Economy Crash in India

Hi

So there has been so much happening I will try to fit some good stuff in this email! I am approaching my 6 month mark on the mission so for those of you who like fractions that means I am 1/4 complete. Time is flying by but I am enjoying it so much, just seems like yesterday I was burning alive in the summer sun of Arizona now I'm Burning alive in the humidity of India (: But really I have already had so many good things happen in the mission.

This last two weeks have been awesome with Elder Sundas and some Economically challenging things have occurred too! So in India the currency is "Rupees" 1 USD is equal to about 60 rupees. Just like America the most valuable bill is the $100 bill, well in India the two highest bills they have are 1000 Rupees and 500 Rupees which equals about 15 and 9 US dollars.

Well this week the Prime Minister of India basically said the 1000 and 500 bill are no longer acceptable currency so at Midnight we got a call to go out and try to exchange our moneys. Well we searched all night with no luck but eventually we found out Subway Sandwiches is the only place that takes these bills. I went to Subway 5 times this week... Imagine if the new beloved president Donald Trump declared the 10 and 20 USD dollar bills are now no longer worth anything. Well that's basically what happened here. Banks had riots outside of them and everywhere people were carrying their biggest bills just trying to find people to exchange!

On a unexpected spiritual note..

One day me and Elder Sundas were cruising along the dirt roads of our area kicking a soda bottle around pretending to be Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo when some guy shouted at us in a different accent "hey come here" we approached the guy and he said "are you guys missionaries? Shockingly enough we found the one person in India that already knew about Mormon missionaries and Joseph Smith but had never been taught.  His parents were Evangelists and we were able to answer some of his questions about our church. Mid conversation I pulled out a Book of Mormon to give him and he began to inquire on how he could contact us again. I asked him if he had ever read the Book of Mormon, he said he had never seen it before... I was able to provide this guy who knew everything about Joseph Smith and Mormons his first Book of Mormon. He was so interested with the Book and now we are meeting with him to discuss its origin and help him learn. God undeniably put us in the right place to meet this guy.  

One fun adventure we had is we were able to visit a a birthday party. This party was for a baby girl who was turning 1 year old.  People go all out for birthdays here especially with young children. There was a huge venue, a stage, and so many people. 

I am really pleased with the Indian people we have been teaching and I know there is no coincidences because of Gods plan. I love hearing from you all. 

Love,

Elder Erasmus