Let it Be

 Our week started out so awesome! At Sacrament meeting, we saw an American (or a Caucasian at least, sometimes we encounter Europeans) sitting in front of us. Usually they are members here on business who find the  ward nearest the Metro to attend. After the meeting ended, we went up to greet him and his familiarity was immediate. Before he even said his name I knew I knew him. He's Jim, the older brother of my highschool friend Debbie! He went to school with my older sister Mares. My dad was his principal. Isn't that quite remarkable?  The coinkidink is we saw Debbie frequently when we were beginning our mission in Church Headquarters, she being a member of the Choir@ Temple Square. Now, to see her brother near the end of our time in India marks another milestone for us. What an amazing cause for rejoicing!

Now that's Doxology! 

 What added to our rejoicing is Jim met a young man named Joel, also attending church last week for the first time on his own accord. Jim befriended him, sat with him, answered his questions,  and I'm sure laid a good groundwork for the missionaries. Since we were in Indiranagar last week, we were so glad to meet Joel this week. Come to find out later, we had 13 visitors investigating the church at Whitefield Ward on Sunday! I was only aware of 3. So we were more than happy to help out the elders who were stretched pretty thin. The members are awesome too to fellowship and friendship new visitors!

             Jim and Joel in Sunday school class

We invited both of them over to our home for Sunday dinner and more gospel conversations. 

In unorthodox fashion, Rob and Jim talked in the kitchen together making cauliflower soup and coleslaw while Joel and I discussed the Book of Mormon in the living room. I learned that Joel was raised in the Catholic Church, had been an altar boy as a youth, but has lately defined himself as an atheist. We engaged in reading passages of the Book of Mormon together and discussing it. I found Joel to be incredibly intelligent yet humble and teachable too, a rare combination. Up to this point in our mission, we have given away several copies of the Book of Mormon to people but I don't believe anyone previously has taken our invitation to actually open the book and read it and ponder its contents for themselves. Joel is unique for us in that he accepted the book from us and is open to learning and appears very sincere in his quest for the truth and is reading it so in his words, he'll be ready to join in the discussion at church. What?! (Me, falling off the sofa in amazement) He is meeting with the Elders even though he works long hours and his free time is limited. I am so thankful to the Lord for Jim's initial groundwork that made Joel want to come back and learn more. We feel blessed to meet Joel in what might be our final opportunity to be a witness to a conversion to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in India. This is something I've prayed for specifically and yet I know our time is drawing short and these matters can't be rushed to fit our timetable. So we shall remain hopeful but will let it all play out the way it will.  

               Speaking words of wisdom.......

I've made reference to our time drawing short a few times now.  We are only 7 weeks away and counting. Heavens to Murgatroyd! 2 couples who were in our same shoes found out about their new mission assignment only 2 days before their visa expired and had very little time to prepare whether they were staying in Asia (1) or heading back to the States (1). Hoping to avoid this similar scenario, we proactively put out some emails to our President, the Asian Presidency, and the Missionary Department to see if we were on anyone's radar. We made previous searches on the Senior Missionary Opportunities website for possibilities and found a few we thought were a good match for our strengths and our budget parameter and sent those suggestions to all parties. We were very surprised when Monday morning President Bushi called us in and made us aware of our new assignment. We were astounded at the place and even more amazed at how quickly we were informed. We were very, very excited about it! Why had we not seen this particular mission in our searches? We decided to look again for ourselves and find it. Ahh, the reason we never saw it is because this particular mission is nearly $1300 more a month than our current mission. We asked Pres. Bushi, did the decision makers know of our need to live within our financial means and that this was simply too big of a stretch for us? Well, apparently that factor hadn't been noted or taken into consideration when the call was issued. So now we are back to square one, being in a state of quandary, not hearing any immediate follow up. We told a few family members in our initial excitement of our call but are now retracting the declaration. We can't make any official announcement yet because honestly, we don't know how it's going to end up. Is it possible we too will follow suit and learn two days before where we're going before we have to leave?

                   There will be an answer.....

So the week progressed on as usual. We processed bills. We reimbursed the missionaries' expenses. We booked flights and cabs for transfers. Coming and going, we ran into our cute little neighbors across the hall in the elevator.

                        Thing 1 and Thing 2

There were 2 national holidays this week with more explosions outside our window, lights on the trees, and beautiful displays in our lobbies.

On Republic Day, the office was closed so we in essence had a free day in addition to P-day. I suggested to Rob that he accompany me to Lakshmipuram Graveyard. He could wander off and explore the area while I did more photographing of graves. He left for awhile but then returned. After a while, my neck started hurting so bad, giving me a wicked headache that made my vision sorta blurry. In retrospect I am profoundly thankful Rob came back  quicker than his usual jaunts because suddenly in mid-row, I felt myself get very lightheaded like I was going to faint, while simultaneously feeling my "bowels move with compassion" (if you catch my drift). I hung onto a grave stone with head down and started moaning and swooning. Maybe bystanders thought I was hired to be a professional mourner because right on cue, we heard the sound of distant drums drawing nearer and nearer. Bursting onto the scene was a funeral procession, carrying the coffin down the center aisle with frenetic dancers and mourners aplenty. I could hardly stand up straight to see the hullabaloo. Rob was encouraging me to high tail it, but how was I going to inconspicuously get out of this place without collapsing in the process? Believe me, I was praying for strength from above! I know without Rob's help, I would've surely fallen down, hit my head on a stone or marble corner, and have bled to death! Maybe that's a bit melodramatic but I took the incident as a gentle warning that there is wisdom in not being alone and far distant from your companion. I'll spare you the details of how he further assisted me but thank goodness he had decided to come with me this time and was there for me in my moment of critical need! It helped me make the decision to stop this Billiongraves project for now, knowing I'll never ever possibly be done.  I wish I could continue and do more but the Lord, of all people, knows my limitations and that it just isn't wise for me to continue on my own. 

So... I'm done.

                 Shine on 'til tomorrow.....

 

So we keep reassuring each other that everything is going to work out in the end, maybe not how we expect but always for our good. And perhaps next week we'll have big news to share.

 Or maybe not. 

Doctrine & Covenants 58:55

"Let all these things be..."