a sunday to remember.

Today was an adventure. We woke up early this morning to go to church in Chennai. It was a two hour drive which went smoothly. @ church I got to talk to Elder Tuscano for a long time. We went to Gospel Principles with Josh and it was quite the experience that I will attempt to relay to you now: The young man started out by asking everyone to introduce themselves and give their name, where they are from, and tell their favorite drink. Coincidently, the topic of the lesson was "The Lords Law of Health." He proceeded by asking the class to raise their hands if they drink alcohol, then chastised those who do. Then asked who drinks coffee, pointed specifically to one woman and when she responded, "No." He said, "Good job sister." Mind you the girl next to her had said that her favorite drink was coffee. Awesome. Chelsea and I could not believe what was being said, it was pure awkward and we kept exchanging looks with each other and the American missionaries. It was classic.
It was said to say goodbye to JOSH! We are going to kick it in Provo when he returns.

NEXT came lunch. We convinced them to go to an American restaurant called SPARKY'S. It was a great decision.

This is SPARKY. He was the greatest manager and checked on us about 4 times during our meal. Great guy!

Chelsea and I shared chicken fingers and we ate an amazing dessert called "Dessert Nachos."



OH! I was thrilled because this restaurant had DR. PEPPER. Well, they only had diet but I did not care. It was the best moment ever. Here is our before photo, right when we got it:

And AFTER. Whoever can stand DIET Dr. Pepper is weird. Also, THIS IS INDIA so there may have been something else wrong with it but it was terrible. We both ordered a PEPSI and were satisfied.


NEXT we began our trek home. Remember how it was supposed to be a 2 hour problem? Well, 5 hours later, we returned to Rising Star. Worst experience of my life. Our bus broke down, not 1, not 2, but 3 TIMES! First, we ran out of gas. We hung out on the side of the rode like dumb Americans for about 45 minutes. This is Steve, Chelsea, Lincoln and me on top of the bus. We just stood up there and waved as people stared at us. It was awesome.


THEN, our engine blew. We pulled off to the side of the road, called some mechanic (very sketchy) and waited for about an hour. Steve, Lincoln, Chelsea and I went on an adventure to find water for the group. After crossing a 4 lane highway and hopping some random divider in a skirt and sandals, we found liquid. Soon after we returned to the bus, we left.
An hour later, our engine blew AGAIN. This time it was pitch dark, in the middle of a country road. We did not have a chance to pull off the road so cars just pulled around us. By this time everyone was angry and in horrible moods, which made for eventful road side chat.
We attempted HITCH HIKING:

PUSHED our bus to the side of the road:


and AFTER waiting for another hour, we were rescued by another bus. All 30 of us climbed into it and drove the remaining 15 minutes back to Rising Star. It was crazy, but a Sunday I will never forget.