Elder Braden Baker: Follow the spirit the first time or God will take over

Okay everyone, I've said it before and I will say it again. This is God's Plan!! I am constantly reminded every week that I am directed by the spirit in my work to do what God wants me to do and meet who God wants me to meet. This week we had a lot of appointments and a lot of progress! This was our first week in Kakinada with just me and my companion Elder Susaidass and we are getting the hang of it. I'm jealous because my companion is learning telugu super quick and can understand already but he is Indian so he has an advantage.

So one day, we had three good appointments planned in the evening. We were all set to have a great night. I had a feeling and really felt like I should call one lady that walked into our church on Sunday but I didn't call her because we were too busy and wouldn't have time to visit her anyway. Also, we didnt even know where she lived yet. So, we went out to our appointments and we showed up to the first house and the family legit saw us turn the corner and shut the door and hid inside!!! They sent a kid outside to tell us that no one was in their home... that was pretty disappointing. I guess they're not interested? Hmmm hahah so we were just about to go to our next appointment but that family called and cancelled because it was raining and it rained through the roof of their house and got inside their home wet and they were embarrassed to have us over. We tried to tell them it was no problem, but they said don't come. Would you look at that, God cleared us some time. So, I called Ruthamma, the lady that walked into out church! We had never been to her home before and we didn't even know where she lives but we called her. She answered so excited and said she was hoping we would call. We asked if we could come to her home and she said yes, please come! Turns out we were less than 5 minutes from her home so we went over and taught a good lesson about the restoration of the priesthood because she requested a blessing. She had two daughters that were super shocked and happy to see us. They told us that her mom hasn't stopped talking about our church. They said, "my mom keeps telling us that it is the best church and she loved it so much so we are all going to come on Sunday." Woo hoo!!! What a blessing it is that we have a Heavenly Father who knows more than we do.

During the week, it can be hard to get some appointments during the day time because everyone is at school and work. But, when it comes to Saturday and Sunday, everyone wants us to come over!! Saturday we were crazy busy, it was awesome! We had so many appointments. We had one appointment in the afternoon that was kind of far away so while scheduling, we left some time to travel. After our first appointment finished, the brother called us and cancelled!! So, we had some open time in our schedule and thought of who we can go teach. We made one call and they invited us over to teach them. Second call, they also told us to come at the exact time we were available. It was like perfect, haha. One appointment falls through and two more pop up! One step back, two steps forward. So that was blessing.

One of the appointments we had this week was with one brother who has been coming to church for a long time. Apparently, his friend who is a church member invited him to come to church about 3 years ago. He's been coming on and off since then and now he even pays tithing!! He's not a member but he said he loves the church and wants to help so he pays tithing. I don't know what the missionaries have been doing in the past or if his heart was just softened as soon as we taught him. Our first lesson with him, we taught what tithing is and why we pay and where the money goes and what it is used for. We also explained fasting and fast offerings. He understood how God uses used tithes and fast offerings. The tithing funds are used to build and maintain church buildings and temples and other materials to help build the kingdom of God on earth. The fast offering money goes to help the poor and needy all around the world. We explained that tithing and fast offerings have always been a part of Jesus Christ's true church. When he understood the reason he likes this church so much and he is drawn to this church is because it is Jesus Christ's church, we invited him to be baptized and he agreed. We set a goal for him to be baptized next month. He then asked us to pray for the rest of his family to also be baptized.

I absolutely love being a missionary and love working hard every week. There is not a better feeling than seeing someone's life change because of the gospel you brought to them. The second best feeling as a missionary is Sunday night when you get to your apartment and just lay in bed and you can finally rest after a good week of hard work and you can just go to sleep with P-day coming in the morning.

I am really blessed and really grateful to be a part of Jesus Christ's church. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the one true church. Jesus Christ himself explains how His church is ran many times in the bible which is "upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" as it says in Ephesians 2:20. God has called those Apostles and Prophets today. We are blessed to listen to them at General Conference which is coming up soon, and I'm pumped.

Also, shootout to my brother Bryson. He earned his Eagle Scout award today and that is a huge accomplishment. I'm so so proud of him and his sweet heart. He is a great example to me. I love him.

నేను మీ అందరినీ ప్రేమిస్తున్నాను!

Challa prema, Elder Baker