I love these people!!

Well this week was great and then all of the sudden, not so great! It started out with some awesome appointments and we met some wonderful people. There was a few concerns so we had to postpone Martha's families baptism date but they will be baptized soon for sure. We met with my favorite family in my apartment this week and it was great but it felt like a spirit guided therapy session. I guess that just goes to show that they trust us young men to help them with any problems they are having. It was great! Then Friday afternoon came and I just felt like trash. I went home and had a super high fever and really bad headaches. The last few days, it has been the same for me. I've got a 102 degree fever and the worst body aches and headaches. The worst part about it is having to stay in and rest when I am wanting to go to our appointments. It reminds me of a scripture actually. Matthew 26:41 says, "The spirit truly is willing but the flesh is weak."  So, what I have been doing is trying to rest in the morning then go to some appointments in the evening. Hopefully I get better ASAP. 

We ended off the week with Mohan getting baptized!! That was awesome. So, we had his baptism service on Sunday after church because he said that was the only time his whole family could come. It was supposed to start at about 11:45 but his family wasn't here yet! So, we told him we would wait for them. He kept saying, "5 minutes elders" for like the next 45 minutes. Finally, his family made it to the church and to my surprise, in walks about 25 people!! I was expecting maybe his mom and dad and little brother and sister but nope, his whole extended family came. They definitely loved his baptism and were happy to be there.

We were planning super good for a lesson this week in companionship study because we have been teaching this wonderful family and we really wanted the lesson to go well. We were planning on teaching them the Plan of Salvation. We made a great lesson plan and talked it over and had it all ready. We got to Jothi and Basker's home and started talking. Out of nowhere, I had a feeling like we shouldn't teach the plan of salvation. Now, why would I think that after all the planning and preparing for this lesson.(idk) I felt like we needed to read 3 Nephi 11 with them. So, we read about Jesus Christ visiting the Americas. This was really helpful for them to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and  more importantly, Jesus Christ! It helped them understand that Jesus Christ loves everyone on the earth. Even the people on both sides of the world. We helped them understand that these are "the other sheep" that Jesus talked about in the Bible.(John 10:16) It was very powerful and the spirit was definitely there strong. I was grateful that we planned an awesome lesson just so the spirit could tell me not to teach it to them! 

Sunday evening was when I was feeling the worst! I had to come home early and get some sleep. I was so sad because I had to miss an appointment with the Haribert family! The Haribert family are the ones that just got baptized and they are doing amazing. The little girl is so awesome and absolutely loves coming to church. Her name is Emibeula and she is the cutest. So, I was really sad I couldn't go to her home but luckily, Elder Rajendran went on an exchange with Elder Beatty to still go visit them. Well, I'm home dying in bed and Emibeula called me and said, "Why didn't you come Baker? I miss you, I thought you were coming! They told me you are sick, I hope you get better." It was SO sweet!! I freaking love her. Emibeula calling me didn't lower my fever at all but it made me feel a bit better. 

I love and miss you all! 

Love, Elder Baker

Mohan (left) was baptized by his best friend Arun

Meet Sam, who studies 24/7

Naveen is a stud

Chennai Zone 12 March 2019

Chennai Zone outside 12 March 2019

When in India....

My week 

Raised from the dead

Hello everyone!! A mind blowing miracle happened this week as you can tell by the subject title of this email. Okay, not really but now I totally have your attention. The funniest thing happened to Elder Rajendran and I this week. We we're laughing so hard and felt pretty dumb afterwards. So, one day we went finding all day because we only had 1 set appointment in the evening. As we were walking, we come up to this hospital and right outside there was a lot of people banging on drums and it was super loud. There was also tons of flowers on the ground everywhere and people around an ambulance truck type of thing. So, in India this is what a funeral looks like. When someone dies, they put the dead body on a little table thing and put it in the back of a truck and they drive down the road. People all surround the body and play lots of drums and throw flowers everywhere. So, we are walking by the hospital and this is the situation we see. So, out of respect we stopped walking for a minute and stopped to see. Right then, they walked out of the hospital with a body on a gurney looking thing. Elder rajendran said, "oh no, look there is the dead body." We were watching and then the supposedly 'dead body' moves! Hahahahaah we we're shocked because we actually thought he was dead and then he moved. We then continued walking and were just laughing at ourselves...

We had an awesome zone conference this week! Elder Homer, a general authority, came to India to teach us and talk with us missionaries. He is a total stud and really helped me a lot. I learned so much from him and loved the way that he taught us. Actually, before we started President Mortensen chose one companionship to be interviewed by Elder Homer and he chose Elder Rajendran and I. Elder Rajendran was shocked and wayyy nervous because he is still new. It was a really cool experience to sit down and talk with him. He taught us how to teach repentance because that is what we all need to do every day. We learned that gaining a better or more complete understanding of God, ourselves, or the world is repentance! When we do learn more about God and ourselves, we will want to align our will with His. Finally, when we do, we are repenting! When we look at repentance like this, it is a happy thing that brings us joy. We will want to keep the commandments because we understand who God is and who we are and why we are on Earth. 

What I learned at zone conference really helped our teaching so much as we taught repentance to a family this week. We met with a new family we are teaching and taught what we learned from zone conference. The father has some health problems where he can barely walk and he actually randomly lost his voice a few weeks ago. He woke up one morning and just couldn't speak. Soon after is when we started teaching him and his family. As we taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ, we saw their desire to be more like Jesus Christ increase so much. They have so much faith and even better they acted on that faith and made a big step and came to church this week even though it was hard for them to travel to the church with his health. But, they came! They told us they felt like they were at home and wanted to join the family. There is a lot of potential with this wonderful family.

One last proud story from my roommates and I. Friday was our apartment inspections. So, Elder and Sister Gibson(the elder couple missionaries) come to our apartment and check and make sure we are keeping it clean. Anyway, we went in and cleaned our apartment so well Friday! They came and said that we win again. This is the 4th time I have won since I got to the apartment so I am pretty proud. Our apartment was the cleanest out of all the missionaries in the whole Chennai zone! I'd like to thank my mom for making me do chores and clean the house every day growing up, I really really appreciate you and love you Mom. ❤️

Love, Elder Baker 

                                                                      Hindu Temple

5 floors high and no safety or anything!

We Cooked!

                                                       This is an Indian broom!

 Jessie and Seleena dancing.MP4

 Indian safety equipment while working 5 stories...

Preparing to be a father

Hello people, it was a pretty good week. Nothing too crazy happened. We have been working a lot lately with Martha and her family who are preparing to be baptized soon. We are also teaching another young man named Aravind who has been learning from missionaries for over a year and has been coming to church. Finally, he has decided to be baptized in a few weeks!! I have known him since I got to this area and he is just a great guy who loves learning more about Jesus Christ and loves The Church of Jesus Christ. I'm really excited for these people to get baptized! 

Okay, so I think I already told you guys but our apartment consists of Elder Beatty who has been on his mission for almost 20 months and he is from America. His companion is Elder Singh who just barely started his mission and is from New Delhi. My companion Elder Rajendran who is from Coimbatore, which is a nearby city. (It would be like me serving in Cedar City...) Anyway, I totally love our apartment right now with the two new elders. It is so much fun. I have been in this area for like 5 months now so I pretty much know the area really well. Anyway, that's what my apartment looks like. It is almost like raising two sons. In fact, on a mission we sometimes call our trainer our "father". So, Elder Beatty and I often find ourselves telling them things that our mom's told us when we were children. For example: "Did you brush your teeth?", "put on your socks before we leave!",  "close the fridge when you're done!!" "It's time to get out of bed" I mean, every night my son asks me to tuck him in and in the morning to help make his bed. I love that guy. Just know that I will be a good father one day. (;

So, update on little Thabitha and her heart surgery! We went to the hospital and gave her a blessing the night before her surgery. Well, the surgery went well and we visited her again this week. We gave her a picture of Jesus and some chocolate. We told her more about how Jesus is helping her get better. The next day, she was sent home from the hospital! This is actually a pretty awesome miracle. Before her surgery, the doctor told her that she has a 0% chance of living unless she tries the surgery. So, obviously she is going to try the surgery. Now with the power of Jesus Christ's priesthood authority, Thabitha is sleeping in her own bed again after a successful surgery! 

Well, not a ton happened this week. We are just doing the same thing everyday doing our best to meet with as many people as possible each day to bring the spirit into their home. It has been a blessing to be so close to the spirit on my mission. I know it is because of the little things like the daily prayer and scripture study. Never forget to do the little things, they're saving me! By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Alma 37:6

I love you guys!

Love, Elder Baker

Monkeys climbing the tower

Saleena and Jessie!

Auto Traveling

Thabitha after surgery

Tambaram District

"Elder Bakery"

It was such a busy week!! Like, it was so busy it made the week go by SO fast but it also makes it 10x more stressful. Every day, I feel like we are just going here and there and getting work done left and right. Our hard work is definitely paying off tho! I know that God knows his children and is preparing them  to meet with us and learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are seeing miracles happen every week and it is such a blessing in my life and the life of those we are teaching right now. 

Elder Rajendran and I were walking to some appointments and we were passing by a children's park. There was a volleyball court inside with a bunch of guys playing so I said, "Hey, Elder Rajendran. Do you want to stop and play some volleyball?" We both decided it was a great finding activity so we kind of just walked in the park gate. Within 5 seconds, there were 10 kids swarming me! I made my way over to the volleyball court through the sea of kids and the guys playing asked if we wanted to play and I said sure! At the beginning, we were just having fun and then one guy on my team told me to go to the front row because I am tall. Finally, I asked for a pass and I just spiked it so hard straight down.(it helps that the net was trash and pretty droopy) Then, everyone freaked out and started cheering. After that, they set me up every time. I loved it haha. Before I knew it, there was probably 30 people watching our game. The funny part is all the kids kept asking my name.

"Anna! Unga per ena?" 

"Na per Elder Baker. Bakery therriama?"

"Ohh, brother bakery!!! Hi brother bakery! Bakery! Hahahaha" they laughed and laughed because they thought my name was bakery. What I said was, my name is Elder Baker, do you know bakery? It's like bakery, but Baker!" So, at that park I am known as brother Bakery. I'm thinking of going back with cookies or something and see what they think. As we left, the kids followed me out to the street and a few kids even came into the families house who we taught and we're asking for an autograph! 

Martha and her family are progressing so well! Martha as well as her husband have both noticed a change in their life and how they feel since they started coming to our church. A while back, the husband didn't want anything to do with the family and his 3 kids. He was working but wouldn't give any money to his wife or family. He saved it all and blew it on alcohol. Since then, he has completely changed and told us that he absolutely has felt a difference in his life and his wife's since they started coming to church. He asked us to please teach him more about Jesus and he wants to be baptized with his family! They are such an awesome family. Like, every time I go to their home, I get sad that I will have to transfer from this area sometime. I sometimes wish I could just stay here for like at least half my mission. 

On Sunday, Martha asked if we could come with her and go visit her niece in the hospital. Her niece is just 6 years old and the sweetest little girl ever. The little girl was born with a severe heart problem.(I'm not exactly sure what problem, sorry to the doctors out there) But, I do know that it has now gotten so bad that the doctor said if they don't do heart surgery, then she has a 0% chance of living. We visited this little girl the night before she went into heart surgery. She was absolutely terrified! So in attempt to cheer her up a little bit, we told her that we came all the way from America to visit her and give her a special blessing from God. As we layed our hands upon her head, elder Rajendran spoke the words of the blessing in Tamil so I couldn't understand everything but I could definitely understand the spirit. I pictured Jesus Christ laying his hands on the heads of those people he healed and I was thinking of the miracles he performed. I know that same authority to heal and to bless has been restored to the earth for this purpose! I felt this young girl's life isn't supposed to end yet and that God needs her on Earth for a reason. I really hope that the surgery goes well and she lives because she is the sweetest little thing! So pray for Thabitha. Her surgery is Monday morning. 

**UPDATE** "Just got news on the little girl that had surgery this morning... Surgery went great and she is completely good!! It's actually a miracle. "

I'll talk to you guys next week! I really appreciate the support and prayers from my family and friends back home. I love you guys so much! 

Love, Elder Bakery (;

more pics and videos here!!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1oymsu5vHpmlXn7zfjCq18zZ9tBPJxxIo

Little Thabitha (The little girl with the heart problem)

Martha and her family!

Comp's that ball together, stay together (Braden said this is the first time he had ever worn shorts and a tee shirt)

Mr. White and Priya!