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

July 5, 2015 Going to Jail on your mission is probably not the best thing!

Hey family!! Sooo this week has been an allright week. Definetly not the best week due to reasons soon expressed. But we did have some excitement that I wish I had been more involved in.

But anyhow, this is the last week of the transfer. We are getting the transfer calls tonight so we are pretty excited. but we have heard rumors from the AP's that almost every companionship is changing this transfer. so there is a big change me and elder monk are getting seperated. Im pretty positive im staying in the area for at least 1 more transfer.

So to begin this week we had an exchange on tuesday. Our Distrcit leader (elder Aldridge) came up to my area with me and elder monk went to the 1st branch area. We had a fun time and had a good day. The only bad news was at 8 pm we called 1st branch to figure out how to exchange back and we get a frantic answer of a member telling us Elder Monk and Elder D'Vaz were in jail.... uhhhh what!!!???

So we rushed over to that area and called mission president and everyone else. Luckily the district president was already on his way and we were told to stay in our apartment. Long and intense story short, they got in trouble with some cops while they were visiting a members home and were charged with converting.(paying people to join church or religion) Luckily they were visiting a member or it wouldve been more difficult. From what i got out of the situation though, it was handled well and everything is fine now. And some funny fluke that got them in trouble the first time. We were worried we might all get sent out of Coimbatore but everything is fine.

Then on thursday we had our mission president and his wife came to give the zone a 6 hour specialized training. It was really good focusing on us how we can have better planning and using time wisely. There is alot of things that we learned!

Soo the bad and sad news as well was our investigator that is supposed to get baptized this next sunday had to move out and is far away now. Soo that was a real bummer to hear. But we did what we could and a strong seed is there.

We are still working with Jebaraj and he is still awesome. Coming to church, reading, attending activites. he is an awesome kid wanting to learn more.

Thats it for the week, sorry its so short.

Love you family, everyone have a great week!

June 29th 2015-

Hey family!!

Well this week has been pretty good! It really wasn't too productive/fun the first part of the week but we continued to work and were able to have some pretty eventful days by the end of the week. It was really hard to get lessons some days. Man one day was terrible, we had a great day planned and everything just bunked. It was really hard to find things to do and be productive. If our appointments bunk in certain areas with no members around it really sucks since we still arent allowed to knock and talk to people. So at times I feel we are wasting valuable time but what can we do.

During the week one of our awesome investigators came back after a week being gone and we were able to meet with him! His name is Bascar and he is pretty great! He is around 30 years old and he has a sister who is a member. He is a pretty quiet guy and doesnt really like talking to us in english since he doenst speak it to well, but understands us really well. It can be frustrating at times but he is loving the gospel! he wants to meet us like everyday which is fine with us but we dont want him to get sick of us! but we set a baptismal date with him awhile back for july 12 i think. so he is doing awesome and progressing. im so excited for him!

Also a referral from on of our ysa members, also came back after 2 weeks and we were able to meet ith him again. we have only taught him the restoration but he has a great desire to read the book of mormon and learn if it is true. he came back and he is near the end of 1 nephi! that is music to hear when they are reading :)

One area we dont visit often, because it is like 1 hr bus ride away, we went up to visit a couple members and it was probably the greatest experience ever when we went to a members home and we got fed. And let me tell you it was the best indian meal ive ever had! it wasnt anything special, just rice and chicken and beef curry but everything about it was delicious.   

Other than that we are still working on going through our investigators since we have a decent amount. We are a little iffy on a couple and its super hard to think of dropping any. our pool is going down and we are struggling with getting new investigators. Its so hard with member referalls but at least we have a couple that are awesome! 

Ya so thats about it for this week, sorry not to exciting. Today we are going to play some basketball and shopping at a mall (which means nothing since i have 100 rupess for the next 2 days) 

Also my camera is kind of broken, the lens is having trouble opening and closing so thats why no pictures lately. I dont know what to do, ill see if i can fix when i get my debit card.

anyhow love you all!! thanks for everything. Everything is going good and we have all decided that i will probably staying in the area another 3 months since my companion will be leaving to phillipines in august.

we are excited though! the mission is getting like 15 indians and 8 missionaries have gotten visas so we will be getting them all in the next 2 months.

 love you all and have a great week!!

-Elder Conrad

Seeing snow and going to Ooty! June 22, 2015

Hello Family!!!

Well first off I have to say is this week has been pretty great! The weather in Coimbatore was sooo nice this week. Had clouds like the entire week but no rain and a great breeze to keep us cool. The raining season is supposed to begin soon so hopefully it will keep this awesome weather here!

I wasnt able to send out an email earlier today because our zone again went to Ooty!! All the new guys wanted to go and it was pretty fun! Weather was a bit ridiculous there but guess what!? We saw snow!! In India! it was wimpy snow, you could barely see it but it was there :) in ooty it was very windy, rainy and cold, luckily i had a jacket which many of the others didnt.

Everything sounds like it is going good back home, last preparations for some of my friends leaving onto the mission life. Its awesome to see everyone heading out.

But my week wasn't good just because of the weather. Me and Elder Monk have been working pretty hard and it went really well. Sadly we dont have much time to email because of our long trip. 

quickly a few things ill share. So we had a lunch appointment with a member this sunday and we were surprised to get tehre and there was mashed potatoes and gravy, chicken legs, salad. Man it was an american meal!! it was sooo good and was awesome.

But this week we have found that we have a pretty decent amount of investigators and have been working with them alot. Also our branch is awesome and has been helping us alot with trying to get members out to lessons that will be good fellowshippers. Sadly we hadnt been using the members as much as we should have. 

But this week was good with a couple of our investigators. yesterday after church we meet with 2 young men 17 and 16. Jabadorage and Jabadari. they are pretty cool! we have asked them how reading the book of mormon was. We had assigned 2 ne 31. and they answered saying the wanted to be baptized... like okay!! i like that kind of answer!! we set a date for the end of july. we just need to work with one of the brothers and strengthen him a little more. 

We have 2 others who I feel are ready to get a baptismal date but left the city this week. we will hopefully see them asap.

We have others as well we just need to meet with and helping them the best that we can. We are still not doing tracting or knocking but are finding lots to do!

I was very happy with this week even though I know we can do better.Sorry this is so short but thank you all for your support! Have a great week

-Elder Conrad

June 15- Being on lock down again!

Hello family!!

So you know how the lockdown happened during the end of the week until Monday. Ya so that lasted another 4 days here in Coimbatore... :( Which is super boring and lame because I done feel like there was anything going around in our part of the area. But we ended up making it as fun as we could by making killer brownies and eating ice cream. Yum!! Now I am waiting for the day to find some Root Beer and make some Root Beer Floats!! I hear there is one place in Hyderabad that sells Root Beer so lets pray I go there some day. :)

Everything sounds like life is going good in Ut! And I am super upset that the ward is going on a camping trip. Escalante was soo much fun. That is awesome news with Brandon and Mallory!! Cant wait for theirs and Amy and Nates kids :)

So pretty much it still is crazy to me that Emily leaves in 2 months! I bet time is a flying and then it will really be an empty nest hehe

This week in Coimbatore, well the long day and weeks have gone by and the long awaited Elder Monk has arrived from Rajahmundry! Him and 2 other elders arrived Thursday night and the six of us all had a sleepover at our apartment.

Quick little update on Elder Monk, he is from Houston, Texas and has finished 9 months on his mission in India. He has 2 sisters and one brother and is first to serve on his mission. He is a pretty cool kid and im excited to serve with him. He is a little quiet but is very funny. and also a rubix cube master. oh and his sense of smell and taste is pretty much gone. which I cant tell is lucky or bad for india. smell is lucky for him on most occasions. Taste kind of sucks for him haha

This week we had the zone conference that you know about in Bangalore and also had our zone training. Which was really good, our zone is pretty awesome. 6 Americans and 2 Indians missionaries. Not saying anything bad about the Indians of course, they are cool to. haha

So besides this week being mostly lockdown and the days have been filled going around showing him the area and visiting members and investigators not that much has gone by. We did get new bikes that are pretty awesome and are running those things to the ground.

We received a referral from a member this week of a family of four, which they seem pretty awesome. but don't speak English very well. That's going to be the story of the next couple weeks. Its going to be hard finding good English speakers to teach.

But let me say having two Americans is providing miracles with our ward. we are getting lots of dinner appointments coming up all of a sudden when I didn't get any before The members are really taking care of us. :)

The members are being so awesome. I am so surprised at the devotion some of the leaders are putting in for helping the branch and helping us out. I keep hearing that this is one of the best supporting branches in the mission. Its so awesome.

That's all for this week, but things in India are looking great!! this week has been good and there is so much to do! I have no idea what to do here in India, im still new but its awesome and I love being out here!

Love you all and have a great week!!

-Elder Conrad