Week 98: New family to teach. Charming a cobra...

Hey,

This past Sunday Jayantika and Mamta were both able to be confirmed. Also, after church we visited a referral family from Elder Kadli. It was a Christian family of 8. Of the 8 about 4 of them spoke English. We taught The Restoration and handed out 3 Books of Mormon. They skimmed through the first few pages and said that they wanted us to come back to teach them more and to eat with them. We are way stoked to go back this week. The mother actually tried paying us money as a thank you for teaching them. We declined and said we would be happy to come over for dinner or lunch this week. Lets see what happens this transfer with this new family.

We had a great time at the event this past Saturday. It was definitely a unique experience for us. All of the native Indian missionaries were saying that the South Indian food that they served tasted just like home for them. There was someone that played the sitar (Indian Guitar). Then there was a really interesting Hindu dance.

This past month I've found myself loosing my appetite. Then I'm also not eating as much as I used to for each meal. I've dropped 15 pounds in the last 4 months. I just need to endure a little bit longer.

Also transfers are this week. I'm probably staying, but my companion might be on his way out the door. While jogging this past week I was chased by 4 street dogs.... again.

Lastly, the weather is back into the low 80's during the day and gets down into the 50's at night. Its very pleasant now, but in 1 month I'm going to be melting. :)

Love,
Elder Dusara

A couple photos below are of elder Dusara and a real-life Cobra

Snake-charming a Cobra

That's a Cobra

Week 97: 3 baptisms last week and more to come...

Hi

This past week was great! We had a great turnout for the Missionary Fireside. We played fun minute to win it games to start. Then we ended with a gospel message on the Plan of Salvation. Then yesterday we were able to baptize sister Mamta and Jayantika. They were so happy that they could be baptized!

Also I'm very happy to say that Ashita's mom was baptized yesterday as well!

Brother Samuel Singh gave us a referral that we contacted yesterday with his family. We are planning on teaching them this week. It's a family of two.

We are excited for this big event this Saturday with the Hubbards! It's a GIANT public affairs event. We rented out a big party hall for over 300 guests. All these people are people that have a lot of power and influence in India. I think all of the missionaries in my district will be assigned as waiters for the night. There should also be a ton of good food as well.

In other new our missionary schedule has changed so we now go to bed at 11:30 and get up at 7:30 everyday. The is also a McDonalds about 100 yards away from my apartment.

Elder Dusara

Week 96: Jayentika's progress, local conference meetings with church leadership

Hi All,

Jayentika passed her interview yesterday. She even selected me to baptize her Jayentikas sister even came to church with two of their friends. We finished all the lessons with Chhaya and she wanted to talk with her parents first. So she did that yesterday and they weren't exactly on board with the whole baptism thing. We are going to continue to meet with her this week. She's 22, so she doesn't need their consent. But she said that she wanted to respect her parents. But we will see what happens next.

This past week was great! I LOVED being able to hear from Sister Burton, Sister Cordon, Elder Evans, and Elder Funk. It felt like being a part of a mini personal conference when they were all teaching us. Elder Evans and Sister Cordon even attend our branch on Sunday. They talked about how we are all Shepherds and we can introduce our friends and family to the Gospel.

This past week was awesome. Today I'm going souvenir shopping at a big market. Wish me luck that I can find some good deals.

Also last week I played volleyball with half of the mission. It felt great to be back to my spiking habits. Also playing on a shortened net and being 6ft helped a little bit as well.

Elder Dusara Out

More treats for Ajay

Just a little traffic

The new district

Week 95: Chhaya comes to church, meeting Pavin, getting kurta's

Hi,

This last week was good. Chhaya came to church again and she even bore her testimony. She has a great understanding of the Gospel. This week we are planning on meeting her family so they know who we are and what we do. The Ray family is very tough to meet with. The father is not working right now and so they are in a very tight financial situation. But we are planning on meeting them this week to teach the last lesson and review the interview questions.

Last week while on an exchange with Elder Drummond we talked with someone in a park that went to school at Stanford, Princeton, and Harvard. His name is Pavin and he's now a small Hedge Manager here in New Delhi. He was married in Park City, Utah and he praised our church and BYU for how organized everything is. He even told me that the best dessert he has ever tasting in the entire world was from the rooftop restaurant at the Joseph Smith building. I'll have to try that out this year.

On a side note I've started buying some souvenirs. There is a member in my branch that sells really nice kurtas (men's Indian clothing). His name is brother Kuberan. He's a super cool member.

I'm healthy and well.

Elder Dusara