June 27, 2016 - Bengaluru, Whitefield

Hello fam!!! 

Elder Thompson and I had a pretty darn good week.  It was pretty stressful and really busy but turned out great.  

The new missionaries came in so we met all of them, and all of the Americans are like super shocked haha.  Yep it really reminds me how in awe and shock i was and how it took a little bit to adjust. But they all seem to be really good Elders so should be exciting.  But i won't really get to know them that well in 5 weeks.  

Anyway this week we worked with our current investigators, and on Saturday we had Raj Kumar's baptism!!! He was super happy and excited and really has grown a lot.  He was also confirmed yesterday so he is all set.  Great guy.  We also baptized Babitha and Helen on Sunday.  I baptized Babitha, and the Stake President baptized Helen because he is her relative.  It was a good time and so happy.  Helen was happy, and when Preethi introduced Babitha to the members at the service, she and Babitha both were in tears.  They were very happy.  Especially Preethi because she got to see her mother get baptized.  Families can be forever!!!!!

So other than that, we had a small fear this week that we wouldn't have anyone to teach after these baptisms, but we got a referral from a member this week.  They are a family of three...Mom, Dad, and 1 year old boy.  Awesome family so they will be really good potential.  And then yesterday another baptism basically dropped out of the sky!!! There is a member couple who has a relative staying with them who recently came here, and she is Hindu background but is really interested in learning and boy is she golden.  Awesome understanding, and she has come to church a couple of times already.  So looks like July could see a couple baptisms as well.  We are planning on Muthulakshmi, and this new sister Sailakshmi for sure and maybe even that new couple as well.  Last night we taught another investigator we have and had a good lesson with her, so she will be potential as well.  She will take some time, but we think she could get there as well for August or thereabouts. 

Thank you so much for your prayers for our investigators.  The work has really been great lately, and the members are really starting to love us i think, I hope haha.  Well this week we will welcome the new President.  So sad to see President Berrett leaving on Thursday, so will have to try and spend a little time with him these last couple days.  

Well onto another week.  Time winding down.  Last minutes of the 4th.  

Elder Ball

Assume this is at a Whitefield Ward open house for the Berrett's before they leave Bengaluru.

Elder Ball, Raj Kumar, Elder Thompson

With Raj Kumar and the Grundy's

Elder Ball, Babitha, Helen, President Nithya, Elder Thompson

Elder Thompson said they were on speaker phone with President Berrett discussing transfers.

June 20, 2016 - Bengaluru, Whitefield

Hey fam!

This week was a pretty good one.  It started off a little bit slow, but then got really busy and we had some really good successes.  

This week Sindhu and Swathi got confirmed, and our investigators came to church again so this upcoming weekend we will be having three baptisms!!!! The ward is pretty excited about that haha, but not sure who is more excited, them or us.  All of them are doing pretty well.  Again our less actives we have been working with came to church, so that was cool too.  We also began teaching a sister this week who is really good will probably if not definitely get baptized in July.  

But we are still trying to find people, because once all of our investigators are baptized we won't have much to do.....So as of now it is a good problem to have because almost 100% of our teaching pool is getting baptized, but after their baptisms then it will be a not good problem haha.  But we will see what we can do.

So President and Sister Berrett's days are winding down...only 9 more for them.  It will be really sad to see them leave.  I really love them so much.  They are the best.  But it will be exciting i guess to meet the new president and get to know him.  So yes this week is transfer week, and of course me and my boy Elder Thompson are staying together for my last 6 weeks.  Crazy that this is my last transfer and i am using my last daily planner on the mish.  

Mom as for your question about the members, there are a few that are endowed but not a ton.  I think there are more in Bangalore than anywhere else but not sure.  They go to Hong Kong.  That is the nearest temple.  And yep my last day is a regular transfer day.  This transfer we are getting 4 elders from the pines and 7 new ones, so we will be busy with that stuff this week.  And almost all of our batchmates will be going together.  One of them goes home tomorrow so one transfer early, but pretty much the rest will all be together.   

Anyways sorry about not much to say again.....running out of things to say!! haha

But last thing is HAPPY FATHER's DAY to my mate and pa!!

Love you!

Elder Ball

June 13, 2016 - Bengaluru, Whitefield

Hello everyone!!!!

This week was actually a pretty good week for Elder Thompson and I.  We are still moving along and have quite a bit of good things going on in our area.  A lot of the people we are working with came to church!! This week was a really good success.

First off, a less active brother named Moses that we have been working with FINALLY came to church.  He was really happy and he brought his whole family so it was great.  He is a way cool guy and has become a really good friend of ours.  Another less active sister named Dheena came again and another sister named Sowbagya.  It was really great to see some of these "lost sheep" beginning to come back and partake of the sacrament and the blessings of the gospel once again.  

Raj Kumar is progressing soooo well.  He is really close to getting baptized and is really getting into the YSA things now like Saturday night cricket, and next week they are going to Mysore for an activity.  He is really excited, and in his prayers says he is planning to get baptized.  Helen is also doing well.  Babitha came again is doing nicely and we set her with a date for the 25th of June...so she, Helen and Raj Kumar are planned all for next week on Saturday!!! So we could tack on 3 more baptisms this month!! Pray for these people so that they all can make to that date!!:)

The best thing was about Sindhu and Swathi.  On Tuesday it wasn't looking so good for them.  The father was still being flaky, and so we were losing hope that this week they would get baptized.  We continued to plan with faith that some miracle would happen and we prayed so hard for them this week.  When Friday came, still didn't look good, then Saturday came still not good.  But Saturday evening we saw them and they said their father is giving permission!! So we took a member and got all the paper work done and we baptized them!!!!!!!!!!! It was so good and an amazing service.  All the young women got up and recited the young women theme for them and welcomed them.  It was a super amazing baptism.  I will send pics:) Their father is in a pink colored shirt.  Babitha, is in the Saree and Sindhu is the thinner of the two.  Really great miracle this week.

So that is about it for our week.  It turned out really well and it looks like in about 12 days we could be having 3 more baptisms!!! So this week hopefully we can find a new family or two to refill our teaching pool!:)

Sounds like you all are doing well also! Love you guys a ton!!

Elder Ball

Swathi and Sindhu's baptism!

Elder Ball. Swathi, S/S dad, Sindhu, Elder Thompson

Elder Ball, Sister Babitha, Sister Preethi, Swathi, S/S dad, Sindhu, Elder Thompson

The exquisite cuisine at Shreedevi (Meals)

June 6, 2016 - Bengaluru, Whitefield & Visit to Rajah w/ Pictures

Hello!
This week was a pretty decent bounce back week for Elder Thompson and I.  We were super busy as we had exchanges with Hyderabad Zone Leaders, and we had MLC (last one with Pres/Sis Berrett), and we also were in Rajahmundry from Thursday until Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday we had some busy work with the missions training plan.  However, amidst all of this busy work, we still managed to teach a solid amount of lessons and had some pretty good success.

So Sindhu and Swathi were supposed to get baptized this week.  We had their interviews this week and they both passed wonderfully, but last minute their father had to go out of town for a couple days so he wasn't going to be able to attend.  So we pushed it to next week but we are pretty sure about their baptism this upcoming Sunday so we are excited for that. Raj Kumar is moving in the right direction.  We were able to find him some fellowship on Sunday and are getting him involved in the YSA activities and i think he is doing well now.  He mentioned to us that has taken two steps forward so that sounds pretty positive doesn't it? But we have him scheduled to be baptized this month which is great.

We also taught Helen this week and had a great lesson with her and she really progressed well this week! She came to church again and we set her with a June 19 baptism date, so things are looking good for this month in terms of baptisms.  Looks like we can get 4 this month which is awesome.  Babitha came to church this week...miracle.  That was good so we will see if we can get her set for a date in early July.  So in the near future things are looking wonderful.  But we have to start finding some new people so that when these people get baptized we won't be wondering what to do all day haha.

Our trip to Rajahmundry was really fun.  We saw a ton of people and our old friends and really enjoyed it.  We got fed so much, and the members were super surprised and stoked to see us.  We really enjoyed our time there, and one of the sisters there was serving a mission in the philippines while i was serving in her branch and she was back, and so we spoke Tagalog for like 30 minutes straight!! It was awesome.  I love speaking Tagalog.  But funny thing is, she served with the daughter of my Branch President from DapDap.  Meaning, DapDap's branch president's daughter and this sister from Rajahmundry served together in their missions! Small world huh? But anyways i will send some pics to you!:)  I got to see one of my converts sister Neeraja and took a pic with her.  She is doing well and was happy to see me:) I think i can still get by okay with some Telugu haha but i was a tad rusty:)

Anyways a pretty good week for us and hopefully another to come for us and for you! 

Elder Bunthi

PS, Elder Thompson's letter described their visit to Rajah like this....
"We borrowed a few cycles from the elders serving there and went straight to Katheru Village that basically used to be our home. As soon as we got there, little children started waving, chasing us down, and yelling "Hi Ball! Hi Thompson!" It was so crazy to see how everybody still remembers us so well even though we've been gone for so long! It's like we never even left. The two tall white guys will never be forgotten in Rajahmundry. The members and investigators were equally excited to see us. We rolled up to their homes on our cycles totally unexpected and randomly. People's facial expressions were so sweet as they saw us ride up to their home. Some people were smiling, some were laughing or jumping for joy, some were confused as to what in the world we were doing there, and some even started crying a little bit."

Pictures of Elder Ball/Thompson visit to Rajahmundry...

Sathish, a member in Bangalore

With Neeraja, a convert of Elder Ball while serving in Rajah a year ago.

Polupalli family

Ramidi family (Priyanka and Ravi Kishore)

Deepak (BML) and his wife

Deepak

Alamanda Ganesh family and Vamsi (boy)

Podi children

Podi family

Hitching a ride to their good buddy, "Auto" Ramesh!  (who also bought them breakfast on the way)

Whitefield Ward 1st Counselor Edwin