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.
No comments:
Post a Comment