Blog Site: As If From the Dust by DH

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

LDS Church in India-Future Temple Promised if...

LDS Church in India

I had a visitor from India last week to my blog and it spurred me to look into The LDS Church in India. I was amazed at the presence there is in India and the preparation that is occurring for future growth as branches, missions, converts and leaders are established and trained. (I had a similar reaction as I learned of the progress in Christianity in general in the other most populous country on the planet, China. You can find a link in my past blog posts on the right hand side.).

Early History

As early as 1851, missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were sent to India to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ. These early missionaries (Joseph Richards, William Willes sent by Italian Mission President Lorenzo Snow, nine others were sent in 1852 etc) faced many difficulties inherent to missionary work such as cultural and political differences, learning a foreign language, adapting to climate and food, opposition from other churches etc These early missionaries had varying degrees of success in bringing people into the church in such places as Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Hyderabad, Rangoon, Poona, New Delhi etc

20th Century Efforts

Missionary work continued throughout the 20th century and was mainly carried forward by stalwart early saints. These pioneers included such notable names as: Gordon B. Hinckley (Pres. Hinckley played a large role in all of Asia), Marion D. Hanks, Richard L. Evans, S. Paul Thiruthuvadoss (AKA Brother Paul. He came across church tracts in the 1950s and wrote Salt Lake City for more information. He eventually was baptized and became one of the most important people in modern history of the LDS Church in India. He helped establish the Coimbatore branch which still exists today.), Edwin and Elsie Dharmaraju, (natives of India from Western Samoa who helped establish the church in Hyderabad in the late 1970’s), and Michael Anthony was also an early stalwart that continues to play a role. These are but a few of the early pioneers of The LDS Church in India.

Senior missionaries also played a large role in establishing a presence in India. These senior missionaries were sent to various locations including: New Delhi, Hyderabad, Goa, Bombay and Bangalore to help strengthen the converts and provide leadership as there were restrictions on open proselytizing and visa issues. (My wife’s grandparents actually served a mission to India!)

Further progress was made as The Book of Mormon was published in Hindi, India’s official language, in 1982. Selections of The BOM were also published in the early 1980s in Telugu and Tamil. Districts began to be formed in the 1980s, one in North India with headquarters in Delhi, the Hyderabad District and the India Bangalore District in the South. Native Indian missionaries started to be called to foreign missions and also were called to serve in their own country in the 1980s.

One very interesting note: In June 1992, Elders Neal A. Maxwell and Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve were in Bangalore, “prophecies were given (conditional upon member sharing [the term used by Elder Maxwell to mean fellowshipping and teaching friends about the gospel]) that Delhi would have a [Latter-day Saint) temple and great expansion of the work.” (The footnote in the “From the East” references an interview with John. K. Carmack by the author, R. Lanier Britcsch.)

In 1993 the India Bangalore Mission was created and G.S. Gill a native Indian was called to be its president. The number of missionaries in the mission, converts, branches, and districts all started to slowly but steadily grow under President Gill’s leadership. The first meetinghouse in India was dedicated on 2 February 2002, housing the Rajahmundry Branch. Other chapel groundbreaking ceremonies and dedications in 1992 included those of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, and Semmedu.

Currently

Presently there are almost 7000 members in 24 branches in India. These members are scattered across the country in such places as: New Delhi in the North (which accounts for a smaller percentage of the 7000), Bangalore in the South (accounts for a larger percentage of the membership), Goa, Hyderabad, Vishakapatnam, Mumbai, etc The faith of these few members is shown by the fact that of the few hundred who have gone through the temple, 93% hold current temple recommends.
In addition to the persistent growth there are now two missions. The aforementioned India Bangalore Mission which covers the southern portion of India and Sri Lanka while the India New Delhi mission (created November 1 2007) covers the Northern portion of India, in addition to Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Clearly the Lord is setting in place a foundation on which The Church will be built in this country where so many of His children reside. It truly is a marvelous work and a wonder and fascinating to watch unfold in these latter days.

May the work roll forth!

Comments on the Blog As if From the Dust...

vinbeazel said...

This is of particular interest to me, as my new friends in India, Gujurat State may have a role in expanding the LDS professional networking in western India, even though he is not LDS, nor does he identify with christianity; rather is a practicing Hindu married to a fine Christian woman, whom I have not met in person.

Our only contact is in our professional training in renewable energy education, which is conducted through our online community of networking professionals and a radio program, which is known as Energy Talk LIVE; hosted by http://AlternativeEnergy.com and Green Mechanical Council.

It has taken years to set up this online training, which allows professionals to host their own energytalk radio shows through http://BlogTalk Radio.com; as far as I can tell, I am the only LDS person in the top administrative groups, and was being hired by http://AlternativeEnergy.com to provide tech support...

We are now hosting shows from india on Saturdays, with our Indian expert, who comes from an IT professional background into the field of green awareness and online training, which is of great worth to people all over the world, as well as here in ZION...as we discuss the principles of sustainable societies, and answer gospel-related questions on the side.

I have every hope and expectation that our mutual interest in green awareness and sustainable development, for clean energy and clean water is bringing the world to the truths that the pioneers discovered in their efforts to not only colonize the west, but to fellowship the native tribes that were here when the Saints arrived in the Tops of the Mountains! if this is of interest to any of you, please send me an email with your questions or comments.
vhbeazel@yahoo.com

Happy Birthday, Jonathan...January 24, 1984

Hi everyone...

This was a response to a person on Change.org who is active in working with the disabled in Horse Therapy...


Change.org has become something which allows those of us who desire to bless the whole earth, to find some mutual point of contact on some aspect of our broken world to bring us together to create change.

My involvement in Horse Therapy only lasted for sex months; but the memory of that experience has stayed with me for fourteen years...

Change is tapping into our hidden powers, to create change; we are becoming part of the change which we desire to create. This power is becoming global and infinite, and cannot be measured by our collective strength in material Things.

Most of my life I have been fascinated with the origins of words; my first book of word origins was an unabridged dictionary in our home, when I was about four years old. My desire to learn was strong enough to sneak out of our house and follow by brother to the bus and try to get to school with him...my mom went to the teachers' supply store and got me some books about phonics.

I would ask her for the meaning of the words in a book- any book- and mom would say: "Look it up in the dictionary". I discovered something more interesting than the definitions...the ancient origins of the compound words, and very quickly built a polysyllabic vocabulary; and learned to sound out words by syllables...

To make the story short, I read books like encyclopedias, trying to absorb everything ever written...which continued for several years, until I learned to focus on the best books; the ones we would consider to be sacred books...starting with the Christian Bible. I tried to internalize everything I read, and began to selective in my reading. I started reading biographies of great men; mostly great Americans.

When I met my wife, I discovered that we were both consuming biographies at the same age...she was reading about great women.

I would realize at intervals of down time, that reading was preparation; and that some of what I read was supposed to translate into actions. I had no idea what my role was to be, but I still had to grow up and sit in schoolrooms, and study things which did not fit as yet into my world view.

I found greater clarity from year to year, by practicing faith and good works; not fitting in with my peers, but seeking adult conversation in bible study groups and others who spoke openly about politics and religion...all the taboos for the children who get bored with adult conversations and run off and play cruel children games against peers who do not fit into the child mold.

When Jonathan was born, I had just applied for a job with the Corrections Department, and was making a choice to abandon my dream of independence, to go to work in the prisons!! When he was delivered by emergency C-Section, I could only see shock on the faces of the nurses, and their immediate reaction was to rush our baby from the room, after covering his face with a blanket; the doctor ordered my wife to be sedated/knocked out, and I had to rush out of the room after the nurses, demanding to see my son...

He was born with cleft lip and palate, which extended to the eyelids of both sides of the nose, which was above the level of his eyes; at first I could not determine if he had both eyes, until he opened them and looked at me, and stopped crying, as our eyes locked for an instant, and we both knew that we could help each other through anything in Life.

I was reborn that night; I was no longer trying to find my purpose in life...it was my firstborn! As the questions came from family on both sides, who were blindsided by this event, since no one knew the conditions prior to birth, and Jonation was the first child on both sides, the only one who knew that I was okay- that I was up to the challenge- was my mom. When people would hear about our son's "condition" they would react with negative,or pitiable remarks; such as, it will be okay...; after meeting Jonathan, they would be overcome with feeling of wonder, with love and compassion, and would come back to me with greater understanding of God's love for them, and would connect the love they felt from our son with the purest love of God, and they understood that personage to be, in all of its glory and splendor! I still marvel, as I remember how that first impression changed everyone who met him, over many years...

I can only guess how this must feel to read this; you will probably know better than I what message you are being blessed to receive at this time in your life. The chances we have in this life to experience non-judgemental love from others is extremely rare; most women know this from giving birth. I have never felt such love from anyone in my life, as I felt from Jonathan; as if the whole universe was sending their love to my soul, and I was prepared at that moment in time to receive it. I know that there were other people who were also changed forever by making eye contact with Jonathan...

I hope that your work with the disabled will help you to know pure love, and if enough people are changed, we will see the change spread to all of the families of the earth, as was promised to Abraham and Sarah, we do not know how many generations were also promised to be a blessing to all people; we know from Abraham's experience that his seed would bless all the kindred/families of the earth...Abraham was blessed with infinite love, and recorded that experience for our times.

Perhaps it is in working with the least of these our brethren and sisters that all families will be blessed with infinite love; the evidence of love is like the sunrise...someimes we can look at a photo, and think that the sunrise is actually a sunset in our life....

Thanks for listening, and I apologize for the looong post...

REnewable Projects Mission RPM!!

We are seeing a new and exciting breakthrough in windpower development...the utility companies are becoming owners of windfarm developments!! The local utilities in California, that we all compared to farm equipment on the expressway, holding back all the maserati and lamerghini drivers, who could only drive along at fifteen mph, because the bureaucrats were hoggin up the autobahn...are now getting shredded by the utility companies that want a piece of the windpower waves...Surfs up, old power dudes!!

Segments 2 And 3 Of SCE's Transmission Project Approved

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by NAW Staff on Tuesday 20 March 2007

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved Southern California Edison's (SCE) application to build segments two and three of the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project. The first segment of the project was approved by the commission at the beginning of March and is pending approval by the U.S. Forest Service. (See "SCE's Tehachapi Transmission Project Receives Another Approval.") When all 11 phases are developed, the Tehachapi project will include a series of new and upgraded high-voltage transmission lines capable of delivering 4,500 MW of electricity from wind farms and other generating sources that are proposed for northern Los Angeles and eastern Kern counties, SCE says. Segments two and three include a new 21-mile, 500 kV transmission line connecting SCE's existing Antelope and Vincent Substations; two new substations to be named Windhub and Highwind, located near Mojave and Monolith; a new, 25.6-mile, 500 kV transmission line connecting SCE's existing Antelope Substation with the proposed Windhub Substation; and a new, 9.6-mile, 220 kV transmission line connecting Windhub Substation with Highwind Substation. According to SCE, the new lines are expected to be operational in early 2009. The company will file an application next June to build the remaining segments.