June Report

June has come and gone with many new and unusual and unexpected experiences. The weather has been very unusual, according to all the locals. Never before can they remember of having so much rain before the monsoon season. This only adds to the humidity resulting in an extremely hot and sweaty life. Thanks for A/C, at lest in our bedroom and office.

We continue to enjoy the experience of helping grow a branch of the church here. Members are very faithful in attending meetings and fulfilling callings. We have an average attendance of 24 at Sacrament Meeting.

The most unusual, unexpected and new experience for the month was our trip to the cities of Dehradun and Mussoorie in North West India. These cities are in the state of Uttarakhand, which borders Nepal and China. Our purpose in making the trip was to meet the families of our dear friends and recent converts the Upadhyay family. They are the family that was baptized shortly after we arrived. I think I included a picture of their baptism in one of our previous postings.

We had the most enjoyable and memorable experience of living with them in their homes. This was most significant in that we were able to experience first hand what life is like for the majority of people here. We were welcomed with warm and genuine love and friendship. Sleeping on one inch mattresses, taking bucket baths, and eating home cooked Indian foods was a choice and memorable experience. There is such love, warmth and depth of family relationships in these homes.

We had the privilege of teaching this family the Message of the Restoration lesson and the Plan of Salvation lesson which was a very special and extremely spiritual experience. As far as we know we are the first to take the message of the Restoration to this part of India. Recently, just this month, two member families have moved to Derhadun which means that there is the potential for them to have church home gp. meetings and this family can begin to experience more of the blessings of the restored gospel.

We next stayed with Sunita Upadhyay's family in Mussoorie (sounds like Missouri).
Their home is built on the side of the mountain. As you can see from the pictures this is a very quiet and peaceful setting. Her brother built the house. He is the principal and teacher at a small elementary next to the home.

The water catchment dam project is progressing with 5 of the 20 dams completed. They were finished in time to catch a significant amount of run off water from recent rains. This has proven to be such a benefit to the people of the nearby villages. It provides water for the aquifer feeding the pumps as well as water for cattle and agriculture.

We continue to be involved, weekly, in teaching spoken English. Most of the students are young people from the area. They are so excited to be learning English and work very hard at the lessons.

The Career Planning Workshop attendance has dropped of but we continue to provide one on one coaching for many adults. Two people obtained employment this month, a direct result of having attended the workshop.

We continue to enjoy good health. We have much pleasure and joy in the work in spite of the occasional inconveniences. There is so much opportunity for meaningful service in this mission and we enjoy seeing the fruits of the Lord's work almost daily.

I think the pictures posted at the beginning of this blog are self explanatory. Should you have any questions or want further explanations, please send us a comment.

Reynold and Diane Brown