19 December 2016

We had a fairly slow week- not too much in the interesting department. The best story was actually last Monday night! We had a set appointment over near our bishop's house, one of his son's friends. The problem was that we didn't really know how to get there. The usual way in India is to stop an auto, tell him the area name, go there, and call a member. We did that. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy out, and autos have open sides. Oh, and the ride was far longer and more expensive than we thought. Anyway, we got out at what we thought was the right spot, still cold, wet, and raining. We called our bishop, and asked how to get to his house from there. It turned out that we'd gotten down at a spot that was named something similar, and only about a mile off. Of course, the bishop didn't actually know where we were, so we had to wander around asking strangers on the street directions for a while before we figured that out, but hey; we're missionaries, and that is part of the job description. Eventually, after walking about two miles (it was still raining, by the way, and neither of us had an umbrella), we got to the bishop's house. The only problem was that he wasn't there, and neither was the investigator who said that he'd be there just that morning. So, we waited. The bishop's very nice wife let us in. Did I mention that our bishop just returned from a trip to America? His family gave us all sorts of amazing American candy. In the end, the bishop and investigator never showed up because of the rain. But hey, I'd do a lot more to get a Baby Ruth again.

Tuesday was equally uneventful, except for yet another fun incident. We were trying to find a member's home somewhere called Pillana gardens. On arrival in the area, we looked in vain until we tried asking people about the landmark. They told us it was across the railroad tracks and beyond the wall. So, we went there. I kid you not, the first thing we noticed was a ton of Muslims everywhere. They are very noticeable, and this was apparently home to a lot of them. We started cautiously looking around anyway, and that's when the party started. Within half an hour of us being there, they started having some huge celebration, I still don't know why. They jam-packed the main road to get out. Now, I haven't had too much luck with big crowds of religiously excited people (remember the Coimbatore incident?), so we tried to find a back way out- but couldn't. In the end, we just caught an auto and evacuated. Nothing too exciting happened, thankfully. 

Wednesday was just plain uneventful, as was Thursday. We had a couple of appointments, but that was it. Friday, we had zone training in the morning, then the plan was to go to a member's wedding, where they'd give us lunch. For some reason unknown to anyone, we instead decided to grab lunch elsewhere, then go to the wedding. Then, we headed back to our area, and tried to go to a set appointment with a returned missionary. You'd think that a returned missionary of all people would know better than to bunk appointments. You'd think. Nope! Then at night, we tried to visit an investigator named Babitha. We had to walk around forever trying to find her house while she ignored our calls. Eventually, we found it- only to learn that she'd bunked. We'd just set the appointment that afternoon when we saw her at the wedding! After walking all the way back out of that area, she finally called us back. Turned out she had to take her grandmother to the hospital. Oh well.

Saturday, we managed to meet with some new investigators. Nothing too thrilling, though. We did have a puzzle- both of us had written "James" in our planners, but neither of remembered who James was! That mystery is still unsolved, as the number listed as "James" in our phone won't answer our calls. 

Sunday, we had church, then went out caroling with the ward. That was fun!

Well, that's our week. Nothing too crazy happened, but we had plenty of fun stories. 8 days to go!