Elder Cloward: India Bengaluru Mission: E-mail June 20, 2017: "So now we're dentists?"

Last week as my companion and I were walking through a small neighborhood a woman asked if we were coming from a dental hospital. My companion replied that we teach about Jesus Christ and unfortunately she lost interest. I guess in some places salvation isn't as highly valued as straight teeth. Oh well. As we walked away though we thought it was funny how we'd been mistaken again. We've been asked if we're college students, pastors, social workers, and every time I go to the local grocery store, customers ask for my help in finding their items. This was the first time we've gotten dentists though.

Another funny incident this week happened when we stopped for dinner at a hotel (restaurant) at the edge of our area one day. It was the first time we went to this place and we were charmed by the modern decorations and tasteful appearance. There was even a set a loud speakers playing quiet music to add to the ambiance. The music was coming from the manager's pen drive and halfway through our meal we hit a rather unpleasant playlist. We tired skipping several track from the buttons on the machine but they all had the same weird tone and feeling. After a few minutes my companion asked me if I'd brought my pen drive, which I had. We waited for a few minutes for the manager to go into the backroom and then I quickly replaced his drive with mine and soon the whole place was filled with Mormon Tabernacle Choir. When the manager came back he walked over to the speakers, looked at my pen drive, looked at me, looked back at my pen drive, and then walked away without a word. Whether he experienced a change of heart or simply didn't want to question two guys with ties and name tags I'm not sure, but we were happy that we got to finish our meal with such uplifting music. :)

We invited Sister Flamy for baptism on Saturday and she accepted. After being rejected so many times these last few months I wasn't expecting that response at all and I didn't know what to say. After stuttering and clarifying her response three times to make sure I hadn't heard wrong I was ecstatic. She had a few questions but we were able to answer them and she is showing by her words and actions that the messages she's learning are sinking in. I recognize that it surely won't be easy as we prepare her and anything can happen between now and then but we're moving forward with faith and we're praying that things will go through. I'm so grateful for the success we're beginning to see and again I testify that God knows and is in charge of this work. :)

Pictures!