Monday, September 8, 2014

September 8, 2014 - Bangalore

Hello everyone!

Wow this week was sooooo good! Because we haven't really had that many good investigators we spent most of this week finding people to teach and tracting.  Our goal this week was to find 10 new investigators.  We spent over half of the week in Kothanur (the place where many Africans dwell).  So we weren't scheduled to teach Yona until Saturday afternoon but on Tuesday, he called us up out of nowhere and asked us to come teach him.  So we went over to his house in Kothanur and taught him the Restoration.  He was very interested and Bunga and I made the big mistake of forgetting to take a Book of Mormon with us for him. So throughout the lesson he kept stopping us and asking us if we were going to him some book that we give people.  We were so mad at ourselves for forgetting.  But he was very interested in our message and he is such a great guy.  On our way down the stairs from his apartment, we met two more African brothers and they are new investigators now.  On Wednesday, we gave Yona a  Book of Mormon and while we were in Kothanur, we found four more new African investigators!!  
On Thursday, we decided to go meet one of our media referrals.  On his profile, he wanted a Book of Mormon.  We went to his house and learned his name is Lazar Kumar and he is a farmer and his family reads the Bible together every single night.  He is a very spiritual guy and his family looks to be like they could be very solid investigators because they sought us out.  We also went and visited a less active recent convert named Rushme, and during our teaching her, her mother and grandmother came out and listened to our message and also wanted to learn more and became new investigators! Then we took an auto home and our auto driver was Christian and we shared with him what we do and he stays very close to our apartment so he wanted us to come teach him sometime as well! 6 new investigators on Thursday!
Friday wasn't that good of a day because we went to a recent convert's house because she had a godhead question and we found out that she too doesn't consistently read the Book of Mormon.  That is a huge problem here.  All of the less actives or those who have so many questions are results of lack of reading the Book of Mormon so i cannot stress you all enough how important it is for us to read the Book of Mormon every single day.  If we do that, I know that we can have all our questions answered, our faith increased, and our happiness remain always.  It was also hard to answer her question because she had a Muslim friend over and our member that came with us got in a super long debate with this guy while we were trying to answer her question so it was very hard to feel the spirit.  
Saturday though was soooo great.  We went to Kothanur to teach Yona, but he had to leave soon so we left him a quick message and set up another appointment.  So we decided to do more tracting and found 8 more African investigators!!!! It is so weird how I come to India and in my very first area, my best and most investigators come from Africa....!  We have an active member in our Branch named Cedrik who is from Congo and so we are trying to find time where he can come with us because he would help us so much with these brothers.  Elder Bunga and I just keep feeling like we will get at least one baptism from Kothanur.  So this week was just so awesome because we found 20 new investigators and we are finally reaping rewards for our obedience and hard work.  
Some frustrating things though this week.  There is lots of contention going on in our apartment.  Excessive teasing, arguing, fighting, etc.  Elder Bunga and I never fight but he and Elder Basil have something bad going on between them as well as Kesterson.  It just stresses me out.  

In answer to your questions mom: We make food sometimes but eat out a lot.  We wash our laundry with a washing machine, but dry it on a rack outside.  My stomach is adjusted now.  I love the food.  We do have a real shower but the hot water does not last very long.  So basically it is not high tech at all.  It is sooooo third world, but you will see occasional glimpses of technology.  The strangest thing that happened this week was all of the African new investigators we got.  The most spiritual was probably reaping the rewards of our hard work and obedience.  Sounds like you need some help with that peanut butter! Wish i could help ;)  Oh and mom, by the way, i uploaded more pics to dropbox.  And that picture of that tall kid with me that you said was my companion, that isn't my companion.  That is an Elder Dildine who played for Middleton who i played basketball against...just an fyi:)  

Wow Dad, it seems like BYU is doing really good so far!! and Boise State doesn't sound like they are that good...oh and Dad, not only am i playing piano for sacrament meeting, but this Sunday, i also got asked to play for the primary......dang haha.  Keep taking care of my bro and mom for me ok? I know you are doing a great job at that.  Thanks for your great example Dad.  I love you all! 

Elder Ball

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