August

August 1, 2016

Hey Y'all,

This week was a great week, we had lots of success. This week we taught Deepak who was the guy that believes in everything. When we went to his shop to meet with him we had no clue what to teach him. In my head I thought about teaching about repentance, but then he started to talk about his father (who died) and how he didn't know where he was. So we decided to teach the Plan of Salvation. It was an awesome lesson especially because we talked about where we go after this life, and it was all new to him, mainly because he was Hindu. At the end of the lesson he talked about how he can't come to church on Sunday because that's his busiest day for his shop, and so we talked about the Sabbath day and how it is a day God set a side for us to rest and to go to church. He was having a hard time understanding why, but I could tell he was truely thinking about it. At the end of the lesson we extended an invitation to be baptized and he accepted it. He told us that every time we teach him he feels Jesus, and a bunch of angels surrounding him. It was nice to hear that, it reassures me that I'm not wasting my time being here. Elder Semadeni is sadly going home this week, he served a great mission and is a great guy, so we made him a plaque that looks like a name tag on the front and on the back is the missions he served in, the mission presidents he had, and the areas he served in. I learned so much from that guy, and knows he'll do awesome when he goes home. Meanwhile Elder Patten ( The guy I was with in Bangalore for my first week in India, before I went to Rajahmundry to be elder Conrad's companion) came to replace him. Elder Conrad and Elder Patten are childhood friends, and grew up together so Im sure they are excited to be companions. One of our investigators David, and his friend Chary came to church yesterday. We were able to teach them and got David on a baptismal date for september 4. We explained the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he accepted baptism. He was baptized in the past, but he understood the needing of the Priesthood authority and why he needs to be re baptized. Whats interesting is he writes music for one of the really big churches here, are its the church where most of our investigators go, so we'll see how things go. We invited him to pray about the decision, and he gave his testimony on his relationship with God and how strong it is. SO we hope all will go well this next transfer. 

Man is it weird that it is AUGUST. I remember starting the year and thinking this was gonna be a Loooong year, but dad-gum, it has flown by! I used to think people we crazy when they said a year felt like a month to them, and I now am a believer that a year can fly. Its weird that we're 5 months away from 2017. Anyways, that was my week!

Love,

Elder Magnusson

July 25th

Hey Y'all,

This week we did pretty dang well with lessons. The main focus is working with the ward members. Most people would say that that is obvious, but when I was in Rajahmundry it was honestly easier to work on our own. But I have learned that thats not the case in Madinaguda. We started out by teaching Krishna just simple scriptures, and even did that with Deepak. Deepak believes in everything (God, Hindu gods, and allah). We have just been teaching simple doctrines such as baptism and repentance. This week will be interesting because we'll teach the 10 commandments, and share the story about Baal and how the people were worshiping Idols when Moses was on the Mount. Through out my time here as I have taught hindu people that there is only one God, it doesn't quite go too smooth. Mainly because that would degrade every and anything they believed in since birth. SO its kinda a hard topic to teach, clearly and lovingly without offending them. We also were able to teach a lady named Swarupa, who let us teach her the Restoration and later the Plan of Salvation. She talked a lot about how she reads in the scriptures about false Prophets, and that lots of people from other religions would come and teach her. So we taught her about The Book of Mormon, and how that is proof that Joseph Smith is a TRUE Prophet. We told her to read and pray about it, because God's the only one that we can truly trust about this kinda stuff, and that if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith is a true Prophet. Her sister even joined in on the lesson to hear what we were teaching. Another main focus we have had was The Book of Mormon, and helping the members and investigators understand the role of it and why we have it. The best way we have taught was to teach the Doctrine's of Christ. We read the Doctrine of Christ in the Bible, and for our investigators who read the Bible, they will soon come to realize that The Book of Mormon has those same truths and concepts. Its just written in ancient Americas vs places such as Jerusalem (ie. The Bible). Its crucial that they gain faith in it and know its true because that's one of the main focal points that differs our church from their church. Thats about the only excitingish things we did this week, until next time

Love,

Elder Magnusson