Week Seventy-Six

Hello Family! 

This week has been busy and exciting and fun to say the least! We had transfers on Thursday and after 4 transfers and 6 months in Lajpat Nagar, it was time for me to leave. I loved my time there and I loved being a zone leader, I learned so many important things and I saw a lot of success in the work in the New Delhi East Zone! However, I will still be able to help East Zone progress and improve because I was called by President Hodges to be his assistant in the mission. I am now companions with Elder Dass. He is from Malaysia and has Indian ancestors, and is really cool. We have known each other for a while and he is a really good guy, I am excited to be his companion. I am also excited to be an assistant. The work is hard and busy but in my mission there is a lot of cool perks. I get to work closely with the Pakistani missionaries and the Elders in Mumbai. I also get to Skype teach people from around Northern India and if they are ready to be baptized we get to go find them and baptize them, we just got a referral to teach a man in Jaipur, India. There is just a lot that I get to do and probably the best is working alongside President Hodges. He is seriously so awesome. I have learned so much from him in the last year and a half and I am excited for the opportunity to learn and grow as a leader and as a person. 

I am now serving in the Munirka ward. We live right at the mission office building here in Vasant Vihar and we travel to our area that is like 10 to 15 minutes away. So far my area has been great and I love the families already. We have this one sister named Sister Shakuntala who is amazing! She is so faithful and such a nice lady, but my first night here we got a call for help from here as her son got drunk and started to hit her. We had to rush to their home and stop the problems, after the police had already stopped by and did nothing. She was freaked out and he was in lala land because he had been drinking so much. So why Elder Dass talked to sister Shakuntala I controlled the son. We finally got everyone calmed down after a little bit of shouting in Hindi and we able to share a message with sister Shakuntala to help her, too bad her son didn't understand anything though. Right before we left he had passed out on the little make shift mattress on the floor of a side room. So I asked Sister Shakuntala if she needed any help, she was so happy because she really needed some chores to be done. On the top shelf high up in her small kitchen she had a big barrel of oil she uses for cooking and she needed someone to help her get it down. We got it down and helped her with some other things and she was so happy, you could just tell some of the stress had gone away and that she could relax and figure life out for a moment. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to always be serving others; you never know how much you can help someone just by asking if they need anything. 

I love India and with 5 transfers left I am trying my best to not take each moment for granted. I have been here so long it feels like home, but I never want to get used to all the fun and crazy things that happen in my day to day life. I love being a missionary and know that God called me here for a purpose. I pray for all of you.

Love,

Elder Armstrong

Serving as an AP with my new companion Elder Dass