E-mail: April 13, 2015 "Gotcha ;)"

All right all right everyone, I'm not going to the Philippines. Missionary work here in the Bangalore mission is still strong as ever and we have no indications that it's going to change. I'm sorry if any of you were genuinely worried, but I'd be a fool to pass up an April fools. ;) The first of April brought many surprises to our apartment as well, among which were shaving cream in my shoes, turmeric powder (which stains your skin yellow) in the shower head, switching the lock on our door before the other Elders came back, and my personal favorite, replacing the juice in an apple juice bottle with cooking oil. Luckily I was only on the receiving end of one of these pranks, but unfortunately I think I'm still waiting for forgiveness from people on both continents. When I think of all the trouble may have caused I have to ask myself, "Was it really worth it?" to which I respond with a "resounding and unequivocal yes!"

On that note conference came a week late for us and we were able to enjoy the inspired messages with our branch members these last two days. Some of my favorite quotes from these sessions are:

"Sorry president, I slipped into my native German accent."
"The vote has been noted."
"The church is a giant hospital, and we're all a little sick."
"I'll never do that again, unless when I'm a father my son wants me to do it with him."
And my personal favorite-
"We live in a generation of professional pickle-suckers."

I learned so much from this conference, most of which came as a slap in the face on where I need to improve, and then an occasional message which served as an ice pack to ease the sting and comfort my soul. The most exciting part of this conference however was easily the announcement of the new temples. One of the hardest things to teach about over here is temples. We teach how temples are beautiful places where we can draw closer to the Lord, how we can do necessary work there for our ancestors, how our families can be united eternally through the ordinances there, and how the covenants we make there are an essential part of our salvation. It's heartbreaking to see people get so excited as they learn and when they ask us where the nearest one is we tell them that it's in Hong Kong, several thousand miles and rupees away. Many members go without and save for years on end just to be able to afford to take their families there once. The unequivocal faith and devotion of these members adds strength to my testimony and resolve to serve the Lord, but when my companion and I heard the announcement of the Bangkok Thailand temple and realized that it's almost twice as close to India as Hong Kong, we couldn't help but shout for joy. That Temple is going to be an almost indispensable blessing to the faithful members here who have been saving to make the journey to the Lord's house, and It's just another testimony to me that this work is going forward unhindered for the blessing of all of god's children. :)

And last but not least, photos!
These are from our sight-seeing P-day a few weeks ago.

Until next time everyone, stay awesome and rock on. :)

-Elder Clouds

The library which just happened to be closed on Mondays. Oh well...

From left to right: Elder Anderson, Elder Peter, a white statue of Elder Cloward with a turban and a mustache, Elder Cloward, and Elder Thompson.

Mahatma Gandhi, in the flesh! (kinda...)

The "SomelongHindinamethatIcan'tpronounce Government office"

Another picture of the government building! Yay!

The front of the government building! Woohoo!

Whooooa, a red one...

Sad faces because they don't let white tourists past this gate. (we walked in with the throng of Indians going through the front gate and they still kicked us out)

"Elder Cloward, stop saying 'Cubbon' Park, it's pronounced 'Koobon' Park" "Brother, what's the name of this park?" "This is 'Cubbon' Park sir." One point for Elder Cloward! Regardless though it was a beautiful park.