion. Then the police came and arrested them and started questioning them also. Elder Kommalapati's companion was an American, but they couldnt kick him out of India because he has a missionary visa. I wondered about me, since Im an American, but have an OCI, which makes me a citizen here. Turns out they can kick me out of India also, because the OCI gives me permission to visit here whenever I want, but not proselyte. We played volley ball as the zone activity and I suggested the Americans vs, the Indians, and Elder Kitsell ( a Brit) could be the team captain for the Indian team, so that it could be like old times when the British ruled over India. Other than that it was a great week, the end of the transfer is next week, I hope to stay here one more transfer, it will complete 6 mopnths in Rajahmundry. 

Love,

Elder Magnusson

P.S Happy Birthday Dad!                                            

A New Companion

Hey Y'all,

This week was a little bit better than last week, we were able to find an investigator who was taught a year ago, and was able to come to church on Sunday for about an hour (his name is Manoj). We tried to find this less active members house and found out that she doesn't live there anymore, but the girl (named Mary) told us she was taught by missionaries in 2005. Whats cool is, is she remembers the lessons really well even though its been over 10 years! We'll hopefully begin teaching her.There was a good quote Elder Conrad read to me:

Obedience is the Price

Faith is the Power

Love is the Motive

The Spirit is the key

Christ is the reason

I like this quote it really gets me to ponder on Christ and how he set an example for us, and that we need to outline our choices and our way of life based on his. We were able to teach the Chiddapi family about Temples and the importance of them and how families can be together forever. It was a wonderful lesson and really strengthens my testimony on this topic, especially being away from my family for these 2 years. I was able to read a talk titled: "The Book of Mormon- A Book from God" by Tad R. Callister. It was a really good talk, and sheds light on what the Book of Mormon does for us and why we have it. It explains the role of it, and how it is truly another Testament of Jesus Christ.. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/the-book-of-mormon-a-book-from-god?lang=eng

I have attached the link and encourage y'all to read it. I got a call telling me that missionaries in Coimbatore were kicked out of that city for proselyting. Both missionaries will becoming to Rajahmundry, and one of the will be with Elder Conrad and I. It will now be a tri-panionship. I could also safely assume he will be my companion after the transfer, because Elder Conrad is leaving for the Philippines on the 25th of this month (because of Visa expiration). Other than then that, it was just another normal week here in Rajahmundry India.

Love,

Elder Magnusson 

 

A Drunk Man

Hey Y'all,

This week there wasn't much success, we did lots of finding but couldn't find anyone to teach.. We were able to get a new sheet of less actives and prospective elders list, and will start finding those people. There was a baptism this week, for a kid named Praneth Kollu, and we taught him about the restoration. His family was already members, but we liked to think of him as an investigator even though he was 8 and technically wasn't. We have only 3 investigators or so, and they aren't progressing as well as we would like. We are working on getting our purpose across to the investigators, because they think we are here to teach them English, when we are here to teach the gospel (though they will learn English anyways, as they meet with us, and practice it). I am hoping we will have a bigger teaching pool this week! After meeting with the Chiddapi family, we went and got a smoothie, and this man walked up to us and asked Elder Conrad what his country was.. I responded and told him we are from America, he looked at me and told me and said "Don't talk". I was shocked by what he said, and repeated that we are both Americans (the people here think that there are only white people in the U.S) He told me to not talk again and that he will only talk to Elder Conrad. He asked Elder Conrad questions, but Elder Conrad couldn't understand him because he was drunk, so the guy asks Elder Conrad if he knew English (asking with an attitude), and Elder Conrad replies by saying "yes, I just can't understand you". The man starts walking away and I said "you're the one that doesn't know English not us", He then turns around and says "what" (proving my point).. Long story short he told me to shut-up and Elder Conrad advised me not to argue with this man. Its interesting because as I wear my black name tag with my white shirt and tie, I am representing the Lord, and am one that teaches his gospel. There have been many frustrating moments, where I want to take my name talk off and raise Cain, I would assume the Lord puts these people in my path way to help humble me, as a lot of you know I can be prideful at moments. We went to a less active we recently met named Vasanthi, as we were visiting with her she went in the kitchen to get something. She comes back with a helmet that is just like the helmets missionaries use, she tells us that a missionary left this helmet here TWO years ago. She was very determined to give us that helmet and we thank her for it. Lastly, we went to another village, called Dondapudi, it is another members village and had a good time there. When I say village it is truly a village as y'all saw in last weeks photo.Anyways, until next week!

Love,

Elder Magnusson