Pictures

Aug 15 2015 - Strangest month of the misson

Hello Family!

 

I hadnt even realized that Bradly has already finished the MTC and is now out in North Dakota. Elder D'Vaz (who will be my comp for the rest of the week until I get my new comp) has a sister who will be going to the North Dakota mission in October so that would be pretty cool if they somehow met.

And Emily is just finishing her short stay in the MTC and will be in the field quite soon. They will both be going through the same things that I went through in Florida experiencing the ups and downs of the mission. The ups far outwaying the bad. 

 

This is going to be a veryshort email since this week has been a strange week due to the fact that I was not in my area much at all. I think I said last week that one of the Zone leaders had to go to Bangalore to get surgery so we were stuck with him this entire week as he recovers. So, we split the days we would work in each others area since Elder Johannson will not be in his area next week leaving his area without missionaries for awhile. The whole zone is kind of being affected with this but we are surviving.

His area is quite far away so we spent a lot of time traveling on bus and walking around visiting those in his branch. We had lots of fun together with the three of us. We were able to visit most of our investigators the few times we worked in our area and had some great lessons with them. Charles is doing awesome and is geting ready fast for his baptism. And we also started to teach a part member family, working with their daughter to be baptized. 

 

Today finally came when I had to send of Elder Monk away as he left for the Philippines this afternoon. He, along with the Elder Johannson and Elder Aldridge. It was a very fun 2 transfers I had with Elder Monk and the All-American Zone. I'm grateful for the time we had and the improvements we have seen with the branch. Now I'm with Elder D'vaz and the 2 of us will be together taking care of 3 branches/areas... so this will also be a strange and interesting experience as we await our new companions sometime next week. I don't know who he will be btw.

 

Something that I loved and have learned this week is the scripture Alma 31: 31-33.

31 O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful, wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people.

32 O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and alm=so my fellow laborers who are with me, yea, Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and also Amulek and Zeezrom, and also my two sons, yea, even all these wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ.

33 Wilt thou grant unto them that they may have strength, that they may bear their afflictions which shall come upon them because of the iniquities of this people.

 

Now notice that Alma in verse 31 is praying not to take his burdens away but to grant him strength that he might overcome them. As I was thinking I agree that through prayer, God will not take our burdens away but will CHANGE us to be able to overcome them. We will receive the necessary change in our hearts that give us the strength to become more like Him.

 

Thank you everyone for you love and support, have a great week!

-Elder Conrad

Aug 3 2015 - An exciting week for the Conrad Family

Hello Family!!!

 

Well hello my awesome family! Today was another awesome P-Day and a pretty good week! Even though there wasn't that much missionary work that went on.

First of all, Ill give a shout out to my sister Emily who is leaving on her mission in 2 days! Man i am super excited and cant keep thinking of the wonderful experience she is about to partake in her life. 

 

And also I was super pumped to get the 2 packages this week! Let me say everyone kind of hates me right now but dont worry mom, I have been sharing ;) I was pretty stoked about the strawberry and Chocolate Nesquik! And yes I did get the Debit card but I havent tried it yet. I got to talk to Daniel for a small moment so hopefully I can talk more next week at church. He did give me an embarrassing hug thanks to you mom :)

 

This week has been pretty good because of the training that we recieved in Bangalore. So, we left Tuesday night on train which again was fun and a little sketchy. I just love watching what I think are mice running around in the train. When we arrived in Bangalore, all the zones that attended met up at the church. We had the Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore and the 4 Sri Lanka missionaries with us so we had a huge group.

Basically the 3 day training consisted of 8 hours a day and learning the principals/fundamentals of Preach My Gospel. So that included many things and kept us busy. We did lots of teaching practices to help us improve and apply the things we were learning. They were long hours but it was important for us to learn. Hopefully we will all go back to our areas and apply the things we learned.

After the trainings we would go with a set of elders and go to their area in Bangalore and try to visit and practice more. Which was kind of lame for us since the area took us an hour and a half to get their with all the traffic and being night. 

But an interesting experience that I got was to teach a person of the Muslim faith for the first time. We have to get special permission from President  in order to teach Muslims due to reasons. It was a pretty cool experience. I didnt really know how to go about teaching to well but I felt the lesson went well. He has a desire to learn how he can recieve an answer if Jesus Christ was actually our Savior and Redeemer.

We had lots of fun in Banglore, the area we got to stay in was loaded with nice restaurants. I was able to have Taco Bell, Burger King and Krespy Kreme! Oh man it was the best!

 

After the Training we went back to Coimbatore and everything is well. We set 2 new baptismal dates with A new investigator named Charles for the 22 of Aug! He is an awesome kid alot like Jebaraj. The Training took pretty much the whole week but it was good to have. 

Jebaraj was confirmed this week at church and gave a small testimony in fast and testimony meeting which made my day.

 

Today for P-Day we went to see Taj and his family since they are leaving next week and asked if we could go visit them one last time. haha So we went and hung out with them again :) This time we didnt play much bball but went on a cool hike in the forest. Which was pretty cool since Taj said no one is allowed where we went but since he has some pretty cool connections they allowed us in. We hiked up to a cool waterfall place and had fun watching everyone play in the water... :( but it was super cool. Very pretty. They didnt let us take pictures for some reason but im pretty sure we will get some.

 

Love you all and thank you all so much for the awesome letters you gave! Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Conrad

 

 

 

Aug 10 2015 - 8 months just flew by

Well hello family!!

 

As I have expressed to Emily/ Sister Conrad that it has been a very fun week as I have been checking the time and realizing all the important and exciting events happening back home. I get a kick when I check the time and realize Emily is probably waking up, studying, or teaching lessons in the MTC. Makes it fun to remember that not too long ago the same experiences were happening to me! It is a blessing to know the family is doing well and is happy. :)

 

This has been a pretty great week! We started off the week going on an exchange where I went to Elder Aldridge's area and spent the day with him. It went pretty well, we found a new investigator and taught him the first lesson. Even among the distractions of the setting he like totally told us he believed what we were saying was true and he would read the Book of Mormon. 

We also taught one of their investigators who has a baptismal date and really focused on him reading the Book of Mormon. Basically that is what we are focusing on, the power of the Book of Mormon in conversion and how it is the keystone of our religion. 

 

Later in the week we had our zone training and President Berrett came to Coimbatore to have his quarterly interviews with us. Which went really well. President Berrett really wants us to work on finding investigators since the whole mission is struggling right now. After this transfer I will be the senior missionary in the Coimbatore zone so that was weird to realize i need to the example.

 

We had a couple really good lessons, one was with Raja. We meet him in church and he has really been struggling with outside influences talking bad about our church. We expressed our love and concern for him and read a couple scriptures about trials and faith. I bore my testimony on us not understanding what God has in store for us but trusting in Him and His eternal plan for his children. The Spirit was probably the strongest I have felt so far on my mission. I was super glad and peaceful the rest of the day.

 

For Sunday we had district conference and had President Berrett Elder Wu from the Seventy come and talk to us on family history. We had 6 investigators at church! a big jump from last week! Pretty much most of our solid investigators came. 

 

Sorry this is so short, this next 2 weeks will be pretty strange. We are having many exchanges and switches with other elders due to our zone leader needing surgery in Bangalore so we will not be in our area as much as we would like. 

And then Elder Monk goes to the Philippines next Monday! crazy, a lot of things are going to change.

Love you family!! So many blessings are happening right now with our family. its awesome.

Have a great week! 

-Elder Conrad

 

The Dynamic duo are unleashed ;)

Dad's email To Elder Conrad about all the contacts and coincidences we have had with Spencer being In India. What a small world!

Elder Conrad,

Ok, I had to write this email to show a few of the tender mercies, contacts, and amazing coincidences (which there really are none in the gospel) of your short time on the mission.

You will remember how nervous we were when you announced your call. I believe you said that our faces made it look like your coffin was being nailed shut.
Since that time it has truly been amazing of the many people we have met and incredible network of people.

All of these people have served us so much.
I know there will be more to come.

First we met Latha Palani from my work. She and her family is from the South of India with many connections in Coimbatore.
She invited us to dinner, with you right after you received your call, and we met Michael Anthony who was one of the first Indian missionaries.
(Well, he has been a member for a long time, he knows the Cahoon's from Canada who served in India many years ago.)

Through Latha we also met Daniel  Sr. PHD. from India who has four children.
His son, Daniel junior, is the owner of the Bombay house in Provo.
Another son owns the Royal India restaurant in Sandie, UT
And two daughters. Beula and Priya. (spelling is probably wrong but hey..)

Your last email said you met the Rowlands from Orem and they know grandpa Conrad.
Well, after thinking on this I also remember the Rowlands as they were in our ward way back before a few ward boundary changes. They actually live just around the corner, just as you head over the steep hill on the right. About 2 blocks from our house. We use to cut Christmas trees at the ranch and deliver the trees to them each year.
Brother Rowland was also the wrestling coach at MVHS.
The Rowlands adopted a young boy from India many years ago named Taj.
The first day at his new school in Utah, Uncle Ben was asked to be Taj's friend for the day to help him figure out the new school.
Ben and Taj were friends from then on, even though Ben broke his nose once during a sports event...
Taj later became student body president at MVHS THE BEST!!! (The same school where you drained threes from)
Taj went on to marry Priya  who is Daniel's daughter from above.
All with ties to Coimbatore! (Coincidence that you were called to Coimbatore? I think not)
Taj apparently has a home in Lehi and just recently built that incredible home in Coimbatore where you were invited to visit and to play Bball.
I hope you were able to go.

We also were introduce to the Bedke's who currently serve in Bangelor as a missionary couple. How incredible was that to have a couple from Orem who we knew is helping watch over the missionaries.
Sister Bedke is Sister Pett's daughter from our ward. I have known Sister Pett pretty much my entire life.

Through Michael we were also invited to a sealing of a marriage in the SLC temple of a young couple from India. Richard Raju and Jennifer Peters. (One from Coimbatore and one from Bangelor)
Richard's dad was the 2nd person who helped us get you needed items.

We are meeting with Daniel Sr. this week to send a package to you as he is going to Coimbatore. We will send you the new Debit card, the envelope with your PIN in it, and a few other things.
Let us know what you want / need.
I imagine you can send something back with Daniel Sr. as well. (the shoes, etc)

We met Elder Ravi who served as an AP in your mission. He answered so many of our important questions like, "IS THERE TOILET PAPER THERE?"
He laughed at our many concerns and questions wondering what we were thinking India was like.
(The world really has opened up to us through this calling)

At the sealing of Richard and Jennifer I met a former mission president and three couples who served in Bangelor about 5 years ago in mission callings similar to the Bedke's .
They all had incredible stories of their challenges, food issues, heat, smells, etc but would go back in a moment. They learned to love the people soooo much.
Also at this sealing was a former mission companion to Richard. He and his fiancé are getting married in Aug. The fiancé said that the India mission really refined the young man and made him an incredible person to marry.

Brother Bauer from our ward has taken such an interest in your calling and experiences and has passed on many words of encouragement. He is so excited to read your letters.

And, I could go on and on.

The most incredible of all the connections is still you and Elder Trevor Patten getting called to the same mission. You having your call for two months when Trevor received his call to the same place and entering the mtc the same day!!! Who has ever heard of that??? Then, being companions in the MTC, getting your visas together and flying there together....
Coincidence? I think not!
Keep in touch with him!

What stories and experiences you will be able to share.

The church makes the world really, really, small.

There have been so many of these tender mercies in our lives as a result of your decision to serve and accept your call. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Emily will serve because of you, Max is having incredible growth in the field largely because of you example. Ethan has his call to Japan.... etc.
No, not all because of you but you are all riding the wave of friends, excitement, and service.
I will always be so thankful to your many, many friends who are all out there serving and being an example of Christ. To Carson, Ryan, etc who all chose to serve and give up a few short years.

He that will loose himself will find himself....

Wow!
This is amazing!

ok, yes it is hard at times and not everything is going like you want or expect. But you are doing a great work.
Love the members, build the members, and enjoy the members and the gospel!!!

dad

July 20, 2015 American BBQ and familiar families!

Hello Family!!

Today I wanted to start off with todays Pday. Man was it fun, due to power outage and the internet gone is the reason i am sending this so late. So i was really happy to read from dads email about the crazy connections that are going on here in Coimbatore. Yes i figured out most of those today about Taj and his connection with Ben Cahoon.
Taj and his family invited me and Elder Monk to their home the other day to come over and have lunch and play some bball and just hang out. Which we did but we also were able to invite the other Elders from 1 and 3rd branch. So we had 6 elders with us. Taj and his family live forever away though, about a 45 min bus ride out close to the mountains/hills. out of the city and lots of greenery everywhere. Soo like he has a really really nice house. It is still in construction but it was pretty awesome anyway that you look out it. Their family comes out every summer for 3 months. June,july,august. They are leaving like in 3 weeks i think. But it was way fun we played basketball and it was pretty intense. we had 3 people who could actually play so it was more exercise than im used to haha. we had an american meal! barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes(again yes!) salad, jello, and other things. it was really good. They are an awesome family and when we figured out that they knew the cahoons it was pretty crazy! i think im going to try to go up there one more time before they leave.

But anyhow back to the week here in Coimbatore! It was a pretty good week. A little different but it was good. On tuesday 3 of the elders went to Chennai to get an additional passport for when they leave to the Phillipines next month so Elder Monk went with them. I was in my area with Elder D'vaz for half of that day and Elder Harris( who i met in London on the way to India) for all of Wed. I love serving with other guys and getting to know their stories. I had a blast. With Elder Harris I wanted to try a new idea that was given to us last week and do a table/stand right at the gate for the church building and hand out book of mormons, pamphlets, and cards out to people. We were not allowed to call people over so they had to come to us. We put a free books sign on the table and that seemed to work pretty good. And I guess 2 white guys probably attracted some attention as well :) but we were pretty busy right after we got it set up. Talking with people, giving the supplies, getting numbers etc we even gave a church tour for one family. We went through quite a bit of supplies and got a good amount of numbers to give calls and see if we can meet them. 

Our branch president's son Akash Amalraj just returned from his mission in Delhi this week as well and was immediately assigned as our Branch Mission Leader. Which I'm quite excited about to be able to work with him. Possibly because like the first thing he asked us was were if we getting fed by the members. Thats what im talking about! haha

It was a rough week with us not finding any new investigators but thats something we need to work more on. Thats something we dont like as much and right now we are meeting generally with the members and trying to help them out. 

The weather as been awesome, cloudy and the best weather ever. It got somewhat chilly at night, but not really. I thought it was hilarious seeing a few people rubbing their hands and wearing scarfs. It wasn't even cold, they would all die in utah. 

So on Daniel coming to Coimbatore. When will he be here? I wont be here for the 29 30 and 31st of July since we will be in Bangalore for a training. Just thought you should know.

Anyhow it was a great week. Hope you are all doing great back home! Love you all!

-Elder Conrad

July 14, 2015- 5 Transfers down

Hello my awesome family and friends!!

This week in the Coimbatore 2nd Branch has gone quite well and yes, I have stayed safe from the police. Everything is sorted out and there is no problem know. It has been a little hotter than usual but that does not stop the work from progressing! Me and Elder Monk are doing quite well.

We did receive our transfer calls and it looks like me and Elder Monk are staying another transfer in Coimbatore which is awesome and then for sure Elder Monk will be going to the Philippines to renew his visa. Which means I will probably be in Coimbatore another transfer after that :)

We do have some good news! So Bascar, our previous investigator who left town 2 weeks past, has come back and is staying from what we hear! We went to see his sister and there he was. He was happy to see us and immediately wanted again to start where he had left off. So we set a baptismal date for The 2nd of August with him. 

This week for me was a pretty good week and I had the most lessons that I have had so far on the mission. I agree with you dad, that is something we have been trying to do is to strengthen the branch and the members and work through them to receive referrals. 

There is this one family I have visited a couple times which makes me laugh every time I am there. They are a family of four. (grandma, mother, son and daughter) And the only one who speaks English is the son Harish/Hayish. Every time I see the grandma at church or anywhere she just speaks nonstop Tamil at me and expects me to understand... And that happens everywhere with the Grandmas! Why do they think a white kid knows Tamil!! but it has been super fun learning the little phrases in Tamil. Every time I say something in Tamil they are all like OOH and AHH. I feel pretty awesome haha

I don't know if you have heard but a Sister and Brother Rowland came up to Coimbatore and visited our branch. They were from Orem, UT and they said they know Grandpa Conrad. They live a couple blocks away apparently? They have a son who has a house here that they visit sometimes and it was so fun to meet with their family. They invited us over to play some bball and hang out at there house next week.

It looks like I'll be in Bangalore July 28-31 for a training so hopefully the package doesn't disappear on us and yes I did receive the money from bro Raju. Thanks! I'll see if I can repair my camera today.

Love you all and have a great week!

-Elder Conrad