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.