Another son named Elder Datla!!

This week was so awesome!! I am just so excited for these next few months of my mission. This week started and I was with Elder Biggs. I was only with Elder Biggs for about one week but we just hit it off so well and worked hard and became really close and really good friends. He actually goes home in three weeks which is exciting. On Friday, I picked up my new companion Elder Datla from the airport! He just barely started his mission and I am training him. Elder Datla is a freaking beast. I am so lucky to be his trainer. He has been waiting for this moment to be a missionary and has worked so hard to get here. I can tell that he really really wants to be here and has gone through a lot to get here. It is truly amazing to see the difference of someone that has truly honestly worked hard to get here and wants to be a missionary. Also, he speaks Telugu which is so much help, you have no idea!! I do my best and work hard but it's honestly pretty hard for me as an English speaker here in Telugu land. I mean think of if you got your mission call to Japan and they tell you it is a spanish speaking mission... then it would be pretty hard to teach them the gospel. I feel kind of ripped off they told me this is an English speaking mission. Hahahha because mostly everyone speaks only Telugu here in Kakinada. Elder Datla will have to teach me.

So, I'll start from the beginning of the week with Elder Biggs. It was raining hard core for two days straight. Like, I've never seen this before but it literally didn't stop at all for two full days. It would slow down to a drizzle but rain was always falling from the sky. Usually you mean on and off but like nonstop it was raining. Well, we had our bicycles so we just got completely soaked. I was all in to it just laughing and enjoying and getting drenched. It was so much fun!! Oh, you thought a 6'3 white guy got stared at in the crowded streets of India. Imagine how many people were staring at the 6'3 white guy looking like Don Lockwood during Singing in the Rain.

The saddest thing happened this day but it was totally inspired by God. So, we were outside and we had a plan to go visit one family but I kept feeling like we needed to go visit someone we were teaching named Raju. So, I said forget it, we need to go to Raju right now. We cycled all the way to his house in the rain and when we got there, Raju came out and we could hear his mom inside crying her eyes out. Raju looked at us and said, "My dad died last night." I was shocked but he was dead serious. His mom was inside on the floor just crying and wailing and screaming. It was honestly kind of scary. I had never taught this whole family anything yet and also her pastor was in the house with her also. In this situation, the spirit told me that I needed to share some scriptures from the Book of Mormon. Now, if you've served a mission you know its usually not the best way to go about things by whipping out the Book of Mormon with a new family that has their pastor at their house. But, this wasn't an ordinary situation. I shared Alma chapter 40, verse 11-12, and 23. The knowledge we have because of the Book of Mormon is too good not to share especially in a situation like this. Well, long story short is that when we finished she was calm. She stopped crying and had a new hope, she felt peace and the spirit even in this hard time. Her very own pastor even told us to assign her a chapter to read from The Book of Mormon!! If you have ever wondered where exactly is your loved one that has passed away, go now and read those same verses I shared with this lady from the Book of Mormon. (Alma 40:11-12;23) 

Elder Datla and I had some really amazing powerful lessons these last few days. We have only been together for three days but we were hitting it off and just teaching by the spirit. We had 17 people attend sacrament this Sunday! Most of them are all of the kids we have been teaching. We actually went to their home in the morning and went and picked them up and walked to church with them. Talk about their parents trusting us to take their kids away. Wow. They all really had a great time at church and they were so cute as we all walked together. You should've seen bishops face when I walked in with 8 kids. I really love these kids.

Priyanka is another girl we are teaching and she is in a real search for truth and specifically the true church. We taught her a powerful lesson about the restoration of the gospel and she really liked it. She said she will pray tonight and if she feels like she gets an answer, then she will be baptized. She said, "If this truly is the true church of Jesus Christ, then everyone should come here!!!" If she truly reads the book of Mormon and she prays and asks God, then definitely God will answer her. She really liked the message we had to share and understood it very well. 

Sandeep is progressing very well! He walked into our church last week on Thursday and we taught him in his home. Saturday he came to our baptism, Sunday he came to church, Tuesday and Friday he came to institute class, then Sunday he came to church again. He's doing awesome! 

I know that Elder Datla and I are definitely meant to be companions. He is such a beast. He has one of the most amazing testimonies, I love him. Elder Datla is definitely an answer to my prayers. It is 100% evident that he truly wants to be here on his mission. I'm excited for my time with him as my companion!!

I love you guys!! 

Love, Elder Baker 

Selfie with my new companion Elder Datla!! I love him. Also, I realized we are wearing Christmas color ties.

We went and picked up all these kids from their home and walked them to our church on Sunday, they are SO cute.

Some fireworks for my favorite Indian holiday Diwali. It is a festival of light, and they celebrate by lighting a ton of fireworks!! It is a lot of fun.

                        They also decorate with candles and flowers to celebrate for Diwali.

This is us picking up the children at their home. They are all prepared with their bible and all dressed up and ready. Shout out to their parents for letting us steal them for church. That's major trust.

  This is a gif of an angry monkey that scared me to death!! It started charging at me to attack.

                                           Elder Biggs and I soaking wet from the rain

 We took off our shoes and socks because we needed to walk through this river to get to an appointment. We didn't know any other way around and we were going to be late. Usually, it is just a small dirt road that I have been many times before but because of the rain, it was all flooded!! No problem tho, it's a story.

Saving People's Lives

Wow, this week was crazy. I mean like this was the craziest week ever!! It's amazing to see what we can do when guided by the spirit. I know that letting the spirit guide is the most important thing to do as a missionary and also in life. The holy spirit can testify to you what is true, it can comfort us, and can tell us what to do and in some instances what to say. The Holy Ghost can even warn you when your life is in danger. This week was a good example of the importance of having the spirit with me. So, this week I also got a new companion for a week! It's just temporary and I'll be getting a new companion this week so stay tuned for who it is. 

Madhu Shalini was baptized this week!! It was so nice and it made me so happy to see how happy she was as well as her whole family! They all came and even her dad and brother aren't members but they came and loved it. We have been teaching them about the temple so we hope to also have them baptized soon. They are such a good family, I'm grateful I have grown so close to them. I also got to confirm her a member in sacrament meeting and it made me so happy to do that sacred ordinance. Well, she is really loving the church and has some good friends too. 

At the beginning of the week I was out finding with my companion and it felt like we just were walking forever and talking to nobody. It was hot and we were sweaty and tired. Because of some complaining, you could just feel that the spirit was not there. We didn't have the spirit to guide us at all. We kept walking but with no success. I knew the only way to do it was to go by the spirit. After all, this is God's plan, not Elder Baker's plan. So, I told my companion that we should stop and pray. He was hesitant but we stopped and on the side of the road, I said a prayer. We walked a different way down a street that looked good to us. We waved to some ladies but nothing really. After some walking, I stopped at a small side shop to get water. I started talking to this lady but she only knew telugu. So, I looked around and there was a school nearby. A BUNCH of kids came over to say hi to me! I asked one of the boys if he knew English to translate for me. He knew english so I told him what we do and he told her. It was good! She then invited us to her home on Sunday and she offered to give us lunch. It was cool that I met the lady that works at the shop but who turned out to be better and more interested was the guy that translated for me! He is just a good kid! We taught him about the Plan of Salvation because his dad died one year ago. He loved the answers and hope he received because his father died one year ago. He is a really good kid. He is about 15 years old and every sunday morning, he gets up at 5 AM and goes and plants trees in the city. He has planted 55 trees in the last two months. So, basically it is so important to be in tune with the spirit! God wanted us to go to that shop but it couldn't happen until we prayed and invited the spirit.

While we were teaching this young man at the church, another guy just walked into the church and looked a little bit confused. We invited him inside to sit with us as we teach. He sat down and just patiently waited until we were done. He told us his name was Sandeep and he had been wanting to come to this church. He said that he was feeling really good here. We asked how he found the church and he pulled out a really old, crumpled, worn, and torn pass along card in his pocket that had our church address on it that the missionaries gave to him over eight years ago!! The missionaries EIGHT years ago gave an 11 year old boy a card and the Book of Mormon. Those missionaries planted a seed with this boy. Fast forward to this week when we met him. We felt we should go to his home so he walked us to his home where we met his dad and brother. Sandeep said that he found this card and wanted to come to our church and see. He said he has been searching for the true church and has been to every church in Kakinada and hasn't found it but he felt different in our church. We taught them the message of the restoration of the gospel and it helped answer their questions!! When we introduced the Book of Mormon and pulled it out of our bag, Sandeep's face just lit up!! He said that the missionaries gave him the Book of Mormon eight years ago and he found it on his shelf two months ago and started reading and comparing it with the Bible. He kept telling us what he learned and how he liked it. He was saying so many things about the Mormon, we were shocked! So we asked him where he is in reading the Book of Mormon and he said 3 Nephi!!! 

What a miracle it was to meet Sandeep. He had a seed planted with him when he was just an 11 year old boy and it was being watered for the last eight years until the time was correct. The next day, Sandeep came to our baptism service and also church the next day!! He really loved the baptism and we expect him to also get baptized soon. Some things happened the days leading up to meeting Sandeep. The main difference the day we met Sandeep was that we missionaries had the spirit with us. I believe that's why we were blessed to meet him. I fully believe that if we are doing what we should be doing and trust in God, He will pull through on His side! (D&C 82:10) 

This week I was moving around a lot traveling from Kakinada to Rajahmundry(2 1/2 hour bus ride) and then back to Kakinada a few times because of my companion leaving and me getting my temporary companion. So, I'm excited to get settled again this week with my new companion, I'm just a coonchum nervous though. I wonder who will be my new companion. DM me your guesses.

Well, I really love you all and appreciate the love and support. I am especially grateful this week for all of you. 

Love, Elder Baker

 Selfie in my black undercover jacket while I was going through Rajahmundry trying to not be                                                                             seen.  hahah.

             This is some wayyyy good biryani and chicken and the restaurant was cool.

This is the restaurant. You sit criss cross and eat off of the same big platter of rice. It was full                                                                          Indian. 

                                   Our apartment got specially decorated for a wedding. 

                                                        Madhu Shalini got baptized!!

                    Sandeep is the brother in the blue and orange plaid shirt!! He is such a stud!

                  My temporary companion Elder Biggs. He hit his two year mark this week

"Are you crazy?"

I know I am a week late but I finally got to watch General Conference and it was so good!! I totally loved it. It's crazy to think that you get four conferences on your mission and I've finished three now. I learned so much and really loved all of the talks. One that really made me grateful was reflecting on the lyrics of the primary song, "The Church of Jesus Christ". I am proud to say that "I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. I know who I am. I know God's plan." I am so grateful to know who I am and where I came from. I am so lucky to know God's plan. It is such a blessing in my life that I learned these truths at a young age when many people today still struggle to find these answers. Oh, there's so much more I could say about conference!! Elder Uchtdorf, Elder Holland, President Nelson!! Have charity, love everyone, and keep the commandments and we will be happy. 

I can testify that this is the way to be truly happy. Not the kind of happiness that is temporary and gone by morning. Real, lasting happiness. This week I was talking to one woman and I was telling her all about what I am doing. She was asking a lot of questions about my life before my mission in America and asking if I make a salary and all of that stuff. In America, before I left, I told her that I had a great family, a lot of great friends, a job, my own truck, an iphone, a beautiful girlfriend, college scholarships, sports, etc. I told her that it was my choice to come serve and that now my family and I are paying my own money to come and live here in India and also that now I am currently receiving no salary. After she respectfully listened to me talk, she responded with her honest opinion asking, "Why?? Are you crazy!?" Hahaha I laughed but I immediately said, "No, I am happy!" I am truly truly happy. Elder D. Todd Christofferson explains why I could confidently answer like that when he said, "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives... For Latter-Day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!" 

We are still teaching all those little kids I told you about last week. This week, they invited two more of their friends. Now there are seven of them and they're all ages 8-15. I LOVE teaching little kids. They are so humble and meek and willing to learn and ready to learn and take in any knowledge we can teach them. We can learn so much from a child's example. Christ invites all of us to "become as a little child" and I can see why. They are awesome!! They are actually really interested to learn more. Every time we go, they thank us for helping them understand more clear and teaching them. I always ask them at the end, "do you guys want to learn more??" And they say yes!! So I ask, "okay, when can we come back again?" And all at once, they say, "TOMORROW ANNAYYA!" annayya means like "older brother" in telugu. They are the best!! I love little kids so much. I have like a good connection with them I feel like.

We are also teaching this pastor who is constructing his own church right now. We told him very clearly what we do and who we are and what we expect as we start teaching him and asked if he is interested to learn about Christ's church and he said yes! Well, this week we taught him about the Plan of Salvation. I was really really impressed with how he accepted the message. I've seen many other pastors that are too prideful to admit they have been teaching the bible wrong in their church. We explained the scriptures John 14:2 and 1 Corinthians 15:40-41 to this pastor and he thought about it for some time and loved it. This is the doctrine explaining that heaven is divided into three different glorys or kingdoms, the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial. He said, "wow!! I was just preparing to preach this chapter in my church next week but now I actually understand what it is talking about." At the end of the lesson, the best thing happened for us missionaries. He asked when he could meet with us again to learn more. That's how I know I had a good lesson and the spirit touched them. They will ask us when they can meet and learn more instead of us asking and trying to set another appointment. He is longing for more truth, and we got answers for him! He is currently in the process of building his own church... so pray for him to understand the importance of the restoration of the gospel. We will teach him this week probably.

Another few random things from this week, I haven't really slept much unfortunately. Our AC broke in our apartment and the AC repair man has typhoid fever so he still hasn't come to fix it. So, every night I just sweat and sweat, its very hard to sleep. Also, this week has been a big holiday in India so people are celebrating! One night, our neighbor had a big party and was BLASTING music literally all night. I was soooo mad at that guy that night... that just added to the fact I couldn't sleep because of no AC. On the brighter side, I got a double banana this week. Two bananas in one peel, it was cool! Also, I got to go see my little boy Ishwar and he is cute as can be. He jumped up and ran to me and hugged my legs when I came to his house.  He is the cutest. 

Last random thing, people here like don't really accept service for them. They are so nice they want to serve me and do everything for me but I just want to serve them!! Like, if I try and serve them, they might get offended as if I'm assuming they're not capable of doing it themselves. This has been hard for me because I just want to serve everyone. I have realized the best way to serve the people here is to let them serve me. It makes them soo happy. This week tho, I did a small act of service for a lady that we are teaching! We were walking to her home and she was filling her bucket full of water so I offered to carry it for her. She wouldn't let me, but I took it from her. She was like, "aiyooo, Elder!! Noooo" but she was just laughing as I took it and started doing a few bicep curls as if it was a dumbbell hahah. We have been teaching this family about temples and they are so excited. They love everything about it and said they will do whatever it takes to go there. This saturday, Madhu Shalini is getting baptized!!

I officially have been living in India for one full year and it's crazy to think about. I'm almost a native here haha. I've got it down even though I'm still learning. I love you guys!!! I hope all is well. I'm still surviving, don't worry about me. 

Love, Elder Baker 

                                    The action of putting more and more food on my plate. 

                                                  This is a snack called tomato budgee 

                                                               My double banana!

                                   Me carrying sister Rayjam's water bucket to her home

Hahah okay this explains India and how they treat traffic laws here. Look at the sign that says, "No parking, 500 rupee fine" and look how many people park all the way down the road.

 This family is awesome!! The grandma reminds me of the grandma from the disney movie coco. 

God knew it wasn't a dead end

This week was way good and it seemed to go by way quick. The busier I am during the week, the faster the days go by and this week was busy!! Madhu Shalini was interviewed for her baptism and she will be baptized October 19th. Elder Karra came to Kakinada for an exchange with me and we had a great great day. We were totally led by the spirit to find a family just waiting for us. Kamalaker is learning well and progressing. Bashira is amazing like always. Oh, and she got her job that she has been working for!! Which is really good because it is one step closer to her being baptized. I wish I could talk about conference but no I have not seen it yet. I really look forward to watching it next week!! In india, we don't watch it live so we stream it at the church the next week. I suggested to watch live but they frowned upon a meeting at 1:30-3:30 in the morning... 

My exchange with Elder Karra was amazing!! So, when missionaries from Rajahmundry come to Kakinada for exchanges, we always have lunch at KFC because there is no KFC in Rajahmundry. So, we planned to eat at KFC which is way good here but super expensive. Elder Karra also wanted to see my bishop here because they were friends before his mission. So, we called my bishop but he was working and he suggested he could take us to lunch during his lunch break. So, we got to go to KFC with my bishop and he payed for us!! So, the day already started off good, but there was more than just free KFC. 

We were finding and there was a lady washing her clothes in front of her house, I said hey we need to talk to her. So we stopped and she was happy to see us stop and talk to her. She invited us in to say a prayer but there was no brother home. She said her son went out with some friends that live above her house on the second floor. Okay, we said we could come back another time. We kept going about our day. Didn't think about it really until later in the evening, we had an appointment cancel and we had a member with us for exchange. I asked the member to show me where a member's home was so we could visit. We started walking down the street and it was the same street as the lady washing her clothes we met this morning so we told that story to the member with us for an exchange. As we got closer to the lady who was washing her clothes house, we stopped and the member said, this is their home! I had no idea this morning but some members of our church were living in the same house of the lady we talked to in the morning. AND EVEN BETTER, she said her son was out with some friends right... they were our church members and they invited him to come to seminary!! So, in the morning we were led to meet the mother of the boy that was attending our church seminary class at that same exact time. We got to meet him and the member family that night and shared a good message. It was a crazy story.

Now, to tell about my subject title!! God knew it wasn't a dead end. We were finding all day on Saturday because we only had evening appointments. We dropped off our bicycles at our apartment so we could just walk and talk to people. We started walking and just got lost way inside a village. Like, there were almost more pigs and cows then huts at this point hahah. We had two members with us to help translate. We made a turn and it was a long street with a house at the end, it looked like a dead end. We walked a little bit but someone said "hey it's a dead end, we will take another street, come on let's turn back." It definitely looked like a dead end. In fact, I even thought it was a dead end for sure but I kind of made an inspired joke saying, "No way! It goes left, we have to take a left there!" The members laughed at me but we kept walking. Sure enough, it opened up to the left a little bit. We took the left and started walking. There was a lady standing outside at her front gate. She lived on the second floor but she was standing at her gate on the street. I started talking to her and she invited us into her home really quick. We went in and shared a message about God and how He is our Father in heaven and loves us and we also taught how to pray. They loved the message and felt so much love learning where they came from and who they are in relationship with God. Afterwards, she started crying and told us that she was not feeling well that day and her pastor was supposed to come to her home today and say a prayer but he didnt come for whatever reason so she was praying that God would send someone to pray in her home. Just at that time, she went to wait at her gate and we followed the prompting to take the left at the dead end. God knew the whole time. There is no coincidence in a story like this. I absolutely love and trust God's knowledge and His hand in my work. I'm so grateful I could meet this wonderful lady and her son. I'm also grateful that I chose to take the left at the dead end. God knew the whole time it wasn't a dead end. 

We started teaching a bunch of new kids this week and they are so sweet! It is like three different families and like 5 little kids and they are all primary children. They seemed to really enjoy our lesson about who they are in relationship with God! He is our Father and loves us so much!! They learned it was a lot more personal relationship than they have ever thought of. They also said they like how they learned more clarity during our lesson. It was awesome, they are sweet kids and we are meeting with them again tonight so I hope it goes good!!

Ever since my year mark, I have been telling people that I have been out for just about a year. It was just easy to answer when people ask to say like yeah I've finished one year and I have one more year to go. So that's what I have been saying for the last two months and I just realized today is my 14 month mark... Time flies when you're having fun, wow. I guess I'm 14 months out. Only 10 more left!

Love, Elder Baker

                                                Bishop, Elder Karra, and I at KFC

                                     This is Kamalaker and his orange bible!! Hahah

                                   District lunch having white rice and chicken curry

                                          Just a few boats on the side of the road

                            Just little girls in an auto with me. She is staring hard core.

                       These people we started teaching this week bought me 6 roses!!!

 This is some wayyyy good chicken biryani, wow. There was more also but I was hungry and forgot to get a picture before I started eating. 

 Really cool looking Hindu God during their festival. I love the different culture here.

                                                    Cool lighting for the festival