23 November 2015

Well, this week was pretty interesting. We spent easily half of it at the FRO, half of it at the doctor, and half of it traveling in between them. Sounds fun, right? As it turns out, I'm still waiting in Rajahmundry, but my FRO paperwork is in, and I hopefully will finish the deregistration process this afternoon. Then all I need to do is get thumbprinted, have a police check, and leave. I can't wait for Hyderabad- largely because living in limbo is no fun. I packed up when it looked like I was going to leave soon- a week ago. Since then, because Elder Peterson has moved in where I used to be, I've been living largely out of my suitcase. Having five elders in the apartment is a lot of fun, though. The news with the doctor is just that I needed a tetanus shot. Apparently, rabies isn't much of an issue with rats, just with dogs and monkeys. Who knew? The medical system here is pretty crazy, too: talking with the doctor? 200 rupees. Buying my own tetanus shot, syringe, and having them shoot me up with it? 16 rupees. Total cost? Under $4.

Not too much has happened besides those things. I only saw the doctor on Friday; the rest of the time was spent going to his office and hearing he wasn't there. That happened five times before we caught him. Going to the FRO was equally exciting: long hours of waiting, and yet more traveling to get there. But, they finally saw me, took the papers, and signed off, and the police check is supposed to be today! Actually, it was supposed to be this morning, but the guy said he'd show up later. 

Well, that's all the big news of the week. For the first time in 10 months, I haven't received any news from home. Did you get the letter I sent? Hopefully, I'll get yours when the zone leaders go to MLC in Bangalore, and come back.

Well, the guy came an hour ahead of schedule, so I just had to interrupt my emailing to go do the work. But, it's finished! Nearly! I got the police check and thumbprinting; I just need to go down there again tomorrow and sign some papers.

I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but I completely forgot. But, we had 3 baptisms this week! Divya, Ratna Babu, and Madhuri all got baptized!

I was right under a light, so even though I am not the only white person there, it looks just like it. The people are, from right to left, myself, Elder Jalagam, Divya, Ratna Babu, Elder Prasad, Madhuri, Elder Lindsay, and Elder Peterson. Unfortunately, I was the only one looking at the camera at the time, so it looks a little funky.