Birthdays

This week the big news is Elder Bandi had his first birthday as a missionary! woo woo! Haha it was kind of funny, because before his birthday he would make comments about he doesn't care about his birthday, and it's not a big deal, and he's not expecting anything special to happen on that day, etc. etc. BUT, I know my companion better than that. He loves being the spot light of attention, so I knew full well that he would care about his birthday. And, I was correct! Haha it was kind of funny actually seeing how much he cared about his birthday once the day actually arrived... ^_^

My special gift is a gift he doesn't know I gave to him. You see, last year on my birthday I got a lot of calls from people to wish me a happy birthday. All day people would call me, and I kept wondering "Wow, how do so many people know it's my birthday?? Maybe the Mission Leader told people?? I don't know... but I feel pretty popular right now!" Well, a few days later I just happen to be looking though the text messages in our phone, and I saw that Elder Watts had sent a text to all the members telling them it was my birthday, and they should wish me happy birthday. I was pretty touched by his thoughtfulness. So this year, I decided to do the same thing, but this time for MY trainee!

In the morning I texted a whole bunch of members to tell them to wish Elder Bandi a happy birthday, and they came through for me! All day he was getting calls from people! It was great to see his face light up with excitement each time someone called him. And it was even more fun to see him try and figure out how everyone knew. "maybe they looked on my Facebook and saw today was my birthday... or maybe they remember from when they met me last year at the YSA conference! or maybe one of the church members is sending a text to everyone... How does everyone know?!" He said more people called him this year than even when it was his birthday back home! And as of now, he still doesn't know how it happened. Hopefully, he will never know.

And I learned from my trainer's mistake. I deleted all of the texts I sent to people... :P

Lavanya continues to be a great joy to work with. She tells us time and time again that her life is full of sadness and stress, BUT she always feels peace and joy when she comes to church or reads the Book of Mormon. Awesome. :-)

Here's something random from yesterday... a woman in our ward rolled her ankle or something like that, and another sister was going to give her a foot massage to help with the pain. However, she wanted oil to put on the foot first, to make the massage better. She then asked me if she could use some of my consecrated oil to rub on her foot... Is that allowed?? I've never heard of a situation like this before, so I tried to think logically about it. The oil has been consecrated, set apart, to bless the sick and afflicted. This woman is afflicted. Having a good foot massage would bless her. Sooo... I guess it's okay! Haha so I let her use the oil to rub on her foot a little bit... so random. I'm sure God understands, whether or not that was technically allowed!

Thanks for the birthday wishes! And I got your package this week! I'm waiting until Saturday to open all the little gifts/card though. Thanks for your care! :)

Speaking of caring... would you be willing to shoot Elder Bandi a quick email next week? I feel so bad for the guy... Again, he loves getting attention, so it's kind of heart breaking for him when he gets on his email each week, and he has one, MAYBE two emails.... a simple email from you guys would make him really happy! :) Here's his email address: lakshman.bandi@myldsmail.net

A Day to Remember

From August 4

Well, good news for this week is Elder Bandi has emotionally recovered very well! He seems totally back to normal to me. Although, I'm sure there are still a few inner struggles he is going through, but I'm sure those will heal soon enough.

Today for P-Day we had a zone activity to a very famous place in Hyderabad called Charmenar! I bought some AWESOME stuff!! Possibly I overspent ($50!), but I figure the things I got, if I had purchased them in the USA, would easily cost triple or more... so, I'd say it was worth it! 

This week we had one wonderful day in particular! So, on Tuesday it was the last day of a big Muslim festival called Ramezan. Normally during big Muslim or Hindu holidays we have lock downs, so I was kind of anticipating that we would just stay inside the apartment that day. But if not, there was also an awesome ward activity happening (because everyone has the day off of work due to the holiday), so if we didn't get lock downed I thought we would just spend the day with our ward. Well... Monday evening I got some unfortunate news. Our zone leaders told us there was no lock down, and we weren't allowed to go the ward activity... AND, to make matters worse, we could only go to set appointments with people that we know (and just about everyone we knew would be at the ward activity)... To be honest, my first thought was "Thanks zone leaders. Thanks a lot. Way to shoot us in the foot." What are we supposed to go and due all day?? But, I was quickly able to have the rational side of my brain take over, and realized I need to listen to my leaders, be obedient, God will provide a way, etc. etc. 

And provide he did! Tuesday morning we got a call from a woman named Bhuvana. She is a potential investigator, and we had been trying to set an appointment with her for weeks. But every time she would always say she was too busy... well, she just decided to call us Tuesday morning and said "Hey, could you come visit my home today??" Why yes, yes we can! :D 

We then taught her and her family a great lesson on living the word of God, not just listening to it. They all seemed to enjoy. And then they gave us some lunch after the appointment! Hooray! It was her nieces birthday, so we also sang happy birthday to her (6 years old!)

After our visit with Bhuvana, I wasn't really sure what we were going to do next. But, we decided we would go back to the main part of our area, and just try and figure something out. Well, as we got back to our area, we decided to get some water from church. And then right as we were about to leave the church we got ANOTHER call! This time from an investigator who we had been trying to meet with for weeks as well, but like Bhuvana, he would always say he was too busy. Well, he called us and said "Hey elders, where are you? Do you happen to be near the church? If so, can I meet you there?" Why yes, yes you can! :D

We then had a great visit with Arun. He told us many us his life problems, and we invited him to read the Book of Mormon to help bring peace into his life. Awesome. :)

BUT, the day gets better! 

That evening we went to go see a part member family. The dad is like 60, and he is a member. His son is 38, and is not a member. Well, we went to go see them, and had a true miracle fall into our laps! We shared a simple lesson on the plan of salvation, and then afterwards the father said "My son has so many problems in life. He needs to be baptized to help fix his problems." The son then looked at us and said "I've thought a lot about getting baptized... and I agree with my dad. I need to be baptized to help put my life straight." What? Did my ears deceive me? I managed to stammer out "Uhhh... well... will you prepare to be baptized on August 24?" "Oh yes, definitely!" He then wrote August 24 down on a piece of paper to help him remember his baptismal date. Wow. Incredible. 

At first I didn't enjoy listening to my leaders, but their guidance brought a day of miracles for us! Truly a day to remember! 

I hope you all have some equally memorable days this week! :-)