Elder Kent Thompson, India Bengaluru Mission: Telugu is not Tagalog

Hello everybody!

After many adventures, I have finally made it back to my own mission here in India. I've been assigned to be a zone leader in Hyderabad with the one and only Elder Rajendran! He's a really good friend of mine from back in Rajahmundry days. We're going to have lots of fun and successful missionary work.

Coming back to India has been so cool and I am remembering so many things that I had forgotten about when I was in the Philippines. It's pretty challenging for me to stop talking in Tagalog whenever I talk to the local people here. It's just become so natural to me when I need to convey basic information. I made the long journey by myself again and everything went well. I had a layover in Kuala Lumpur and thought it was cool that I was already familiar with the inside of the airport since I was there six months ago. When I got to Hyderabad, I met with a bunch of other India mission elders that had been staying in the Angheles mission. They flew through Bangkok so that's why I didn't see them in Manila. I guess there was some trouble with getting us all on the same flight. When I went up to the customs counter, the guy asked me a few questions about what I was doing and why I was there and then stamped my passport and welcomed me with a friendly head bobble.

There's a few things that I've noticed these past few days that I thought were pretty interesting about India that I had forgotten about.

1. Telugu. Hyderabad is here in Telangana where Telugu is the mother tongue. Even though I don't know how to speak it, I'm starting to remember all kinds of words that I learned when I was back in Rajahmundry. It will be cool to learn some more but the nice thing about this place is that English is super common. Even the locals often talk to each other in English.

2. Left Side. I totally forgot about this one. The Philippines is just like America when it comes to that and everything is on the right side. I've gotten used to it and just about collided with about 80% of the people in the Kuala Lumpur airport.

3. Smells. Everybody always used to ask me how I do with the different smells in India and I told them that that wasn't really true and that there weren't any crazy smells. But as soon as I got off the plane in Hyderabad, I recognized the profound smell of India. Whether it's curry or incense, there is always a different smell in the air.

4. Indian Accent. Another thing that I used to say didn't exist. I'm admitting now that the accent really does exist. I noticed it for a few days but now I don't really notice it anymore. It's funny how that happens.

5. Other weird things that I still don't quite understand. For example, guys holding hands and little boys dressed up as girls. There is nothing wrong with that, it's just something that you will probably only see in India.

As of now, I'm trying to get out of my Filipino ways and get back to my Indian ways! I was able to pull off some pretty decent head bobbles yesterday so I think it's coming back. Our area and our ward are really cool. I'm so excited to be here and continue to bring forth the work.

Thanks for all the support, It has really helped me to have a better experience every day of my mission. I know that the church is true no matter where we are!

Love,

Elder Kent R. Thompson