Happy Pongal - January 13, 2009

OKay now for the updates. First business, can you check my credit account and make sure everything is okay? I don't have any suspicions that anything is wrong but I'm actually more curious as to how much is taken out every time I use an Indian ATM.

This week is Pongal. It is a Hindu festival that lasts for three days. Any time I ask what why people celebrate it I get the answer "Christians celebrate Christmas and Hindus celebrate Pongal". I don't it's for the celebration of anyone's birth but there are a lot of associated tradition such as burning giant logs in the middle of the streets, spreading cow manure outside your front door and you know stuff like that. It's nice because many of our usual investigators are home and free during the day time but at the same time it's a nuisance because so many people are out of town. But the White Hand Book says to do as much proselyting on holidays so were making sure to use our time effectively.

Well we got our phone back and it has been a huge help. I learned a lot not having the phone, mostly about how great a cellphone is. I now appreciate it a lot more and it has made me more diligent in making phone calls. Now the problem still remains with other people and their phones because we can call all day but if the person doesn't pick up their phone or they don't charge it then we're still out of luck. It gets pretty annoying but that's just the way it goes.

The work is going great in Rajahmundry but there have been a couple of set backs with those who have baptism dates. First there is Prasad whose wife, Surekha, is a member and about three months back became interested. He had to wait some time and show commitment to learn English but now he has done that and we're just waiting for him to come to church three weeks in a row. His desire is there but he just could not come to church continuously. Usually it was because of illness, which we use to think was a made up excuse but this week revealed the truth. It turns out that Surekha is pregnant, three months pregnant. They had their suspicions before but they are not able to afford quick and reliable tests so they had to wait a while until the doctors could find the baby with the more rudimentary equipment. So all those times that Prasad said he was sick it was actually Surekha and Prasad needed to stay behind and take care of her (Surekha didn't want anyone to know so that's why Prasad said he was sick). But the news is out and we are all happy. The problem is that Elder Chagoya and I don't know how to deal with Prasad's baptism now. We're going to have the Branch President visit them and have him discuss that with him and maybe even talk to Mission President.

Now for the other person, Chaitenya. He is really a sweet guy and is super obedient. Anytime we tell him to do something he does it. He has a tough time reading English (let alone the Book of Mormon which I don't know if even native speakers can understand it at first) but he wanted to keep his commitment so he read the chapter summaries of every book. So not perfect but he really did try. He has great respect for the branch leaders and he loved the picture of the Prophet and the 12 Apostles in the Liahona. He was supposed to be baptized next Sunday but we talked with the branch president on Monday and he told us that we should postpone the baptism so that Chaitenya's wife, Indu, can also be baptized. That would be a while because Indu had only come to church once.

When Chaitenya first came to church he always came alone. We told him to bring his family but he always said that his wife was busy and the kids were hungry and had to eat. Well we quickly fixed that by bringing an older member to his home who explained the importance of families in the church. He explained in Telegu so Indu could understand and we got her involved in the lesson. She can understand some English but she cannot speak it. We found out during our discussion that even though she is a strong Christian, she hasn't gone to church for 10 years because she pretty much lost her faith in them. She felt like she didn't need church for her to be spiritual. We talked to her about the Sabbath day and why we go to church and also about the Sacrament. I think she understood because the next Sunday she came to all three hours of church and loved it. She was able to take the sacrament and feel the spirit. But this now leads to a whole different set of challenges. Before we were planning on baptizing Chaitenya and then baptize Indu later because she didn't speak as much English. But now the branch president wants us to baptize both of them at the same time so that the whole family can be involved. In order to do that we have to get the mission president's approval, and it could go either way. I would really like to see them baptized at the same time, especially since the last time we met Chaitenya said that he felt that he should be baptized with his wife and Indu even said she wanted to be baptized and be a member of the church. I've been preparing my arguement over and over again to explain to President Nichols and I'm trying to make it as fair as possible so that a good decision can be made but I really want him to approve her baptism.

Sorry that this email is only about Chaitenya's family but my mind has been really wrapped around them this whole week and it still is. But at the same time it reminds how great all of you are because I get to teach about eternal families to them and I have all of you to back up that testimony.

Oh and by the way, we found some really cheap India peanut butter. It's not as good as American peanut butter so I still really appreciate the skippy in the bag that you sent but it is nice knowing that there is a reasonable substitute at a decent price. Oh and thank you so much for the drawing things, I'm going to dig into those today and I will enjoy them so much. Anyways I better go and read your letters.

Love you a million precious family moments,

Elder Mackay

P.S. Byron as I read your letter I was on the edge of my seat. I can't wait to hear that prayer. I am so jealous of you, that is really amazing. I'm so proud of you.

Ha ha I knew you would love the bracelets. Mom I picked the green ones out just for you.

O MY GOODNESS MATT AND JEN! I just read the final part of your letter and I just about flipped. I feel like I'm missing so much but at the same time it will all build up so that when I do come home it will be super sweet.

I know the first email is Karin Rowan but I don't know the second one. You might be able to ask everyone if they know Karin's real email.

Anyways again I love you a million baby announcements!

Elder Mackay

P.S.S.
With a girl that good looking Mom, I don't blame you. And the Carly's photos are great. I love Savy and Logan, especially with Logan's red jacket and the read brick wall. They seem to just be happy babies. Except now with Logan's croup as you know that I am very familiar with that and feel his pain.