a week full of firsts...

 Happy Indian Independence Day!

 for some reason, the city of Vijayawada has these RANDOM Avatar statues haha so me and my companion took some photos with them

 for some reason, the city of Vijayawada has these RANDOM Avatar statues haha so me and my companion took some photos with them

 a variation on Thank You!

 the island we went to, called Bhavani Island

an obvious resident on monkey island

 me and Krishna on a lion bench

 the Krishna Canal, where Krishna's baptism took place

 rare bird, indigenous to India, that I spotted while we were checking out the canal

VJW elders and Krishna (minus Elder Kommalapati, who took the photo and also baptized Krishna)

WHAT UP Y'ALL?

First and foremost, Happy Indian Independence Day!!  Exactly ten days after your boy celebrates his birthday, India celebrates her birthday (August 15th haha).  It was so much fun.  The subject of this e-mail reads "a week of firsts," and on Independence Day this past week, we were the first assigned missionaries ever to visit a nearby town called Guntur.  There's a part-member family that lives in Guntur, which is about 36km away and we received permission from President to go there and teach them.  Guntur is AWESOME, it is famous for its spicy chilis.  It's also famous for this dish called "Guntur chicken," which is ridiculously spicy and guess what: the member who lives there hooked us UP he made the most delicious Guntur chicken ever for us.  It was way spicy but that's why it was so good haha.  So that was cool.

But what was cooler?  THE FIRST BAPTISM EVER IN VIJAYAWADA.  As some of you may recall, Sam was the first person baptized into the Vijayawada Home Group, however, his baptism took place in Rajahmundry.  But Krishna, who was baptized this past Thursday, was baptized right here in Vijayawada, the very first ever to do so.  And where exactly was he baptized?  IN A CANAL.  Yes, a canal.  It was beautiful, but I'll get to that in a minute.  Why was he baptized in a canal?  Funny story: we asked all of the swimming pools in VJW if we could use their facilities for a baptism service but they all said no because they "would not allow anyone to enter the pool with clothes on."  But I think the real reason is because they're strong Hindus.  Anyway, we asked our home group leader what we should do and he said there's a canal near his office that is secluded and peaceful and relatively clean.  So we went and checked it out and it is a beautiful place.  It's literally like someone took the waters of Mormon and the River Jordan and combined them and placed the creation here in Andhra Pradesh.  So we got the okay from President, and Thursday night, just after sunset, Krishna Manelli was baptized.  There were six souls in attendance: the Vijayawada elders (4), Brother Rajiv (our home group leader), and Krishna.  The water level of the canal was perfect, but the Spirit of the Lord was overflowing.  The first outdoor baptism I have as yet witnessed, let alone the first in a canal.  Funny side note: the name of the canal is the Krishna Canal, haha.

This e-mail is lengthy as it stands, but just one more miracle: amidst our many travels this past week, we were waiting at the city bus station one evening to catch a bus back to our apartment.  While waiting, a lady came up to us and asked us if we were the elders from the Church, we said yes.  She was overjoyed and in her excitement she expressed to us that she is a member from Hyderabad and had recently moved to Vijayawada a few weeks ago.  No one had told her about the Church's new presence in Vijayawada and she was so sad because she thought she and her family wouldn't be able to attend church anymore.  But she said God answered her prayers when she found us at the bus station that night.  Also her husband is not a member, can you say part-member family?  We can.

God does His work.  I believe in and have witnessed miracles.  It is such a privilege to be where I am right now.

There are so many other stories from this week, of lesser significance, but remind me to share them with you soon because they're still great.  Also we saw monkeys on an island this week, I will explain later haha, but for now I'll just send pictures.

Keep the faith,

Elder Tuscano