Twenty-Three Month Mark

Hello family and friends, 

This week was full of exciting things, just as it always has been here in India. By now I'm sure you all know that India is filled with billions of people. If you somehow still don't know that, I'll tell you as an eye-witness. It is filled with billions of people. Now you know:) This week, and every day I get to experience that while traveling to our proselyting area. In Mumbai, the traffic is very bad.  Small roads, lots of cars, and no rules. You do the math, and I end up sitting in an auto in the sun for 45 minutes just to get passed one stop light. Whether it's green, red or yellow, you can't tell because the lights are burnt out. And if by some chance they are working, Rajeev is color blind and doesn't care if you are late to an appointment. To fix this problem, we take the local trains. The advantage here is that they are always coming and going. They are also really cheap, allowing me and my companion to go halfway across the city and back for 50 cents. Sounds great, right? Well, kind of great. Because of these factors, most of the city uses the local trains. This time, no traffic as with the vehicles, but keep your bag close and your hand on your wallet, because you are literally walking through a sea of people. You thought Disneyland at Christmas was bad, try Ghatkopar local station at 6 p.m. on any given Wednesday. I always had dreams of going to play college football somewhere, but this is the closest I will ever get to the real deal. I literally duck my shoulder and storm into these trains as fast as I can, with everyone around me doing the same thing. There are no lines, or any other form of civility. We often start jumping (mostly being pushed) on and off the trains while they are still moving. At times like these, you almost have to forget the wonderful virtues of patience, humility, and kindness. It truly is very difficult to "seek after things which are praiseworthy and of good report", especially when Pradeep puts his elbow in your back and accidentally spits chewing tobacco on your shirt. After all, the work must go on, and it 's the only way to get to our area. One might say, wait for the next train. You do that, you wait all night. Each train is filled to the max for hours at a time. 

If you are really lucky you get to hang off from the side of the train out of the doors. It's cooler in the wind than the hot and sweaty inside, but you do have to dodge the other trains passing by within feet of you. Inside the train you are face to face, back to shoulder, leg to knee and mouth to ankle with everyone. This week I was so smashed into the train that my feet actually came off the ground and I was just suspended there, being held up and supported by two random old men. I almost lost my favorite shoes. Nice people they were, invited them to church as my sweat dripped onto them, and theirs onto me. It's not as bad as it sounds, we're all brothers aren't we? 

Anyways, to finally get to the point of my letter this week, one day we were traveling on these horrid trains and I looked down and my name tag was gone. My MTC name tag, the tag I have had since day one about 23 months back. I hurried and looked towards the ground to see if I could see the tag among all the feet. My companion and I, with the help of a few others looked to see if we could find it, but nothing. We finally approached our stop and I had accepted defeat, there was no possible way of finding something so small in that train full of people. We got off and went finding or tracting. As we walked I thought of all the memories of my mission associated with my tag. From the first day I had it with an orange "dork dot" on it, to the time it fell off my shirt and down a bunch of stairs and made so much noise as Elder Basil and I were trying to sneak into a building to knock doors. I thought of the times I had been scolded for wearing the Savior's name on my chest, and how proudly I would take that scolding any day. I had another tag back at the apartment, one I never wear because it's too white and pretty, I prefer the one that has roughed India from the beginning. I also have a few of my grandpa's tags, but I didn't want them to see the same fate.

So as I walked, I was sad.  My shirt felt lighter, and it seemed to be a fore shadow of things to come.   I wasn't excited. We continued to walk and talk to people, my companion having a tag that people could read and me just pointing to my shirt pocket only to nothing there. We eventually got back on those trains and made our way back to Ghatkopar later that night. I had almost come to terms with it being gone. I made fun of many of my friends here on the mission who lost their first tags, because we all know the second just isn't the same. I was guessing it was Karma, something people in India believe and have taught me all too well. But as we got off the train and started walking to get an auto, my companion Elder Ravi who I have learned to love, yelled, "Your tag!!" In one motion he jumped down onto the tracks from the platform without even looking both ways, as a silly American would have done. The tracks of the trains are almost as nasty as you can imagine. Chewing tobacco spit, and big ole rats crawling everywhere. There is trash everywhere and it is smelly, mostly because the ditches between the tracks that are supposed to be for water drainage, are filled with trash and sewage. And through all of this my companion runs and jumps over multiple tracks and picks up a name tag that reads, "Elder Armstrong The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" As he ran back I lifted him up to the platform in amazement. He handed me my tag and I hugged him laughing as he told me "Elder, I prayed we would find it." 

To anyone who reads this letter, God is good and he is a God of miracles. Even something so small that is seemingly unimportant, as a name tag, can be found with Faith in Him and his Son. I had given up, after all, it's just a name tag, in this giant of a city, but God knew I valued it, and that made it important to Him. And thanks to a very faithful companion, who not even until the last second stopped looking, it was found. I'll never forget my time here in Mumbai, or this wonderful testimony builder. Miracles are wrought by Faith, and Miracles will never cease, unless people cease to have Faith. 

Thanks for reading my letters, I hope they help you in any way. Go Jazz. Go Jazz. Go Jazz.

Love Elder Armstrong

Week Ninety-Nine

Last Transfer of my mission is this week!  Staying in Mumbai with Elder Ravi. 

Hello family,

This week had a lot of great things happen for us here in India. But I'll start with the bad. I fell down a flight of stairs. Yes, I actually fell and tumbled down an entire flight of stairs of about 20 steps. Hurt like you can't believe. My back still hurts and I whacked my elbow about 15 times, it's my bad elbow too. We were just finding and door knocking in some building and all of a sudden my feet were no longer underneath me, but above my head. Really slippery stairs and my shoes are basically flip flops after two years of being destroyed day by day. This Indian auntie came running out so fast yelling "Bhabu bhabu bhabu" She thought it was her son that fell, but as she saw it was me you could see the sigh of relief, and then she turned around and walked away. I think that hurt more than the fall itself. No one cared, my companion laughed, and the day went on. Missionary life is awesome. 

This week we had a Prophet of God visit India. President Nelson, along with Elder Holland were wonderful to listen to. I think many of you may have heard, but they told us that the India temple was not planned until the night before. Saturday night President Nelson received the impression that India should have a temple, and the Twelve didn't even know it yet. What a powerful man who listens to every prompting. Elder Holland was awesome as always, he called us " A real mission" and said he was jealous of the experiences we were having. He should be, India is the best place on Earth. 

It was good to be back in Delhi, even for just a short day. I was able to see some friends and say goodbye to Elder Basil. I will miss him, what a great companion he was and he will do awesome things in Australia. I also got to see Bishop Massey from the Munirka ward, he is one of my favorite people I met on my mission. It was also good to have some of my favorite street food again. Mumbai doesn't have momo's or kathi rolls, so I had to gorge myself while I could. Mumbai is wonderful, and I love it more each day. But Delhi is home. That's where family is. 

Each day goes by faster than the last. The work is good and God is great, I really wish I was a better servant for Him. No matter how much I give I can never give enough and repay Him, because whenever I give He gives back more. That's His character, that's what he does. I feel closer to Him now than I ever have, and yet I have so much more to do. I hope to spend every last second trying to share this feeling with others. I am so thankful for India.

Love,

Elder Armstrong

Even India knows America is a great Country!

Saying Goodbye to Elder Basil.  Such a great companion.  

Me and Elder Basil in Delhi before he goes home to Australia 

Aakash, who we taught by Skype from Kolkatta when I was an AP was baptized by Elder Basil

Week Ninety-Eight

Hello family and friends,

This week I finally decided to give up on trying to create an American Style Hamburger. We had some pretty bad meat, and it wasn't nice to me. I am finally deciding to throw in the towel and just accept that it cannot be done. I will now wait patiently for a real American Cheeseburger. But that's pretty much how my week went, well besides finding for so many hours in the Indian sunshine. It is so hot, and humid, and I am covered in sweat from the second I get outside each morning. It's hard to even dry off after a shower, I'm just always wet. 

This week our finding efforts were very successful, but we are struggling to get people to attend sacrament meeting. For some it's a pretty big sacrifice to give up the time and money to travel to church for 3 hours on a Sunday morning, we just have to keep looking with faith for those Heavenly Father has prepared. 

Life is good here in India. This week we get to hear from the Prophet and Elder Holland who are visiting Bangalore. They will visit Bangalore and Skype all of us here in the Delhi mission. We will travel from Mumbai to Delhi to have a mission conference and then listen to President Nelson and then come back. I love being here in Mumbai, it's such a great experience, but since coming here I have realized how much I loved Delhi. It really is my home. I am excited to go back even for just a day. 

I have learned from my mission that it is so important to follow the teachings of the prophets. What a miracle it is to have a prophet in our day and to be able to receive guidance and counsel from him so easily, at the blink of an eye we can access all of their teachings and apply them in our lives. I am excited to do that this week and I hope we all make following the Prophet a pattern in our lives. President Nelson is called of God, and is the Lord's chosen servant to lead us to safety in these days. I promise you will never go astray if you follow his counsels.

Love,

Elder Armstrong

Week Ninety-Seven

Hey guys!

Conference this weekend was unbelievable; I loved every second of it. Watching it a week late has its downfalls, none of the big announcements were that exciting the second time, but the talks were great. I particularly loved President Nelson's talk on Revelation, and Elder Bednar's talk on Meekness. And as always, Jeffery R Holland was wonderful. I had many questions going into conference and I was excited to get answers, and some of them I did get. Others I didn't, because what I did get is the inspiration and feeling to live and do things in different ways, so that my answers can come to me. I just love our church and the good that it stands for. 

This week was a little slower in the work; the work in Mumbai I feel is very different from Delhi. I believe it's harder here to find people and teach them, but not so much that it's discouraging. It's just enough of a challenge that I get excited about the chance to better myself. In these last few months I want to reach out to as many people as possible, on the local trains, knocking doors, walking the crowded streets, and even encouraging auto drivers to come to our free English class. The more people I talk to the happier I will feel and the more work the Lord can accomplish through me. Time definitely does not slow down for anyone, especially me. Some People say that the first year is slower or the last year is slower, or the last 6 months are slow, etc etc etc. I believe, at least in my case, it has all been way too fast from the very first day. 

This week things went well in the work. We found a few new investigators, Elder Ravi is progressing as a missionary and we are working well as a companionship. This week one thing that has been on my mind since listening to conference has been the need for the Holy Ghost in our lives. I love the message that was conveyed throughout all of conference, that He can be with us at all times, not just sometimes, or when in an emergency, we need Him always to be with us. As a missionary we are literally nothing without Him, everything we do needs to be done by the Spirit, otherwise it isn't the way the Lord wants it to be done. Heavenly Father knows this life is very hard, He knows we are not strong enough to make it alone, that's why he gave us such special gifts, the Gift of His Son, and the Gift of His Spirit. If we follow their counsel we can never go wrong, I hope we all live in a way that we can easily and readily accept the Heavenly Help that He has provided.

Love Elder Armstrong 

Twenty-Two Month Mark

Wow! You would not believe the feelings in my heart and in the hearts of the Saints of India.

At 3 a.m. we were all awakened from phone calls and texts from members all over. President Hodges sent a text to us and all the missionaries were going crazy. I just can't express how happy we all are. A temple has been the dream for so long. So many prayers, so much missionary work, many many meetings, counsels, fasting and study, and every other work you can think of to spread the gospel in this country. It all is because of the temple, the dream is always the temple, to be sealed with families and to be in the Lord's house. It's the highest form of worship in our faith and the closest we can truly be to eternity with our families and our Father in Heaven on this Earth and it's all coming to Bangalore. In the scriptures it says that nations shall flow unto the Lord's house, as many do to the Salt Lake Temple and Hong Kong and other very famous temples that meet the needs of the many Saints in the World. But you have no idea how many people will be blessed from a temple in India.  Even if just this one nation, was all that flowed unto it, it will bless for eternity thousands and thousands of souls. We currently have 4 stakes, but by the time it is built I bet we have 7 or 8 stakes in India, the work is moving quicker each day. I will do everything I can to be on a plane and back for the open house or dedication, whenever that may be. 

I love this work, I love this church, and I love this missionary experience I have had. To see the church change lives and grow as an organization the way it has these last two years in India is the exact thing I needed to see in my life. If I wouldn't have come to this place at this time, I am positive my doubts would have overcome my faith, but Heavenly Father put me right where I needed to be, and luckily I was able to choose to follow the correct path so that this mission would have the impact on me that I think He intended it to have. 

I haven't heard all of General Conference, just the big changes, but I want all of you to know that I sustain our new first presidency and especially our Prophet, Russell M. Nelson, and I also sustain both of our new Apostles along with the others who have already been serving us. I sustain them not because I felt I had to, or because raising your right hand is what I have learned to do over time, but because I felt in my heart that they were God's chosen servants, and I cannot deny that feeling. I hope all of you will follow their counsel in whatever they say. I have been studying so much about Truth lately from the scriptures and I see people everyday who do not have it. We have it, and we should cherish it and live it and recognize that it comes from God's Prophets, who receive revelation from Him. 

I love you, and I want you to know that this work is true. 

Elder Armstrong