Today was honestly the best Sunday I’ve had since coming to
India. It was one of those Sunday’s where it seems like the whole thing was
catered to you because everything that is said, all the testimonies that were
borne, the Sunday school lesson---was spot on what your heart, spirit and mind
needed to hear. I got some not so great news from home this past week and I
have been struggling to take it all in as well as the feeling of helplessness
since I’m literally half a world away. We had a family fast earlier this week
and I was feeling kind of bad because although I was “fasting” it wasn’t a
complete fast—which I can’t really do because my insulin struggles due to
all the other hormonal problems my body has had lately. Usually, that has never
really bothered me because I know I am doing the best I can and my heart is in
the right place, but it was bothering me big time today for some reason.
Anyway, it didn’t end up mattering because I worked through that and it was all
taken care of in the end. Despite the two power outages we had during sacrament
meeting, it ended up being very spiritually fulfilling and comforting. Just
what I needed.
The Lorax (he is a man in the branch that is tall and has a
big white slightly curled on the ends mustache, which causes him to look like
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax) taught Sunday school today and it was so funny and
powerful at the same time. He was talking about love and started out that whole
part of the lesson by saying “What if God ran a call center? If he did it would
be like this……” and then he proceeded to teach his lesson through a power point
presentation that had God as the call center technician and us as the needing
help customers. It was so fitting for India too, call center and all……hahhahaha.
Oh and the branch president had flowers for all the girls’ hair at church today
as well. It is the beginning of the Harvest festival? I think that is why we
were given flowers. When living in a society that worships numerous god’s there
is always some kind of holiday or festival going on. It can be hard to keep it
all straight. For example, besides the beginning of the harvest today was also
the last day of the Ganesha festival that has been going on for a few weeks
now. As a result we saw a couple of
processions of Ganesh statue “floats” making their way to the ocean, where
apparently they dump them. If I could dive in the Indian ocean I am sure I
would find some of the most amazing things—such as many years of dumped Ganesha
statues. That is if I could see through the water or course---which I don’t
think would be possible.
After church we stopped by a new mall we have never been to
before. This one is on our way home, so it will be easier to go to, however we
didn’t know what to expect since we had never even heard a thing about it
before. Ummmm—it was AMAZING! The supermarket is just another branch of the one
at Express, but it has more stuff—or at least stuff I haven’t seen in it
before---such as BBQ SAUCE! Yep you read that right. I even saw some deli meat
there too but I only had a limited amount of money so I wasn’t able to get it
today. But to know it is there?!?! However, the absolute best part of the mall was this:
