Olay, let's start with last P-day! We went with the zone to meet Mahalakshmi. Mahalakshmi is a special Hindu elephant that will give you a blessing for 10 rupees. Even though she is Hindu, she still practiced the laying on of hands, or the laying on of her trunk to be more accurate. Just so you know about the equivalent in US dollars. I paid about 13 cents to meet this special elephant and it was SO COOL. Just check the pictures below. Definitely a bucket list item checked off.
The next day was my birthday!! Woo hoo, it was a grind. We went and had some fun by talking to people and blowing their mind by speaking telugu in the streets and in their homes. Nothing better than going finding on your birthday. We had some success too!(more on that later) After some appointments, we went to the church for a planning meeting with bishop to end the day. Nothing really special, I honestly forgot it was my birthday a few times throughout the day. After our meeting with bishop tho, I walked out and the ward members surprised me with a birthday cake and an Indian traditional cake cutting. That includes me cutting a piece of cake and feeding it to everyone there and then they feed me also and shove the cake in my face. It's really a lot of fun!! Definitely a tradition I'll take home. We took the cake home and also celebrated the next day for my dad's birthday. Shout out to my dad real quick. Literally, he is the best dad ever. He's my role model. When I was a child, my nickname was velcro because I wouldn't leave his side. I miss that and can't wait to celebrate our birthday next year together. I love you dad.
Hahah okay! If you read my subject title and you're scrolling through the email looking for the description, it's this paragraph! First, we caused a car accident this week which is really sad but honestly pretty funny.(Because no one was seriously hurt) Here is what happened. We were walking down the street like usual. And of course, like usual, everyone is staring at the tall white guy! Including this guy driving a motorcycle. We were crossing through this intersection and the shocked driver of a motorcycle locked eyes with the tall white guy instead of stopping for the car which he obviously didn't see and BAM!! T-boned. Hahahah it was awful but soooooo funny. Luckily they were totally okay. He pretty much got right up and was just a little embarrassed.
And next, how I caused an addiction. Bashira is totally awesome. I've never seen someone desire to follow our Savior Jesus Christ more than her. She LOVES learning as much as she can. She finished 1 Nephi this week and is loving it. We also taught her some commandments this week including the word of wisdom. The word of wisdom is a commandment to refrain from certain substances that cause us to become addicted and are unhealthy for our body. So, after we taught, we invited her to study more about it and read the pamphlet we gave her. We texted her the following day and asked what she understood and I was shocked by her answer. She said, "I understood one thing from that. That we should get only get addicted to our Savior.. Not to other things which distract us from Him.. And which spoils our body." What a great answer. I absolutely loved it.
So, a few weeks back we walked down a street and a family was sitting out on their front steps. I waved and smiled and said hello... but kept walking. The spirit said to stop but we were in a hurry to another appointment and had no time. Now, this week we were finding one evening and again we walked down the same street. Once again I smiled, and again I said hello, and again I waved...unfortunately, I also once again kept walking. After about 25-30 steps, the spirit causes me to stop and I felt the spirit telling me, "you missed this once, don't miss it again." So, I said to my companions and the member with us for exchange, "Hey!! Why didn't we stop?? We need to turn around and go back and talk to them." So, I turned around and walked back to the family and they were SO excited we came back. They invited us inside their home before we could even say hi again. It's like they were already expecting us and I totally believe that was the case. We set an appointment with them to come teach their whole family on Sunday. We came and taught all 10 of them on Sunday. They loved it.
I can feel God directing us in this work. This truly is His plan and His one and only true church on the whole face of the earth. What a blessing it is to be a member of Jesus Christ's church. There is nothing better than to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you aren't a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or you are but have stopped attending, let me invite you to change that as soon as possible. This is the greatest news on earth that the gospel of Jesus Jesus Christ has been restored in full and you deserve to receive those blessings.
I love you all! Until next week.
Love, Elder Baker
Big Hindu Temple with Elder Yadav and I inside
Me hugging an elephant!!
The elephant giving me a blessing!
My nice birthday cake that was all over my face minutes after this pic was taken.
My birthday celebration
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