Dear Family,
First off I'm sorry to mom and dad
for emailing late and to those of you who have emailed me, I won't be able to
email back so I hope you're reading this. We're short on time and it has been a
crazy weekend. But I have a lot I want to say. This weekend was the Holi
celebration in India and I was full of color all week. We were on lock down
yesterday because they want us safe in this crazy city, but people celebrate
the full week so staying out of the celebration is impossible. I ruined two
white shirts and everywhere we went people would throw water balloons and then
colors at us. It was awesome!
Such a fun culture. Such a fun time.
I wake up every day and throw on some flip flops and walk to the shop down the
road. I see parrots and monkeys and cows. I buy yogurt and milk, biscuits (cookies),
and a banana...all for less than a dollar. I walk back and do a small work out,
and then I shower in dirty water and eat my food. I then study and leave for
the day, never knowing what will happen and it's a great life.
This week we helped a member
"shift" which is just moving.
In India they don't have Uhauls, so we loaded everything from their
small house into a small truck with really tall sides in the back to keep
everything in. When we moved it all to the other house across Noida they had me
sit at the very top of the truck in the back on all of their belongings. They drove all the way through Noida with me being paraded around. I took pictures and
videos and people took pictures and videos of me. They couldn't believe it and
I was just blown away, you never know what to expect in India. It was so awesome;
I can't wait for you to see the pictures.
This week was great and my companion
Elder Mani is awesome, but there is just one problem, he is really good at chess.
So good that I'm no longer placing 10 rupee bets on each game, at least not
until I can learn to beat him. Also I am loving the families in my new area here in
Noida. They treat me as if I'm a son and it's really nice to have that.
I was going to write to you about a
different topic this week, but on the way to the Cyber my thoughts went to
something different as I watched the local police trying to load a man into
their car who had passed away. This man was homeless I believe, and you
could just tell that he had had a rough life, and I was shocked because I have never
seen anything like that. It was really sad. Sometimes I just think life is
unfair, but I have to be trusting in the Plan of Salvation. I don't know why I
grew up in Marsh Valley and have an amazing life, full of blessings. I don't
know why I have grown up with the gospel, and was born into a loving family. Many people I meet will never even know what
my life is like. They will never know what it's like to get an education and
have a life of comfort and peace. I see babies on the roads and kids that are
begging for food and I just ask why? But I don't know why and I will probably never fully understand how Heavenly Father chooses where and how his children
live on Earth. But I do know something, I know that he has a plan for each one
of us, no matter whom we are or where we are. And I know that he gave us all a
giant hug before we left his presence, fully knowing how hard it would be for
many of us. His love is unfailing and it's faith in that that helps me get by.
It's faith that in the end all will be well and all of our brothers and sisters
will get a chance to accept our Savior and feel real happiness. It's faith that
can help us help others so that maybe they can feel that feeling here on Earth.
People need us, it's that simple. So
we need to be there for them.
Love,
Elder Armstrong
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