Update from Hyderbad

I’m sorry that we haven’t updated Billy’s blog since Valentine’s Day. We had asked friends and family of Billy’s to participate in a Valentine Surprise package. We wanted Billy to receive a package filled with cards and letters from those who love and support him. The box was chalk full of letters from well-wishers, and he was so excited to hear from everyone. He was surprised and grateful for all of you that participated. Thank you.

One of the packages we had sent to Billy was a copy of the book “Reflections of Christ” with its accompanying DVD. He was so taken with the photographs of Christ’s life that he spoke with the Branch President about having an open house where the missionaries would talk about the different organizations in the Church, and end conclude the meeting with the DVD and the pictures of Christ in the chapel. They printed over a 1000 cards to pass out, and ended up with over 200 people in attendance. 50 of them were investigators! Billy was really excited with the turn out, and they feel that it was a great success. A BIG thank you to Mark Mabrey for being inspired to take such beautiful photographs of the life of Christ, so that we all have this as a wonderful missionary tool.

Billy and his companion have been teaching a 14-year-old boy who is scheduled for baptism next week. This will be the first baptism in this area in over eight months!

Billy is enjoying his mission and loves the people of India. There is a young man who travels two hours each way to attend church every week. He takes the bus and has to transfer four times to get to church. Every week he works hard to earn money for his transportation, and the thing that touches Billy’s heart is the fact that this young man has polio and has a manmade wheelchair at home. He uses his crutches to travel, but when the time comes to bear his testimony in church he struggles to the podium without his crutches, and he is always the first to bear his testimony.

Cooking with every type of curry has certainly become a fun thing for Billy to do for investigators as well as the other missionaries and the zone leaders. They are surprised that the food tastes so good and that Billy has mastered the art of cooking Indian cuisine. It is a special event when Billy cooks 20 lbs of rice, chicken, and curry for all, and they look forward to Billy’s tasty meals. He is always telling us about the different types of curry to cook with and he is excited about showing his skills to us when he comes home.

We got a sweet email from the daughter of the Mission President who had the opportunity to visit Hyderbad and to attend the Zone Conference with her 10-year-old son Ethan. After the Zone Conference Billy was assigned to be Ethan’s companion for the day and had the opportunity to show him around. According to Ethan’s mother he really enjoyed being with the missionaries and his time with Elder Nixon. Ethan sat next to Elder Nixon during Zone conference, and Billy said that because they were mission companions he would have to go home with Ethan in ten days. Ethan thought that was pretty funny so he ran up and shared that with President Nichols. Billy got really embarrassed because he thought that President Nichols would think that he wanted to go home. President Nichols laughed more because Billy was so embarrassed. According to his mother, Ethan loved serving with Elder Nixon and he thought he was really fun to be with.


President Nichols told the Elders that they would be getting fewer Elders this year, so they are going to have to work harder. They talked in depth about baptism goals and how they still wanted to meet those goals with fewer missionaries in the field. He also said that the Lord has sent very dedicated, spiritual, and hard working Elders to India. Sister Gee mentioned that she could feel the spirit in Zone Conference and that it was so strong. We are so grateful to Sister Gee for sharing this wonderful experience with us.

Picture Time!

Cruisin' Around India Style

Hyderbad Happenings

Things are going very well in his new area. Billy said that Heavenly Father didn’t drop him in a goldmine. He really has his work cut out for him. There has not been a baptism in this area for five months and the Elders that were there before him didn’t have any investigators. Billy said that he remembered a mission experience that his dad had in Spain. Billy’s dad was sent to a city that the Mission President was going to close because they had not had a baptism in over a year. The Lord provides a way for the message and the work to get through. With the success story that Billy remembers fondly, he is up for the challenge and knows that the Lord will be with him every step the way.

His new companion is from Idaho and they get along great. They had a little excitement last week when, at ten o’clock in the evening a pipe burst in the bathroom. Bill heard the running water but just assumed his companion was in there. After ten minutes went by his companion walked in and asked Billy what he was doing in the bathroom. You can imagine the mess, and the worst part is they had no way of shutting off the water unless it was shut off in the whole building. There would have been a riot on their hands for sure. Billy said that it is amazing what you can do with a shoelace, a stick, and a hammer.

Billy loves his new area and he has met some very loving families. He said that there was another Hindi holiday and they were flying kites everywhere. He said that he has finally found success flying kites after flying them with some of the families that he has met. Billy said that it reminded him of the movie The Kite Runner.

We have heard Billy’s testimony grow and there is no greater joy than serving our Heavenly Father. In Billy’s last letter he writes “The Lord will always bless us, but he will not make the trail easy. I am on the Lord’s journey and I am pushing on with faith. This is the hardest thing that I have ever done and I’m sure it will get harder and harder, but the reward will be greater and greater. I know that the Lord is perfecting me through this trial of faith and service. Every day I am grateful to be here serving, it is not easy, but it is by this journey, that we grow.”

Merry Christmas from India!

We had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Elder Nixon on Christmas morning around 8am. Although we were given an hour, the time seemed to go much to fast. It was so wonderful to hear his voice and to hear first hand about his experiences in India as well as hearing a little bit of an Indian accent. He is currently teaching a family of eight, all interested in being baptized within the next couple of weeks. However, Billy has just been told that he will be transferred to another area of Hyderbad about 45 minutes away from where he is serving currently. Billy mentioned how difficult it was on Sunday to say goodbye to all the members of the Branch. He has been apart of their Branch for 4 months and he has really developed a love for all of them.


Before Christmas, Billy thought it might be fun to introduce some of our traditions with the members of his branch in India. He thought it would be fun to dress up like Santa for all the children. In order for him to do this he took to the streets of India looking for a Santa costume. Finding a Santa costume proved to be a challenge and Billy and his companion searched high and low in many stores for a Santa costume. He finally found success in a small store that was tucked away down an alley. He sent us a picture of him dressed up as Santa (see below).

Bill shared with us some of the Christmas traditions that they have in India. One of the things he mentioned was that they all buy themselves a new outfit to wear in celebration and prepare a feast with chicken and rice using a great assortment of different flavors of curry. They do not share gift giving. Most families are very poor, but at the same time they are eager invite the missionaries in for a meal and feed them very well. Bill said that it is sometimes difficult because families will offer them so much food that they begin to feel ill but they would not want to offend them by refusing to eat.

Billy sent us all gifts from India. He sent everyone pajamas (a family Christmas tradition) and few popular Bollywood and Tollywood movies. The most precious gift was when he sang a very meaningful Christmas song to his mom. This particular song has a special meaning to Billy and his mom and there was not a dry eye in the house.

Our home was filled with the Christmas spirit. We are very blessed to have a missionary like Bill who loves the gospel and is serving the Lord.


I would like to thank those of you who have taken the time to write to Billy and let him know that you are thinking of him. It has meant a great deal to Billy and us as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Elders had a Thanksgiving celebration at a Marriott hotel. A couple of turkey's were flown in for the festivities. Billy said that it was wonderful! He said that the food was fantastic and that while he misses home, he feels that this is the best Thanksgiving ever because he is serving the Lord.

TURKEY BOWL!

Of course Billy wouldn't miss out on the opportunity for a good game of football. Naturally, he was the one that put a Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl together for the missionaries. Looks like they had a good time!