Just bumpin' along

 

Meanwhile, as we bump along each week in India, Kinzi's "Bump" is growing and is becoming more pronounced. She's finally in her last trimester. Before we know it, Baby Bump will be here and we'll be at our one year mark. Hurry up November! For both our sakes!

But until those real momentous occasions happen, I've gotten myself in a fix here with a weekly blog. Let's just say that some weeks are definitely newsier than others. With the high of last week, we found ourselves in a lull this week as the work inevitably ebbs and flows. We have found too, some discouraging patterns emerging with contacts. It's so thrilling when we first meet someone new and feel that rush of possibilities. For example, we met a young couple on one of our walks this week. They were so excited to make our acquaintance and learn our names. We hit it right off. As they shared that they were childless and had experienced the pain of miscarriages, we immediately sensed the approach we could use to share the message of the Plan of Happiness and the eternal nature of families with them. They wanted us to come over for lunch that very day. We gave them our # and they said they'd call us. They seemed genuinely interested in forming a friendship.

We rushed home to find just the right video and pamphlet to share with them for when we went to their home. But then they never called! We held out hope that maybe they meant later this week but they never did contact us and it left us discouraged and asking, "what are we doing wrogn?

                                Lord, is it us?

It's problematic for missionaries to get caught in the tangle of thinking that if we could only be more obedient, more this or more that, that if we only had the perfect introductory question, we'd see more miracles. After many  discouragements of this kind, we consolingly circle back to the thought that we are merely seed planters, others can choose to water and nourish their seed but it is ALWAYS God who gives the increase. So rather than elevate ourselves time and again to high excitement followed by a steep downward slope of emotion, we're trying now to just bump along on an even keel. Find the balance in Christ. Keep centered in Him. All things working together for good to those that love Him. Resolution: We can find joy in Him in all our doings, in small and simple things all around us. For instance:

We noticed the colors and plumage are starting to emerge on our graveyard peacocks.

The street puppies make us smile and are always so cute to watch, (just make sure you don't get between them and Mama!)

It amuses us that dogs can bed down in the middle of a busy street. "Dum-de-dum, no worries here. Hakuna matada."

Speaking of bedding down, on our visits to the cemetery to take gravestone photos, we never know what interesting things we'll see. Mattresses on a pole? Fans? What's up with that? Well, we've seen pillows strewn about before and evidences of celebrations and picnics. Nothing eerie or wrogn about that!

Talk about finding delight in the littlest of things; we were amazed and astounded in a single perfectly balanced oat bran that had fallen off a plate onto the placemat on its tip. We couldn't have found that balanced center in a million tries.  There's a lesson to be learned here:

          When you least expect it to happen,

                          then it'll happen

Actually, a few good things did happen this week:

Running into Katie and Mani on P-day at the bookstore, apparently a favorite place for all of us!

Finishing up the temple prep courses for Rohith who leaves for his mission in a few days.

Taking the elders out to China V'lley for Elder Adhikari's birthday. (To create an Asian ambience, they played one Chinese song on a continuous loop and by the end of the meal, we were the loopy ones!)

Helping Akash scribe and proofread his "Hear Him" Facebook post about his 

"Title of Liberty project

Meeting with many branch members at the home of our President's family for biriyani and wholesome recreation. It was great to meet  cousin "Harry" and all play games together.

Helping a young woman get caught up on the Conducting Course with some personalized time so she can certify with the rest of the class. (Pictured here with her father)

In all these small and simple things (that certainly didn't fill up a 24/7 time frame), we pieced together a small offering and called it our consecrated effort as we bump along daily on this mission of ours. 

"Fear not little flock, ... nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along".

D&C 35:27