More on the Sons of Mosiah in India

First about all the happenings in Bangalore. An assistant and an office elder were on exchanges. Elder Ivie and Elder Valluri. They were just out finding people. While they were out walking, it was like 7 at night. There was a big festival. There are huge Hindu festivals here all the time. They ran into one. There were a bunch of drunk guys who weren’t very happy to see Elder Ivie, because he is white. The Elders ran away because the guys wanted to hurt them. They ran to the police station. Before they got there the “Mob” (I really don’t know how many guys were there) caught up to them. They beat up Elder Ivie. I don’t know how bad. He is still alive and looks the same so I assume not too bad. They then took them to the police, accusing them of offering money to join our church. Since this is illegal, they arrested them. They were in jail for 3 days then released. They are fine and well, so no worries. . . . . . . Everyone is fine though. They Sent Elder Ivie home 2 weeks early. They took out all the missionaries in Bangalore. The only ones left are the assistants, office elders, and the zone leaders in Bangalore. All the other ones got sent to other areas. I don’t know how long that will be like that. We are out of lock down. It just meant that we had to stay in the apartment for a couple of days. Then Friday and Saturday we could only visit those investigators that had a baptismal date set. We are out and prosolyting now. We just can't wear our tags yet. That is our only restriction.

It is somewhat disconcerting to hear about events like this occuring in the mission where your son is serving. But as I think back over the history of the church, I remember multiple times when missionaries have spent time in jail. Establishing the church and it's truths throughout the world is not always easy businness. I still believe that my missionary is safer there in India than he would be at home, living the life of an average 19 year old! MM