Elder and Sister Martin Micronesia and India Missions: Sisters in Adversity

Pictured below is the MUNGAMURI family who's influence has touched our lives with such an impact that I wrote a story for the Liahona Local India Pages (Church Magazine) for a future publication. They are a strong faithful family of two brothers and two sisters who have and continue to overcome difficult challenges. We had the opportunity of having these two sisters stay with us for a few weeks. We pray for them and think about them often. I also work with Elder Mungamuri in our mission on the financial side, as he is a Zone Leader. We've never met the older brother Rahul, but found an interesting story written about him at BYU Hawaii. Link https://kealakai.byuh.edu/node/1783

Elder Martin, Sister Lavanya Mungamuri, Elder Shahil Mungamuri, Sister Neelima Mungamuri, Sister Martin at the India Bengaluru Mission Office

Sisters in Adversity – Sisters for Eternity

A Full-time Missionary faces an Unthinkable Challenge

Sister Neelima Mungamuri was called to serve a full-time mission in Kiribati, part of the Marshall Islands Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She was the first missionary from India who had ever served on Kiribati.

Friend, Teretoo, Sister Mungamuri, Sister Feagaiga at a Kiribati church
activity (near the Marshall Islands), singing and dancing in a heavy rain.

She was learning a new language, loving the people and working hard serving the Lord. Her younger Sister Lavanya Mungamuri was also serving full-time in the India New Delhi Mission.

Both were diligently engaged in the work. With unshakable testimonies of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, they became a strength to their missions and to the people they engaged with.

During all of this, the unthinkable occurred. Sister Neelima was told she may have cancer. Immediately after, her first prayer to God expressed a commitment to glorify Heavenly Father in all her days, no matter what may happen.

“I was so happy and doing really well. And suddenly this thing happened and nearly 500 people are praying for me. Some told me that nothing will be there, and everything will be OK,” she said.

She was transferred back to her home country to serve in the India Bengaluru Mission and receive more tests. Sister Neelima was diagnosed with stage three cancer.

“I did not feel sad or anger or anything, but I’m so glad to God that he helped me to live. And I found those prayers, fastings and Priesthood blessings having strengthened me during my surgery and chemotherapy. All this strength comes from the knowledge of the true Gospel and I knew it was Heavenly Father’s will that I go through this trial," Neelima said.

Hymns were a great strength to her during the many procedures. Two particular songs she loves to sing are, “A Child’s Prayer” and “Before Thee Lord, I Bow My Head.”

Adversity wasn’t new to the Mungamuri family Neelima explained, “My father died in an accident when I was 7 years old and my mother died of a broken heart soon after.”

Mungamuri Grandmother

Her Christian grandmother agreed to raise the four children for the next several years. She was a good Christian and encouraged them all to go to church.

When Neelima was 14, the family met missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Neelima, Lavanya and their two brothers embraced the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and were baptized.

Tragedy struck again when the Grandmother died. Neelima, the oldest, was only 17. With no other relatives willing to help, Neelima would be responsible to raise her siblings. When her younger brother, Rahul, was old enough, he decided to serve a full-time mission for the church and was called to the India New Delhi Mission.

Elder Rahul Mungamuri

When he returned, he was accepted to BYU Hawaii and is currently there, working his way through college. The other three all decided and were extended calls to serve full-time missions at the same time. While all three were serving missions, Neelima contracted cancer.

Being diagnosed with cancer after serving one year of her 18 month mission required that she receive a medical release. Surgery and chemotherapy would certainly require a family member to help. Her younger sister, Lavanya had recently began serving in the India New Delhi Mission. She agreed to leave her mission temporarily and help her sister through the upcoming challenges.

This would allow their younger brother, Shahil, who began serving the same month as his sister Neelima, to complete his mission. He was a Zone Leader in the India Bengaluru Mission at the time.

Aunt Anuradha

Shortly after the surgery, their aunt came and helped for a couple of weeks. After their aunt went home, the two sisters became a team, focused on the goal of recovery and hopeful return to complete their full-time missions.

Lavanya said, “When I told my sister Neelima on the phone that I was coming to be with her she told me not to leave my mission because her condition may not be very bad.”

Lavanya then asked, “Do you remember what it says on page 3 of Preach My Gospel (missionary guidebook). ‘The most important of the Lord’s work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home’, President Harold B Lee.” Lavanya exclaimed, “Nothing is more important than helping my sister. No one can replace time with my sister”.

Neelima agreed and Lavanya left her mission to work full-time as her sister’s care giver. Neelima talked about how she and her sister had recently been sealed to their parents in the temple. If faithful, they’ll be sisters for eternity.

Sister Lavanya said, “Because of temples, I know families can be eternal.”

Now they live together in a small basic apartment without even a refrigerator. Every few weeks they go for chemo treatments at a nearby hospital. Neelima is currently going through extreme discomfort and pain, only understood by those who have gone through similar treatments.

“I know sometimes, we feel like miracles and something like this should be gone just like that, we pray for such things sometimes because of our sufferings and our afflictions. But in my life I learned that allowing God’s will is the greatest thing that can help us to come closer unto God. I want to see my parents and grandmother again but I know I still have some work to do in this life,” Neelima asserted.

Her sister Lavanya is there like her mother, ready to help in any way. When all foods started tasting inedible and metallic, her sister is there to insist she keep eating.

Sister Lavanya testified, “We are his hands. God will always be there for us when we stay faithful. Even trials are a strength to our life.”

Sister Neelima concluded, “I believe in the blessing of the resurrection that I can get all my full hair and all my body parts and everything. Some people in the hospital asked me why God gave you this big problem while you were serving God. The only answer that came to my mind is that God loves me so much. And when we are given so many problems, he trusts us to have faith and turn to Him and not Satan, like Job in the Bible, who endured all those things, and this is our time to endure all these things.”