I submit as evidence, Your Honor

 Many instances on this mission we question if we've done any good in the world today, or have furthered the Lord's work in any meaningful way. Often, we slog through days of sameness with only a few occasional bursts of novelty.  We would suggest that occasionally the Lord can use us if we will simply show up in the right place at the right time where we're supposed to be. Like at church, for instance. We've concluded it's fulfilling enough for us to be used as a bridge between people who need to meet or simply to pass on information that needs to be shared. We're realizing we are very small cogs in this giant wheel of the Lord's work to gather Zion.

 Exhibit A- Two weeks ago we had 3 visitors, a couple and another brother in our age range show up to the Whitefield Ward for Sacrament Meeting. We invited them all to our apartment afterwards. The couple was touring all of India and other countries before and after. The woman's father was the first Mission President of the New Delhi Mission and additionally, her nephew completed his missionary service here right about the time we arrived here. They were here visiting family and sightseeing. The other brother was native born in Bangalore, immigrated to Ottawa, Canada with his parents when he was a young boy, joined the church there and was now back visiting his extended family and checking on some medical arrangements. Both parties mentioned they were feeling a strange pull that they should come back to India to serve missions here in the future. How glad we were to give them all a tour of the mission office, the couples' apartment, with the best view of the temple construction, and to invite them to sit in on the upcoming Mission Conference. Had it not been Fast Sunday, we would've loved to have included them in a meal. A soft couch and friendly conversation was all we could offer. 

Brother DeSouza's ancestors came from Portugal to India and originally settled in Goa. 

Brother and Sister Haddon are from our old stomping grounds- Idaho Falls

They both came on different days to the mission conference to see the training in action and were able to meet President Bushi and the current serving missionaries. With 2 of the 3 of them having family ties in India, is it possible they might obtain visas easier than the average American or Canadian, eh? You just never know where this one will lead. 

The following Sunday we attended the Indiranagar Ward and "little did we know" we'd meet up with Brother Desouza once again.

      ( Sorry private joke. You had to be there)

                  I'll let you caption this photo

It's really a joy to meet the Saints wherever we go in India, or in the entire world for that matter, and feel the instant bond with them and the same Holy Spirit in our meetings. 

This bright young woman is Naina and she was teaching the Relief Society lesson this week. 

                    Elder Massey in action.

The following day, even though it was a working day in the office, Brother Desouza invited us to eat Thali with him, a cuisine similar to what we had eaten once at a wedding, with lots of little side dish mix-ins to your rice. He brought with him Brother Anthony, a member of the Indiranagar Ward we hadn't met the day before. We were completely OK to take time off from our jobs to eat! 

      The place mat is a large banana tree leaf

Our conversation centered on answering his specific questions about serving a mission in India. Though we're not the ultimate experts, we shared with him our preparations and current experiences, hoping it strengthened his desire to someday serve with his wife in the future. Brother Anthony was a returned missionary so he was able to contribute much to the conversation. We had a wonderful visit together. We found we're all connected in the church network with many similar friends. Since I wasn't familiar with the area at all, I asked Bro. Anthony if there were any nearby cemeteries. In fact, there was one in walking distance from the restaurant! What a blessing for me and the work I've felt compelled to do in my spare time! So Elder Dunlap scurried back to the office to do his essential work but I took the blessed opportunity to walk with these two brothers where we found a good size cemetery where I could take photos of gravestones. They were so patient to wait while I scurried down the rows snapping pics and what's more, they provided me an auto ride back to a nearby  metro station to get me back to my own area. 

But now my story turns bleak. Once home, I tried to upload my 250 pictures onto BillionGraves. In the past, the photos I took were immediately assigned a location, this time it kept showing them located in an undefined cemetery and so the upload circle just spun and spun eternally. No!!  All this divine provision for naught? This just can't be! I got on the BG website but found you need to be a paid member, not just a volunteer, to create a ticket to get any help with technical issues. So I was pretty bummed how this episode ended. I kept checking back over the next couple of days to see if it would somehow start uploading the photos with prayers and pleadings, pressing harder the same buttons as I had before. I looked countless times at the map on the app and tried to find where we had walked and what the name of the cemetery might be. It was really hard to tell. When you zoomed out there were literally dozens of them. I took an educated guess, we did drive on Old Madras Rd. Could it maybe be Lakshmipuram Graveyard? So I pressed on it's icon. It said something like "This is not your current location". Darn tootin'.  But suddenly something clicked and voila, it connected all my photos with that location and they instantly started uploading. 

Action shot of the photos uploading. This is exciting stuff, no?! I still don't know how to take screen shots but because I own 3 phones, I can at least take a picture of this phone with another one. 

I was overjoyed that my work wasn't halted. I now know how to get to this new graveyard and back on the metro on my own and I can stay as long as I want to or until I get fatigued. So eagerly I went again this week. I got lots of stares on the Metro and while walking the streets as an independent foreigner but I'm glad to report I got 347 more photos, including this one:

  Don't you dare laugh. He's somebody's relative 

Dass is a common name here, we knew a Brother Dass down in Coimbatore. Initials are the first letter of their Father's first name and constitute their family last name. So this is totally legit! But discovering this one man kept me smiling the whole time as I worked. This Exhibit B experience showed me that the Lord is very willing to help me help the Indian people find their ancestors, through small miracles and fortuitous meetings. 

Exhibit C was all about getting 7 of our missionaries in their various areas back to Bengalore so they could fly internationally to Bangkok to receive their temple endowments. Right now there is no charge for a visa to Thailand so there is a huge push to get every Indian missionary and as many saints as possible to the temple in this window. I felt the urgency. But continual glitches on airline websites caused me to throw my arms up in constant exasperation. I am so easily frustrated by technological issues. But I knew I couldn't let Satan have the win so I just kept trying again. We ended up bringing some missionaries by train and come to find out later the credit card company charged us twice even when it said "transaction failed".  Grrr. This wasn't the worst part. Poor darling sweet Elder Karra got all the way to the airport and couldn't board the flight due to some technicality in his ticket. I was only slightly relieved it wasn't my error, someone else is responsible for booking the international flights, otherwise I don't think I could've lived with myself. So he had to stay behind with our local elders while the rest of the group left on their way. This was around midnight. I can only imagine if that would've been me how devastated and alone I would've felt. But he took it in stride. Earlier that day I had the sweetest experience with him. While 3 of the other elders opted to take a nap, he offered to help me make cookies for all the departing missionaries. He said he'd never made cookies before so he was a most eager student. 

                 Look at me, I'm making cookies! 

                Look at the the delight on his face!

Gratefully, its only a slight delay for him and he'll get to go with the next batch in a few weeks but bless his heart. The rest of the group got there safely and Elder and Sister Robinaugh were there in Bangkok to receive them and guide them to Patron Housing, to the temple, and to restaurants to eat. Eat up Elder Gudla!

A newly married couple on the right and their parents on the left acted as travel chaperones for the group.

It's been confirmed. Indians do not dig Thai food.

So it's gratifying to see these photos and to have even a small part in getting them there to receive those eternal blessings they'll gain from making sacred covenants with God. That's enough. 

 Exhibit D is my final submission to the members of the jury and judge. It's best told in screenshots. I didn't even know how to take one when I started this. Teaching an old dog a new trick is painstaking, it just kept turning down my volume while simultaneously shutting down the phone. But with the elders exhibiting the patience of Job via WhatsApp, they taught me how and I finally got the hang of the quick click! 

The condensed background expository of this incident is that I got an email sent to the mission from a virtual stranger, a Sister Sheen from  Clinton, Utah. 

Well, that's all the evidence we can muster up this week, including a bit of last week. It feels like relatively little to us but along with Elder Dunlap's daily grind of processing bills and payments and reimbursements, we hope we are helping the Lord's work going forward, if only in very small and unassuming ways.

 

" And it came to pass that they did go forth, and did minister unto the people, declaring throughout all the regions round about (Bengaluru, Indiranagar, the Blogosphere) all the things which they had heard and seen, insomuch that the more part of the "Lamanites" (Indians and whomever) were convinced of them, because of the greatness (?) of the evidences which they had received. 

Helaman 5:50