Church in Chennai

This morning, we left at 7:30 am to travel to Chennai (about two hours by bus) to attend church in the Latter-day Saint branch there. The service was in English, since that was the first language of the majority of the congregation, but they did have a Tamil Sunday School class, and they regularly paused to translate into Tamil for the people who do not speak English well. We were probably about half the branch (there were about 30 of us), and then there were a couple of American families that are living and working in Chennai. Although the native Indian population in the branch is still not tremendously high, it is growing very quickly. There was a baptism today after church, and there was a confirmation during church of a member that was baptized this week. Apparently there have been about 40 baptisms within the last month or two. Not all are active, but active members are growing as well. They are building a new church building a couple of blocks away from the old one. It is very large and, right now, it seems like it would be impossible to fill, but the members have faith and the church is growing very quickly.

As is the case whenever I travel, even though people were dressed differently and spoke a different language, the church is the same - the sacrament, the lessons, all of it. I will be substituting in the 12 and 13 year old Sunday School class in two weeks, and the lesson manual is just like those at home. People are welcoming and kind, and many of these Indian saints have great faith. They attend church weekly knowing they will not understand everything, they read their scriptures, they pray, they pay their tithing out of the limited money that they have. I can tell that Rising Star is increasing missionary opportunities, as many people from Rising Star (including several housemothers and older children) have chosen to attend church. It was wonderful to attend church in Chennai.

Later, I fell asleep for a long time - I was exhausted. But I woke up in time to watch Life Dance perform again. There dance number really is inspiring. I hope that I will be able to share it with others and inspire them, just as the dance suggests. Unfortunately, the volunteer who has been teaching dance will leave this week. The students plan to continue on their own, but I know it will be difficult for them without an adult to lead. These students are very dedicated - they give up their play hour from 5-6 pm every day for dance class and practice. And I know that they love it. Last Friday, I taught my 7th standard about persuasive paragraphs. I asked them for an opinion about what they should do this weekend, and one of my boys told me dance. His reasons were that it makes our bodies strong, it is fun, and it makes our audience happy. He is certainly right when it comes to me as the audience!