Nephi and Lehi

Hello!

This was a really great week for us and can best be described by a few verses from the Book of Helaman. "And it came to pass that Elder Ball (Nephi) and Elder Thompson (Lehi) did preach unto the Bangalorites with such great power and authority... Therefore they did speak unto the great astonishment of the Bangalorites, to the convincing them, insomuch that there were three of the Bangalorites who were in the land of India and round about baptized unto repentance..."

That's right! We had three more wonderful baptisms this week! Raj Kumar, Helen, and Babitha have all prepared themselves so well and decided that they were ready to make a covenant with Heavenly Father and be baptized. What a special time it was for them and for us. They have all made SO much progress as we've been working with them and seem to be happier than ever.

We also had the chance this week to welcome seven new missionaries into our mission! Elder Ball and I went to the airport late Wednesday night to pick up the first batch which were the new Indian missionaries coming in from the Manila MTC. As we picked them up and drove to the mission home, I was reminded of my first day when President Berrett came and picked us up from the airport. I've come a long way since then!  We welcomed the first ever sister missionary from Mumbai as well as the first elder in more than 30 years from a little place called Chavadi, Tamil Nadu (His father was the most recent one). Chavadi is actually where the church was first introduced into India. We also welcomed some wonderful new American elders who looked almost as suprised and confused as I did on my first day in India. They especially looked confused during the lunch at orientation meeting when all of the trainers and us dug into our rice with our fingers! A few of the new elders felt brave and accepted a lesson about how to eat rice with your hands. This is seriously a crazy place and takes a HUGE adjustment for somebody that's never been here before. Overall though, it was really cool to see the new missionaries and their excitement to work.

We were a little worried about not having anybody to teach now that most of our investigators are getting baptized but our three baptisms were replaced by three referrals from our members that turned out to be incredible, humble, interested, and GOLDEN investigators! The members seem to be getting super pumped up about what's going on in our ward and are starting to turn into referral machines. All we have to say to that is BRING IT ON!! Member referrals are the way to go.

President and Sister Berrett will complete their mission and head home this week.  They will forever be missed here in India but we are extremely grateful for their dilligent service and amazing impact that they have had on so many people. 

That's about all for the week. We're probably going to start having many different kinds of assignments as we help President Mortensen get situated as our new mission president! It should be a fun experience with many things to learn. 

Love, 

Elder Kent Richard Thompson

Last Monday we had lunch at a Absolute Barbecue. It's basically an all you can eat buffet type place where they bring you all different kinds of grilled meats and put them on a charcoal gril right in the middle of your table. We had the zone leaders and Raj Kumar come with us.

These are some of the starters.

This is Raj Kumar's baptism from last Saturday. He was so happy. (L-R) Elder Thompson, Elder Ball, Raj Kumar, Elder and Sister Grundy (our fantastic office couple.)

Sister Babitha and Helen's baptism! They were also so happy. (L-R) Elder Ball, Babitha, Helen, Stake President Nithya (Helen's relative), Me, President and Sister Berrett.

The Grundy's came around for apartment inspections this morning and recognized us for having the cleanest apartment in the zone! Our prize was a couple of bottles of India's best soda, Thums Up. We are now enjoying nicely as we do our emailing.