Elder Braden Baker: Living the celebrity life

Hello everyone!! Wow, is it just me or do the weeks keep going by so fast? Being a missionary and being on a mission is the best thing ever. I am still alive here in India and am loving it so far. On a mission, I am striving to become more Christlike. I am trying to develop better all of his Christlike attributes. One that I guess God want's me to develop during my time here is humility!! I always strive to be really humble in my life. I am starting to think God is preparing my companion and I to be celebrities or famous in the future. I say this because the people here seriously treat us like celebrities. We are famous in their eyes because we are white and especially because I am tall! Like I have said before, people just stare at us. Kids especially love us. Some people will just run up to us to talk to us or just to touch our white skin hahah. If we say hi to some kids on the street who are with their friends, they are just shocked and giggle and whisper to their friends like little fan girls just had Justin Bieber say hi to them. I say fan girls, but this includes the boys too!! They are just as star struck! It is pretty funny every time it happens but sure makes it easy to talk to everyone! Many people want selfies, a lot of selfies so that is always fun. I am usually the one to take them because of my long arms. It is so much fun, I am loving these kids here.

We found this man named Daniel this week and we taught him twice!! The first lesson was pretty bad!! So, here is the back story of this guy... He met the missionaries 5 years ago and has had a Book of Mormon the whole time and has NEVER read a page. Our first lesson we just talked about that and he was just inviting us in to try and bash us. He started laughing at everything we would say and was mocking our testimonies. He started saying how he already has a bible so he doesn't need anything more!! I then shared with him the scripture in 2 Nephi 29 that talks about that same thing. The people are saying, "A bible? A bible? We already have a bible!" I kept reading to him and as I was reading, I forgot how harsh it actually was!! I straight up called him a fool but I was just quoting the scripture!! hahahah well oops, he needed to hear it. We had to leave this lesson because he was being mean but we shared our testimony and set a return appointment! As Elder Tolbert and I were planning and preparing for our next lesson with him, we were preparing to just bear a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and leave him with that. When we got there, we were surprised with a warm welcome into his house. We taught the restoration and answered many questions that he had. As we were teaching more about the Book of Mormon, the spirit was really strong in his house. I felt that it might have finally hit him! We invited him to test out what we have told him and actually read the book that he has had for 5 years. We asked if he would figure out for himself if it is a true book and read it and pray and ask God if it is true. When we asked him, he really thought and then said he would!! After 5 years of having the Book of Mormon and never opening it, he said he will try it out. I really hope that he reads and prays because I know that God will do his part.

Last night we went to teach a family and they didn't know English very well so we had a translator come with us. It is pretty hard to teach a lesson with a translator because I just want them all to understand what we are sharing with them!! My companion and I were pretty nervous to teach because they didn't understand English. As soon as we started teaching, the spirit entered the room full of a family of about 10 people and I just felt relieved and comforted that they would understand. Turns out, one daughter and her kids know English pretty well so we were able to teach them and have our translator teach the rest of the people including the parents who only spoke Tamil. The kids were so awesome and my companion and I got to show them the pictures in the front of the Book of Mormon and we told them how these are real stories that happened a long time ago and it talks about them in the book! They were so interested and loved the new book we gave them. Afterwards, they obviously wanted some selfies so we took a lot of pictures together! There was two little girls that kept telling my companion and I that we were very pretty. We felt super good about ourselves that night(;

It has been such a good time so far in India. I love my companion and I am loving the people here. I am learning so much about this area of the world and more importantly I am becoming so much closer to Christ. Until next week, thanks for all the prayers!! I love you all so much.

Love, Elder Baker