Elder Head is getting his last companion :) 44 days

Hello everyone! 

Well.. I was wrong. I thought that Elder George was going to be my last companion. I guess I was half right and half wrong. Visak 2nd Branch is my last area, but Elder George is not going to be my last companion. We got a call this week from President Berrett to transfer my companion from Visak to Hyderabad West Marredpally 1st Ward as the Zone Leader there. I already served in that ward so I'm pretty excited that he gets to go there, but I'm sad that he is leaving! We got along well and we worked well together. Oh well! The Lord has different plans I guess. My new companion's name is Elder Dhandapani, from Chennai. He has been out for a few months more than a year I guess.. It's good. I'll be the Senior Zone Leader and show him the ropes and then get the heck out of here! 

This week was pretty good other than that. Actually, it was a pretty rough week. We faced a lot of trials and problems with our investigators. We had a disaster baptism service this week.... We've been teaching this brother for about 4 weeks and he has a very good understanding of the gospel, he's just kind of..... weird. Haha he has a lot of pride. He's not from here, he's from Vijayawada. Anyways, so he was supposed to be baptized on Saturday, but my companion and I both felt that it wasn't right, that we needed to wait. Then he offended some of the members and left the church. Sounds like a spiritual experience right? Then I got scolded by the branch for that and then to put some icing on the cake, they asked me to speak about forgiveness in Sacrament meeting the next day. So I got my revenge. 

Haha just kidding. I did speak about forgiveness though and I really was able to feel the Spirit as I shared impromptu about forgiveness. The Savior was such a perfect example of faith, hope, and charity as He freely forgave others and wants us to do the same. I really appreciate the Savior's Atonement and His power -- and willingness -- to forgive weak people like me. 

So.. This is it. Six more of these letters. Enjoy them while they last!

Love,

Elder Head

Kneel, Pray, Get Up and Work - Visak

Hello everyone!! 

This week was a good week. The mission has really put a focus on finding new investigators and so that was what Elder George and I tried to focus on. We were able to have some success and so that makes things a lot better. 

I'm pretty happy with how things are going. I really like Elder George and we have a cool zone so that makes it pretty easy to work. Our area isn't exactly in tip-top shape right now, but we are working to fix that. We are spending some time each day dong some finding activities and the Lord blessed us to find new investigators almost every day this week. That was something that we have been praying for and it is amazing how quickly the Lord responded. That was something that I learned this week. We need to get down on our knees and pray and then get on our feet and get to work. Then the Lord blesses us and provides a way for us to accomplish the things. 

Other than that nothing too big happened.. We are expecting for two baptisms this week and so hopefully those will work out. Things are good there. I'm pretty happy. I don't really have too much to write this week. But congrats to Mitch on his mission call! I'm so happy for him!! Missionary work is the best work that there is in the whole world!! You will enjoy. 

Love! Elder Head

Visakhapatnam 4/27/14

Hello everyone!

I hope that you all had a good week this week! Our week was... Pretty busy I guess.. Haha I feel like we are always busy doing so many different things that I can't even keep all of them straight!

I don't have a lot to report this week..Tuesday through Friday were just like normal proselyting days. One thing that we struggled with this week was that all of our appointments fell through. It is pretty annoying when that happens. We did a lot of walking and trying to find new investigators, but it seemed like everything was against us. We worked hard, but we were not able to find any new people to teach. Sunday was a blessing day for us. A potential investigator called us on Saturday night and asked us to come over on Sunday morning to teach his family. One annoying thing is that he was kind of looking for a hand-out from the Church. We'll see if he will progress. We taught him and his wife.

The second blessing was that we were able to meet and teach another potential investigator on Sunday and he is really good. His name is Kishore and he is 19 years old studying Polytechnic (don't ask me what that is, I have no idea haha). He came and we taught him from the Restoration and it was a really good lesson. I'm really happy because the Spirit was strong and he felt it. He commited to being baptized on May 18 so hopefully we can have a few baptisms in May.

I am so grateful for missions. I love to hear that Mitch is preparing to get his call soon. I know that I have changed because of my mission and I'm much happier now than I was before. I think that I really gained a testimony on my mission. I couldn't be happier for that than anything else.

I love you!

Elder Head

Another busy week in Visakhapatnam!

Hello everyone! 

Happy Easter! This week was a pretty good week! We were pretty busy again. It seems like we are always busy doing something for someone and we never have any time to proselyte!! Haha 

This week we had our P-Day which was kind of normal. Then on Tuesday we had interviews with President Berrett. He came to Visak from Bangalore because we had Zone Conference on Wednesday. It was a pretty short interview. He didn't have a lot to ask me and so it was pretty brief which was nice. Then on Wednesday we had the Zone Conference and I conducted and my companion and I had to give a training on recognizing the Spirit and helping our investigators to recognize and act on the promptings that they receive. It was pretty good. We taught from 1 Samuel 3:6-11. The rest of that day was an exchange that we had with the AP's and I got to hang out with my boy Elder Alosias, my companion from Bangalore. It was fun.

Thursday and Friday were pretty normal days and so that wasn't too special.. ;) Haha and then Saturday we spent the whole day shifting the old Sister's apartment. We took all of their stuff and then stuffed it into our apartment, so we now have two apartments stuff into one apartment so things are pretty cramped. 

Sunday was a pretty good day. We had a baptism on Sunday for one brother named Shankar. He is from North India, but is working here in Visak. He is a good brother and has a desire to continue to learn and to grow. It was a pretty good service and we were happy. After that we had a dinner appointment with one family and they fed us so much food. Indian food is pretty heavy and so a lot of food isn't good for the stomach and my companion had a "reaction." Haha he threw up when we got home. It was pretty funny. 

I'm grateful for this time that we have to reflect on the Atonement and most importantly the victory that the Savior attained over death. It gives me hope and strength to continue to endure to the end. Stay true to the faith! 

Elder Head

Things are great in India....even though his Mom is counting down the days left :)

Hello everyone! 

Well, this was like one of the busiest weeks that I've had in a long time! 

Monday like I said we were pretty busy with travelling and dropping and picking up missionaries from the airport. Tuesday we went out for proselyting and it was really nice. We worked hard and were able to set one brother named Uday with a date forApril 20. Wednesday we had some things that we had to do with the old Sister's apartment, as they just moved into our old apartment in 1st Branch. That took a little while and then we went out for proselyting. Thursday we were busy with our weekly planning and then we had to prepare for our Zone Training that we would give the next day. Friday we had Zone Training and that took the morning and then we had our lunch with the Zone and went out for proselyting. Saturday and Sunday we spent the days in the church because we got to watch General Conference!

General Conference was really good. I really am grateful that I had this opportunity to watch Conference just a little bit before I go home. I feel like every speaker was talking to me about how I can keep the Spirit with me after my mission. The biggest impressions that I had were the importance of having real prayers with real intent. Especially President Uchtdorf's talk about gratitude. I really felt like that applied to me. That was the first thing. The second thing that I learned was the importance of scripture study. Personal scripture study helps give us a protection against Satan and his temptations. Lastly, was the importance of having Family Home Evening. I feel like these principles will really bless me as I approach the future.. Whoa that's really weird. 

Mom I don't like that you are keeping track and that you are telling me. I don't want to leave the mission. I really feel so blessed and grateful for the opportunity that I have to wear this black nametag with the Savior's name on it. I'm scared for the future! The mission is so simple. Just go teach the gospel! But the future has so many.. Curves and twists. So I think that I'm going to stay on mission forever! 

Love you! Have a great week!

Elder Head 

Transfers - Busy week 4-7-14

Hello everyone!! 

I'm sorry Mom and Dad that I haven't been able to email very early the last few weeks... We have been CRAZY busy. 

Today was the transfer day and so I went from my apartment in 1st branch and made the LONG trek on over to the 2nd Branch apartment. Haha it was like a 15 minute cab ride and then right after dropping our stuff at the apartment, we went and immediately started taking missionaries to the airport for their transfers. At 7:30 we took one missionary and then came back and picked up two more at 11:30, then we picked up 3 sisters at 12:45 and then we have to go back to the airport at 7 to pick up the last sister... It really has been a crazy day! I'm like super tired now... 

Other than that, the week was really long. Monday and Tuesday we were in Bangalore (Elder George and I) for MLC. It was really refreshing to be able to be with President Berrett and the other Zone Leaders to discuss the affairs of the mission and what not... I really felt the Spirit. We had a really cool experience too. We were deciding on what the training plan would be for the month of April and we discussed some things and then together we knelt down in the room and said a prayer to receive the revelation that we needed to proceed with the plan. After the prayer, President Berrett asked each of us what we thought it should be and each of us said prayer. Sometimes we had a small variation between the two, but prayer was always the main theme for all 30 of us. It was really cool.

Wednesday through Sunday we were preparing and getting ready for the transfer because we have to clean our apartment really well because the Sister missionaries are coming and living in our apartment... It was crazy. We spent collective 16 hours. It looks AMAZING though! Other than that, not too much happened. It was a really boring week.

I'm happy to hear about Mitch getting his stuff ready for his mission! I'm stoked for him. Good boy.

I love you all!! 

Have a great week!

Elder Head

Transferred to Visak 2nd Branch......only 2 more Fast Sundays....#92daysleft :)

Hello everyone!! 

This week was a pretty eventful week I guess. It was good, but for some reason it felt really long!! 

Well, first off, we had a baptism. It was really unexpected for us and for the person who got baptized.. Haha so we have been teaching this girl named Harika for the entire time that I have been here and by the missionaries serving in this branch for the last 4 years.. Her father will not give permission for her to be baptized. Harika was fed up with it because she wants to be baptized and she turned 18 a few months back, so technically she could sign for herself, but we still wanted to try to at least get the father to say yes. 

  After trying and trying for the last three months, we decided that WE would talk to her father with her. And so we went. We filled out her paperwork and were going to ask for permission for her to be baptized in three weeks. We asked him and he just told us that he doesn't care what she does, but he won't sign anything... So she signed for herself and asked if she could get baptized this week! It was really good because we have been bothering President Berrett about this for the last few months and he gave us permission so it was all good! 

Another eventful thing that happened this week was that we got transfer calls! I got transferred to Visak 2nd Branch and will be a Zone Leader. Elder Sharma is getting transferred and he is going to a small branch in Rajahmundry called Dowleswaram. Elder Aydelott is following me to the same apartment, but will be serving in Visak 3rd Branch, and Elder Pehrson is getting transferred to Whitefield Branch in Bangalore, living with the AP's.

  Our branch has been struggling and there definitely needed to be some changes made and President went hard on the transfers! He took all four of us and replaced us with Sister missionaries. Naturally they are going to have a lot of success and President is going to think that we are junk, lazy missionaries, but I think that the change of scenery will be good for the branch. 

I'm going to Bangalore today at 3 for MLC. We are flying and then coming back tomorrow night. Zone training is on Friday. It's kind of bittersweet to transfer though, because this will probably be my last area and my new companion just transferred there last transfer and so I think that he will be my last companion. His name is Elder Vijo George. I have known him for a while and he is a cool guy. I'm really excited because he is Indian and I love native companions!! 

That's all for this week. Yes Mother, I got that package like a month back but I always forget to tell you. Thanks for all the love and support!! 

Love you! 

Elder Head