Good week. Except that I'm not doing incredibly well. So I spent all my free time on Duolingo absolutely GRINDING the Hindi Language.
I now with 85% confidence know every single letter/syllable in the Hindi alphabet. That means I can read Hindi things (but I would have no clue what I'm saying) I do know a handful of words though! This is their word for book: किताब (ki ta b)
Pretty cool right?
We don't have a Hindi language program here even though 80% or more of the people we talk to are Indians that know Hindi. That actually kinda frustrates me. The rule is you need a unit of that language in the area before you can start a missionary language program of that language. And we don't have a Hindi unit anywhere. But we can't ever have a Hindi program if there are no missionaries teaching Hindi speaking people! We do have 1 member that knows Hindi in our ward. So maybe if I can get like 5 more that'll be enough and they can send Hindi assigned missionaries.
There's another Elder in my district who feels the same way and we're learning together. The idea is we're gonna grind it till we're legends, eventually be companions and start an underground Hindi program and just baptize every Hindi speaker we see. I want that sooooo bad! That is my dream! Just thinking about it makes me happier than I've been in a while lol. I guess just like Alma in chapter 29, I sin I'm my wish. For I ought to be content with the things which the lord hath allotted unto me.
(Alma 29:3)
ANYWAYS. In Tuesday we met the most prepared man in the entire mission. His name: Akash (आकाश) that's right- he's a Hindi speaker!!! (Thats also fluent in english) we've been trying to meet for a bit and finally did! Basically some sister from New Jersey have been texting him on Facebook and he's incredibly interested! He saw missionaries all the time as a kid in Northern India and always wanted to learn more but his family wouldn't let him. He's always wanted to be religious but he said he let the world distract him and wasn't sure how to start. We gave him a tour of the church house and there was one super epic part where we were ready to keep going, but I stopped at a picture of Jesus Christ during the atonement in the garden. And I mega testified of Jesus Christ and the Atonement. Akash loved it. That was one of those moments I talked about last week where the spirit was there and it just brings so much peace and joy to know that you did a good job letting the spirit guide you. So powerful.
Also I asked Akash if he can teach me Hindi and he said he'd love to!
Then the next day we had Zone Conference. . .the last one with President and sister Smith. . .
So powerful. We studied the priesthood together and the history of authority. All the way back to Adam. Pretty epic. Also President and Sister Larsen, the soon to be leaders of this mission sent us a like 15 minute long video where every member of their family introduced themselves. 3 out of 4 of the kids were "sim- coming" (simultaneous communication) that means they were signing and talking at the same time! That got us pretty excited. I will have access to soooo much help with ASL when they arrive!
And not much else really happened. Except we did go down to San Jose and worked in the sun weeding a forest of thistles for 3 hours. And then I got to film my testimony in ASL for pur ASL Facebook page (with beat up sore hands) so that was. . . Fun. I spelled my name wrong the first time and the sun was layering into my eyes. So much fun. So when it's posted and it looks funny it's fine- I will do better next time lol.
Oh! And we had our open house for the church on Saturday. We've been passing put flyers and inviting everybody for about a month now. We even had a huge sign in front of the church inviting everybody to come! And the ONLY people that came. . .were people that were walking past the church and we invited them to come take the tour real quick AND a few members(? Idk why they wanted to come take a tour of the place they go at least once a week?) So in total about 15 people.
There apparently was one woman who a missionary ran up to to invite her to take the tour and I guess she had a pretty big problem with it cuz she called the number on our church's Google maps (which, is ours) and left a message about how she felt very unsafe and scared and with all the crime happening we shouldn't do that. So we prayed for her. The missionary that scared her was one of my comps and I can see how she may have gotten scared. . .(I love my comps!)
Then fast Sunday! I bore my testimony in ASL Church so that was good. I saw way more people nodding this time than last time. So I hope that means they understood.
Well, I love you all. This week I just wanna te-extend all invitations I have given before; serve a mission and help others to serve their missions, read the Book of Mormon every day no matter what, set lots of goals and put them in places you will see them a few times every day, re-commit to taking charge of your own testimony, and be healthier. That's basically it. There was also study "This Day" from Elder Rasband and "Adventures of the Spirit" from Elder Robert E Wells.
So hopefully, you have a busy week because you'll be busy doing all these things.
This church is incredibly true. If you don't know that with your whole soul then pray to know it with your whole soul, act on what you receive, and then you will!
Love you all so much!
Also, I just hit 300 days. So that's cool.
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