Much much better week this week. I am so much more
adjusted to culture and now i feel much more comfortable. In fact, I
think i can already start to say that i love India. The people are just
so friendly and i figured out that the reason they stare at me so much is
because they are fascinated, not weirded out, by my skin color and they would
just be thrilled to talk to me. At the least the more mature Indian
people are that way. The kids like it too, but the teenagers all make fun
of me apparently. Elder Bunga says they call me names and make fun of me
a lot but i cant understand them because it is in a different language so
ignorance is bliss;) but he said if i went and talked to the ones making
fun of me they would be scared and say sorry and then try and act all cool with
me so they could talk to a white guy:) Im getting more used to the food.
It tastes amazing but is still spicy-as! My comp is still so awesome.
He is so good. We are still a little frustrated with our results
though.
Oh by the way, i forgot to tell you that we never wear our
nametags in Bangalore...interesting huh? And the other missionaries from my MTC
district are struggling a little bit too but are getting better. Now my
frustrations are all about the work and what is happening rather than
adjusting. I do still wake up every morning homesick, but as soon as we
leave the apartment and get going, i forget about everything. It has been
so hot this week though! Crazy.
So we played basketball last P-day and that Aussie is pretty
dang good. We have fun ballin together and we are getting to be pretty
good friends.
On Tuesday, we visited a less active named Sister Mahla.
She was baptized seven years ago but has a rough time with the Godhead
because some JW's came to her house and confused her...but Elder Bunga and I
had a good discussion with her and lately she hasn't called with any questions
so i think we helped her when we challenged her to pray every day and pray
about her question and also to re-visit her testimony of the Book of Mormon
because if she has a testimony of the BoM, then she can know everything the
church teaches and everything Joseph Smith taught and received is true as well.
So we visited Christian and Stephen, two brothers from the Congo.
They are super cool investigators but they had an issue with baptism and
the way it is done so we only had 15 mins to explain so it didn't end the best.
We also visited Vincent David and once again the same exact thing
happened, but we are still trying with him.
Wednesday: We went to an area with lots of African guys and
found four more to teach! Yona and Christian are from the Sudan, and Francis
and Isaac are from somewhere in Africa too. Great guys and they are our
new investigators. Could be solid ones too.
Thursday: Visited Sis. Mahla again. Helped her out
with the things i said before. Visited Vincent David and he asked us, why
God keeps him alive and why would God care after all that he has done and what
is the point of changing. I just testified to him that God keeps him
alive and gives him so many chances because he knows his potential to be an
instrument in the Lord's hands. Which if we can baptize this man, then we
can baptize many more for sure. He was touched but then later went out
and did the same stuff. We will not give up on him.
Friday: Went to zone conference and learned how to keep the
eternal perspective in mind, like enduring to the end, when we teach and find
investigators. It was great wisdom from our Mission Prez. We taught
Christian and Stephen and i got the opportunity to answer his question.
He had an issue with the way we baptize in the name of the Father, son,
and Holy ghost instead of just Jesus Christ. I showed him 3 Nephi 11 and
2 Nephi 31 and it answered his question. So then i extended the baptismal
invitation and Christian began to say, "for me...yes" but as soon as
yes was coming out of his mouth, his friend Stephen interrupted and said,
"i already got baptized in another church so i'm good." Christian
then hesitated and said he needed more time. I think he only said that
because his friend was ready. Christian is ready. Next time we
visit them, i will ask again and hopefully we get them to commit. the date we
are shooting for is none other than Sept 13!!:) it would so awesome to baptize
a few investigators on my b-day:)
Saturday sucked because all of our appointments cancelled
and it was super hot until the rain decided to drop everything it had on us all
at once. Very rough day.
Sunday: Went to church and now i guess i am the ward pianist
because i played the hymns in sacrament meeting for the congregation and so now
i will play every sunday i guess. Dad will be super pumped about that im
sure...Vincent David came to church and was touched and reached out to again so
we will see if he takes those things to heart or just lets them go in one ear
and out the other. We have faith in him though. His family doesn't
and he doesn't but we do. We are determined to baptize this guy. Us
four elders though are super frustrated with our branch and the branch
missionaries because we are taught so much to use members so often, but they
are never available or they cancel on us, or they make up excuses, and then
blame everything on the missionaries and don't ever take accountability for
anything. It is very frustrating, but im learning more patience.
This morning i played cricket for the first time and i am
horrible but it is very fun.. Well anyways, much better week but still a little
homesick every morning and still could use some more help. But glad to
hear from you guys!
Love you,Elder Ball
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