Busy, busy, busy - February 12, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

First business. Did you ever get a chance to look at my bank account? I remember that I have that special CD account and I think I'm not suppose to take money out of it or something like that. Mom you were with me at the time so you're going to have to remind me.

Anyways I loved all your letters. Ashley and Dustin I wish I could help you move, but if I were you I would make sure to get piano movers but that's your wish :). And I can't believe how old all the children are getting, not to mention how well behaved they are. It sounds like Reese and Logan are maturing into the oldest child role. And thank you so much for the advice Mom. We will definitely do it.

Hey Matt I was talking to one of the members who is studying his bachelor of technology (b. tech). He gave me his email and said that you could email and talk with him about school. His name is Varun and his email: 7mech@yahoo.com. I'm not sure how skype works, I've only heard about it so if you want to skype with him you'll have to ask him about that. At the very least you can probably IM him. I'll keep asking though to see if I can find anyone else who is a teacher or works with schools.

So I just recently heard about that movie slumdog millionare. I was talking to one of the elders and he said that one of the return missionaries from India saw it and said that it was pretty accurate. Mom I wrote you a letter last week about the poverty but I've been looking around a little more and I realize the poverty is more rampant than I thought originally. I guess I zone most of it out because I see it everyday. The hard part is that most of the people who are in that situation don't speak English and I can't really get to know all of their troubles and stories. Now there aren't as many slums in Rajahmundry as there are in the big cities. Hyderabad has a couple but I think that Mumbai has the worst. It seems that in the cities the gap between the rich and the poor grows larger. There is one member, Levin, in Rajahmundry who is in a very poor situation. His father passed away when he was young and his mother is handicap so he alone has to take care of her. And Dad you are very right when you said how humble the people are. Levin is just that kind of person. He always comes on exchange with us because he has such a strong faith that it is the right thing to do. He's introduced many friends to the gospel and even last Sunday one of his good friends, Srujana, was baptized. Srujana is a completely different story of faith. She was introduced to the church 2 years back. Her parents allowed her to go to church but because of their deep Hindu roots they wouldn't allow her to be baptized. Well that didn't stop her. Levin and her other member friends kept nourishing her with the scriptures and she would come to church and institute all the time. Finally after two years of waiting she was finally old enough to sign her own papers and be baptized. It was very special and Levin was able to baptize her. She is so committed and even when the Branch President asked her about her future, mostly about her marriage, she said with a firm conviction that she would marry a church member.

Things are going great and they aren't slowing down. We've been consistenly getting around 8-12 to sacrament every week. It's been keeping us so busy at church and I feel like I'm herding a bunch of sheep or goat (which is something that I feel is very appropriate cause I actually see goatherders prod their flocks every day). We've been working with the branch a lot to make sure that there is strong fellowship going on as well. It's not perfect but it's getting there. Missionary work is like a water bed. When you cover one area another area pops up, making it very difficult to get a grip on everything. For example this week we had a lot of new investigators but we weren't ablet to visit any of our less active members who really need visits.

We have 5 baptisms this Sunday: Adams, Jaylatha, Percy and Peter, and Prasad. The Adams family (no pun intended) is amazing. Every time we visit we realize how much of a miracle it is that they are getting baptized. 5 years ago they first met elders and Jaylatha would only listen and Adams wanted nothing to do with it. They were introduced by Jaylatha's cousins, the Penegulas, who are members. I talked to Raju Penegula, who just got back from his mission last year, and he said that it's really a miracle that Adams and Jaylatha are coming to church now because when they first tried they were completely against it. Jaylatha even told us the other night that Adams wouldn't even go to her church! Prasad is the one who has had a lot of trouble coming to church because his wife, a member Surekha, was pregnant. But now he found he's able to come to church consistently and he even got a good job, great news for an upcoming father.

Anyways I better get going. I'm going to visit so many people in Hyderabad now:) Ashley I'm really sorry for your Grandpa. Know that he's watching you now and probably even comforting you. The Spirit World is a lot closer than we think and if we do those simple things (read scriptures and pray) we can shorten that veil between us and the spirit world.

I love you all a million Hyderabad Dum Byrani's

Elder Mackay