March 16, 2015 - Rajahmundry

Well this week was the bounce back week i was talking about.  I knew we just had one bad week and a good one would follow.  We worked extra hard this week to try and make up for last week, and we really had lots of success.  So basically it started with us deciding to drop all but a couple of our telugu investigators.  On monday we taught Neeraja, and we taught her the gospel of jesus christ.  We were also very straight with her and asked her if she wants to be baptized or not.  so the answer we got was a very firm yes...but she will be going to her village until the first week in april.  So when she returns we will finish teaching her and then will baptize her, so we have one baptism set for early april.

This week we taught Gowtham and Chinna Babu.  We had a wonderful lesson first with Gowtham about the priesthood and the difference between our church and others.  And we felt like intellectually he didn't fully understand, but after the lesson we couldn't help but discuss how strong the spirit was in that lesson.  So that is when we decided to only teach a couple of telugu and the rest english.  Later this week we taught Chinna Babu that same lesson and then taught both of them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We then invited them to be baptized, and Chinna Babu said yes but didn't agree on a date yet.  Gowtham is still struggling with understanding that his baptism one year back wasn't valid and that he must be baptized by proper authority.  So this week we will try and meet them again, but if he still doesn't understand, we might have to drop him and just focus on Chinna Babu.  

So this week we also went and did some finding in a place called Lala Cheruvu, and we found some potential investigators who we are planning on visiting this week.  The main highlight though was actually we got a referral from our Branch President who got a call from a sister in the US who is living in Salt Lake City.  This sister is a member and her sister is living in our area and is not a member.  So this sister is bringing her sister to Utah in 3 months, and she wants her to learn the gospel before going to the US.  We began teaching her this week and think she is pretty much golden.  She is awesome and understands much of what we teach.  Her name is Sophia, and she already came to church so this week we are planning on extending a baptism date for her.  We also taught many recent converts and less actives this week as well as members.  so this week was very successful for me and Elder Chettimalla.  

There is nothing really to see in Rajahmundry, so on P-days we mostly just go play volleyball or basketball or cricket at our apartment or something like that and go shopping.  In my apartment is Elder Braganza from England and his companion Elder Monk from Houston.  So about our apartment...it is wayyyyy better than Lingarajapuram apartment.  Very big and we have A/C and normal toilets and good showers, and it is a very nice apartment actually. Yes, i have had Limca and it is pretty good, but i have not had Paradise biriyani because it is in Hyderabad but i will have it when i go.  

I did get the package! And actually i am learning a lot and can almost hold a non-intellectual casual conversation and am learning mostly how to at least understand some of what people are saying.  My telugu is really improving which is great.  I actually had a police guy come up and start talking to this canadian elder who was with me and elder semadeni at the time.  the canadian is from india so the guy noticed and started speaking telugu to that elder, but he didn't understand anything and i did.  so i just answered him and had a nice conversation with him about where i was from and my name and his name, and he asked if i was getting tiffen but i said later. it was kind of cool actually because the other elders were looking to me to know what he was saying, haha.   

Great sports update Dad:) but a little disappointed about not getting a bracket;) haha.  So yes i had a much better week this week and am hoping for another one!

Hope you all have a great week as well! And as for pics next week i will try my other memory card because this week i tried using a different card reader and because of lack of technology i was unable to just insert the card somewhere and i have also tried the cord...but for some reason nothing is working....i promise i am trying hard to figure this out because i have some dang good pics you should see but i really am trying so please be patient;) 

Love you all!
Love, Elder Ball

PS, While we wait for Elder Ball to send pics, Elder Dusara had some p-day pics that included Ryan. :)

I guess this is street ball in India...:)