Catching Up

From May 11:

Guess what?! This week I got to give NON-GOSPEL RELATED SERVICE! Woo woo! I NEVER get to do that! Similar to how Peter didn't want Jesus to wash his feet, no one seems to want us to serve them... :P But this week we were talking to a woman in our branch named Josephine, and she was telling me how her daughter's exams were coming up, and she was doing the best she could to help her daughter prepare, but she doesn't know sociology at all, so she was getting very frustrated trying to help her daughter in a subject she herself didn't really know... well, to her delight, I told her that I LOVE sociology, and I'm quite good at it! Right away she signed me up to help her daughter prepare for her exam, and on Saturday afternoon I spent 3 hours studying sociology with her! I loved getting a chance to do non-Gospel service, and I also loved getting to learn more about sociology as I studied with her. Hopefully she's at least a little more prepared now! 

This week I also got to teach Elder's quorum and youth Sunday school class. Elder's quorum I had 24 hours notice to prepare for it, and Sunday school class I had 90 seconds notice... haha but both lessons went great! I love getting to teach youth especially, and they must enjoy my teaching also because they want me to come teach them every week! :-)

This week we met a very random guy. His name is Sigh, he is a church member, and he came to Bangalore from Hyderabad in search of work. We had no idea who he was until one morning he called us, said he was a member that was moving to Bangalore, and that he was about to arrive by train to Bangalore. He asked us to meet him somewhere to help him figure out Bangalore, because other than they church he does not know a single soul in this big city. So an hour or 2 later met him at church and got to know him. Elder Pydimalla was very confused as to why he came from Hyderabad to here in search of work, because Hyderabad is already a big city that people move to in search on jobs! He simply told us that he had bad influences there, and wanted to get out. Well, he had no arrangements for where he was going to sleep/live, and he had not even begun to search for any jobs in Bangalore yet. So, we gave him the number of some different elders in Bangalore, and told him to go search for a place to live over in there area, because our area is very very expensive but they live in a cheaper area of B'lore. The last I saw of him he was about to get on a bus to meet the other elders. He had all of his stuff in just one backpack (including his Gospel Principles book, thankfully! He became a member just 8 months ago), and only $30 in his pocket.

I have no idea what that man is doing in his life. I just hope God is watching over him, because his life is clearly very lost right now.

From May 18:

Well, today I begin my journey to the Philippines! CRAZY! It's kind of a similar feeling to the day right before I left for college. I KNEW the next day I was leaving home for BYU, but still it didn't really seem real... Similarly, I know I'm getting on a plane in a matter of hours (about 20 hours), but it still seems unreal I won't be in India next week... I can only imagine how much more unreal it is for missionaries (like Tanner) that are about to take a plane home. Wow. Weird. 

This last year I officially hit my year mark! Huuzaw! One way that I commemorated the day was by making a list of all the ways my life/myself is better because I chose to go on a mission. A very selfish "what have Igained by doing this". My list got up to 47 points, and then I ran out of room on the page I was writing on, even though I still had many more things I was ready to write down. OVER 47! I knew my life was better because I chose to serve, but I didn't realize just how MUCH better it is! I'll be sure to share that list with you all some day. :)

This year I was saying good bye to many of my dear Bangalore friends. It was particularly hard to say good bye to my all time favorite Indian family, Vidya Sri, Manjula, Dinakeran, and their dad Raman. I've never been so tempted on my mission to hug a girl!! :P Giving a handshake farewell to my 2nd favorite 14 year old in the world (right behind you lil sis!) just wasn't sufficient to express how much I was gonna miss them!! Sigh... oh well. I'll shower them with hugs 100 years from now in the spirit world! :) 

I'll talk to you all next week from a completely different country!