Hey y'all,
This week was a pretty good week and finally hit the good ole halfway point! I have also burnt my shirt, which as y'all may recall at my 6 month mark I burnt a tie. I think this is only a tradition in the Mission I'm serving in, because they never did that when I served in Idaho. This week it has rained a lot! In India when it even sprinkles they shut down everything. Its kinda funny, but in Georgia when we have Ice storms we too shut down everthing, so I can't really boast about anything. They dont build drainage systems so everything floods.
This week we met a guy named Biju and we went to his home, which turns out to be a church. We found out he is a pastor, and so we shared a Book of Mormon with him, and he was interested to read it. We went back again to talk about prophets and the lesson didn't go very well. He knows only a little bit of English, so he doesn't understand everything we taught. We tried to teach about apostasy in the early church, and he didn't understand it what so ever. We also met a guy named Prasuja, who I've been trying to meet since I've been in this area (5 months). We met with him and he accepted everything we taught, he has been to the church many times in the past and was taught by missionaries a year ago. He lived in the U.S (Madison, WI) for 3 years, so he has great English. I wondered why God wanted me to be in this area for as long as I've been here, and was expecting to be transferred. I would assume its because there is someone here that he wants me to teach and I swear its Prasuja. I asked him what kinds of American foods he liked and he said; "I love Buffalo Wild Wings", in that very moment is when I knew he was the one I have been looking for. The spirit was soo strong in that lesson. Prasuja I too love Buffalo Wild Wings.
We met with a member named Raja this week and his conversion story is awesome. We met him at the local grocery store so he could take us to his home (Indian address systems are basically a description of where they live, an address could be Sterling on the Lake, a green house, with grass, and we have to look for that.) Once we met him at the store he told us he couldn't take us to his home. We asked why? And he responded by saying; "My mother doesn't know I joined the church". Im sure some of y'all could picture what my face looked like when he said that to me. We asked him to explain a little more, turns out he was raised as a Hindu in the Bremen caste (the highest caste in Hinduism) and his mother doesn't know he's a Christian. He said he always believed in God and when he met with the missionaries he told his mom he has work, and so he would meet the missionaries at church. Because of his financial status he didn't have money to go to the church, so he would walk an hour and a half to meet them. Its an awesome story and even to today he tells his mom he has work and ends up coming to church on Sunday. He is struggling financially and basically said "I have to choose whether I feed my mom or whether I feed myself", but he has kept the faith and believes God will help him! He's an awesome member.
I have thought about this last year and the difference in myself from September 2015 to now, and what I want to be like in September 2017. I was readling from the teachings of President David O. Mckay and it talked about how we can change our nature. I have learned that its the little things that change who we are, just as rain ralls in droplets and thats what creates a flood. A quote I liked was by Llewelyn R. Mckay and it says;" Character springs from the depths of the soul. You think about when you do not have to think, and I'll tell you what you are". I think that is a great quote and hope that I can improve the little things over this next year. That was basically my week, and will see y'all in less than a year. Ill try to send the video of me burning my shirt sometime!
Love,
Elder Magnusson
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