Week 56: The Miracle of Forgiveness

Probably the best Sunday I have ever had on my mission, no lies. I taught Sudhi and had a baptismal interview with him because he is getting baptized next week. Elder Mulampaka taught Nielson and Lazzar and got set with a baptismal date for August 17th. We had 5 of our investigators attend sacrament meeting and we are planning for 6 baptisms this month! We have seriously been blessed, no joke, this week. Our phone was not working for 3 days so we were unable to plan and meet with almost all of our investigators until Thursday. 

Elder Mangum came on exchange with me on Friday and we visited all of his converts that he and Elder Stevens baptized last year. I was able to understand an area that I have never even visited before so I was happy that had the chance to be with him. 

This past week for me I have been trying to work on my forgiveness and my love towards others. I have seen the blessings of loving someone unconditionally and not judging them of their past transgressions. This has been something I have struggled with my entire life. 

My mission has been able to shape the way I think now and I am going to make sure that it stays with me forever. There will be times where an auto driver makes up some insane price for a simple ride, or for a waiter to tell me after I had been waiting for my meal to tell me that they do not carry that certain dish today? Little moments like this give me a chance to simply just think about where these people are coming from and what they are going through in their life. For example, The auto driver has a family to take care of and he is really trying his best to squeeze in a couple last transports so he can provide his family with the sufficient food they need for the night. 

There are plenty more examples that I could come up with but the point of the lesson is to "Forgive" and "Love". I am going to strive to be better with this each and everyday and I give that same challenge to all of you at home! Read John 13:34-35:)

We got 6 baptisms planned for this month! YOLO!

Elder Dusara

His name in Hindi

Reunited with Elder Singh briefly

Week 55: Home Improvement!

Well, what a week full of improvement. We achieved almost all our goals for this past week and we had amazing lessons. Elder Mulampaka is doing a super good job keeping me inline and making sure I am doing what I need to be doing.

I think some of the greatest lessons that I have had to learn this week was patience and love. Some situations have come up where me and my companion were getting discouraged and we really felt like we could not do anything. But over deep prayer and constant viewings of Mormon Messages we were able to strengthen our relationship with the branch. This past Sunday was a great Sunday for us because we had planned on having 5 of our investigators come. Sister Shanthi was not planning on coming because her boss would not let her take work off on Sunday. 

On Saturday she told us that she was going to come anyway because she felt like she should. Shanthi attended sacrament and 4 of our other investigators came and they all had a super time. I taught the Gospel Principles and I organized everyone in a group because I hate just talking the whole lesson. It was a good chance to give our investigators a chance to speak up and share how they about the lesson(The Sacrament). Some great questions were asked in class and everyone helped in answering! 

We have been blessed to have such a great week and we were so happy to have strengthened the branch little by little each day. We have a great vision for Ramamurthy Nagar Branch and we are going to do the best we can before transfers to make it happen.

Elder Dusara 

Training with Pres Berrett

Home cooking

Playing hoops with other elders

Week 54: Chilling with Papa Bear!

So we had the chance to go on Exchange with President Berrett and we had a super good time together. We had a lesson with our Branch President and his family and we visited Teju, Kavia, Prakash and her mother( Recent Converts) and we had a very spiritual lesson about families. We shared how families can have happiness together no matter where they live. Teju's family was moving down the road to a smaller home and when I saw small I really mean SMALL! Their home now is the size of your average shipping container. 

They are now moving into a home the size of a shed...with 4 people. We shared with them that it does not matter about what kind of house you have and the size. The only thing that matters is the family that is with in the home. They really understood and wanted to apply everything we shared. They are some of the most humble members of the church I have ever met in my life. After the lesson President Berrett said "That was one of the most beautiful lessons I could have ever been apart of". 

We had another sweet lesson with a brother named John. We went to his mothers home because thats were we will find sister Esther but to our surprise we found her brother John there by himself. We asked if we could come inside and we had a lesson with him about the Book of Mormon. He is a member of the church and he has not been coming for 2 years. He also has not read the Book Of Mormon in two years:(. But we read with him the first chapter and he said he felt very good about everything and he was excited to start coming back.

My companion is an amazing missionary and he loves to work. I am teaching him a lot of English slang terms and other funny jokes. I am trying to get him to love Disney movies but its not working so well. He is an amazing piano player and he is teaching me little by little how to play:)

BTW: I made bacon....Yolo Swag!

Elder Dusara

Outside Habenero restaurant

Lunchtime

Makin some bacon

Week 53: New companion - new experiences

So last week transfer calls came. Elder Wigington left to Rajahmundry on Monday morning and I was with Elder Pydimalla for about 2 days. Elder Mulampaka came on Wednesday and I was super excited to be with him. We have been visiting members and less actives all week and just trying to help as many less actives as possible at the same time helping my companion understand the area. This past Sunday we saw 6 families that were less-active come to church! What an awesome experience that was to see. The members talked with them and loved each and every one of them. One sister got interviewed right after the classes for a calling:)

Yesterday at church we were sitting in Gospel Principles and one of our investigators pulled us out and asked us to meet one of his friends. I was surprised to see that this man was WHITE and he sounded like he was from Scotland. He sounded like he was drunk so already I was not felling to good about the situation. We brought him upstairs and we did some "How to begin Teaching". I told him that he had a Scottish accent and he was surprised that I knew that. I told him I stayed in Washington and what my purpose was and he wanted to change his life because he was not on the right path and he knew that we could help him. He has this neck problem that makes it

sound like he is drunk but thats just how he speaks(I felt bad).

He is an amazing artist and he is practically homeless. So I told him that if he exercises his faith in his Heavenly Father than he will see a mighty change in his life. I also told him that if he comes to church he will have the chance to receive some work from the members here. We were not able to find any solid investigators this week until now so we were very happy that this man was guided to us through an investigator that we dropped. His name is Peter and he reminds me of Professor Q from James Bond. 

Just received word from Elder O'Dell that Brother Raju and Sister Renuka are very active in the church and Sister Renuka is the Relief Society 2nd Counselor:)

Enjoy my friends  

Elder Dusara

On the bike

Zone meeting w/12th man