Namaste!!

Namaste! 

That means "greetings" in Telugu! 

So this week was a weird week. My companion is brand new and so I have to show him all around our area and introduce him to all of our members, investigators, and other people. It's weird being in charge and being the one who knows everyone. My last companion was here 7 months and knew all the members so I didn't have to. But now that he is gone, I have to be the one who knows everyone. It's not a big deal and I enjoy going out of my way to meet the people in the branch and so it's all good.

The work went really SLOW this week. We had those three baptisms last week and another this week, and with those four baptisms, we now have ZERO investigators. We are basically starting from the bottom and working our way back up. I have the faith and I know that if my companion and I work hard, are obedient, and work efficiently that the Lord will bless us and that we will be able to find people to teach.

We were able to take part in our branch's Missionary Fireside and that was really good! It started at 6, but no one showed up until about 6:45 PM (Indian standard time is to always be LATE) but once things started it was super good. I took a bunch of pictures and hung out with the members. It was really fun and I enjoyed it a lot. One bad thing came from it though... I gave my SD card to the branch to copy the pictures I took onto the Branch system and I got a virus on it that deleted like all of my that I had just taken, including the baptismal pictures from the 25th. It's super annoying but one of the members is diligently working to fix it. 

First Thanksgiving away from home and we COMPLETELY spaced it. It's hard to celebrate an American holiday in India I guess. 

My new companion is great, just takes a little bit of adjusting to get used to! I love him and he is pushing me a lot to become better and work hard. I love being here and am constantly seeing ways that I have changed. It's weird! I'm glad everything and everyone is going well back on the homefront. Know that all of you are in my prayers! Love you! 

Love,

Elder Head

Transfers....

Hello Everyone!

First off, congrats to Mitch’s team for finally bringing the trophy home! I’m happy for the Jordan High football team, except for Mitchell. He doesn’t deserve a ring ;)

This week was a weird week!  On Monday, we were sitting in the apartment

after we finished Daily Planning and then, I noticed our phone was ringing and I went and looked, and.......ASSISTANTS. It was my first transfer call! They told me that I would be staying in Kakinada and that my new companion would be Elder Penumuru! The funny thing is that I had taken Elder Penumuru on like 7 exchanges and so it was really weird that he was going to be my new companion. Elder Vaiphei, my beloved trainer, is now a Zone Leader in Coimbatore! My new companion was a Zone Leader in Rajahmundry! It was a weird week and I’m excited that I have this opportunity to work with Elder Penumuru. He is way experienced and I have so much to learn from him! 

So this week Elder Vaiphei and I met with some of our recent converts and helped another family prepare for baptism, and on Friday, we got up at 5 AM to take him to Rajahmundry. I dropped him off, picked up my new companion and then met with President Funk for our interviews. He told me that he had high expectations for Kakinada! Elder Vaiphei and I had a lot of success and he expects the same. He told me that he expects me to learn things quickly and apply them to become a really good missionary. Elder Penumuru told me that President put us together so I can learn to be a leader, and that after this transfer, he expects me to be able to become a leader in the mission....Scary?! Yes.

This week we had three baptisms! It was so good and I’m way excited that we got to be there with them every step of the way. A sister and her two daughters. They are such a good family and they love me so much ;) It’s been so fun to be able to watch them progress and grow.

We had Diwali this week which is the Hindu festival of light....and noise! Everyone buys fireworks, specifically firecrackers and mortars, and sets them off. It was SO loud. We had to stay inside. No big deal. Everyone stayed in my apartment except for Elder Vaiphei.

Well, thanks for all the love and support! I love India!

Love,

Elder Head

PS.  By the way, it’s 70 degrees here......in November! And they sell ear muffs!!

"Jordan Pride?"

Newest Kakinada members!

Elder Head and his new companion Elder Penumuru

Zone Conference in Rajahmundry

Zone Conference before transfers with Elder Vaiphei
Elder Head looks a little tired or.....

Ryan sharing the gospel with every living thing??? or maybe a pig standoff? :)

Oil & Water Never Mix ....Cooking 101 :)

Hello everyone!
This week was a good week! We got a lot done, had some funny moments, and did some good work! 
We got to go to Rajahmundry (again) for Zone Training! It was a really good meeting. I really like the Zone Leaders that we have. They are just generally fun people to be with and they are such good missionaries. We learned a lot and we had a lot of participation from the missionaries, so the Spirit that we felt was really strong. Then, on Wednesday, Elder Taylor and I went on an exchange in his area and it was really fun! Having an American companion in India is like giving a pyromaniac a match. Haha it was a blast. We got some good work done, and so much fun at the same time. I love my Indian companion, but there is something different about having the American!
This week the work went well. After struggling so much to find new investigators, we finally found some new families to teach! One of them plays the keyboard, so if we baptize him, then I don't have to play in Sacrament anymore ;) fingers crossed!! This next week we have a family being baptized. They have these two little girls (ages 13 and 10) that love Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. Even in India I can't get away from JB and SG. Haha but they are really funny and love America so much. I love that family! 
A funny cooking story for you, Mom! On Sunday I was preparing lunch and at the grocery store I had found some frozen french fries. Naturally I bought them, and on Sunday I was going to prepare them. Elder Newbill and I were cooking in the kitchen and the directions said to place the french fries in hot oil. So I heated the oil up and put the french fries in... No one told me that they would explode!! They steamed up like crazy and it was really loud and Elder Newbill and I screamed because it was the scariest thing ever. It was really super funny. I learned an important lesson yesterday.......
I'm never cooking again. 
Well, thanks for all the love and support! I love being here so much! I'm totally blessed! Congrats to Mitch's football team for being slightly better than my team. If it wasn't for us, they would not be where they are now, just saying. Happy Birthday to Spencer! 
Good luck on the mission Ed! You are going to do so good! 
Love,
Elder Head

An Electrifying Week in India!!

Hello everyone!

I'm happy to say that I am alive and well, however, this week was still a tough week for finding new investigators. It's like every house we go to is a Hindu home (weird, right?) that is NOT interested in Christianity. That's okay though. They usually are pretty nice about telling us no, so that makes it a little easier to accept rejection. We got yelled at two times and I got told to get a real  job. Selling salvation isn't a "real job" to people I guess.. Haha!

This week was a good week. We got fed like four times which is good, but also is very bad at the same time. Their portions here are HUGE and it is all rice and stuff so it's just straight fattening. Then, on top of it, it has been a really cool week and very rainy. There was a cyclone that hit Chennai and Nellore (Naylore) and the aftermath landed here. It was just really, really rainy. Some of the member's homes here were flooded and there were snakes swimming in the water. SCARY. But it was really cool. One scary experience, but a really cool one. (Mom, don't freak out, I'm fine.) We were at an investigators home trying to air dry with our wet clothes on and we were under a pavilion. It was really bad storm, so there was thunder and lightning. All of a sudden, lightning struck the transformer that was like 30 feet away and I watched this line of electricity come and stop right in front of me. It made my heart pound so much and the hairs on my arm and neck stand up, but luckily it only got close. I know that the Lord was watching over and protecting us. It was a close call, but lightning looks really cool up close.

Haha well, I'm also officially an Indian......... but that's about it this week.. Not too much was happening. We have some investigators that are 13 and 10 year's old that are obsessed with America and ask so many questions.

Tell Mitt good luck this week! 

Love,

Elder Head

New members for the Kakinada Branch

So apparently...... in India you ask the girl's brother for his sister's hand in marriage ;)

It is good to know that Ryan still likes to take "random" pictures!!  I am hoping that he has some great ones of the Indian landscape and cool meaningful ones too :)  We were able to instant message back and forth with Ryan last night.  He loves India and says that he has found a wife and is staying there forever........as his mom......I informed him otherwise ;)  We are glad that he is safe and enjoying his time in India serving the Lord.

4 Month Mark - Officially Trained :)

Hello family!! and anyone else that reads this..

I officially am no longer a trainee! I finished training on Saturday! and I've been out for over 4 months now!

This week was a pretty good week, but at the same time it sucked really bad. We'll start with the good!

So this week we had a couple be baptized! They are so awesome. They are in their twenties and they are dentists. Everyone in the branch is pretty excited because they are getting a new couple who speak good English! They could potentially be branch presidents and Relief Society president. So that was really good. The baptism service was really good and that was a good way to end the week. 

Also, we went to Rajahmundry on Monday night, stayed over night in the Zone Leader's apartment, and then had Zone Training meeting on Tuesday. President Funk was in charge and did some really good training. It was really good to hear from him. He is SO spiritual and I would not be surprised if he was called to be a General Authority. No joke. Then, Elder Vaiphei and I had an exchange because we hate each other. Just kidding! Wednesday we had baptismal interviews so Tuesday we headed back to Kakinada. Elder Smith was my companion and Elder Vaiphei stayed in Rajahmundry until Friday morning. Wednesday we were inside all day because of some Hindu festival so we had FOUR Americans in an apartment. It was SOOOOO fun! We had a fish curry on Thursday (yuck) and it was terrible (for real) but the family loves me and calls me a son. Hopefully, they will be baptized in November.

So the bad part is that we missed 3 days of proselyting. Thursday was our first day and we had so many bunked (missed) appointments because  people are "busy" or have "work." Liars! And we dropped like 6 families and we could not find ANYONE! So right now we are teaching like no one. So this week we are going to find people like crazy! 

Church was good, I had to teach Primary again though. It's funny. I remember not liking teaching primary at home, but I absolutely loved it here. It was such a struggle but I loved it. The mission is changing me! haha! 

Well, I don't really have too much else to say.. I love you all and am grateful for you and all the support I get! 

Love,

Elder Head

Utah Elders in India!

Wow! Who knew that BYU had a campus in India :)
The mascot looks a little different though!

October 22, 2012

H

Hello everyone! 

This week was a good week, but frustrating at the same time. We had planned four baptisms for the 28th, but two of them basically decided that they want to stay at their old church, but we will see! 

So funny story from this week is that our washing machine broke.. Which actually isn't funny at all because that means that A) I have to wash clothes my hand or B) I wear dirty clothes. I'm not one to be partial to one or the other so I decided that the best thing to do was to have a nice mixture of the two! :) Mom, aren't you so proud of me?! But you can't do anything about it since I live halfway around the world :) but we got it fixed on Saturday, so I'm so grateful for that. 

I have good news regarding the package.. It arrived last Monday! (October 15) and it was really nice to see Dad's signature on the receipt and eat the beef jerky. Beef is expensive here and so we don't get it that often. I love Skittles and Starbursts and the Reese's Pieces were a nice addition. However, I did not enjoy seeing the shorts and shirt :) I think that I may send that home with Elder Taylor's package home because I have enough clothes to manage and not a ton of room or weight in my suitcase to spare. We don't even wear "normal" clothes enough as it is. 

Like I said, we have a couple who is being baptized this Sunday and they are awesome! I love that family. They are dentists and they are just super humble and willing to change. It is so nice to teach them. They want to visit America one day and want to visit me. I love them. We are running out of people to teach though, which is really difficult and not a good thing since we are called to teach the gospel, but if we don't have anyone to teach, I'm just on a long vacation here. We already met the goal for baptisms for the year for the branch, so maybe we will just kick back and wait until January 1 to start trying again.. ;) Just kidding! 

Thanks for all the love and support! 

Love,

Elder Head

ello everyone! 

This week was a good week, but frustrating at the same time. We had planned four baptisms for the 28th, but two of them basically decided that they want to stay at their old church, but we will see! 

So funny story from this week is that our washing machine broke.. Which actually isn't funny at all because that means that A) I have to wash clothes my hand or B) I wear dirty clothes. I'm not one to be partial to one or the other so I decided that the best thing to do was to have a nice mixture of the two! :) Mom, aren't you so proud of me?! But you can't do anything about it since I live halfway around the world :) but we got it fixed on Saturday, so I'm so grateful for that. 

I have good news regarding the package.. It arrived last Monday! (October 15) and it was really nice to see Dad's signature on the receipt and eat the beef jerky. Beef is expensive here and so we don't get it that often. I love Skittles and Starbursts and the Reese's Pieces were a nice addition. However, I did not enjoy seeing the shorts and shirt :) I think that I may send that home with Elder Taylor's package home because I have enough clothes to manage and not a ton of room or weight in my suitcase to spare. We don't even wear "normal" clothes enough as it is. 

Like I said, we have a couple who is being baptized this Sunday and they are awesome! I love that family. They are dentists and they are just super humble and willing to change. It is so nice to teach them. They want to visit America one day and want to visit me. I love them. We are running out of people to teach though, which is really difficult and not a good thing since we are called to teach the gospel, but if we don't have anyone to teach, I'm just on a long vacation here. We already met the goal for baptisms for the year for the branch, so maybe we will just kick back and wait until January 1 to start trying again.. ;) Just kidding! 

Thanks for all the love and support! 

Love,

Elder Head

October 15, 2012!!

Hello everyone!

So this week was much better than the last week! It was a weird and crazy week but I loved it! 

So.. I met Mission President on Tuesday and that was good. He is such a great guy and I'm very grateful that he is leading our mission. Then, one of our zone leaders was made an Assistant, so Elder Penumuru came with us to Kakinada and we were with him for three days while he waited for his companion to come! We got so much done and it was a crazy three days because I went with him and Elder Vaiphei (he didn't get transferred) went with a member. It was good and very productive.

Then, he interviewed some of our investigators for baptism that we were planning for the 21st, but Mission President and Elder Penumuru felt as though they should be baptized on the 14. So we had like 2 days to plan a baptismal service and do the paperwork for them. It was very stressful, but we had a wonderful baptism service on Sunday where we baptized a family of 4. The children have been coming to church for 9 years and were finally baptized! It was very good!

This week we had the opportunity to watch General Conference and it was so good! I love Conference and being able to hear the Apostles and Prophet speak! It was doubly nice to hear them speak in an American accent since all I hear is Indian accents ;) haha just kidding! But my favorite talk was in the Sunday Morning session by President Eyring! It was super good! Watching away from home was weird, but I enjoyed really focusing on the talks! One of the talks made me miss my mom so bad! He spoke about loving his mother so much and it made me miss my mom so much! I love you mom! 

The work here is progr 

Power cut until 6, couldn't finish. Love you!

Elder Head

We were happy to hear that Ryan had a better week....we would have loved to hear a little more but unstable power negated that :(  When Ryan talks about the constant power outages....I can't help but to pause and be so grateful to live here in America....I love electricity and clean water....we are truly blessed!  <3 <3