NEW DELHI, India — "It is a great day to be a Mormon," said Vivian Richard Fernando, the 23-year-old president of the Pitampura Branch in the New Delhi India District."When the mission asked me to be the branch president, I accepted the call because I know when the Lord calls people he qualifies them," he explained.
Fernando joined the church in 2000 and subsequently served in the India Bangalore Mission. His wife, Teresa, the branch's Relief Society president, recalls the exact day of her conversion.
"I joined the church in 2002, Nov. 24," she said. "I feel that is my birthday, because my whole life changed after joining the church. The gospel came into my life and brought great joy and peace."
William K. Jackson presides over the India New Delhi mission. A doctor by profession, he worked for the U.S. government at American embassies throughout Asia and Africa. From 1990 to 1993 and again during 2002 to 2007, Jackson and his wife, Ann, were stationed in New Delhi with various groupings of their eight children.
"In 1990 there was one branch in New Delhi, and it was almost exclusively expatriates (non-citizens of India)," he said. "We came back in 2002, and by that time there were two branches in New Delhi — almost exclusively Indian with just a smattering of expatriates. The leadership was nearly all Indian, and the expatriates who were called to things were usually as counselors or shadow leaders."
During 2003, Jackson was called as an area Seventy in the Asia Area and assigned to train the members in India, Pakistan and Nepal.Elder Jackson and his family left India in 2007 for one final embassy stint that would be his last posting before retirement. On Nov. 1, 2007, the India New Delhi Mission came into existence, carved out from parts of the India Bangalore and Singapore missions and canvassing northern India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. This past July, when President Jackson began serving as mission president, the New Delhi mission had expanded to three districts that include 19 branches across its four countries.
"We couldn't be more excited," he said. "We already have a tremendous love for this people and appreciation for the pioneer members. We've seen them, watched them get baptized and go on missions, come back and get married in the temple and start raising their own families."
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This story is provided by the LDS Church News, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is produced weekly by the Deseret News.