Coming Home, One Last Miracle

Coming home was a trip to remember and nothing short of a miracle. The last week of my mission was memorable for sure. It was part memorable because we didn’t know if it would be my last week or not. In my last email, I talked about the craziness with flying all over India and finally ended up in Bangalore at the mission home in hopes to get an international flight. Well, the mayhem didn’t end there. God had a different plan. Here’s what happened. 

As soon as we got to Bangalore, they just shut down all the international flights from Bangalore so the next plan was to first fly to New Delhi and then get an international flight from there. Well, right as we got to Delhi, the Prime Minister of India decided to put the whole country on complete lock down and shut down all air travel!! We were officially stuck in New Delhi, which is outside of our mission boundaries, and we were stuck for an indefinite period with no day in the future of international air travel opening back up. So we had about 31 young missionaries and 10 senior couple missionaries staying at the mission home in New Delhi indefinitely.  One night, we all started getting notifications that we  are now part of the India, New Delhi Mission. It turns out that the Quorum of the twelve decided to just reassign all 41 missionaries to the India, New Delhi Mission since we are all there. So I got a new mission and mission president for a week and a half. 

We spent our time at the mission home contacting people, teaching over video call, studying personally and together, learning and improving life skills, working out, playing sports like hockey, badminton, and spike ball, and just enjoying our final time together as brothers. If anything, I know it was God’s  plan to have us stay in Delhi this extra week on my mission so that I could learn and grow more in unity with my zone. We seriously became brothers. One example. When the country got put on lock down, we were stuck inside our apartment and didn’t have any food. It had become dangerous for Americans to go outside. Luckily, Elder McGuire was born in India and then adopted and grew up in America. So, he is Indian looking and could go to the grocery store for all of us to get food. The next problem was our money. Some of us had more than others and some had very little. We sat down and budgeted out our money to make it last as long as possible as we didn’t know how long we were staying. As brothers, we all took out our wallets and took out all the money and put it all into one jar. We totaled our money and split it into each meal and planned for the next week. It was now our money as a zone and bought food for the whole group and cooked together!! It was so cool for all of us to sacrifice and help each other for the betterment of the whole group. 

It was Monday morning when we finally heard something promising about when we could get home. We heard that our flight would leave Tuesday night. Later that day, we were told to leave the mission home at Tuesday morning at 11 am. I don’t know all the fine details of how the plane finally came to pick us up but I will say this much. It was chartered and paid for completely by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was orchestrated and organized by the US Embassy. Here is what my mission president said, “Team Work makes the Dream Work -  Over the past several days I witnessed many acts of kindness, and how US Embassy personnel,  India government officials, and  employees of the New Delhi airport went the extra mile to repatriate 40 healthy American missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the United States by means of a chartered flight.  Joining these missionaries were 176 other Americans who traveled as the Church’s guests.  A great example of how “team work makes the dream work.”  I pray God will bless all who helped us these past few days.” Not only was it a miracle for us 40 missionaries to come back home to America and our home, it was even more of a miracle for the 176 other stranded US citizens who got a seat on the Church’s plane home when they were also stranded. One young couple with an 18 month old child shared how they had multiple of their flights cancel and the next chance wouldn’t be until April 14th with prices reaching $12,000. After their fasting and prayer, they received the news that they could get on an evacuation plane home chartered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and would be provided without a request of compensation. The flight would be free. It was a miracle. 

We started our evacuation Tuesday morning and got on a bus to the US Embassy. We waited there where a wonderful family made a goody bag for each missionary including chips, carrots, water, chocolate chip cookies, etc. We waited all day until we got on a bus to the empty closed New Delhi airport. We were escorted to the front and got our tickets. When we boarded the plane, we got a standing ovation from all 176 of the other US citizens traveling with us. It was special. Even more special was when I got the opportunity to say a prayer over the intercom for the whole plane before take off. It was the perfect start to our flight. Many people shared that it was the most comforting flight they’ve ever been on. One lady actually came up to me and had so many questions about the church and how and why we got this plane. I taught her about the restoration of the gospel, tithing, fast offerings, and a lot of stuff!! Her favorite was modern day prophets and she likened this plane picking her a miracle like Moses parting the Red Sea. For many, it was a modern miracle of that caliber. We went straight from New Delhi to Cairo, Egypt and then flew over the polar caps straight to Salt Lake City. 

I stepped off the plane in America and the air smelled sweeter, fresher, and cleaner. I have loved eating the beef, cheese, milk, cereal and countless list of food I didn’t have while in India. I miss the people and mission so much but I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned and my testimony that has grown. 

I testify that this is God’s plan, not ours. He will comfort us, and we will see miracles as we trust in Him. He knows us! We are counted!

"We see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth." (Alma 26:37)

If things don't change right away,

"Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power, and then may we stand STILL, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for His arm to be revealed." (D&C 123:17)

I promise He will hear us, as we seek to #HearHim

I love you all and hope to see you soon and would love to get in contact. Feel free to reach out to me and say hi now that I am home and quarantined!! 

Find me on Facebook or you can message me at 435-632-0953.

Love, Braden Baker

                                                            Me and my family!

                                                      Group hug with my family 

                                                   Elders arriving in New Delhi 

                             Us Bangalore elders with our New Delhi mission president. 

                                    

                                                        Same pic with masks on

                                             Spikeball and hockey at the mission home.

                                               Walking to our bus with my luggage!

Empty Delhi airport

Empty Delhi airport

Elders waiting in the Bangalore airport

Our miracle chartered plane. This was the only pic I got of it!!

Ice caps from the plane. 

Airplane wing and the sunrise or sunset.(after 40 hours of travel and no sleep I don't remember)

Quite Possibly The Craziest Week of My Life

This week I have been in four different cities, taken 2 flights and multiple cabs. I've been told I'm leaving, then staying, then leaving, then staying. The updates have been changing so fast. I can't trust them any more than the COVID-19 cases in India. Alright, I'm just gonna start from last Monday to try and explain to you how my week has gone. It has been insane. 

Monday, I woke up in Hyderabad in the state of Telangana with Elder Clawson. We were still doing normal missionary work and loving life. We were told to go shopping for two weeks worth of food just in case we are put in quarantine in the future. We went shopping with the senior couple and stocked up on some good food and the senior couple gave us some recipes and even taught us how to cook some good american food. We were loving life. 

Tuesday, we had a slower day because we got some restrictions in Hyderabad. We still contacted our people and even taught over WhatsApp. We had an awesome opportunity to help a sister who is having a tough time trusting God because her mom was diagnosed with cancer. We really helped her and it helped me also to understand that God is literally our father. We are his children. He loves us. He knows our name. He has a plan. These simple truths that I know helped me so much!! She began to understand a little bit better about who God is and responded with, "Thank you. I have trust in God. I will read the scriptures" it was awesome even over text. 

Wednesday is when everything started going crazy. Try to follow along. In the evening at 8 PM, I got a phone call from President Thomas. He said the US Embassy in India is checking for the Americans and checking on their Foreign Registration. Well, my registration is registered in Kakinada which meant I need to leave to Kakinada ASAP. So, I immediately packed up all of my stuff and got a cab to go to West Marredpally which is the Elders apartment closer to the airport and where I could leave my companion Elder Clawson with the other zone leader. That was a late night and crazy change. I was legit jumping around the apartment and couldn't stop pacing for like an hour. Then I realized that I had to pack.

Thursday morning at 7 AM, I got a cab to the airport to go to my favorite previous area Kakinada!! None of the members or recent converts knew that I was coming either so when I finally got to Kakinada, I went to surprise all of my favorite people who became my family members I made while serving there. It was such a tender mercy that I'll never forget. Before any of this COVID-19 outbreak, my parents were planning to come pick me up in India at the end of my mission so I could come back and visit these people in Kakinada because I had promised them I would come. Well, with all the craziness of this pandemic, it made it not possible for them to come to India anymore. I thought there was no chance for me to come see my favorite people in Kakinada ever again for a long time. So, the one good thing that came from COVID-19 is that I was sent back to Kakinada!! And it was just in the nick of time. Here is why. 

Friday morning we had a full mission wide video call. They announced a "mission update" that we would be officially on lock down and how we need to focus on teaching through technology. They told us that the India Prime Minister issued a full country lock down on Sunday and every other day to only leave for essential items. They told us to still do missionary work and strengthen members. Then, by evening we heard that the USA issued a level 4 travel advisory where the US government said to all american citizens to, "Arrange for immediate return to the United States, unless you are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period". So, I actually looked up the definition of 'indefinite' because it sounded too closely to 'infinite'. I am not trying to stay in India infinitely or indefinitely so obviously we were freaking out but still no updates for us specifically. 

Saturday is when my heart was shattered. All the love, all the miracles, all the people, all the memories, all the life changing experiences, and everything else I can't put into words flashed before my eyes as I read the text saying that all American missionaries have to be sent home. Just like that, over night, my mission was over. I'm grateful for the examples and mentors in my life that helped me to not take any day for granted on my whole mission. A great friend told me early on, "Every day you look in the mirror and put on the name tag that says 'Elder Baker' is one less day that you ever get to do that again." I know that I gave everything I have. I know that I gave every part of my heart to these people and in return, my heart was softened and changed for the better. Even though I am shattered and torn that my mission will be ending a little bit early, I am grateful and blessed to have served these people in India. I've seen the gospel change their life which has in turn changed mine forever. 

Saturday evening, our apartment community chose to kick us out of our apartment just because we were Americans!! They were scared and what not about the corona virus but I've lived in their country with them for almost two years!!! Pretty racist if you ask me. I've also been getting dirty looks and people pointing at us and yelling, "corona virus!! corona virus!!" So we packed up all of our bags again and got a cab to Rajahmundry to stay with the other Elders who live two hours away. But they told us we wouldn't leave for a week or two so we unpacked a little bit. 

Sunday, they told us that they got news that India will be shutting down the small airports in india and not allowing domestic travel either!! So, we immediately got a flight ticket to Bangalore and we were freaking out. Again, we packed everything and we were hyped to go stay in the mission office.

Now we are here on Monday. I am sitting in my apartment in Rajahmundry leaving for the airport in an hour to hopefully get though to Bangalore and get to the mission home safely before they shut down the airport. From there, we will wait until we can find and book an international flight home. India has already stopped incoming international flights to India so I'm hoping they can get an outgoing flight home. I'm praying that everything goes smoothly and I can get home safely. It's been quite a crazy week. As of now, I will be going to Bangalore and waiting further updates!! Be safe and continue to trust in God's plan and have faith He will help you during these last days. That's all we can do and that's what I will be doing. 

I love you all!! 

Love, Elder Baker

 Elder Clawson and I!! I trained him and then had to leave after only a few weeks )): I miss him. 

                                             There was only like 7 people on my flight!!

                                 In the airport after washing my hands and wearing a mask. 

                      My small little propeller plane from Hyderabad to Rajahmundry

                                     Elder Quigley and I staying safe with the masks

                                       What a tender mercy to see the Kuna family again.

                                           Our nice meal we made with the senior couple 

           Elder McGuire, Quigley, and Korukonda with the masks in front of the church sign.

This gif is me surprising the Kuna family!! Look at the reaction of Deepthi's face! My HEART will never forget this 

One last baptism!!

Wow, what a historical week in the church!! The last few weeks were pretty busy and we had a lot of things to get done and stuff like that so I hadn't really had a set solid schedule yet to work with Elder Clawson. I wanted to get into a solid routine for him as he first starts his mission but things kept coming up!! Like, MLC, or exchanges, or planning for one of our many trainings. I felt like finally I had a week where I can train Elder Clawson and focus on him more and our schedule!! 

I seriously kept telling him this week was going to be awesome because it will be all normal, no surprises, no more exchanges and it will be super great. Well, that was all wrong. First of all, Monday evening we get a call from the Assistants and they told us they plan to come to Hyderabad and do an exchange with us Zone Leaders tomorrow so they literally flew into Hyderabad from Bangalore the next day!! Tuesday and Wednesday I was with Elder Mungamari and he is a great guy and a great missionary but that means I wasn't with Elder Clawson. So, going on exchange with the AP's was the start to the "normal set week" I had promised to Elder Clawson just earlier that day.

The next day is when we woke up and saw the announcement from the church cancelling all church meetings including large gatherings and leadership conferences and everything. Well, we were having our mission president fly to Hyderabad today for our zone conference!! So, after I woke up and read this article, within 10 minutes my mission president called me and said that he won't be coming to Hyderabad to do zone conference so we are going to have to do it over video call. I was soo excited for our zone conference and to see president and sister Thomas so I was a little sad. It actually worked out pretty smoothly. It wasn't the same but it was pretty good over technology! We has all the Elders video call in from their apartment and president and sister Thomas were in Bangalore. It was super cool! We even did our interview over a video call. 

Missionary work is kind of weird right now because we can't bring people to church and we also have been told not to baptize until further notice!! What?! How are we supposed to fulfill our purpose without baptizing. Anyway, they gave us permission to baptize this weekend only if people were prepared so I told Vijaya and we made it work!! She was seriously so prepared for baptism. She has been coming to church for a long long time and even pays her tithing. Her daughter Sowmya and I served together on my mission and even started together in the mission home. Sowmya has been waiting a long time for her mom to be baptized also so they can go to the temple together. It was really exciting to see both of them so happy in their family now they are all members. It was a super unique and special baptism service. We got to baptize Vijaya with a small group of only 4 people came because it has to be a small gathering. Right after I performed the baptism, Elder Clawson confirmed her a member! It was cool to do the baptism and confirmation right then and there at the waters edge. We will see how long all of this lasts but I'm glad Vijaya got to be baptized before the baptism hold. 

Anyway, I think this is just a super cool time to be alive and be a part of the Lord's restored church. We are so lucky that we have a prophet of God and apostles that literally are communicating with Christ to help us during these times. Well, it sure is fun to go forward with faith. It is becoming a lot more necessary to walk by faith rather than by sight. We are lucky to have a Prophet of God to follow in these days. By the way, this all hit me and I understood God's plan. God is having every country shut down everything so there is literally no distractuon to "Hear Him" for this bicentennial conference. How cool is that!! 

I love you all! Have a great week and stay safe.

Love, Elder Baker  

                                     Elder Clawson and I cleaning the baptism font   

                              This is what we call a small gathering for our baptism. 

  

 My interview with President Thomas was so awesome over video call.  

                                             After eating nicely, I left a nice thank you note.

                                        Visiting the Maddula family with Elder Mungamari.

 After the announcement, we went to our church to find this sign. I'm still confused, can                               someone explain what "NO ENTRI" means? #india

                                                           Hard Rock Cafe Hyderabad 

                                           Hard Rock Cafe huge burger!! It was good

                                               Virtual Hyderabad Zone Conference!

                                                  Thank you note written on my plate

                                                               Baptism of Vijaya!!

Corona Virus in the Airport, Baptisms, and MLC

I feel like the weeks just keep going by and it's not slowing down at all. What I love about missionary work in India is that there is always something to do, always someone to talk to, always someone to teach. If you want to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, then you can find plenty of people to teach here. If you want, you can make yourself as busy as you want or as lazy as you want. It's all in our hands. 

Well, I like to stay busy and lately I've felt like I haven't had any time to even think about sitting down and taking a breath. I have so much on my plate right now, I find myself taking the travel time on a local bus to try and plan and make the zone conference agenda and so many other things. Right now, I am trying to do so much and I wish I could just do a better job at all of it. In my last area, I could focus all my time on the people and I absolutely loved it but now I have so many more responsibilities to worry about. It's great, I love the work and I love to stay busy, I just wish I was better at it.

Well, I'll tell you why this week went by so fast! Last Monday night, Elder Clawson and I traveled to the other Zone leader's apartment and stayed the night there. Elder Idso and I taught a lesson to a sister named Sravanthi. She has been wanting to be baptized but has so many problems in her life. The biggest one right now being her parents wanting to force her into an arranged marriage. She was struggling with some other things also but still wants to be baptized. So, Elder Idso and I taught such a good lesson!! The spirit was so strong and we talked about the doctrine of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. We talked about the constant companionship and peace and guidance and love she can receive. We realized that she needs the Holy Ghost more in her life. She said that she loves the way she feels when she meets with us and when she comes to church, but it doesn't last with her all day. We promised her that if she would be baptized on Saturday, that the trials and temptations she is receiving from Satan will go away and she will start feeling peace in her heart because of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sravanthi decided right then and there that she was going to be courageous and follow her heart and be baptized and confirmed this week. So, Sravanthi was baptized and confirmed on Friday! After months and months of her telling about her trials and worries and struggles, she texted the day after her baptism and said she feels peace in her heart and happiness. That is the promised blessings of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

Tuesday, Elder Idso and I flew to Bangalore for MLC and it was such a fun trip. We had so much fun talking to people in the airport and plane and learning so many things at MLC. We have big plans for this Bicentennial year. We plan to do a big "Hear Him" open house tour in our church next month that pretty much will be teaching about the restoration and Joseph Smith's first vision. We are really excited. Also, we talked about a lot of other good stuff about the mission and missionary work. Tuesday is when the Corona Virus was confirmed to be active in India. The first day, there were like 3 confirmed cases and by the next day, there was over 30 I believe. After MLC and as we were leaving the mission home to go to the Bangalore airport on Wednesday afternoon, one of the workers in the mission home ran upstairs and said, "Hey!! There was just 7 confirmed cases of corona virus in the Bangalore airport!" As our cab driver is packing our bags in his car to take us to the airport is downstairs. Well, we still went to the airport and we stayed safe and nothing happened(so far). Everyone was wearing masks and being careful. The airport was screening a few people. At one point, I just simply sneezed and about 20 people gave me the dirtiest look. 

The last half of the week was super busy!! I was running around town because I had to attend some stake meetings to plan for our bicentennial event with the stake high council. The only problem is that the stake center is over an hour away. Also, I planned and presented our zone meeting on Friday and also.have been planning our zone conference which is this next week. While I am planning and taking care of all these things, I still have to take care and love and teach the people in my area! On top of that, I am supposed to be training Elder Clawson but feel like I have just been dragging him around to all of this stuff and I'm always on the phone hahah. Ohhh, I hope he doesn't think his companion is junk. I love Elder Clawson by the way!! He is doing sooooo much better this week. Not gonna lie, the first few days in India were rough but he is doing great now! He has adjusted this week and made a ton of progress. He is loving our work and loving the people and we are getting along and having a great time together. I'm excited for this transfer. 

Well, the last super awesome thing that happened this week is that Vijaya accepted the invitation to be baptized!! She is the sweetest lady ever. Her daughter actually recently returned from her mission. I started serving in India with her like a year and a half ago. She had just come from the MTC when I got to the mission home in Bangalore. We served together in Chennai for awhile and then again in the Rajahmundry zone. Now, I am serving in her home ward and have been teaching her mom the gospel and now her mom wants to be baptized!! Super cool. The first day I came to India and met her in the mission home, I would've never thought that I would be in her home teaching her mom and helping her to get baptized but here we are a year and a half later and that's what is happening!!

Okay, I lied. One more thing!! Bashira has been the best little member missionary ever. All she talks about with her friends is her love for the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel. She invites people left and right to come and see our church, to come and learn about the true church with the correct authority. People are coming too!! This week, she brought her friend Sirisha and we taught her with the help of Bashira. She has too strong of a testimony and conversion story. I wish I could take her through the rest of my mission. Hahah I feel like Sirisha might be baptized, I'll let you know more next week!!

I love you all so much and I appreciate the love and support and prayers and everything. It means so much to hear your feedback and thoughts about my experiences. They are changing my life for the better. My testimony grows each and every day. 

Love, Elder Baker 

 Selfie with Bishop's family and Bashira

Selfie with the return missionary I served with Sister Paduru and her friends and mom.

                                                         MLC picture in Bangalore!

            Elder Clawson paying for a share auto as we get out at the metro station

 All of the women in my ward because Sunday was Women's day! Happy women's day!

 

                                            Elder Idso and I about to board the plane.

 

                Us wearing our masks at the infested Bangalore airport!! Jk, we were fine. 

                                                         
Ahhh, good airplane food. Every missionary here knows about the Paprika Chicken Tikka Sandwich.

 We had to get a picture with this guy at the airport! He had the coolest beard. Turns out he was a famous guy that teaches yoga and spirituality. They were so cool and calm. 

                   We flew with the flight attendants in training so we got a picture with all of them.

                                                    Just Elder Clawson and I one night