Elder Trey Brimhall: Namaste! First email from India!

Namaste!! Hey everyone!! Holy cow, that was the longest 4 flights I have ever been on. Hopefully I only have to do that one more time in my life... haha but I'm glad to be here. But yeah, it's crazy here! I have so much I want to tell you guys about, but I dont know if I'll have time.. But first I'll start by answering your questions mom... any packages have to go to the mission office. Its a very poor and very rich area in Hyderabad called Madeenaguda. We travel by foot and by small taxi's. I brought everything I needed thank goodness:) We have big 5 gallons jugs of purified water that we refill our bottles with and we have eaten with members only once.

I've had more american food since I've been here than indian food haha like mcdonalds, kfc, dominos, and chili's later today. I'm wearing repellant and sunscreen every day. And when I said I kinda wish I was in the states, its because they are just lucky in the fact that they dont have to worry about water or expensive shipping or disease or bad food or the power going out every day and night. I love it here, dont get me wrong... But a mission in the US would be sooo much easier to deal with haha. Okay, so I havent seen any elephants or monkeys, but I have seen a lot of cows, stray dogs, and chickens!! You'll see some of that in my pictures.

I'm not in culture shock too bad, but there was only one experience I've had so far that really hit me hard... So we were on our way to see an investigator named Prakash Rao and we were taking a bus from a place called Hitech City, which really is hi tech and americanized, and while we were waiting for the bus, a little boy who couldnt have been older than 2 years old came up to us and started tugging on my pants begging for a couple rupees. Well since we arent allowed to give away money under any circumstances, I just had to do my best to ignore him. After a few minutes he got down on his knees and and started wiping off my shoes and then kissed my feet several times and then begged again. I felt so horrible:( All I could give him was a friendship bracelet I had with me and then he was all happy and ran off. I just couldnt believe that.. But anyways, other than that I'm doing good!

Everyone is so nice and treats us as if we were kings. This is definitely a very high baptizing mission.. Now we have to find quality and not quantity... Haha I did a confirmation for the first time yesterday and we already have set 3 people on date to be baptized within the next month. Oh I forgot!! My companion is Elder Stevens and he is from Ephraim and he is a total stud. ...what else to tell you... Oh, the food isnt nearly as spicy as I was expecting!! And its way better than that trash I had with Grant and Allie... Sorry fellas but Taste of Punjab is awful haha ...this place is easily the most polluted place on the planet. When you are in an airplane and you reach altitude, you can only see like a mile and then it just looks like thick white smoke. nasty.. haha oh I'm learning some words here in Telegu! Thats what they speak in Hyderabad. Also, I'm learning to speak in broken english, which is an entirely new language in itself. So weird. Haha well thats about it for this week! Just please keep paraying for me cuz I need it!! Love you guys so much!!

Elder Brimhall