Trials of Shashi

A few funny things from this week...

We have a brother named Albert that comes on exchange with us a lot. One day he came and told us that his neighbor was sick, and he wanted us to come give her a blessing. We told him that he also has the ability to go and give her a blessing. He said "Elder, I was alone... I couldn't go in by myself!" MAYBE he was referring to the fact that it's better to have 2 brethren there when you give a blessing, but I got the impression he was thinking he couldn't go in and visit a sister by himself. haha he's been hanging around Elders too much! :)

So, in India it's fairly acceptable to go pee anywhere you want. In Bangalore it's a little bit more frowned upon (since this city is pretty westernized), but it's still okay. I have one spot that I always go to, because it's kind of dumpy garbage spot that is hidden away behind a big building, so I can still have some privacy. Well, this week as I turned the corner around the big building I found that some old guy was already there peeing in my pee spot! Ridiculous.... But it's okay. We just awkwardly went to the bathroom together. 

Yesterday was the holiday Holy, the one where they spray colors at everyone. I had to make a mad sprint away from some 6 year old that thought it would be funny to spray my white shirt with some orange stuff! haha :)

Yesterday we also went to a funeral function. Pretty much, it's a big party when someone dies (exactly what you want, mom!) I felt kind of awkward though, because we were treated like the guests of honor when we came to it... I'm not even related to the person, and I was treated way better than the family members there! :P Indians love love love white people. 

Sad news for this week though: our golden investigator Shashi is being buried under a big mound of trials and hardships. Her testimony is stronger than a vast majority of church members, but she is just getting trials pounded down onto her. First, her mother-in-law passed away (hence why we were at a funeral function yesterday; she insisted that we come to it). Then, her husband got so upset about his mom passing away that he is drinking more than ever. Morning, afternoon, evening. Always drunk as a skunk. :( And, because he's upset and drunken, he likes to take some of his anger out on Shashi... physically. Then, to make life even MORE exciting for this woman, she is having some un-surmountable financial struggles. So, she used to have a job that made $130 a month, but it forced her to work on Sunday, so she found a different job with Sunday off, but it only pays $95 a month (pretty significant drop). So, you'd expect that she would just get some awesome temporal blessing from that, wouldn't you? Well, I'm sure God has some big blessing in store for her in the future, but as of now... it's not looking good. See, she needed $500 to pay for her daughter's school fees, but there is no way she just has that much money lying around the house, so she took out a loan. She hid the money away in her house, because it was still gonna be a week or 2 before it was time to pay the school fees.

Well, guess what? The money was stolen. All $500. 

As she told us about this, she just broke down into tears, knowing that there is no way she is going to be able to pay for her little 6 year old daughter to go to school.....

AHHH! It just makes me so frustrated!! Why are prideful jerks like myself just given every possible comfort in life on a silver platter, while there are oober humble people like Shashi that have the few meager blessings in there life ripped out of their hands? I've been a member of the church long enough to know "the answer" to questions like this, but it just frustrates me to no end to see a woman I love so much go through such ridiculous trials.... 

Sigh... we're definitely praying over this, because we have no idea what to do. Because, to top it all off, James (Shashi's husband) doesn't want Shashi to join the church (he wants her to come to his church). Ahhh.... we really don't know what to do. 

It'll make a great story 5 years from now when we can look back and see how God's masterful plan unfolded in Shashi's life, but for now... It's not looking good.