The One Year Mark is Here - New Companion!

So this past week Elder Willis, Elder Stevens and I hit our year mark! We enjoyed nicely at Habeneros and I finally got the chance to eat a real beef burger! It was amazing. On Monday we received news that Elder Wigington was going to be transferred to Rajahmundry 3rd branch. My new companion is Elder Mulampaka (My First Indian companion). I am still the District Leader and now my district is combined with Whitefield Branch (Elder Willis and his trainee, and the Assistants). KGF was closed so that's why I am with Whitefield now.

Elder Wigington had a hard time saying goodbye to some of these members this past week, but we had the pleasure of visiting everyone he wanted and it was a super great time. We were fed Dinner every single night...it was awesome. The members must love me also because they all made my favorite food(Chicken curry or Biriyani and Onion Raitha).  Last night we spent the night at the Zone leaders apartment and Elder Wigington, Eames and O'Dell left to Rajahmundry at 4:30am. I am really excited for my new companion and the work we are going to get done here. From what I have heard, he is a good missionary and a hard worker...but he does not know how to cook indian food:( So eating outside will continue hahah. 

So we had a pretty awesome experience last week with sister Shanthi again. She is our most prepared investigator and she should be baptized by next week. When we were at her home her mother was not feeling good at all and she was getting super hot and tired during our lesson. We stopped and gave her a blessing and then she layed down for the rest of the day. They took her to the hospital that night and the doctors did not know what exactly was wrong with her. So we visited the next day(Wednesday) and Shanthi told us that she said a prayer at night next to her mothers bed side and when her mom woke up she was perfectly fine. No problems at all and then she felt prompted to call us and have us over. This is another testimony that Heavenly Father is there and that he will answer prayers according to your faith and desire. 

Thats my experience for the week! 

GO USA!

ELDER DUSARA

12th man is alive in Bangalore India

District Meeting

Bollywood hero suit

Week 49 & 50 updates: The work is really progressing in Bangalore

Week 1

Well I don't know what there is to say about how the work is going here in Ramamurthy Nagar except that everything is Hastening! I cant even tell in words how blessed Elder Wigington and I are to be serving in such a blessed branch. The members actually just want to help, they are not doing it out of obligation but more out of the love of their hearts. We have been working very closely with some of the less-active members trying to bring them on splits because that is a good way to get them back to church. A really sweet experience happened on Wednesday that I would love to share.

We were out at about 1pm in the afternoon trying to call some members to go on splits. We had two lined up already but then bunked last minute. We were not having any success in finding someone so we just prayed that we could have the chance to have just one person to go on exchange. 

While we were walking back to get my camera(I forgot it at the apartment), a member drove up on his bike next to us and said "Hey Elders How are you?". I had no idea who this was but Elder Wigington did. His name was Naveen and he has not been at church for a very long time. My first question I asked him was " Are you free to come on exchange with us?". He said that he was free for the rest of the day and we took him and had some very powerful lessons.  Not only that but Naveen also came to church with his family on Sunday and that was super awesome to see!

Week 2

Man what a change we are seeing the the area. We found 9 new investigators some of who had been dropped by previous Elders. I guess they are now prepared to hear the Gospel again:) Once again we had the pleasure of taking members everyday on splits and the blessigs were being seen everyday. We are trying to take more sisters on splits because we have only been taking boys and we need to be fair to everyone. We were able to have 34 lessons taught last week so Elder Wigington and I were feeling very happy.

So I actually had two very special experiences that happened a couple of days ago that I would like to share with you. We have one sister who's name is Shanthi and she is the sweetest referral we have ever received. She comes from a Christian background and she really wants to be baptized again because she has not been the best she could be and she wants to change (Repentance). She has had a hard life and her mother HATES Christians (She is Hindu). 

When we came over for the first time her mother cleaned the entire house just for us so that we would feel comfortable. She only speaks Tamil but I know she felt the spririt in our lesson because she asked us to come over every day because she likes the feeling that comes when the missionaries come over. So 3 days ago I went over and we taught Shanti about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she mentioned a dream she had a day before when I showed here a mormon message about temples using my camera. She said she saw in her dream a gate and when it opend she saw a temple but she did not understand what that meant. After the lesson I explaing to her that Heavenly Father wants you and your family to go to the temple and be sealed for time and all eternity! What a cool experience for here to go through that and to share that with me. It was a super powerful experience for the both of us.

My next experience comes from 2 boys who's names are Stephen(14) and Bernard(10). They are the two sons to Simon who is a new investigator that was referred to us by a wonderful member of ours. We have not actually had the time to sit with them and teach for a good amount of time but we gave them a Book Of Mormon and asked them to read and ponder the message it contains. 2 days ago we went to their home to visit them but the parents were not home. 

Their youngest son Bernard came running up out of now where to tell us they his parents would not be returning for a couple of hours. I was on splits with 2 members at the time, James, and Alvin. I talked with Bernard and Stephan about soccer and how I would like if they could come play with us in the morning. One thing led to another and then we started to talk about the Book Of Mormon. Aparentely those boys have been reading without the parents knowledge and they have been understanding everything. Then they introduced their friend to me and he wanted to read that Book. So they let borrow it and this other boys family now has a copy of the Book Of Mormon:)

What a week it has been! GO USA!

I would like some packages:)

Love you all,

ELDER DUSARA

Street dogs

Rajamundry district

Two contacts from Congo

School kids

Morning soccer boys

Week 48: Who wants a banana split?

Beast Mode was turned on this week here in Ramamurthy Nagar! The only way that we could achieve what we achieved was with the help of the members here. THEY UNDERSTAND "Hastening the Work Of Salvation". We were able to have 31 lessons this week and it was all because of SPLITS! 

Every day this week we were able to go with different members and go on splits from 2pm-8pm. We did our best to take less actives on splits so we can help them rekindle that fire they once had when they were diligent in the gospel. Not only that, but while we are on exchanges we will ask them if they have any friends that they could show us and we will go visit them. This week was the best week I have ever had as a missionary. It comes from Faith, Obedience, and Diligence. Those three things can change an area from completely dry to overflowing with blessings in a week! I have witnessed it!

On Saturday we made the goal to have 3 members presents 2 RCLA and 2 New investigators for Sunday. We prayed that we could achieve our goal. We did the best we could throughout the day. One brother from Congo (Desire) brought his friend to church and we taught him a lesson after church about the Book Of Mormon and he was super excited. Another brother also came to church and Elder Wigington taught him in the afternoon and he is solid. I went on splits with two members and we taught a short and powerful lesson to Kishore and Bhavani. We taught a powerful lesson about the blessings of the sacrament. We were able to visit two or more less actives and we achieved our goals! Heavenly Father is real! Miracles can happen!

We are doing wonders in this Branch!

Elder Dusara

Elder Dusara & Wittington

Bollywood actor

Contacts from Congo

Soccer with the boys on p-day

Week 47: Quality over Quantity

The reason why I am emailing today is because we had a specialized training yesterday, so our P-Day is now today. So this past week I was reflecting on my time here in the Ramamurthy Nagar branch and how fast time is going and all the things Elder Wigington and I were able to accomplish. 

So this might be the first branch I have ever been in where I have had no trouble with anyone. Everyone is this branch is amazing and they are all willing to do missionary work and help us in any way possible. The YSA's in the branch are so chill and down to do anything and they are always willing to help. I play futbol, basketball , American football and ultimate every morning with them. I have never felt so close to branch/ward in my entire life (of course not my home ward). I am very close with almost all the families and they give us referrals every single day pretty much. They tell us about their friends that stopped coming to church and we go out and find them and make friends with them also. The work here is getting better and better and its all because of the relationship that we have with the branch.

Yesterday we had our Specialized Training in Indiranagar (the first place I came to when I arrived in India...a year ago). We talked about how as a mission we are really struggling in some of our key indicators. Now that we only have 70 missionaries here in South India we are not able to maximize our full potential in our given areas (my area is huge). Bangalore needs a couple hundred more members and it will become a stake. At the rate we are going now it will take 2 years. The Area Presidency wants it done by the end of the year. That means we need to be having 40 baptisms a month for the next 6-9 months in order to reach that goal. We need to work 4 times harder! It is impossible to do that with our the help from the members! We need to go on splits and we need to be as obedient as possible to witness this miracle here in Bangalore.

As far as miracles go, yesterday we visited a family that is less active who we previously met 5 days ago and they all were fighting and arguing back and forth the whole lesson. The spirit was not there and we did not really want to go back. Yesterday I called the daughter who recently got married and she is 18 years old and she was wanting some church books and photos. We brought like 10 Liahonas, a photo of the San Diego temple, some teachings of the prophet and a Book of Mormon. We went to their home and everyone was there, mother, son (Nicholas), daughter (Maria), and Maria's husband (Joshua). There was a different feeling in that home! Everyone was laughing together and we were all joking around playing chess, talking about cars, and bikes and we shared 2 very good lessons. 1 for the family and 1 for Joshua. The mother thanked us for coming over and we were invited to teach some of their friends.

Heavenly Father does work miracles! You need to have the faith that he can!

Elder Dusara

Hanging with the youth

Ice cream time!

Staying out of the rain

Week 46: Ramamurthy Nagar week 1

Well I will keep this nice and short. I was transferred to Ramamurthy Nagar and my new companion Elder Wigington. We have just been visiting all these wonderful members and we have been having way to much fun! This branch is full of wonderful people and they are all super cool to hang out with. 

That's pretty much it. We have been having a lot of fun with the people here and its so nice to be surrounded by Pizza Hut and McDonalds. Next week I should be adjusted to the area and we will be able to visit all the members. But that's it so far! Till next time my friends. Oh, we bought nerf guns and we play Yu-Gi-Oh. We are going to play Basketball on a HARDWOOD floor now and we are going to eat American Burgers. Peace!

Elder Dusara

Smores the India way

New toy with Elder Wiggington

Favorite Ice Cream

Week 45: Transfer to Bangalore

So yea...I finally got the call to Bangalore! I was pretty excited because I have been wanting to go there since I have been in India. But I was later told that I was going to be District Leader and that was very weird to me. I never really saw myself as District Leader material but I guess the Lord has something else in mind. Since I did not have the chance to email you guys last week I would like to share an experience I had that I thought was worthy of sharing.

Elder Ravi and I were going back and forth to different appointments just taking autos everywhere since I destroyed my back while playing basketball. We had some really awesome lessons and then when it came to the evening time at about 7:30pm we were stumped because our evening appointments bunked on us and we did not know what to do. We talked to each other about the Zone Conference we had in Vizak and we talked about using the spirit MORE! We put it to the test. We sat for 2 minutes and we both used the spirit to help us think of someone to visit. 

Two names came to our minds and one of them we have never visited(I visited like 4 months ago). The first appointment we went to was sister Divya. She is a super cool member who loves the missionaries and the church, she just has trouble getting to church on Sunday because of work. We had a short lesson outside her home and then we went to the last family that I thought of. The last time I visited this family the father answered the door and told me he does not like the church anymore and that he does not need to saved? I had built up this hatred towards him for the comments he had made and that might have led to the reason I had not visited his home in such a long time (I was a fool). Anyway, we knocked on his door and his son Mani addressed us and invited us into their home (he is not a member). We talked with him for a little bit and we had a lot of fun, he even told us we wanted to get baptized in June and we were like ugh...sure! About 20 minutes went by and his dad showed up at the home. It had been a long time since I have seen him so I did not recognize him at first. Then this feeling of peace and comfort came over me and I did not remember all the bad things I had thought of him.

I instead felt this love towards him and I wanted to help him as much as possible (how a missionary should feel all the time). We talked together and I found out he has some super awesome hobbies and I was very interested in them. His son was just happening to be fixing his mother board on his computer and I just happened to have built my own computer:) These little moments I have on my mission just make me feel so happy to be serving. We gave them a commitment to read the Book Of Mormon and to come to church (Its been 3 years). They accepted and they continue to do their family prayer each and every day! I was blessed to meet that whole family before I left Rajahmundry.

Now I am in Ramamurthy Nagar, Bangalore with Elder Wigington! He is super cool and he has very similar hobbies to me. I am currently teaching him how to play Yu-Gi-Oh so I am pretty excited about that. I got to eat McDonald's last night for dinner (It was a special moment for me).

Elder Willis and I flew in together from the smallest airport I have ever seen in my life (except Fiji). We are still together again in the same zone. Waiting for Stevens to come join us!

Elder Dusara out!

Week 44: Skype on Mothers Day 2014

No letter from Elder Dusara this week because he was able to talk and Skype with friends and family.  His time in Rajahmundry is almost up as he will be getting transferred to Bangalore on May 21st.  It's hard to believe that his mission is almost at the halfway mark. We were told that the first six months goes by so slowly, that was not our experience at all.  The entire mission time has really gone by quickly.

The past six months he's been in Rajahmundry.  He has had so many wonderful experiences and had been an instrument in bringing the gospel so several people.  As the time drew closer for us to talk to him, his friends just showed up.  We initially just had to use our phone because there was not a computer available for him to Skype on.  His friends Grant, Tyler, Kevin, Johnny, and Jeff all made time to come over...even though their own Mother's Day activities were going on.  Later in the evening, we were able to Skype with him and they came back and talked with him some more.

As I was sitting back listening to the conversations between friends, it's like he never left.  The conversation turns toward movies, video games, sports, and of course they poke fun at each other as well.  He is really blessed with wonderful friends who know that he is doing a great work in India.

The past few days we have been trying to figure out how to get a new camera to him.  The one he had, he sold, so now he wants a different one. It's not cheap, and it's not an easy thing to deliver given the wacky mission address that he has now.  We will also be sending him a care package.  We found out that a 12lb box will cost $289 via DHL.  Looks like we need to cut the box down by half just to have a shot.

He's doing great! He has really made an impact the past year of his life personally, and in the lives of those whom he is serving.  It's at the 11 month mark at this point and he is such a better person today than he was 11 months ago.  Thank you for all the support and good wishes of Elder Dusara in India.

Phone call with Kevin, Jeff, Tyler, Grant, and Johnny

Skype with Jeff, Grant and Kevin

Skype with Rajina, Mom, and Noni

Family photo on Mother's Day 2014