Summertime in India (duplicate of post at eldercannon.livejournal.com)
Hi, friends and family. The following are cuts from Josh's recent emails, and pictures!
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harry potter has been plastered and postered everywhere for the last month. no huge crowds or release parties as far as i could tell, though.
it's 875 rupees here, 20 bucks there? it looks nice. it feels nice. tell meg to sum up the story for me. the movie was release a couple weeks ago, too. members told me it was good.
i got a letter from grandma and grandpa cannon also, please tell them thank you and that i'm doing well. also got something from stephanie and merrianne, if you could update the livejournals that says i received them, that'd be superb.
some of the recent converts were already christian, or more like hindus who were previously Jesus-friendly. we baptised a Brahmin, that sister named Maheshwari. Brahmin means a devout caste of hindu, like born and raised Roman Catholics. as per the other converts, they (almost) all have callings, and get themselves to church every week. they attend seminary and institute, and the family home evening group for the part-member families. and all the young men have the priesthood. so the retention rate is pretty respectable, if i do say so myself. the branch doesn't help enough, though. we barely have enough worthy members to fill all the leadership positions, and some of them are even less-active. so it's ups and downs here. the male converts all want to serve missions, so that's a good sign. we need more returned missionaries with experience here.
president nichols landed on monday night, and he's been running the show since.
i talked to him briefly yesterday. elder holst was sick (fever, vomiting, diarrhea) so we had to stay in the apartment. i talked to president and sister nichols for a few minutes to tell them what's up. they sound nice, if a little overwhelmed at actually being here. we hope to see them within the next month.
elder holst says he heard that about unlimited visas as well, but hasn't that been the story from the beginning? didn't we set the number at 40, when we could have chosen any number? whatever, we'll see if we have a new set of americans come over in the next few months. the only problem i foresee is that we don't have anywhere to put more missionaries - we're pretty well stocked everywhere you go. we even have 4 in Goa right now. i want to go to goa, but after the rainy season.
requests as far as a package goes? mostly just things i've mentioned before - a watch, the military scriptures, a cd player if at all possible, ROOT BEER BARRELS, and any other candy or foodstuffs you can think of. soup mix is not required, nor are tic-tacs. some more listerine strips would be ok (but only the green ones). OH and if you can get some juicy pear jelly bellies, that'd be perfect. thanks!
as you asked last week, yes, we've been told not to wear our contact lenses for fear of infections. one elder here in hyderabad got a problem and has to get a cornea transplant once he gets home, so yeah. not like it's anything new - i've only worn my contacts 3 or so days since i've been here. i look better with glasses. i'm gonna cut my hair really short today, too. most everyone here does it super short. i think i'll sport a crew cut once i'm back. that'll be good.
we're going golfing after email. it's elder holst's batch's 1 year mark, so they want to celebrate. the weird thing is that none of the missionaries have the appropriate dress for the golf course. the dress code is polo shirts, cargo shorts, and golf shoes. we have white button down shirts, athletic shorts, and tennis shoes. i wonder if they'll let us on the course, but then again, it's india. anything goes.
last wednesday, had an amazing find: bacon. i had bacon and eggs and toast for 3 mornings straight last week. if the shop has any more i'm buying enough for a week. usually having tuna or cheese sammiches for lunch with an orange. and i've come up with a nice treat - make a dough with flour and milk, then deep fry it in oil until golden brown, then top with jam or honey or syrup. mmm good. and that's why we call it 'fry bread.'
it's hard to get any meaningful exersize done in the morning when you only have 25ish minutes to do it. i've pretty much just been doing pushups and crunches, but i'm not getting very good results. at least it slows down a muscle's attrition.
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harry potter has been plastered and postered everywhere for the last month. no huge crowds or release parties as far as i could tell, though.
it's 875 rupees here, 20 bucks there? it looks nice. it feels nice. tell meg to sum up the story for me. the movie was release a couple weeks ago, too. members told me it was good.
i got a letter from grandma and grandpa cannon also, please tell them thank you and that i'm doing well. also got something from stephanie and merrianne, if you could update the livejournals that says i received them, that'd be superb.
some of the recent converts were already christian, or more like hindus who were previously Jesus-friendly. we baptised a Brahmin, that sister named Maheshwari. Brahmin means a devout caste of hindu, like born and raised Roman Catholics. as per the other converts, they (almost) all have callings, and get themselves to church every week. they attend seminary and institute, and the family home evening group for the part-member families. and all the young men have the priesthood. so the retention rate is pretty respectable, if i do say so myself. the branch doesn't help enough, though. we barely have enough worthy members to fill all the leadership positions, and some of them are even less-active. so it's ups and downs here. the male converts all want to serve missions, so that's a good sign. we need more returned missionaries with experience here.
president nichols landed on monday night, and he's been running the show since.
i talked to him briefly yesterday. elder holst was sick (fever, vomiting, diarrhea) so we had to stay in the apartment. i talked to president and sister nichols for a few minutes to tell them what's up. they sound nice, if a little overwhelmed at actually being here. we hope to see them within the next month.
elder holst says he heard that about unlimited visas as well, but hasn't that been the story from the beginning? didn't we set the number at 40, when we could have chosen any number? whatever, we'll see if we have a new set of americans come over in the next few months. the only problem i foresee is that we don't have anywhere to put more missionaries - we're pretty well stocked everywhere you go. we even have 4 in Goa right now. i want to go to goa, but after the rainy season.
requests as far as a package goes? mostly just things i've mentioned before - a watch, the military scriptures, a cd player if at all possible, ROOT BEER BARRELS, and any other candy or foodstuffs you can think of. soup mix is not required, nor are tic-tacs. some more listerine strips would be ok (but only the green ones). OH and if you can get some juicy pear jelly bellies, that'd be perfect. thanks!
as you asked last week, yes, we've been told not to wear our contact lenses for fear of infections. one elder here in hyderabad got a problem and has to get a cornea transplant once he gets home, so yeah. not like it's anything new - i've only worn my contacts 3 or so days since i've been here. i look better with glasses. i'm gonna cut my hair really short today, too. most everyone here does it super short. i think i'll sport a crew cut once i'm back. that'll be good.
we're going golfing after email. it's elder holst's batch's 1 year mark, so they want to celebrate. the weird thing is that none of the missionaries have the appropriate dress for the golf course. the dress code is polo shirts, cargo shorts, and golf shoes. we have white button down shirts, athletic shorts, and tennis shoes. i wonder if they'll let us on the course, but then again, it's india. anything goes.
last wednesday, had an amazing find: bacon. i had bacon and eggs and toast for 3 mornings straight last week. if the shop has any more i'm buying enough for a week. usually having tuna or cheese sammiches for lunch with an orange. and i've come up with a nice treat - make a dough with flour and milk, then deep fry it in oil until golden brown, then top with jam or honey or syrup. mmm good. and that's why we call it 'fry bread.'
it's hard to get any meaningful exersize done in the morning when you only have 25ish minutes to do it. i've pretty much just been doing pushups and crunches, but i'm not getting very good results. at least it slows down a muscle's attrition.