Hyderabad is great - June 3, 2009

Hello Family and Friends,

Well I'm in Hyderabad for zone conference and what I think is the closest to a vacation that a missionary will get. I feel great being in my old area and visiting all the people again. Today we had an amazing P-day: We went to the tombs of Muslim kings, went to Golconda fort, and ended with a wonderfully delicious meal at the marriot hotel buffet (an expensive meal is 200-300 rupees...This one was 900 and worth every bit).

But the Zone Conference was definitely the highlight. Matt, I think I found my disruptive innovation. President Nichols gave a huge training on setting goals and it blew our minds away. We were given the assignment to set three goals that we wanted to accomplish before the end of the mission but we aren't suppose to share it with anybody, sorry:). But the next day for my personal study I studied more about setting goals and decided to set some life goals. They aren't completed yet but I have four categories: Family, Gospel, Education, Job. I'm just keeping it in the back of my mind but it is fun to think about. President also told us to set our goals high and to not restrict ourselves. We're now in the process of raising our zone goal and the training came in just at the right time. Our original zone goal was 60 baptisms among 12 elders. Well we blew that out of the water because after 5 months we have 58 baptisms. So as we were talking among the zone and district leaders and after a long discussion we came up with 180 baptisms by the end of the year. When we arrived with that number we had a long silence as we all contemplated what that meant. We swallowed hard and girded up our loins and sustained the goal. It isn't final yet but after this next month and President Nichols' approval we will have it set in stone, and there's no turning back. We're just putting our faith to the test so we'll have to see what happens.

As for what happened with Missionary work we had a few setbacks. Anand and Uma went with their family to Uma's cousin's funeral so they were not in town for church on Sunday. They told us in advance but they still need some more experiences at church before being baptized. Anand is great though and his baptism is always on his mind so we're confident in his sincerity.

Our biggest set-back was with Kranthi Kumar. His wife and his mother got involved and convinced him not to be baptized. I knew his wife, Neelima, wasn't interested in our message but I never would have thought her opposed. I was on exchange but the last lesson with him ended up being a dispute between agency, terrorism, wars and how religion has a negative affect from all of these. He brought up these concerns before last time we dropped him but I'm not giving up again. Elder Loomis and I are going to do as Alma did and go in another way. We visited their home but only Neelima was there which was perfect in my mind. I asked if she read the Book of Mormon and she said a little. I responded "Honest sister." and she confessed she hadn't. I then gave her a chapter and gave her my strongest exhortion and commited her to reading it. Hopefully if we focus on Neelima we can cut at the root of her concern.

But we did have success nonetheless. We have been teaching a brother named Efraim for a while. He is an older man, about 50, and is a high school teacher. He has been coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon and believes in it but is hesitant about baptism because he has been baptized before. He said he's been praying about but hasn't received an answer. I know well enough now that someone who claims not to recieve an answer either doesn't know what the spirit feels like or something is keeping him from asking with real intent. Well on Saturday we went to his home and shared Ether 12 with him. We talked about faith and how we need to try and test our faith and then we will receive the witness. So I told Efraim "brother, what you need to do is show God that you are serious about this. You need to commit to one day that you will be baptized. Tell God what you've done and that you need an answer and He will answer you." It only took a few moments of thought and then he agreed. I'm praying that he is sincere but we have a lot of work to do and our first goal is to have him and his wife to feel an uplifting and spiritual experience that will confirm the truth to him. Not to mention we need a lot of faith for this to work.

Paige I'm so excited for your patriarchal blessing. I wish I was there for it but we're going to need a brother-sister day together when I get back. It sounds like you have a lot of direction in your life. Set goals now and write them down. Keep them in a place you will see them everyday and never say you can't do it. I love Dallin's pictures. He really does have a muscle body, I swear I can see a six pack. Dad, I'm really glad your school is going awesome. You might have to talk to one of the members in Rajahmundry. He owns a school and is very interested in project work for his students. Maybe you can give him a few pointers. His email is dineshkulathil@yahoo.com. By the way the street vendor food is pretty darn good here. My favorite is Pani Puri and tomato bajji.

I love you all a million goals,

Elder Curtis Mackay