25 April 2016

T-Minus 15 days...

So, the trip to the Philippines has been on my mind more than usual this week, largely because of some stuff that I had to do because of it. It's more or less 100% that I'm going there at this point, though. I only have 2 weeks! 

This is how the week went down: Tuesday, we had district meeting way over in Indira Nagar, with our zone leaders. Going there and back ate up most of our day, but we did manage to meet with a less-active family at night. 

Wednesday was the very exciting day. I'd found out on Monday that I was taking a special trip back to Hyderabad to apply for a second passport, and left on Wednesday. I packed in the morning, left in the early afternoon, flew out in the evening, and arrived late night. It was a long trip, but I ended up staying in the West Maredpally 3rd ward apartment, where I served 4 months back! That was pretty crazy. I met up with Elder Martin again, which was the weirdest thing. We've only met 3 times- the first time in West Maredpally, for a mission conference, when he was staying in Bangalore and me in Rajamundry. The second time was also in Hyderabad, when I was leaving for Coimbatore and he was arriving in West Maredpally. The third time was also in Hyderabad, when I stayed in Bangalore and he stayed in West Maredpally. That was weird!

Thursday morning, I went to the US consulate. That was the first time I'd set foot on US soil since June! Things went pretty smoothly, except for a few hiccups. The consulate didn't allow any form of memory devices or any electronics in, so I ended up leaving my card reader with a random security guard for an ATM outside! That was a little risky, but better than just throwing it away. The only other problem was that the application I'd been given by the mission office was outdated, and I had to transfer the information to a nearly identical but somehow better other application. Once all that was finished, everything ran smoothly, and my application went through. In 7-10 business days, I'll have my second passport! I did get my card reader back, even. Then, I stayed in the apartment with a sick missionary while Elder Martin went out with a member to proselyte until my cab showed up. I went back to the airport, flew back to Bangalore, and arrived at the apartment at nearly midnight. 

The rest of this week was pretty typical, with one exception: Sunday night. Last week, as we were walking down the road, a random old guy grabbed us, and insisted on introducing us to his family. That was pretty strange, but we had an appointment, so after introductions, we left. Throughout the week, we tried to visit them, but no one was home. Sunday night, we finally caught them. After we talked for a while, we asked why the father, Amul Raj, had grabbed us. His wife, Mary, explained that he'd been drunk at the time. Anyway, it turns out that they were very interested in hearing the gospel, and invited us to come back and tell them more! They have 7 children, only one of which was a son. Try not to be too jealous!

That's about all of the news. Tell Zach and Nate that I'll bring them all the disgusting candy they like! I'll see about getting another elephant thing or sari; I don't know much about those. This is kind of a weird question to ask my Mom, but what size are you? I need to know if I'm getting clothes.  I have been reading Payne's letters, and that does sound pretty painful. Injuries are something I've lucked out on- I've had a couple of cycle crashes that could have turned out to be nasty, but have never got so much as a cut or bruise. I've had a companion twist his ankle on a cycle, and that's it. 

You said you're going to take a class on ethics? That sounds like...fun. How much is ethics involved in nursing? I thought it was mostly just "Don't violate HIPPA, or intentionally screw up." Apparently not, though.

Well, that about it for the week! See Ya!