Christmas 2014 update

We had the opportunity to talk and Skype with Elder Dusara on Christmas eve.  It is amazing to see the transformation that has taken place in his life the past 18th months.  When our opportunity to Skype with him took place, approximately 10pm PST, he introduced our family to many of his ward members in Hyderabad.  One by one, he introduced us to the bishop and other various ward members.  Each of them wished us a Merry Christmas and thanked us for sending Elder Dusara to India.

At the end of our conversation with him, he gave us wonderful counsel on how he is having success in India.  His words will serve as motivation for his younger brother, Ajay Dusara, who opened up his mission call last night and found out that he will be serving in the India New Delhi mission and reporting on April 8th.  To conclude our evening, Elder Dusara offered a family prayer.  The entire evening was full of the Spirit and will never be forgotten.

What a blessing it is to have two worthy young men be able to serve missions in India. Our family is truly blessed.

Hyderabad Ward

Elder Ravindran and Santa

Companionship

Indian Santa

Santa with ward members

Elders Ravindran, Dusara, Mangum...

Week 77: Looking for a new apt, Blessen's baptism

Probably the busiest week I have ever had on my mission! My companion Elder Ravindran had to get a surgery on his back and I was in the hospital with him for 2 days. We had a good time together and he was able to slowly get back to better health. The hospital was pretty creepy at night so I got little to no sleep at all. One night just as we were going to bed I asked Ravindran "Hey what is Absciss?

Ravindran: Its like a cysts.

Dusara: What is a cysts?

Ravindran: Its like an absciss!

*Insert meme face where the old grandma is saying WAT!

I was able to be united with Elder Mangum and that was nice. We have been having a lot fun together but it is hard to go out and work while having to find someone to take care of Elder Ravindran. We have been going through apartment problems as well. Our land lord wants us to vacate by the end of the month and we have not had a chance to be looking for apartments. The last few days thats literally all we have been doing. In the afternoon we are hunting for apartments and in the evenings we are trying to have some meaningful appointments. 

Elder Cloward and Elder D'Vas moved down the street and they took everything in our apartment so now we no washer, no refrigerator, and no food:( Subway has been our friends for the past couple days. We need to leave our apartment soon so that is bringing a lot of stress to us. 

The best news of all is that BLESSON was BAPTIZED! The wonderful 11 year old superstar entered into the waters of baptism on Sunday. There is a fantastic story that I would like to share with y'all. So we had wanted Govind(Blesson's cousin) to baptize Blesson because that would have been a super spiritual experience for both of them. In the morning Govind called me about 8 times telling me that his mom wants me to give the baptism(I know that he was a little nervous about the whole thing). I told him that he would give it and he should not worry about what his aunt is saying. 

We had the bishop talk to Blesson's mom and she said that it would be ok if Govind performed the baptism. Still he was feeling a little uneasy about it and he pulled me aside and asked "Elder, Am I ready?" I said "This is going to bring you happiness that you could not describe!"  Twenty minutes later talks were shared and baptisms were preformed! Everything literally went perfect. I received a call later that night from Govind and he thanked me for giving him the chance to preform that baptism. He said that Blesson is so happy and so is his mother! He said he is never going to forget that moment. Even with all the junk happening in right now, we are still being blessed abundantly with joy and happiness:)

So in the photo where we are cutting the cake with the nurses, we actually were invited by our Relief Society President(Sister Betsy). She is the Head Nurse in the emergency ward and she invited all the doctors and nurses into her office to listen to the message "He is the Gift". We showed the video and testified and everyone was very happy with our testimonies. It was actually a very interesting learning experience...Teaching in the Emergency Block hahah YOLO! 

Enjoy Christmas with your families,

Elder Dusara

Wedding photo

Eating cake at the hospital

Blessen's Baptism

Wedding with bride and groom

Ravindran, Blessen and Govind

Ravindran in hospital

Week 76: The end of Megatron and the Deuce

We received some devastating news last week and we found out the Elder Ravindran is no longer my companion:( He will now be serving in Rajahmundry with Elder Brodrick and my new companion is Elder Mangum:) We are batch mates and I have known him my whole mission. We are going to have a lot of fun together and do some good things here in Hyderabad. It is the end of Megatron but I will have a new friend. 

On a more spiritual matter, Yesterday was a very spiritual day for me. Church went by so nicely and the classes were very powerful and interesting. I felt no urge to eat food at all and I was so full of joy the whole day! Everything was perfect. After church I taught those same two sisters(Pavanni and Devi) that I mentioned last time in my email to you. I showed them the Restoration video and I drew some pictures on the board so they can understand ever more. It was so cool to see Sam(8 years old) and Blessen(11 years old) share their testimonies about how they know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Blessen is getting baptized next week so to see him bare a testimony as strong that is fantastic.

Blessen was excited to be baptized at first but his mother was not giving permission. Elder Gill and I just happened to be on exchange that day and we went to help her understand the importance of baptism. The main concern was that she was worried that he does not know enough and that he is to young. This was a perfect chance to let Blessen share his testimony his mom! He shared his testimony was so strong and his mother understood him even though she does not understand that much English. The spirit played a very important role in that lesson because his mom could barely understand. So now she wants him to be baptized on the 21st so she can bring her family. 

Heavenly Father has blessed us in this area with really fantastic people to work with!

Enjoy the photos my friends! BTW(The two boys are Blessen and Sam)

Elder Dusara 

Hyderabad missinaries...ping pong table

Blessen and Sam

Hyderabad Saints

Week 75: Become as Little Children - Don't be Idol

Nothing really funny happened last week that I can remember? The funniest times we had were in the apartment when Elder Checketts came to get his new passport. We were pretty busy this week though aside from that. We attended the wedding of Brother Pennumuru (the cooler one) and that was pretty sweet, Fireworks, good food, nice dancing, and sweet photos. After that we had Stake Conference and that was alright. President Berrett scolded everyone nicely so we were entertained.

So last Sunday we noticed 2 little girls that came to church and attended Primary class. Of course they had the proper fellowship from Sam and Annie (Brother and Sister). I actually tried to meet with them because I did not know if they were members or not. Elder Ravindran went on splits and met their family(member referral) and came back and said that they were really awesome. 

Yesterday after Stake Conference I brought Saul(YSA), Sam, and Blessen (11 yr old investigator) to come and help me teach these two beautiful sisters. There is Devi and Pavani. Together we all helped them understand the introduction to the Book Of Mormon and shared the "He is the Gift" video. As the video played these kids did something very different but amazing. As the words came on the screen they would repeat it out loud. I holding the camera so I did not see the screen but the spirit was so strong after the video had finished. Such a cool experience. Their baptism is set for the end of December:)

I was reading in the Doctrine and Covenants student manual about "Idolatry". I am in a country surrounded by it but I discovered two other ways of how we can be idolatrous. First, when we postpone our missions for schooling/college we are being idolatrous. We are putting, not so important, things in front of something our Heavenly Father wants us to do. Second, not having any children until you feel you are ready. That is being idol because you are missing wonderful experiences just because you are not satisfied with what you have now, you pretty much don't trust Heavenly Father. So there you have it, DONT BE IDOL! 

Enjoy some nice photos,

Elder Dusara 

Zone activity at Hard Rock

Bro Pennemuru's wedding

Primary class

Week 74: New rules to follow, He is the Gift

#SharetheGift

That is the new initiative that the quorum of the twelve have invited us to participate in (Everyone Should participate). We had MLC this past week in Bangalore and it was very interesting. We have been making an improvement in the mission but it is not going as fast as we would like it to. 

President Berrett gave us council and some chastisement during the meeting and somehow we summoned some strange rules for our mission. I guess we will see what happens to the mission now, we now have a new Preparation Day schedule and 10 GOLDEN RULES for our mission...like I said, we will see how everything goes. The day was saved when I had the chance to go visit some of the families I loved to visit when I was serving in Ramurthy Nagar branch. I only visited with 3 families but it was enough to drive away the stress that came from MLC! 

This morning we (Elder Ravindran and I) woke up and did what is called T25(The new work outs from Shaun T) I was not to excited to get up but I remembered why I am doing exercise in the first place so I was motivated. 

On Sunday we had the chance to see the West Marredpally Ward 1 Christmas Primary Activity and it was very nice to see. The children did great singing and bearing the testimonies! While sacrament was going on we did not have any of our investigators there and we were a little sad because we had called everyone and they said that they would come. Since the Lord works in mysterious ways somehow all the investigators came together at the same time and had the chance to see the Primary Program and to participated the the classes the followed. 

One of those investigators was named Blessen. I have talked about him in past emails before so if you read my emails at all...you would know. So I had another lesson with Blessen (See what I did there-_-) after church and Sam, Saul and I talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This 11 year old boy was able to understand everything we taught and shared his testimony afterwards. Something he said that I will always remember was, "Elder, I got to school 6 days a week, my body is at school and my heart is at church". 

Now I have been trying to understand how is it that this 11 year old boy who came from an uneducated family could bear such a powerful witness of this church? It is because he KNOWS it is true and he has felt the spirit the comes when you take the sacrament. The other reason why is because his 8 year old best friend(Sam) is doing the greatest fellowship I have ever seen in my life. 

When you see someone new come to church please do not let them sit by themselves or be alone at all. Be like Sam and run to them and give them a hug and be there for them. That is how fellowship is supposed to be done! 

Photos consist of a couple awesome missionaries eating Chillies in Bagalore, Our Gospel Principles class, Elder Stevens and I with Timothy and some new food I am cooking. 

Bonus photo is the photo of the WMP3rd Ward apartment. For all the return missionaries that served there:)

143,

Elder Dusara

Eating at Chili's in Bangalore

Elder Stevens and Timothy

Faithful members, primary program participants

Gospel Principles Class