Thursday, August 16, 2012

Our First Home Visit

Until now, we have been pretty much tied to the office trying to understand everything and establish more consistent processes and get things organized.  Now that some of the pressure is off, we hope to get out and visit more of the members.  The other night, we went with one of the sets of young missionary Elders to the home of the Relief Society President, Sister Vijaya Bharathi (Bharathi Vijaya, I haven't been able to tell which is her last name and which is her first since she goes by both.  The Elders also told me she has a third name, but I'm sticking with just two).  We met the Elders at the Church where we walked about 1/2 mile to meet them.  We tried to catch an auto rickshaw, but were unsuccessful, so we told the Elders we'd walk.  It was some distance from us (I'd guess 1 to 1 1/2 miles) and we had to cross a major road.  Drivers have no respect for pedestrians (even worse than Houston) and we just couldn't get across, so finally I just told the Elders we needed to exercise a little faith (and strong will), and I stepped in front of a car with my arm stretched out and lucky for me they stopped (or we would be serving a mission in a more heavenly setting.  I say "we" because I had Angela's hand and was pulling her along).  We needed to do the same over three lanes to get to the median, and fortunately the 3 lanes going the other way were not as busy and we ran across.  We entered a combination business and family section, that turned out to be literally a maze of narrow streets and passageways (didn't think to take a picture), that turned in every direction, much of it not lit (it was about 7:30 pm).  After what seemed to be a long time we finally reached her small apartment. 

Sister Vijaya's home was on the second floor with very steep and narrow steps to get to it.  It was clean and well kept.  One large room about 12 ft square with two small rooms adjoining which we didn't really see.  I'm assuming one is a small kitchen (probably 5 ft square) and the other a bathroom.  We came to visit because Angela had talked with her at church and she wasn't feeling well, so Angela took her some "medicine" - chocolate chip cookies!  Sister Vijaya does not speak much English and we don't speak Hindi, so we did our best to express our concern for her through simple words, sign language and hugs.  Before we left we gave her a Priesthood blessing, to bless her that she would get better soon.  It is humbling to be in members homes that have so little materially, but are willing to give all that they have, both temporally and spiritually to the Lord. 

We left by a different route, using the small flashlight built into our local cell phones (the phones are cheap and don't work well, but they have a great flashlight), to get out of the maze.  Sister Stevens and I caught an auto back to our apartment as we left the missionaries to find their way home.  We hope to be able to get out more often with the Elders to meet and hopefully uplift the members and investigators of the Church.  We are so blessed... 

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you are enjoying your adventure and making the most of it. Things aren't quite as exciting in Logan, Utah. Our big challenge is surviving the smoke. There aren't any fires in the area nearest us, but it seems the whole western states are combating fires; consequently, our skies are hazy and smell of smoke.

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