Elder Braden Baker: Welcome to India

I finally made it to India!! I can't believe I am finally here, wow. It has been such a crazy week with all the flights and traveling but I am finally here! I flew from Orlando to Atlanta to Amsterdam and then finally to Bengaluru. After a day at the mission home, I was assigned to the Chennai area and got on another flight and went to Chennai. My area is called Tambaram which is in Chennai. I am loving it so far!! There are sooo many people and they are so much fun and so funny. Everyone just likes to stare and stare at the two white guys because I guess we stand out a little(a lot). It is really funny when they are surprised and act kind of shocked when I look at them and smile and wave. It's like they are confused that I caught them staring. Hahahah I dont know why they think I can't see them but it is so fun. The people all speak Tamil which makes it hard to communicate but luckily my companion knows a few phrases in Tamil and he understands their accent a lot better than I do.

My companions name is Elder Tolbert and he is so awesome. He is from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He also plays basketball and loves sports just like me. We live in a flat with another companionship so there is four of us living there. The flat is super nice for India! Oh, and everything is so cheap!! Like there is a little banana stand next to our street and I can get a banana for 5 rupees which is the equivalent to like 6 cents in America. I don't really know how to explain everything here other than it is completely different. Literally everything is different! I am still trying to get familiar with my area because everything looks the same. There are people everywhere!! Literally, we do finding and contacting all day just while we travel places. It is impossible not to because you can imagine how two white Americans in a white shirt and tie stand out in India. We are literally famous here. I almost feel like a celebrity hahah. The trains are also a really fun thing to ride. They are always packed with people. And there is definitely a different definition of "packed" in India then America. Oh, and the traffic rules in India are close to nothing. I really don't know if there are any. I don't even know why they paint lines on the road because no one even pays attention to them. People, bicycles, motorcycles, mopeds, autos(3 wheeled taxi's), cars, huge trucks, and vans all share the road and it is chaos!! Somehow it works and everyone drives like within 5 inches of each other, it is insane!

The food!! Wow, the Indian food is different for sure. I swear every single thing I eat or drink is something I have never tried before. So far, I am liking it and the spice isn't too bad. I am anticipating the meal I get soon where I just start crying and sweating(even more than I already am) because it is so hot. Wish me luck when that happens.

I taught my first lesson here in India and it is so different than teaching in America. It is so awesome though. While we were teaching, they kept bringing treats and food and drinks and were almost offended if we didn't eat. The couple would interrupt us over and over to say, "Please, eat! Eat! You eat all, we make more. Keep eat. Drink!" They are so thoughtful it is amazing but we finally had to tell them, "Thank you so much, we will eat after we share our message. We know that is important but what we have to say is more important." hahhah oops! It is amazing to teach people something they have NEVER heard of before. We testified of the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith and bore our testimony with the spirit that we know it is true. Both which are things they have never ever heard of in their life.

I love it here!! It is seriously just so much fun to be around these amazing people every day no matter what I am doing. I am excited to learn more about the culture and the people. I love being a missionary, it is seriously the best. Stay tuned for next week, I love you and hope all is well back home!

Love, Elder Baker