My Sunday experience

Okay, I really didn't want to recreate this post so instead I'm going to simply include the original e-mail that I sent to my wife:

originally sent Sunday April 17, 2005

Well I have to tell you about my day today. First of all, yesterday on the way home, Colby noticed an LDS sign on a building not far from where we were staying. I told Colby that I was going to run over there this morning instead of running on the treadmill. He thought I was a bit nuts for running in the streets (even at 7:00 in the morning). The streets are crazy here. Anyhow, I did and I found the building and sure enough on the second floor was the chapel. Everything was locked and there was no one around (but what did I expect for 7 in the morning). I still thought it was pretty cool and I took a couple of pictures. I was in shorts anyhow so it was probably better that way. It was fun to run around the streets and I got lots of stares from people and I managed to not get run over.

Then we came here to the hotel where we've been working and across the hall from us Colby and I noticed a sign that said something about the Church of Jesus Christ. So we went to check it out and saw several missionaries. They were having a their multi-district conference today. So while Colby was teaching I went to the 2 hour meeting. There are 3 districts here and around Hyderabad and a few more down in the southern part of the country. There is just 1 mission here and the headquarters are in Bangalore. They are only allowed 16 proselyting visas so most of the missionaries are native. I met several of them including a few from Utah.

The meeting was SO cool. I was feeling bad because I really will not get to go to church much for the next few months but this experience I will always remember. There were probably 200 or so Indian members. We sang Love at Home, Families Can Be Together, but no sacrament. It was kind of a regional conference thing.

I also talked to several of the senior missionaries that are here on humanitarian missions. They are not allowed at all to talk about the church but just refer them to the full time missionaries.

The Spirit was so strong and I was bawling through most of the meeting. It was so cool to listen to the talks and hear their testimonies. In this part of the world where Hindu and Muslem faiths are so strong, it is so amazing that the church is alive and living here. We did the whole sustain the leadership of the church thing. They know that general conference happened a couple of weeks ago and in another few months from now they will be able to read and watch the conference talks.

The nearest temple is in Hong Kong and before that it was in the Philippines. So very few of them have been to the temple. They just have faith and hope that someday, there will be one built here in their country.

Again, what a wonderful experience it was to be with other Saints and feel of their love and spirit. I talked to this one native guy. He joined the church in 1985 and then 4 years ago his wife was baptised. He now works for the church and is like the public affairs person. He has been spending lots of time constructing/repairing wells to provide clean water to the people. He told me that they could really use our help.

During the meeting as I was sitting in the back listening to the Mission President and his wife and some of the other senior missionaries, I felt stronger than ever before about the importance of us going on missions once we have raised our kids. What a wonderful experience these people are having.

I'm pretty sure that I know some of the kids of the Mission President. They live in Draper and have 6 kids that are all grown up. I'm pretty sure that I went to Alta with some of them. The wife told how they were excited to be called as a Mission President and their call said that they would be at an English speaking mission. Then right before they left, they and their kids found out that the English mission that they would be serving in was India. Imagine their surprise. But they love it here even though it is hard and they are a long long way from home.

Well, sorry for the long novel but I wanted to tell you about the cool experience. It was so neat.

Well, I better go back and help Colby. One more day of teaching for him. Yesterday he wasn't feeling that well and didn't eat at all. I gave him some of the Imodium that I brought and that helped him. Even though I haven't been teaching my voice really hasn't recovered. I'm afraid of next week when I have to do it all over again.

Well, that is about it. Please give our children a big hug and kiss for me and don't forget family prayer. I pray every morning and night for you and the kids that you'll be safe and watched over.

Take care

Love ya