January 15, 2009

How a Branch in India Works

Do they have meetings in English in this branch?
The branch in Visak has some translation, but they really try to speak English. They are pretty good at that.
Do the youth have Seminary or Institute?
They have seminary and institute, but they are just at night time at the church. There is no way the government would ever let institute into colleges. Maybe some day.
How long have the branch leaders been members of the church?
The leaders have been members for different amounts of time. President Ratnam has been a member for like 8 years. One of the councilers has been a member for like 6 years and one for 2 years. Most of the time the leaders are members for a while. I don't think that the branch could stand if missionaries weren't here though. We are always telling people what they should do; how it works. We are trying to help them become self efficient. They are getting better.
Do thy have a full block on Sundays?
There is young women and young men and primary. They don't, however, have mutual or anything like that. It's just on Sundays.

Funny Story

I have a good story from this week. We went to teach a second lesson to a man named Anil Kumar and his family. We went and started teaching them in their shack of a house it is like 10x10. with a queen sized bed in it. It's only one room. Anyway, so we started teaching, and I guess they had told all their neighbors about us coming. So by the end of the lesson we were teaching 30 people. He was the only one that knew English also so he was translating. It was crazy. I have never seen that many people crammed into that small of a space. It was insane. I am pretty excited for him. He tried to come to church last Sunday, but he couldn't find the church. He called me during Sacrament, but obviously I didn't answer. He said he is coming next week. I'm happy for him.
Thirty people?! Sounds like some of the meetings that the early missionaries of the church had! MM

Investigater Troubles

  • Our investigators are driving me crazy!!!! They all say that they know what we are teaching is true, but they won't come to church. I don't know what to do. We have had members start calling them and inviting them. I think we will have to start picking them up ourselves every morning. We have no people set anymore, because they aren't coming to church. I don't really know what to do. I guess I will just keep praying and bearing my testimony. I hope it works. :)
  • Everything is going well here. We are working hard, but the results aren't really showing yet. We haven't baptized anyone yet. The few that had dates either fell off the face of the planet or would not come to church so we dropped them. We do have Seezar set for baptism. I know a crazy name for India. He seems really good. He calls me his huge younger brother. He has this really deep voice that I like. He also teaches English so his English is amazing. He even corrects me sometimes, because I'm not used to speaking to people with good English. HAHAH