Hyderabad

May 16, 2016

Hey Y'all,

I am now in Hyderabad and it is a big city. Other missionaries were right Rajahmundry is a VILLAGE. Now granite Hyderabad isn't really THAT much more developed than Rajahmundry it is definitely a big city. Im in a stake now, and its nice to be in one. I literally felt as if I was in like Utah or something at times, because there are church members EVERYWHERE. The first day I got here there was like 4 members that stopped us on the street and talked to us. It was cool because that happened in a big city, in a country that is dominated be Hinduism. The names in Hyderabad are different than the ones in Rajahmundry. In Rajahmundry most peoples are named Satish or Naresh. In Hyderabad it isn't. And I can't pronounce the names let alone spell them. I haven't met a person here that I was able to say their name on the first try. One member who is 12 is named Deekshith (the way he pronounces it with an Indian accent, makes it sound, like a bad word)Both parts, the Deek, and the Shith part. We have lots of investigators and this area is a lot busier than Rajahmundry. Since I'm in a stake now, we get lots of Member referrals, and part member families to teach, so there is plenty to do thank goodness. I was able to eat at Subway and and was soo happy to know it didn't taste Indianized. I also got my package my mom sent me, which means I can now eat Easy Mac for lunch, and goldfish. Right before church I packed some Goldfish that I could eat for a snack during church. A lot of the investigators aren't really progressing and hopefully we can change that. One of the guys we are teaching is Ravi Teja, he is on date for baptism, but isn't coming to church. I got him to commit to coming to church this past Sunday, but he sadly didn't again. My new companion is Elder Abel, he is from Bangalore, and is a very interesting person. We don't have anything in common, but will see how this transfer goes. He enjoys doing work and cares about the members, and thats good enough for me. He is my second Indian companion, and is 24. I tried to talk to him about trucks such as the F150 or the Silverado, but the only truck he knew was the garbage truck. I'll have to find something else to talk to him about. Other than that I'm glad to be in my new area! I also heard that a missionary in our mission, locked his companion in the bathroom (while that person was showering), buzzed his head, and got on a plane ride back to his home (which will not be named). So now ELder Tuscano (my MTC companion) is in a Trio with other companions, while his companion went to fill in the place of that other missionary that went MIA in a different area. 

Love,

Elder Magnusson 

I sent him a big box full of stuff he needed, deodorant, and the all important mac and cheese!  He's in heaven!!

Transfers and Mother's Day

Hey Y'all,

This week was pretty good, I have gotten my transfer call, and will be going to Hyderabad Madina Guda 2nd ward. I heard that that was a great area, and Elder Kommalapati said that it is a very busy area. Also more people know English there, vs Rajahmundry. It was an enjoying 6 months spent in Rajahmundry, and am happy I'm going to a really busy area in the mission. This week, I found out one of the families I taught in Idaho (The Buckner Family) were baptized earlier this year. Which was really good news for me because they have been investigators for a year or so, and am happy that I could contribute to their conversion process. Aaron Buckner's parents live in Douglasville Georgia. They did some more painting for our apartment, so we had to be there for two days in a row. Our most progressing family is the John family, they have lots of questions that we can answer, and it's great to see them as their testimonies grow. I also met, Suneel, who is Ratna Kumar's son. He came to Rajahmundry as we are getting ready for Ratna Kumar's baptism. I sadly won't be here for it, but am happy I could assist with it. It finally rained here in Rajahmundry, for like one day, which made it feel very nice outside. Sadly its was only one day, and is back to being 100s of degrees. I was able to Skype home since it was Mother's day, and would like to wish all the Mother's out there a happy Mother's day! I was able to Skype my parent's and my brother. Naresh (the one that got baptized in Feburary) recieved the Priesthood this week at church. It's a great moment in my mission life when I get to see my converts participate in church callings and Priesthood ordinations. They really enjoy participating in the church, and have hopefully helped them gain a strong testimony. Though there hasn't been very many baptisms since I've been here, I have been able to activate multiple families and hope that they stay active and don't fall away when I leave. I told my recent converts and my "use-to-be" less actives that I will call them and remind them to go to church ( if they stop going) whether I'm in Hyderabad, Georiga, or am Dead, they will get a call. The best thing that I've taught these people is to recognize the blessing that God is giving them as they are following his commandments. I told them none of us on this earth can afford not to be blessed, there for we have to keep the commandments and do all God is asking to so that we can. It was a great experience being here in Rajahmundry and hope that the Lord will bless me with success while I am serving in Hyderabad. There are also American restaurants there, so i can now FINALLY eat American food.  

Love,

Elder Magnusson

Is that a camel?

Hey Y'all,

 This week went by pretty fast! It wasn't as busy of a week, but it was still pretty good. The week started out with Mission Tour where President Berrett, and Elder Funk ( Quorum of the Seventy/previous mission pres) came to do training. The main point of the training was "teach repentance and baptize converts". I was able to get some really good insight on how to teach some of our investigators that aren't progressing very well. I have better insight on asking better questions to the investigator, which helps me know if they understand what I'm teaching them. We did a role play and practiced teaching about repentance and Elder Funk was listening and watching us role play. It was hard because its a lot of pressure when someone from the Quorum of the Seventy is watching you teach. He was able to help me improve my teaching. Sri Ram introduced his brother ( Rajeshkar)  to us, and we were able to teach him the Restoration. His main question was why we needed The Bible AND The Book of Mormon, and I was able to explain that when we have two witnesses testifying of Jesus Christ it helps our faith grow to know of the divinity of him and that he lives. There was also a wedding at church, and was somewhat fun. I was too busy trying to end a conversation with two punks that wanted money from me. I started talking to these two guys, who I thought could be interested in the message we teach, but turns out they weren't.  They asked me where I was from and I told them "The U.S" and then for about 10 minutes argued with me on how and why I was an American when I am ethnically Indian, they kept going on about how I'm "not suppose to be an American". Once that was finally settled they asked me what my dad did for a living, so I told them, and one of the guys replied with " So your rich" (in a form of a statement not question). I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, then he says "Give me money". I'm like "why"? He said he had a charity called "Helping Hands" that his church works with (I'm pretty sure he just named any charity that came to his head) and asked me for my parents information, and wanted to give me his bank code, so we can wire money to his account. Then the other guy asked me when I was gonna get married, and I said "sometime after my mission" and that after my mission when I go back to the U.S I'll find someone (someday in my life). He then asked me if I was gonna marry and Indian (when he said that I thought he mean't ethnically) and I said "I don't know." Then he said I should marry an Indian and take her to the U.S. (now understanding that he was talking about nationality) I replied and said 'I'm going to marry an American" And yes, you guessed it, he started chastising me on how I won't marry someone from India and bring them to the U.S. He did that for about 20 mins. He then asked me to find an American for him to marry ( I wasn't sure why he should marry an American when he chastised me for not wanting to marry someone from India) and I asked "Why"? he replied "So I can have money". That response caught me off guard. I explained to him that in the U.S we have (What India calls) "Love marriages" ( Obviously in the U.S we just call it marriage) and not "Arranged Marriage". He told me he would love whoever I set him up with (essentially arrange him with) so I basically missed the wedding answering these guys questions. That was the most awkward conversation I have had since I have been in India. Especially because the people here don't censor there words. They had no problem chastising me, which was odd because, it doesn't affect them in anyway who I marry and where they're from.  The good news was we were teaching a part member family/investigator when this Camel walked passed us. I ran out there to see if what I saw was real and it was. The guy that charged us 50 rupees to ride it, I felt as if I was on "The Mummy" (the movie). The guy we were teaching (Ratna Kumar) has had many issues in his life and is committed to quit his bad habits and come unto Christ. Though it has only been a week, I really hope he is able to keep his commitments that he is making with God and his wife. He is scheduled to be baptized this next Sunday, so we will see! Until next time

Love,

Elder Magnusson 

A successful Sunday

April 25, 2016


Hey Y'all.

This week was pretty good, and went by fast, we were able to make some progress with some of our investigators. Shanti, is a girl we met a while ago, who lives with her parents, but is married and has one kid. We were able to teach her more, and has great questions we have the answers to, and is well versed on her Bible knowledge. She was busy on Sunday, but came to church anyways and had a couple of friends she knew there. Thats good news for us, because she has friends at church on the first day she came. Also a guy named Vinod Kumar who I found a month ago or so was able to come to church and have been teaching him. He doesn't claim a specific denomination of Christianity, but goes to many different churches each Sunday. He is in his 20s and is looking for a job, which is prefect because a lot of the YSA (young single adults) here are in the same boat. We were able to find a less active who's name is Ratna Kumari Rayudu, she lives with her husband and hasn't come to church in a while. She isn't able to leave her handicapped husband, so we bought him a new cane so he could come to church too. He isn't a member but said to give him 3 weeks and he'll be baptized. He has seen the example his family has set, and wants to be in church with his family. We had all 3 of them at church, which we haven't been able to accomplish since I've been here. Its even better that they came this Sunday because President Berrett came to Rajahmundry and attended church this Sunday too. For the time that I have been here, there have been a couple of times where a wild animal (a dog, cat, cow or even a rat) will walk right in to someones home and they are completely fine with it, as if it was normal. I find it terrifying. A lot of Indian Missionaries, at the end of their mission "adjust" back to their normal lifestyle before they go home. Its kinda sad for me to see, because if a missionary before their mission didn't sleep on a mattress before their mission, they'll sleep on the floor during their last month before they return home. Or if they don't have A/C (which most of them don't) they won't sleep in the bedroom (which is the only room that has A/C). I also found out Elder Kommalapati was a Hindu a long time ago, I asked him what it was like to be a Hindu but he didn't really know how to explain it. Until next time.

Love, Elder Magnusson

The Norms

April 18, 2016



Hey Y'all,

This week was pretty interesting, our lessons were sadly down because we had to drop a lot of our investigators, but I was able to have quite the cultural experience this week. A lot of our investigators weren't progressing or weren't interested which is a bummer because now we only have like 4 solid people to teach, but they are all on a baptismal date. On Tuesday, sister Akula (the lady that taught me how to make chicken curry, that burned my throat the first time I had it) make us crab curry. We had to go get the crab curry so we went to the fish market. Man that is the dirtiest and most unsanitary place on the planet. My companion said if I went to Bangalore it would be even worse. There were fishes of all kinds everywhere and on the floor there was nasty fish water mixed with dirt and smashed fish scales and guts.It also doubled up as a goat chop shop, and there was goat heads everywhere, I named them all Chivito (sorry Kayli..) (my sister's goat she had when we were younger)  The crab curry was good, it was kinda weird when I ate it because I wasn't sure if I was eating Indian food, or Cajun food from New Orleans. A lot of the members have had engagements lately, and are marrying childhood friends, which seems like a nice love story (some of the engagements are arranged some are love) the weird thing is, is that they are more than childhood friends... They are marrying their cousins. That was very surprising to me, I had no clue that a lot of the people I we know here are married to their cousins.. Now granted I knew that was normal in Alabama but I didn't expect it in India. While visiting people this week, I have had two people ask me if I could take their babies to the U.S, I was flattered but declined. I had the opportunity to go to a Hindu wedding and dang those things are crazy. The bride and groom sit on stage and pour rice and pebbles on each others head. I missed the actual marital ceremony, but the we are invited to an Indian Christian wedding at the church, which will probably be different than an American wedding. There were lots of people at the wedding, and man the people here loove to eat. I find this problem when we have church activities, when we start the program barely anyone is there, but near the end when its over and they serve snacks or dinner the people come. We had a self-reliance program this week to help those with financial problems better manage their money. As we were handing out flyers through out the week, the number one question I got was "Will there be dinner there". There wasn't a big turn out at the activity, but am glad that the people that really needed to be at this program were there. President Berrett came to zone meeting and was able to get our zone back in shape (hopefully) because the disobedience in the Rajahmundry zone has been ridiculous. I also had shrimp curry this week for the first time and it was really good, probably my favorite. A member in the ward (sister Tatanini) is trying to learn English and is doing so by practicing singing church hymns. We went to her house and I had her practice sing hymn #340 (The Star spangled banner), my companion was laughing the whole time because she didn't know what it was. I tried to get her to sing #338 (America the Beautiful) but was unsuccessful. Other than that its been a hot week here, about 107 degrees all week. Until next week

Love,

Elder Magnusson

General Conference

April 11, 2016


Hey Y'all,

This week they showed General Conference, I enjoyed a lot of the talks especial D. Todd Christofferson's on Fathers, and enjoyed how he talked about the roles of Fathers in a society where the roles of a father have been challenged. I also enjoyed Elder Patrick Kearon and the stories he shared about his service to the refugees. Not many people went to General Conference, they even broadcasted it in Telugu for those who don't know English. This week was pretty good, we were able to pick up  new investigators and taught some good lessons. We were able to have a great lesson with a girl named Shanti, we taught the Plan of Salvation and were deeply interested to hear about God's plan for us. We also met another family (Jackson family) they live behind one of our member's home (Sister Tatenini). We taught The restoration and will go back this week and teach them more. They are 7th day adventists so they are free on Saturdays but work on Sunday. So it'll be hard to get them to church. Also Sister Tatanini has 2 more families she wants us to meet. This week they painted the apartment, so we had to be in the apartment for almost two whole days while they were there. Indian Painters are pretty sketchy and don't care if they get paint on your stuff or the ground. They were all Hindu but enjoyed looking at the LDS temple photos we have. We taught a different Shanti Plan of Salvation and got her on a baptismal date. Its pretty exciting because we have 3 people on date (Sri Ram, Satya, and Shanti) this is the most I have had on a baptismal date sine I've been here. I give my thanks to my Telugu speaking companion (though most of them know English).  Shanti's brother Vijay is a member but is less active and hopefully as Shanti takes the lessons, he will have his testimony strengthened and will come to church. I made Macaroni and Cheese for Elder Kommalapati and I, and after he tasted it he asked; "Did you put Masala (An Indian spice) in it?" and I replied with "Do I look Indian to you? That's American food my friend, theres no masala in there". The senior couple missionaries (The Newtons) came to our apartment to do inventory to see if there was other appliances and things we needed in our apartment, By the way a water heater here is called a "Geezer", Elder Newton went in to the storage closet and said that there was two old Geezers in there, and I told him if he went in the closet there would be 3 old Geezers in there. Which went perfect because today is his 69th birthday. Though the work here is hard its nice to know God gave me humor so that I can laugh every once and a while. The work is moving on, though there isn't a lot to do in Rajahmundry, we are working hard, and the Lord is paving the way for my companion and I! 

Love,

Elder Magnusson