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

Week 43: In Defense of Truth

If any of you have not read the book In Defense of Truth I strongly encourage you to read it:)

So once again Elder Ravi and I have been blessed with another spiritual week full of appointments and awesome experiences. We had a super cool experience with one of our baptismal candidates Brother Mohan. He had his baptismal interview on Monday and we found out that he was have a Law of Chastity problem. We prayed for him everyday because he is having a hard time staying away from pornography. So when we met on Saturday I testify and promise that I had the spirit with me that lesson because I was BOLD! 

I have never been so bold with anyone in my entire life. I felt like Samuel the Lamanite it was so cool. I told him straight up, If he wants to have a successful marriage in the future then he needs to stay as far away from pornography as possible. The only way he can avoid it is by reading the scriptures, praying, and repenting. I told him that he needs to delete all signs of pornography and that he should avoid thinking about it. Mohan understood everything and he was excited to stop because he knew it was wrong. We are trying to set him up with a sister in our branch so they can be married. Our branch is full of sisters and our Branch President wants them to be married. 

So knowing that we have all sisters in our branch (pretty much) we our trying to find only guys when we are looking for new investigators. We have been blessed with 4 new investigators and they are all guys who are very good candidates for these women. 

There is one sisters name Monica who came last week to church with her friend and she was very shy. She came to gospel principles and she was very quite and to herself. This week she came by herself and I said hi to her in Sacrament before we started. Sister Karuna from our branch came up to her and started to do the best fellow shipping I have ever seen. Since she and Karuna were the only ones in class we just had a lesson instead and she completely opened up. Her concerns and her desires she shared with us and we had such a fun time together. She sneaks out of her home to come and she has a strong desire to know about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. 

Those are just the few that come to mind but there are many more I just dont have time to share. Heavenly Father is Real and So is His Son! 

ELDER DUSARA