E-mail Jan 4, 2016: "CURRY!!!"

Yeah man!!! Guess who's back in India? After a long van ride, three flights, and then a cab to my apartment, I'm ready to hit the pavement running here in the land of bobbing heads and curry.

Speaking of curry I've almost had more than I can handle during my first three days here. Every home we walk into someone wants to feed us.

"Elders you'll have some food?"
"Thanks sister but we just finished lunch and we don't have much time."
"No elder, you must have."
"Sister..."
"Elder..."
"...Okay sister, but just a little bit."
"okay okay okay."
*comes back with two plates stacked sky high*
"Sister..."
"Elder..."
"(sigh)"

Although she literally stuffed us, I really can't complain, the food was soooo good.

I'm serving in the small town of Coimbatore, just south of Bengaluru. My companion is the one and only Elder Samson, my good friend and former Zone Leader from Bangalore.These last few days he's been doing a great job at showing me the area, and I can't help but note the differences between the work in the Philippines and India. My last zone in the Philippines consisted of 20 missionaries, in this zone there's only 8. I got used to being able to walk to most of our appointments, here it takes 30+ minutes by bus just to get to anyone's house. I loved being able to go up and talk to anyone about the church; in this zone we're not allowed to talk to anyone outside. In the Philippines most people knew who we are when we walked down the street; here we often have to take off our name tags in parts of our area to ensure that people don't figure out who we are. In short, the difference is night and day, but I'm glad I've been able to experience missionary work in both of these wonderful places.

The love I've had for this place and these people was instantly rekindled the moment we walked into the Malaysia airport and saw several Indians getting ready to board their flight to Bangalore. It's an interesting contrast; the first time I came to India I was overwhelmed by the almost suffocating culture shock, but as I stepped of the plane a few days ago and once again walked the streets of this beautiful country, it literally felt like I was coming home.

Although I loved the Philippines and I'm still missing the country and the people there, I'm excited to be back in the place where I began and I'm ready to give it everything I've got. :)

Until next time everyone, Stay Strong and Rock On. :)

-Elder Clouds

From mom: "He makes me laugh. He said where he is serving is "just south of Bengalaru (Bangalore)". Ha ha... it's 225 miles. I guess in India that is "just south". And his "small town" has over a million people."