2.21.2017

FEB 2017





What is up everyone?

This week flew by like nobody's business haha, seriously I have no idea how it's already Monday again.  Crazy.  I don't have a lot of time today because it is Elder Poleboina's last Preparation Day on his mission, so we're going to do some fun stuff pretty soon here.

One cool experience we had: on Saturday we had a couple appointments in the evening so Elder Poleboina taught an investigator at the church and Elder Barry and I went on exchange with two young men in our ward who are preparing to serve missions.  One of the young men, Sam, was pretty dejected for some reason as we were walking to the appointment that evening.  We tried to engage him in conversation and he would just give one or two word answers, put his head down, and keep walking.  We arrived at the appointment and once we started teaching, the mother of the investigator family would just not let the question go of why exactly we use bread for the sacrament and not something else.  Before we could give an answer, something happened to Sam, it was like he suddenly came to life.  He said, "Elder, we need to show her from the Book of Mormon where Jesus says to use bread for sacrament," we were all for it.  Sam then showed the sister those verses from the Book of Mormon and she was very much satisfied with the answer.  Sam was ecstatic.  After the appointment Sam was just filled with excitement and could not stop talking about how wonderful he felt.  We told him how great of a job he'd done and how he would be a great missionary.  He told us, "Elder, before the appointment I was sad because I didn't feel confident about going on a mission, I was feeling I am not ready.  But now I know I'm ready and I'm so excited to serve mission."  Again, it is just so cool to see how perfectly well Heavenly Father knows each one of us and each of our needs.  He hears our prayers and knows our hearts and always answers right on time.

I hope everyone has a good week.

Keep the faith,

Elder Tuscano



2.13.2017

Swachh Bharath (Clean India) - a worthy slogan for all countries! :)


Hello!!

This past week was pretty solid with finding and teaching a bunch of new families.  I love teaching families haha.  But on Saturday we went to an area where we just knocked on doors and asked people if we could say a prayer with them and their family.  Literally everyone but like two people let us in.  The faith of these people is amazing, I am so grateful for the privilege I have to serve and learn with them.

One cool experience we had this week: so we've been teaching this investigator family: Naresh, who is thirteen years old, and his mom, who is a single mom and an incredible human being.  Sometimes when we meet with Naresh, he invites his close family friend, Sachin, who's around the same age, to join us.  It's pretty cool because these two are typically kinda rowdy/out of control, but when they meet with us they are reverent and engaged and eager to learn about Christ.  This past week we had the opportunity to meet with Sachin and his family and I thought it was pretty cool: other than traveling to and from her home to her workplace, Sachin's mother, who is also a single mother and incredible person, has not left her house for any reason for the past two years.  But when she heard that there were some young men who were trying to help her son become a better, more responsible young man, she came running to Naresh's home (where we normally teach the group) to see what was going on.  She expressed to us that she has been concerned about her son's conduct for some time now and that we were an answer to her prayers.  We shared a lesson about the young men's program and how it will help him become a better young man and disciple of Christ.  She was stoked!!  She was all for it!  She told us she would send her son to church from now on.  How cool is that?  Heavenly Father truly does know the needs of all His children and He really does hear and answer our prayers.

Just took one photo this week, we found this cool mural while walking one day and snapped a pic.  "Swachh Bharath," literally translates to "Clean India" in Hindi haha.  Enjoy.

Keep the faith,

Elder Tuscano

2.06.2017

Happy February!

 herding sheep in the middle of a main road
with our investigator Naresh at his birthday party, it was super fun.

Hello hello everyone, Happy February!

This week was crazy for us, at least this weekend was haha.  We had an experience this week that was pretty moving for us:

On Saturday we met with a sister who has been struggling with a variety of challenges over the past five or six months.  She is a single mom with two children, she tried to start a small business which recently went under, her little house is about to be repossessed because she's struggling to secure a loan, her debt is nearly crushing, she's barely making enough to feed her family--anyway, she's going through a lot.  She is a woman of bright faith, but sometimes life hits us with things that try our trust in God.  She said that she'd been praying every day and fasting for God to help her in some way and He hasn't.  She decided that she was done with God.  She would listen to what we had to say but she was done with God--and here's where it gets interesting: we had no idea what to say.  As teenage boys having but little life experience as it stands, we had no idea what to say that would be of comfort to her.  But we knew that there was someone who did know and does know, someone who knows her perfectly well what she'd been going through.  In our hearts, Elder Poleboina, Elder Barry, and I prayed with all the fervency we could muster that the Lord might speak through us and help this sister in whatever way He would.  Elder Poleboina and Elder Barry shared powerful personal experiences about when God helped them when they saw no way out.  Then it was my turn.  I was still at a loss for words when suddenly the words of my former young men's leader (Tim Nowatzke) came into my mind: "If you don't know what to say, bear testimony of Christ."  So that's what I did.  Never in my life have I felt the Spirit move through me with such power as I bore my testimony that as surely as this sister saw the sun shining, I know that Jesus is the Christ.  I don't know always know why He asks us to pass through seemingly insurmountable trials, but I know He'll never leave us and He'll carry us through them if we have faith in Him.  I told her that He is pleading with her told hold on just a little longer because help and hope are on the way.  When I looked in her eyes, I saw hope.  It was incredible.  At the beginning of the lesson, she told us that she wasn't going to come to church because God wasn't helping her, but after the lesson she committed to come--and she did!  She had an amazing experience at church and has a renewed hope in the Savior.  There are a few life changing experiences in your life and this was one of those for me.

Also, yesterday was fast Sunday and Sunil (yes, recent convert Sunil Kumar) got up and bore his testimony, it was awesome!  At one point he said, "The Book of Mormon....is a good book."  It was so funny, we gave him a big hug after.  He's a boss.

I hope everyone has a great week, keep the faith!
Elder Tuscano