Week 67: Elder Dusara's birth-week

Dear Everyone

My family is doing awesome back at home. Its great too see blessings from across the world! Yesterday we received a new set of couple missionaries to our branch. Elder and Sister Hubbard from Sandy Utah. They are awesome. I can't wait to get to know them more as we work together.

Yesterday Bhavana was able to be baptized by Elder Kollopu. She has so much fellowship from the branch, it's awesome. Before her baptism she was asking me about how to conduct a proper family home evening. I wish more members had her fire and potential. We are still continuing to teach Gaurev and Nisha. I can see Garurev being baptized next month.

It's pretty tough to not have a stronger testimony when you have a baptism. Bhavana speaks great English and she can definitely be a leader in our church. I'm excited to see what the future holds for her.

This week is my last week of being 20. I just want to say that I love my parents and family from the bottom of my heart. I've learned so many principles that have helps me be a better missionary and person.

I love you fam

Elder Dusara

Week 66: Bhavana accepts baptism, more rain

The reason why the missionaries need help to find where people live is because there has not been missionaries in this part of New Delhi in over 6 months.  Great to see him making progress each week as they become more familiar with the members in their new area.

Dear friends and Fam,

This past week Elder Mani and I had a mini Miracle happen to us. Our investigator Bhavana has been taught all of the lessons. She is just waiting on receiving an answer that the Book Of Mormon is true. She received her answer at church on Sunday. We had her interview done after church and Elder Kollopu will be baptizing her. This is exactly what we wanted. We wanted her to come to us and say that she wanted to be baptized because I feel that she would be more converted that way.

This week I'm for sure buying an umbrella to help deal with this rain. The zone activity was great today. If was awesome to shake off the rust in basketball and soccer. I got worked by the Aussi in the mission in basketball. I miss playing those sports!

Last Tuesday after Zone meeting the Americans and I went to Johnny Rockets for appetizers and Shakes. But the trip over there was nuts. There was a mini monsoon and all the streets were flooded. But that wasn't going to stop us determined Americans. In some areas the water was a mix between rain water and sewage water. It smelled terrible. At the end of the day we got our shakes and we received a coupon for a free shake on our next visit.

Elder Dusara Out

Moving up to 5lb weights

Clean feet

Week 65: Finding more members homes

By looking at a video he uploaded recently it's monsoon season in Delhi. Elder Dusara does have a future as a  meteorologist. Lots of rainfall mixed with sewage.

Hey Y'all

In my area last week Elder Mani and I were able to find two more member homes. We are stoked because we WANT to visit more families, but we just need to know where they live. We were also able to pick up one new investigator who was actually a referral from Brother BM. Her name is Nisha and we taught her about who Jesus Christ is and we invited her to church. She was able to make it to church. We set up a follow up appointment for Tuesday. We also had three other investigators of ours at church.

In my own personal studies I have realized that I have seen exponential growth in my doctrinal knowledge this past year. Every week I'm reading new stories and scriptures that uplift my faith in our Savior. Its amazing how much new info that I've learned as a missionary.

Tomorrow we have zone meeting and I'm stoked to see everyone in the zone. Next week We are planning on playing basketball and soccer at a sports complex. I'll test out my dunking capabilities. Cross your fingers and wish me luck that I can channel my inner Lebron James. I'm also going to find a new pair of basketball shoes to help assist me.

I love you ALL!  Have fun and be safe this summer. Remember who you are and what you stand for.

Elder Dusara

Week 64: Happy Independence Day

Hey Everyone,

I wont be able to send very many pictures home through email because all of the computers in the cyber cafe that I go to are infected with so many viruses. If you want to see pictures just find my parents on Facebook or look at my blog.


We met Bahavana yesterday in church. She accepted to be baptized but didn't want to choose a specific date. She said she would like some time to think it over. We shared with her a Mormon message of some children describing who Jesus is and what he looks like. Bahvana's sister sat in at our member present. They both really enjoyed the video. We are going to continue to meet with them every Sunday after church. We also taught Gaurev the Restoration and he loved it. We also taught him how to pray. After English class on Friday we shared with him a short scripture on prayer and he gave his first verbal closing prayer. I really love the branch that I'm serving in and i just want to find more members in our area so we can help uplift them and also find new investigators.

Yesterday about seven of us Americans (And One Australian) went to Chili's for lunch. I had a country fried chicken. Then for desert we all went to good ol Johnny Rockets for milkshakes. While travelling home I discovered the one and only Nike Factory store in all of Delhi. It is located under a random junky Metro station. I was overfilled with joy. This month I'm planning to go back to get some new basketball shoes.

I know in the US that there's a lot of political issue right now. But I promise you that even with our country's 99 problems I'd still much rather live in America than India. Sometimes it feels like there's honestly no rules here. I love that I'm an American citizen by birth and I love beef and bacon and anything with protein.

Eagle Scout Elder Dusara Out

Lunch with American and Australian elder (Johnny Rockets)

Week 63 Photos in Pitampuri

Sunset

New companion, Elder Mani

Small branch of local members