Elder Kent Thompson, India Bengaluru Mission: Last Week of My Training

Hello all,

This week brought many exciting changes, but also some really good times.

Last Monday we got our transfer calls. Elder Grimmett is going to Hyderabad to be companions with the only other elder from my batch who got his visa, Elder D'vaz. Those two will tear it up! Two awesome elders. I am going to be with Elder Cloward, who right now is in Hyderabad with Elder D'vaz. Elder Cloward is from Elder Grimmett's batch, so they are just switching places. I met Elder Cloward on my first day here, and he is a super awesome guy. He's from Layton, Utah. I'm excited. Also, Elder Anderson, (who is currently one of the AP's) will come serve the other half of my area, training a new Indian Elder. That will be a relief, because right now our area is literally half of Bangalore. We are excited! I will also have a lot to learn from Elder Anderson. He's been out for a pretty long time, and is pretty much a legendary missionary. Elder Grimmett flies out on Wednesday and Elder Cloward should also come on Wednesday, I think.

Oh, and a little side note, here in India, in order for people to understand you saying the word Wednesday, you have to pronounce it how it is spelled. ex. "I'm leaving to Hyderabad on Wed-nes-day". It's kinda funny.

Anyway, I learned that when people find out that you are leaving, they ALL want to feed you. I think we got fed dinner/lunch/or simply snacks just about every day last week. We also have a dinner appointment tonight with some of our favorite members, the Kanagie family. Sister Kanagie is cooking us beef biryani. (Which is pretty much every missionary's favorite meal. Yum!) We had a really really good week and taught more lessons than we have any other week my entire mission. It was awesome.

On Friday, we had specialized training in Whitefield with President Berrett. We practiced asking investigators inspired questions from the Spirit. It was a little tricky for me because I tend to always just keep thinking of the next thing that I can teach. President Berrett came to listen while Elder Grimmett and I were practicing. I got pretty nervous but he helped me out. He told me that the only way to get good at teaching with the Spirit is by practicing over and over again. So that's what I have been really trying to work on. The concept is called "Teach People, Not Lessons." It's a pretty important concept so hopefully I can get it soon.

Last night we went and taught our investigators, Shilla and Sam. They have been doing really well and Shilla read about 15 chapters in her Book of Mormon since last week. Not only has she been reading, but she has underlined a bunch of verses! Awesome! We didn't teach the second lesson yet. I think we will keep fellowshipping them and helping them at least for one more week so we aren't throwing too much overwhelming info in their faces. Right now they go to "Infant Jesus Church", which is where just about every Christian around here goes.

Sorry for my poor spelling and grammar. I think those two skills are starting to decline just because I talk so slow and simply to people here. Especially to people that don't have the best English or hearing impaired people. Like if I was talking to a hearing impaired person I wouldn't say "can you help your girlfriend come to church", you would say "help gf come church." It's interesting. Even talking to people that can hear. You wouldn't say "Do you think that we could have a closing prayer before we go?" You would say "So, we can have one closing prayer?"

I just got an email from the mission and it looks like we are going to welcome three new Indian Elders, one new Indian Sister, and six Americans that have just finished their training and have finally gotten their Visas approved. Awesome! I'll update you all next week on who those are but it sounds like I may be meeting my MTC batch, or at least part of it.

Also, we just got a new senior couple here. They will be working in the mission office for a while. Elder and Sister Bedke. Super nice people. They are from Sandy, but Elder Bedke is from Burley, Idaho originally. We were able to talk about Albion and Burley for a little while. Pretty cool.

I took a bunch of pictures this week, so hopefully I can get them all to send. Here's the first three: A cool sunset, our last district meeting together (Elder Gotipati is also going to Hyderabad.) and I picture from church yesterday.

Have a good week!

Elder Thompson