April/May/June, 2009

As we near the conclusion of this second mission to India, I am caused to reflect on the differences between this one and the previous time spent in India. The previous mission primarily focused on projects and what they can do to benefit people. This time we have focused on people and what accepting the teachings of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ can do to benefit people.

It was important on the previous mission to develop favorable relations with Government Officials, leaders of influential Non-Government Humanitarian Service Organizations (NGO’s) as part of helping the poor and the needy and to help develop favorable understanding and acceptance of the Church in this Country. This time it has been important to help individuals and families develop their own relationship with God and His Son Jesus Christ through the power and influence of the Holy Ghost such that they overcome poverty, through increased hope, confidence, self reliance, and knowing the true purpose of life. In this way through their life examples they become the means of developing favorable understanding and acceptance of The Church in their community.

During this mission we have had the rare blessing and privilege of being engaged in both the humanitarian service work of the Lord’s church as well as the direct proselyteing teaching aspects of missionary service. We were blessed with the opportunity of being part of developing the Neo Natal Resuscitation Training project in India which has now developed into perhaps the largest project of it’s kind in the Church.

We have as before developed deep and lasting relationships with so many good people. These friendships include the most prosperous and successful to the most humble and poor of the society. We have accepted of their gracious hospitality in visits to their homes and accepted of their sumptuous food and grand hospitality or only crackers from the poor as tokens of their love and respect.

We have continued to teach career planning workshops, preparing for the job interview and successful resume building classes and have seen self confidence and successful employment obtained through application of the principles learned. These principles have been shared with people of all levels and walks of life with equal success in employment improvement results.

The theme for our first mission (Acts 10:38) continued to be part of the theme for our second mission. However, we added a second scripture (Alma 31:34-35) as an additional theme which seemed to fit the additional service we were called to fulfill this second time around. It seemed appropriate that since we were restricted to engage in proselyting on the first mission that we were called to follow the Savior’s example as stated in Acts 10-38 which says “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him”. We started this second mission with a strong desire to have fulfillment of Alma’s prayer for success in bringing people unto Christ as recorded in Alma 31: 27- 35. Verses 34 & 35 seemed particularly fitting as an additional theme for our second mission, specifically 34. “O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ.” and 35. “Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee.”

We have witnessed the fulfillment of the above in numerous ways and in the lives of many people. I will attempt to give you a few examples of this in the following:

When we arrived there were three Branches in New Delhi. Today there are 6. The Dwarka Branch was one of the first new branches formed. At that time there were 27 members of record. Today there are 75 members of record and 31 families. In the next two weeks the number will increase to 80 and this growth rate continues each month. We thought the old rented space would be good for at least one year. This was woefully incorrect what with Sacrament Meeting attendance peaking at 71 we must be in a new location as soon as possible.

Present location, 3rd floor does not have a room for the Aaronic Priesthood (9 young men), Young women (4), Primary Nursery but we are making do as best we can.

New location for Dwarka Branch – floors 1 & 2. One floor will be the chapel and the other floor will be for most of the classrooms. At present both floors are totally unfinished so we can construct the space to our needs. What a blessing. There will even be a baptismal font in the back.

Finally I’d like to relate one short story which exemplifies the dedication and commitment so typical of those joining the church here in Dwarka. Anurag age 35, unemployed, single and raising an 11 year old daughter, living in the extended family arrangement with his retired mother, brother and brother’s wife and child in a small two room house. They live on the outskirts of Dwarka in a small village. He has had no means nor money for transportation so he walks everywhere he goes. From the beginning of his introduction to the church until now he walks to church and back each Sunday, a 1-1/2 hr journey each way, never missing a Sunday. His lack of transportation has been a major barrier to his getting a job. He was recently given a bicycle through Church Fast Offering Funds resulting in his immediately looking for work and increased efforts at self reliance.

Anurag with bike, very happy.

In conclusion, we would like to express what has been the highlight of these past 1-1/2 years. With out a doubt it has been the blessing and opportunity to witness over and over again the power and miracle of the witness of the Holy Ghost in the lives of people who sincerely make and keep commitments as they learn about the message of the Restoration, read and pray about the truth of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith’s “first vision”, attend church, and do their best to keep God’s commandments. This is not the work of man, it is not the results of anything we have done, it is truly God’s work and it is only his spirit and proposes that are being fulfilled every day as his Church is being established here in India.

February/March 2009 Update

I think it can be said that we are in count down time for our mission. It is amazing to realize that we have been here 14 months and that we have only 4 months left until we return home. This stage brings with it some unexpected feelings and thoughts. Foremost is the wonder if we have accomplished what we were called here to do. If not we certainly do not have not much time left to get it done. There are those days that without specific assignments or appointments with the Elders, we begin searching for meaningful activities to be engaged in. Most often these times are filled in with making visits to member families and/or preparing lessons. Diane has been the Primary President and always has more to do in lesson preparations than she has time to do it. There is always the question about wondering if those assigned to teach will show up or not. More often than not they fulfill their assignments but there are still those times when they fail to show up and don't give any prior notice. Anyone who has served in third a world country or an area where the church is relatively new can understand and know what this means. Of course this situation teaches patience and provides "real time" training in relying on the spirit to be the teacher.
Of course the most rewarding and significant part of our mission experiences thus far have been seeing the growth of the church in this little branch. The Dwarka Branch is not that little any more. What started as a home group in Jan. 2008 with 8 in attendance. The branch is now too large for the space we are renting. We have a three week running attendance of 54 people each Sunday.

As you can see from this picture, we really have to squeeze together when we have more that 55 in attendance.
We have been approved to find another building for our services and church activities. It is our hope that we can find a stand alone building or house for the Branch meetings. We really need a place that has room for a baptismal fount. As it is right now, we either travel 45 minutes, if the traffic is good, to the church location in Delhi or hold a baptism at the local swimming pool.

As you can see from this picture our present location doesn't look much like a church. We hold meetings on the third floor of this building. It would be so much better to have a building of our own for sure. While it is nice to use the swimming pool, it sure would be better to have own place.

Just to give you a visual of the growth of the Branch I have posted a few pictures of some of the baptisms that have taken place since the Branch was created. Another visual representation is that all of these people continue to be active to date. We had a baptism of a family of 4 last Sunday and this Sunday there will be a baptism of a mother and her two daughters, ages 20 and 15.
Here is a picture of part of the branch attending a District Conference held in Feb. of this year. We rented a bus for transportation to and from the conference. I think we experienced a first for such an event. Everyone who said they would come actually came, everyone paid their share and everyone was on time!!!

This good brother, on the right with the Visiting Area Seventy for Conference Elder Joshua Subandriyo, is an example of the unusual commitment and dedication of many of these new members. This brother, R.S. Yadav, age 62, joined the church in December after more than 2 years study. He was first introduced to the church while visiting his son in the U.S. Upon returning he wanted to attend church in India and had the address for the church in Bangalore so he flew there to attend church. Upon learning that there was a church in Delhi, he returned to his home near Lucknow and later attended the church in East Delhi. While attending church in East Delhi, he learned that there was a branch in Dwarka where he stayed with a niece. So a few weeks later he showed up here and contacted the Missionaries. He comes from Hindu background but as his children say he has been Christian all his life by the way he lives. He is a regular attender at church even though he must travel 6-1/2 hours, over night by train, from near by Lucknow to attend church each Sunday. He is currently serving as the branch financial clerk. We share these things not to show what we are doing but to illustrate how the spirit of the Lord is so strongly working with the honest in heart.

We thought you would like to see some of the things that make up part of life in India, so here are a few pictures and descriptions of our weekly vegetable market experience.

This is the peak season for good vegetables and fruit. Green grapes are plentiful and so good. Papaya is good almost year round but especially plentiful this time of year. The vendors spread out plastic sheets and then arrange their products in neatly arranged piles. Yes the long white things are huge radishes. We would call them horse radishes but they are not strong but rather mild and very tasty ranging in size from 12 to 16 inches. The purple things next to the potatoes are actually purple onions, the only variety available. The stacks of the green/orange fruit is actually and orange but tastes more like tangerines.
We walk home down the back road to our apt., enter at the back gate

And walk through the back court yard up to our apt on the 8th floor and begin washing our buy.

One of the big accomplishments at the market is not being over charged for what we buy. I can now understand most of the numbers in Hindi, so I listen to the conversation with the natives to get the real price and than negotiate with the vendor for the fair price. If we don’t think the vendor is being fair or honest we merely ask someone standing next to us what is a good price and they then scold the vendor for overcharging us. Sometimes we will merely walk away knowing we can get it at a fair price from someone else. The total cost of everything shown above was a little more than $4.00, six bananas cost lest than 25 cents. We wash everything in filtered bleach water before eating it.
So there you have a little tour and pictures of some of the things we deal with regularly.

We hope you enjoy our report even though it is a little lengthy. It is our hope that these reports will touch your heart and increase in you a desire to serve the Lord a little better, either by serving a mission or from where you now stand.

Elder and Sister Brown, Reynold and Diane

Nov. Dec. Jan. update

It seems that all good intentions of updating this blog every other month have been preceded by being busy. Much has happened since the last entry. To begin with we experienced the end of our involvement with humanitarian projects as the new Welfare couple arrived in Nov. and we were able to hand over all these projects to them. The highlight of this transition was a trip to Rajahsthan to inspect the progress of the catchment dams and participate in the Rotary celebration of the completion of a couple of their projects.

Here are some pictures of the completed project and celebrations associated with completing these dams.
The celebration and inauguration of the projects always include garlands, turbans, shawls and of course the famous bindi (red dot on the forehead). Food and dancing is also always a big part of the event.

As we hiked to the dam this group of ladies continued to sing and dance on the way to the dam. It is such a carefree and happy event. Diane really got into the swing of the celebrations, music and dancing as we walked along.

It was such a delightful day and the addition of running water, instead of a dry creek bed, created a very peaceful atmosphere .

People of the village below this dam report that with the improvement of water supply for more than just a few months, they are now able to harvest three crops a year as to where before the dams, they were only able to have one crop harvest a year.

On a second trip we inspected the progress on the many dams that are being constructed by the LDSC Humanitarian project funds in co-sponsorship with a Rotary International club in New Delhi.

As you can see the work is mostly individual hand labor work. There is a backhoe tractor to dig the foundation but the construction of the dam is all done by hand.

Yes, that is Elder Brown with the pan on his head. I felt I needed to try my hand (head) at the labor these people are engaged in. My helping out created quite a laugh and disturbance as it seems that only the women carry these pans of cement. There is a clear division of labor here in India.

While these projects are very worthwhile and meaningful and bring much needed benefits to the people, perhaps the most rewarding and uplifting work of this mission has been the work of building and establishing the Church here. The Branch we are assigned to and that I am Branch President of, has grown unbelievably in the year we have been here. The first meeting (Feb. 2008) started as a home group with only 8 members in attendance. When the Branch was established on April 6, 2008 there were 27 members on the official Church Branch records. Most of these existing members were located by the full time Elders from information on Adresses at Church Headquarters in Bangaore. Today the Offical Branch membership is 50.

All of the additions have been convert baptisms. It is an amazing experience to watch these members grow and accept callings and responsibilities in the branch. Many of them have accepted callings and are doing their best to fulfill them even though they had been members only 3 weeks. You can be sure this presents a unique challange in teaching and training. Many times things are not done as would be done in the established areas of the church but "no problem" the work is moving forward and the members are humble, dedicated and willing.

We enjoyed a real Thanksgiving dinner, complete with real Turkey. All the senior couples collected at one couples apartment and we had a great meal. I didn't get a picture of the Roast Turkey but I did get a picture of the left over turkey bones as evidence that we had real turkey for Thanksgiving.

We held a Christmas party and there were over 80 people in attendance. This presented quite a challange as the place we meet in can seat about 60 people. But true to form, as the Indian way of doing things, everyone made room and all fit well in the room available. You can see what we mean by the pictures included. Space and individual room is not a problem here as we are all quite accustom to closeness. One has to be with a population of 1.3 billion people. We have even seen families of 6 all living in a one room space about half the size of the average bedroom back in the states. Happiness is not dependant on things but more on relationships and sharing.

Santa Clause (of sorts) even showed up at the Christmas party. We had a hard time creating the beard. Most Canta Clauses seen around here don't have a beard. But Diane managed with a white plastic sack and a paper towel. It made no difference everyone enjoyed him just the same.

Well this about concludes our posting for now. The only other thing we would like to mention is that we have just been asked to help establish and initiate the Perpetual Educanion Fund (PEF) project for the New Delhi Mission. This means that we, once again, get to be pioneers of sorts in starting a great church program, new to this part of the world. We continue to be involved in Employment Services with the Career Planning Workshops and coaching individuals in their job seeking. Now, with the addition of PEF loans, more people will be enabled to get the education and formal training needed to qualify for and obtain more stable employment, and break the cycle of poverty that has existed for many generations in many families here in India.

This really is great work. Diane and I both feel we have been blessed with most exceptional experiences. We have been blessed to witness so much growth, benefits and strength coming to individuals and families through the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. This truly is His work and a great blessing in the lives of many people, both members and non-members alike.

Wishing you a Happy New Year - Reynold and Diane (Elder and Sister) Brown

September/October Update

Life in India continues to be ever changing and unpredictable. However we continue to enjoy the envolvement in the new and unexpected things that come our way. The most recent unexpected is that of being assigned Branch President of The Dwarka Branch. The previous Branch President was called as the District President so as there are no qualified Melchizedek Priesthood holders, I was assigned the responsibility. The first counselor in the Branch had been a member only 2 weeks and the second counselor is a member since March. Needless to say I feel the weight of teaching, training and preparing one of them as the Branch President when we leave.

We continue to see growth and expansion of the Branch with the addition of 4 new members during the past two months. We now have two sets of Elders assigned to the branch which is going to result in still more members as time passes. It is such a pleasure and blessing to witness people join the church and receive such strong testimonies of the truthfulness of the restoration

First Counselor and newest member in the Dwarka Branch. What do you think of our Baptismal Font? We were able to use the local swimming pool until it closed for the winter at the end of Oct. Yes there are a number of excellent, clean and modern facilities here. Life is not always a hardship here, contrary to some images most people have about living in a third world country.
The new Latter Day Saint Charities couple arrived in Oct. and we have been involved in assisting them in the transition into taking over the ongoing humanitarian projects we have been involved in until they arrived. As part of this transition and training we made a trip to Bihar to see the devastation and problems first hand with the flooding that happened there. A Dam gave way in Nepal resulting in enormous flooding in Northern India. This disaster has displaced close to 2 million people and will probably not return to normal for many, many months to come. LDSC approved the purchase and distribution of around 10,000 infant blankets so needed to help prevent hypothermia in newborns and infants. We traveled to Patna, capital of Bihar, and then to Northern Bihar to see first hand what other things could be done. The Tanners (new LDSC couple) are working on other projects for relief. Here are a few pictures of the Bihar flood relief trip.

Water was everywhere for miles and miles. There seemed to be no movement of the water and we saw only one river channel which did not seem to be flowing at all.
The Government has set up thousands of refugee camps with tents yet many people are not wanting to leave their homes, which are surrounded with water for fear of loosing cattle and other possessions.

UNICEF, the organization we have partnered with, has set up labor and delivery tents but the facilities are very primitive and lacking so much in the way of adequate supplies and equipment. It truly was a heart wrenching experience to see so much suffering and difficulty in meeting the minimum necessities for life but progress is being made and relief aid is being provided. There will be a need for relief aid for some time to come.

The other project that we transitioned to Elder and Sister Tanner was the Rain Water Catchment Dam Project. This project is constructing 15 rain water runoff catchment dams. The benefit is that the lake that is created will provide water to the underground aquifer for many months. This project is in partnership with a Delhi Rotary Club. This is perhaps one of the most effective and long lasting effective projects we have seen. Normally there is only one or two days of rain all year in this area. So by creating a lake the water is made available for a much longer time to the water pumps below. Rotary has constructed several such dams in this area. One farmer reports that as where before the dams he harvested only one crop a year he now is able to harvest three crops because the water to his wells is replenished for most of the year. These pictures are of those which have been completed. The LDSC dams are not yet finished. A trip the end of Nov. is planned to see some of the newly completed dams.

Now that we no longer have the humanitarian work to be involved in, it could be asked what will we be doing to keep busy. Believe me this is not a problem. With the release from the humanitarian work we will now be able to concentrate on Career Planning and Employment needs along with he every present need to strengthen and teach members about the church and it's organization which includes lots of church leadership training and the ever present need to strengthen one another. The time is flying by so fast we are confronted with the reality that there is more to do than time to do it in.

Well with this I think I will conclude this blog. A couples mission is a great experience and one can do as much of those things one sees the need for. No one can possibly do all that is here to be done but we can concentrate on those things that we have talent and interest to do, all of which helps the work move forward. We encourage all who can to try it, serving a couples mission is great.