Tamil: The Scolding Language

Hello everyone!! It has been an amazing week, I really am so happy with where I am and what I am doing right now. I am still serving in the Tambaram area and Tambaram branch. It is the same area and branch that I started in when I came to India. Transfer calls came this Friday and I am honestly way happy to be staying. Everything is going very well right now!! The branch is doing great and the members are so helpful and just so nice. I love the members in the Tambaram branch so much. They literally treat me like family and I love it. The missionary work is going very well right now and we are working our butts off each week! I am still training my companion Elder Rajendran and we are doing so awesome together. Seriously, no complaints from me this week at all. Elder Rajendran has learned a lot and has also learned a lot of English since he started. But, I think that I have grown and learned more than I am teaching him!! I have felt like I have grown so much since I started training him. We are working well together and I'm loving it. I also got to talk to my family today and it was so good. 

I have been really thinking about happiness and how I have been lucky to find so much happiness while away from everything and everyone back home. One of the best way that has helped me be so happy is helping other people and making them happy. The true, LASTING happiness is the happiness that comes from learning more about the restored gospel!! I will give you an example. 

We met a woman this week who lost her daughter to cancer a few years ago and she is just torn apart. She has been struggling ever since and told us that she cries morning and night and sometimes can't sleep because she thinks about her every second. There I was sitting in her house trying to understand how she felt and it actually made me SO sad to try and imagine how she feels. I couldn't imagine the pain and confusion she feels not knowing where her daughter is or if she will ever see her again. Sitting right next to me was a YSA member who is 19 years old and came with us on splits. His father just passed away a few months ago so he could relate a little better with her. Before we taught her, she was sad and confused. We then taught her the restored truths of the gospel and about the Plan of Salvation. We were able to help her understand where she came from, what her purpose on Earth is, and where she will go after this life on Earth. More importantly, we explained to her that she can live with her daughter and her whole family again for all eternity. After the YSA shared his testimony about his father passing away and how this gives him the hope and strength to get through everyday, she changed!! She didn't look like the confused, sad lady that I first met an hour before. Now, her confusion and sadness was changed with hope. She knew for the first time that her daughter is resting and waiting for her mom to live with her again. How beautiful is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the lasting happiness that I am talking about!! 

ANYWAY, to explain my subject title of this email!! We had a lesson this week with a lady and her family. We taught about the restoration, Joseph smith, and The Book of Mormon. We watched the video to help her understand. After the video, I shared my testimony and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She then started speaking in Tamil and was raising her voice and like raising her hands and hitting the couch with the pamphlet in her hand. I was terrified. I was nervous for my new companion because it looked to me like she was just scolding him about the Book of Mormon. Anyway, my companion and the member we were with seemed to handle it very well and closed up the lesson. After the lady left, my companion and the member both say, "wow!! She was amazing!! That went so well." and I was thinking WHAT, IT DID?? hahaha so I obviously didn't understand everything she was saying but apparently she was saying good stuff. Apparently, she said something like this, "Wow, as I was watching that video I just felt and knew that this is true!! I just want to read this book and share this message with all of the churches out there. Everyone needs to see this!! Also, I am a bit angry because I didn't know about this my whole life until now." So, heck yeah!! I was never happier to be wrong than in that moment.

Good things are happening and there are many more good things to come. Have a good week everyone, I love you all!! 

Love, Elder Baker

PS. I forgot to tell you guys!!! Elder Shurtliff is transferring to Hyderabad. Elder Beatty is training a new elder named Elder Singh. We got transfer calls on Friday. So now in our apartment there are two trainers and two trainees. This should be a lot of fun!! 

Sowmiya's Blessing

Kali Ammal and Family

The New District ft. two new sons

Selfie in the trunk

Riding in Paraminder's trunk.

I love President Nelson

My man President Nelson is making moves with this new announcement allowing and encouraging missionaries to call and talk with their families each week! I was crazy excited when I heard that I can now call and video call on P-days. I think this is such a blessing for all missionaries serving around the world and especially their families around the world. When the missionaries and I first heard about this announcement, we honestly didn't believe it! We thought we were getting pranked or something and we didn't have access to just look it up online! It all sounded too good to be true honestly. I had a wonderful time speaking and seeing my family members today, the people who I love most. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to talk with them and I am grateful for the inspired changes made by the First Presidency.

This week I had the opportunity to talk about the hope that we receive from God with multiple people. There is an awesome video that all of you should go watch right now!! It is called "The Hope of God's Light". https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng

The Hope of God's Light Many of us have wondered if God knows us or if He even exists. Todd was someone who wasn’t surprised when he didn’t get an immediate answer to a prayer. But could God be giving us small but obvious answers? And how patient do we need to be? www.lds.org

Anyway, it is so true. It really isn't possible to find everlasting hope and joy in worldly things. Worldy things often look very attractive and enticing but it is God's light that we can feel to bring us real everlasting, eternal hope and joy. I have seen this light in many peoples lives here in India. So many people that have recognized that no matter what situation they are in in their life that they can feel the love and joy that comes from The Gospel. People that are actually struggling to get the basic necessities of life are happy. The best part about The Gospel is that it doesn't matter who wants to feel God's love can feel it. It doesn't matter if it is the rich or the poor, the clean or the dirty, or the old or the young people. Anyone and everyone can feel God's love and hope in their life!! I know that I have so much happiness, joy, and lasting hope because of what I know about living the Gospel and following God's commandments.

I have been teaching this family ever since I got to this area a little over 4 months ago and they are just awesome. The father comes to our church every week because he feels the spirit and loves the fellowship there. He also loves the feeling like a family. They are an awesome couple and we even invited them to be baptized about 2 months ago. They have been praying and told us that they are waiting for the "urge" to be baptized. Well, after teaching them more about the baptism of Jesus Christ yesterday, the wife mentioned something. She said that more than ever in her life the word "baptism" has been brought to her attention the last two months. She said it seems like everyone wants to talk about baptism with me! She even said that she thinks God is trying to answer her prayer but she isn't ready to accept it yet. I didn't want to offend her but she said it, not me!! I really hope and pray that this family chooses to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized, they are so awesome and I really know that the gospel of Jesus Christ will bless their lives so much, more than they understand now!! 

Funny story! So, I decided to start making vlogs this week with Elder Rajendran and at first he was not so into it. He didn't talk much on camera and was a little nervous about his English. I did it for two days and then the next day Elder Rajendran lost his name tag! He was devastated and really wanted it back. So, we started looking and we prayed to find it! Well, I had the idea to look back and watch our vlogs to see if he was wearing it and when he wasn't. We figured out through watching the vlogs where he was last wearing it and pin pointed where he might have lost it. We rode our bikes there right away and sure enough, a nice man came up to us and gave us Elder Rajendran's name tag that had fallen off. Thank you vlogs!!

Anyway, it has been a great week and I look forward to the next week. I love you all and appreciate you all in my life.

Love, Elder Baker

 When there's no room and you're too tall!

 Elder Rajendran and I on the train

 This isn't a joke

 Palm Trees

 My mans Naveen!!

Hanging outside an auto!

6 Months!!

It's true, I have been on my mission for 6 months now!! I sure think that the time has gone by fast. My mom might think otherwise but time really flies by while serving a mission. Some days can feel super long and super hard and some people don't always treat you the best. I'm not going to lie, some days suck. I walk for hours in the heat and by the end of the day my legs feel like they do after a day at Disneyland. Not to mention the constant loose motions you get here in India, always being careful about what water you can drink or not, and always always looking both ways before crossing the street. Even though we are playing Crossy Road and they are playing Mario Kart, I haven't been hit (too hard) by a car yet. Bottom line is this... I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. No matter what happens, I will always experience joy in helping others experience the joy that comes from living the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing in this world that can take away the true joy and hope that I have from living this Gospel in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I promise you that in your life it can be the same way. No matter what our trials and problems we are facing or going through, the Restored Gospel can help. I love it!

That joy I feel was shared with two different families this week as they now have stepped onto the straight and narrow path towards eternal happiness. The Haribert family and the Ali Basha family was baptized and confirmed on Saturday and Sunday. What an awesome experience it was to be there for the baptisms. I will never forget the smiles on their faces after the baptism!! It was awesome. 

Well, I don't have a ton of time today but this week was great. I can't believe that I am already 25% done with my mission. I am really excited to see what happens in the next 18 months of my mission. I appreciate all the love and support back home. Thank you everyone and have a good week!!

Love, Elder Baker

                                                                 The Baptisim!!

                                                               The Haribert Family!

 Yasmine and Asan Banu!

                                             I taught them how to smile with their teeth!

                                                               Colorful Clothing!

Another Week in the +91

I am still grinding here in the Tambaram area!! Elder Rajendran and I are working super well together and we are loving each other as companions. He is helping me learn Tamil so I can now follow along and understand most of the conversations in Tamil which is so helpful to understand these people better. I also am teaching him English and I didn't realize English is the best but also the worst. hahah there are so many rules with grammar and what not. Anyway, he gets mad when my only explanation is, "just because" or "that is an irregular verb" or "yeahhh, that is an exception to that rule". So, props to my English teachers growing up because I never thought I would be the English teacher on my mission but here I am using what I learned in High School. You win teachers, thank you. 

This last weekend was a little stressful!! We have been teaching Yasmine and her mom Asan Banu who used to be muslim. They really want to get baptized but the mission president has to be the one to interview them for baptism. In this mission tho, the president is a plane flight away... Luckily, Mission President was coming to Chennai for zone conference this week. So, I was nervous for them to be interviewed by president. We got to the church with them but we were locked out!! It was stressful when President showed up and we were locked out but we got it worked out. They were interviewed and they passed!!(whatever that entails) So, they are getting baptized on Saturday together and they couldn't be more excited. The next day, we had zone conference and I learned a lot! The things I learned the most this time was how to use time wisely, and become a master teacher. I am going to work on these things the next few weeks and always continue to improve!!

When I first got to this area, I met a family in my branch named the Haribert family! The father was baptized 17 years ago and then went inactive unfortunately. Since then, he has been married and had a child. Now, fast forward to now. I called and visited his family 4 months ago and they said they would come to church. They came every few weeks because the mother and daughter went to a different church. But, we taught them and kept visiting to where they really felt the spirit. The mom bore her testimony to us about how she feels at our church verses her other church and she doesn't want to give up that feeling any week. No matter what problems or struggles she is having, she feels so loved at church with us on Sunday. The daughter is 12 and named Emibeula and she is awesome!! She literally takes notes every lesson. She reads the Book of Mormon every time I ask her to and when I come back the next time to her home, she asks me to explain it to help her out. Brother Haribert now has the awesome opportunity to baptize his wife and daughter on Saturday. The Haribert family is making their way onto the covenant path that leads to living eternally together as a family. What a blessing it is to feel the Savior's love in our life every week as we go to church and partake of the sacrament. I am so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ and I know He lives!!

Funny story this week: We were asking Elder Rajendran questions about things and what color so he could respond in English. We pointed to our planner and said, "hey what color is this?" 

Elder Rajendran:  "in tamil??" 

"No!! English"

"Ohhh, planner." ...

Well, everyone have a good week! I love you all <3

Love, Elder Baker

                                                                             Emibeula

                                                               Chillin in an auto

                                                                Jif PEANUT BUTTER

Package from Home and Els