Nine Month Mark

Hey guys,

Another good week down here in Noida where we work hard all day and then come home and I wear Lungi's, make Indian food, and spend my night trying to learn Hindi and Tellegu while beating everyone in my apartment in chess. Transfers are coming up this week. This has been probably the fastest transfer since the start of my mission, even though it has easily been the toughest. They always said if you want your mission to go fast then get to work, but I don't want it to go this fast. Ha-ha. I just wish so much you could all be here with me and experience the things I am experiencing. I have been surprised, grossed out, scared, and happy, over and over again for 9 months. And it never gets old, I really don't want to come home, I just want home to come here sometimes. 

This week I don’t have much crazy news or anything. I sent some pictures home finally, so I hope you can all see those on the blog. We gave Meenuka the Holy Ghost yesterday and she gave us a referral this week and they are now on date for baptism. Noida is really coming a long way and we are excited for our small branch that hasn't had many baptisms in the past year.

I just want you all to know that Love is an amazing thing.  That's a life lesson I still need to understand better, but have learned so much about here in India. The Love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for us, the love our leaders have for us, and the love our family and friends have for us, and in all of those cases the love we have for them, is an amazing thing. Love is something that makes everything better and true love never fails. My favorite scripture about love is the entire chapter of 1 John Chapter 4. And my favorite verse in that chapter is verse 18, it says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that hath fear is not made perfect in love.”

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have perfect love, it is unfailing and Eternal. And if we have perfect love no matter what, we will not fear, but we will be Faithful and full of hope because perfect love casts fear away. 

This week I was walking and doing some street contacting and I noticed this one particular homeless woman. She was different, but obviously homeless and in need of help in any way. She had her infant baby, completely naked lying on her lap on a small blanket in the hot sun. But that's not why she was different, she was different because she was happy. She wasn't begging and I wouldn't have been able to give anything if she was. But she was playing with her baby and smiling, and laughing when the baby laughed, just like any good mother. I don't know if she had perfect love, I doubt it because no one is perfect, but she was pretty dang close. Given her circumstances, she could have been bitter and upset.  She could have neglected her baby, or maybe even been fearful of her future, but she wasn't. She was loving and hopeful, and she was caring no matter what the condition. And it touched me pretty deeply. I need to be more loving no matter the occasion or trial, no matter the problem or unwelcomed difficulty. I can be more loving. I want perfect love, and it may take us all until Eternity to get that perfect love, but the time to start trying is today. 

I love you!

Elder Armstrong