We delighted in another opportunity to get away from our desk jobs, travel and see more of India, and meet more missionaries, this time to Chennai for their Zone Conference and outing. And it commemorated our 1 year mark of our mission on November 7th. Wow, what a milestone for us! But before I go there let me follow up with something very cool that happened at the end of last week. We were in the airport waiting in line to board our plane home from Hyderabad. We saw 3 American women waiting as well and they had an eerie air of familiarity about them. So I took the opportunity to introduce ourselves to them and find out where they were from. Lehi, Utah?! Are you kidding me? What are the crazy odds? Sister May was traveling with her 2 daughters, and her Indian husband, who I hadn't noticed before hidden in the Indian Ocean (er..the ocean of Indians) She had met him at BYU and they married. Only in this worldwide church we belong to can these small world incidents happen! Her husband's name is Samuel May and he is the very first convert to the church in the city of Bengaluru, back in 1983. Wow! That's super incredible!
The Samuel May family
We didn't have time to hear his story or how they met because we were boarding the plane but after the flight, we talked to them for a short time again before we took our cabs home. They said they were planning to attend another ward the next day (not ours) where Samuel's nephew was the Bishop so we parted ways but we were all in such amazement that our paths would cross on the very same flight. The next day we go to church and, lo and behold, there they were again! Their nephew is now the Stake President! So they followed him to his assignment which happened to be at our ward. Such amazing coinkidinks! We have said it more than once on our mission- people meet for a reason.
Rachel, Jennifer and Sariah
It couldn't have been more ideal because it was Fast Sunday and we were able to listen to both Samuel and Jennifer's testimonies and learn a few more details of how he joined the church. At that time in 1983 in India, there were only senior couples who held meetings in their apartments. They had made contact with another family member of Samuel's but he was the one that had the genuine interest and felt the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon when he read it. So he was the first baptism even before there was an established branch in the area. He is a true Indian pioneer and it was such an honor to meet him and his wife and daughters. I felt a kinship to them because they have 4 daughters just like me, including a Rachel and another daughter that lives in Seattle. Parallel lives!
And now, back to the present week with our quick jaunt to Chennai, we met Sister Berryman, a Service Missionary working as a Family History Consultant and auditor in the Chennai district. She came along with us on our Zone outing and as we came to learn, she too was the very first convert to the church in Chennai! Wow! Two pioneers in 5 days!
Like the Banyan tree, her gospel roots run deep
Sister Berryman was raised as a Christian by her mother who worked in an orphanage. Their father had abandoned them, if I have the story right, so not quite an orphan but lived there her whole childhood with her mom. So one of the first places we visited on our outing was the Church of St Thomas where legend has it, the Apostle Thomas died as they have his toe bone. (?) I'm sure she's been there many times since then, but she showed us the very courtyard where she played as a child.
This was her dirt playground, now paved
Sister Berryman, revisiting her past
We saw many shrines all over to various Catholic Saints, including this familiar one.
This banyan tree is even older than the Saint!
An ancient saint in the background and some saints of the Latter-day variety, front and center
The sweetest Catholic saint I saw was a live one! She was so gracious and kind with her perfect English. Sister Berryman asked her if we could see the children but ever since Covid, they are restricted by the government to not have outside visitors. It's just as well, as we aren't allowed to pick up children for liability reasons, I would've been sorely tempted to snuggle one or two. Or take one home with me.
Taking care of India's orphans
We saw the place where the women would leave their babies and the bell they'd ring to alert the Sisters before they ran away. Maybe some of these broken hearted mommas would come back anonymously to light a candle
for their little ones they couldn't take care of, hoping to catch even a glimpse of them as they grew up.
Candles weeping for grief and loss
The Chennai Zone is the largest in the mission with 11 missionaries total plus 1 senior couple, the Gibsons. The real highlight of this excursion was meeting 4 brand new Elders and 3 brand new Sisters we'd never had the chance to know before. 2 of each variety we had served with in Coimbatore so it was a real "Sons of Mosiah" reunion with them. Elder Harmon is the lone American elder serving with 5 native elders and 5 native sisters. It reminded me a little of the time in my Korean mission when I was in a house with 3 Korean sisters and though they were all dears, I would've been ecstatic to have had an all-American chat with someone who shared my language and culture. So we took the opportunity of the interview wait times and the long bus rides to listen to his life story as well as many of the other missionaries we had met for the first time. He shared with us his miraculous story of surviving a serious car accident when he was only 2 years old. Also he shared about his promising cross-country and track career and how he was able to leave it behind for a mission, but not without severe trials. Some of the sisters' stories shared uncanny similarities; mothers with cancer, fathers dying, being the only member of the church in their family, etc. As we listened to each one, we marveled at their unwavering faith to sacrifice their own desires and put the Lord's will for them first. They each bore testimony of the blessings they had received in spite of their trials and through their obedience and willingness. We couldn't help but feel a strong bond with them with all this soul-sharing. They are all bright spirits.
We talked
We sang
We snacked
We laughed
We hit each other on the head blindfolded
Oh, and we did eat many eatables
The closest we got to Pondicherry was KFC (see the map on the wall).
Some handsomeness overload here
Some of the sights we saw were overrated and sadly, we spent too much time there. The hype of one place was that it was the answer to world peace. People from all over the world come to Auroville in search of Utopia. All you had to do was renounce your religion in order to enter...
The Golden Golfball.
With everyone in our group trying to be a peacemaker, we had already found our Utopia in the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the Prince of Peace. And so there were no takers and we journeyed on. We were running out of daylight when we finally got to some ancient monuments and shrines all carved out of one mountainous rock. All very impressive, all very cool! We'd have liked to have had more time here but dusk was approaching.
Doggie or dogie? You decide.
At yet another site...
The so-named "Butterball" was more potato than turkey.
We came home from Chennai tired, not having slept all that well for 2 days, but truly happy, nonetheless. It wasn't what we saw when sightseeing that was memorable, but the bonds of friendship we forged in those two days. It felt like Zion. I'm so grateful we were there for the testimony meeting after ZC. The Spirit was there in abundance and we all felt so edified and strengthened by each other and by the Lord. I will miss these missionaries so much when it's time to go! We've already said goodbye to a few who've moved onto their next phase of post-mission life. Coincidentally enough, tonight as we went to grab a bite to eat at Lola's, a handsome young man walked into the restaurant and introduced himself to us and said he was a returned missionary who had served in Bengaluru. He loved the brownie & ice cream dessert so he came to Lola's for old times sake while he was in town for business from Hyderabad. Come on! What impeccable timing! What a blessing for us!
Brother Shane also had a story to tell about how his father had joined the church on the island of Cyprus. Wait, do we have missionaries in Cyprus? Apparently so. He and his brother were named after the elders that had taught his father the gospel. (Moms of missionaries, name your sons well. They are going to impact people's lives so dramatically, people will want to name their children after them!) As for me, besides wanting to be involved in a spiritual conversion in someone's life, my other secret desire is to introduce a couple of returned missionaries to each other and help them find their twue wuv and eternal companion. I think there's a yente in all of us, no? I am never entirely sure at the time, why we meet the people we do but I'm convinced our lives are all intertwined and woven together like a beautiful tapestry and someday we'll see all the inter-connectedness and purpose of it all. It's a beautiful work to be a part of.
"...and other choice spirits were reserved to come forth in the fullness of times to take part in laying the foundation of the great Latter-day work. I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the church of God."
Doctrine & Covenants 138: 53, 55
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