Elder Braden Baker: India bound

What up what up! I got some big news this week. On Wednesday I got a phone call from my mission president telling me that I got my Visa. It’s official this time, I got my visa so yeah I get to go to India now. I have been looking forward to going to India for a long time now and it’s so cool that I’m going there in two weeks! I will be flying out of the Orlando airport on October 9th and due to the travel time being around 24 hours and the crazy time difference, I will land in Bengaluru, India on October 11th. It is going to be such LONG flights but I can’t wait to get there and be a missionary in India!

Well, I feel like time is flying out here in the mission field. It’s crazy how fast weeks seem to go by. Someone told me that during your mission the days will feel like weeks and the weeks are like days. This sounds so weird but it’s SO true. Some days can feel so long after biking 20 miles, sweating, teaching a lot of different lessons, knocking doors and what not but then all of the sudden it’s P-day again! It’s crazy! I guess it’s true, time flies when you’re having fun. I can definitely say that I am having a ton of fun. Being a missionary is absolutely the best. There is nothing like being a missionary. I’ve realized that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity no matter where it is I’m serving so I try to not take any day for granted.

There were so many amazing experiences this week but I want to tell you about Pamela and Jenna. Pamela is an awesome lady that we are teaching. She just moved here to Merritt Island and lives here with her sister Laura. Laura is a member but hasn’t been to church in over 30 years. Laura and Pamela started coming to church and pretty much tracked us missionaries down which was awesome! On Tuesday night, I was teaching Pamela and Laura and it went perfect. The spirit was so strong during the lesson and she was just soaking everything in. She has read the whole Book of Mormon and knows that it is true! Anyway, I got the opportunity to invite her to be baptized on October 20th and she accepted. Pamela was hesitant to commit to getting baptized because she said she felt inadequate. I immediately felt the prompting to give her a blessing. So, I explained to her what a priesthood blessing was and then had the opportunity to give my first blessing while on the mish. The spirit was so strong and I don’t remember everything that was said but I remember Heavenly Father told Pamela that He knows her and loves her specifically and preparing to be baptized was the right decision. It was a really cool night with Pamela and I can’t wait to see her baptized!

We ran into Jenna one day while we were knocking doors at an apartment complex. She is a a single mom and has a eight year old boy named Dom. We’ve been teaching her for a few weeks now and she absolutely loves having us over to teach her lessons and talk. I remember the first time we met, she told us that she is not a “church goer” at all and never has been and probably would never be someone who goes to church but we can still come by and talk. So, we kept going back to teach her. This week, we came right as she was vacuuming and trying to clean her house before she had to pick up her son from school. So, we saw she was stressed because now she didn’t have time before her son got home and all this stuff. Anyway, she let us in and we started talking for about 5 minutes before she had to go. She kind of just gets up and she said she would be right back and then she just left lol. We were in her apartment alone which was kind of awkward so instead of just sitting on the couch, I got up and finished vacuuming for her. My companions did the dishes in the sink and cleaned up some legos which were on the floor. When Jenna came back with her son, her kitchen was clean as well as her carpet vacuumed and I’ll just say the carpet lines were looking fresh.(mom, you would’ve been proud) She was blown away that we did that for her and couldn’t understand why we would want to clean her house for her but she loved it. Anyway, earlier we had prayed and felt that we needed to teach her the plan of salvation. So we taught her all about the plan of salvation and she loved it. Even her son was so interested. At first, she sent him to the kitchen table to do his homework but I looked over at him during our lesson and his pencil was down and he was turned listening to us.(he eventually just came and sat down with us) Jenna opened up to us and said that she lost someone who was really close to her about 5 years ago and hasn’t been the same since and this message was exactly what she needed to hear. She also thanked us for giving her knowledge and something that she can teach her son. I’m excited to see how she progresses and how the Book of Mormon can change her life.

My testimony has grown so much since I’ve been on my mission. Even during this short amount of time, my testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown a lot! It is amazing the blessings I’ve seen so far out here on the mission and also back home with my family. I know that just by doing the small and simple things that great things will be brought to pass. I’ve already noticed that by praying and reading the Book of Mormon daily, miracles are happening. I am seeing prayers being answered every day and it is amazing. I love you all and hope everyone is doing great!!

Love, Elder Baker