July 14, 2010 Update

Wanaste,
That is a mix on WANACUM (Tamil), and NAMASTE (Hindi). The biggest news of the week is the change in momentum. Last night we met with a sister name Ashwini. Ashwini went out of station in June, and she challenged herself to read the entire Book of Mormon while she was gone. Sadly, she only got to Moroni, but promised to read it today! Ashwini is a Hindu and her father is also Hindu. She talked to him about getting baptized while she was in her native place. He agreed to do whatever she wanted so that she could be baptized. We met with the 2 of them last night and set a date for Ashwini to be baptized. She will be baptized on August 7th!! It was such an uplifting moment. I have been wondering why nothing seemed to be working. We had people to teach, but it seemed like Satan was working harder than ever to keep them from progressing. It has been really difficult in Bangalore, and I have been really discouraged. Now, however, the ball is rolling. "Give me an inch and I’ll take an eel." Now that the wind is back in my sail Bangalore will never be the same. It just takes one set to give you that boost you need.

On Monday night we met with Daniel and Amita; this was not a good meeting. Daniel was searching the Church on the internet, and you guessed it, he found a bunch of anti-Mormon literature. It was nothing new to me; I have heard all the points before. He just had a really hard time with the fact that God told Abraham to lie, but he feels that it was necessary, so he may be ok. He was really concerned about other stuff pertaining to the nature of God, like D&C 130:21-22. He still wants to meet, but I don’t know how much farther it will be able to go. He is into some deep waters.

In more uplifting news, Giri Babu came to Church again!! He is still very excited. This week we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, and committed him to keep it. He promised that he would never drink tea again. He has such a strong testimony already. We committed him to practice English every day for one hour. We did this by telling him to read his BofM in Telugu, while a member, Mary (they work together), read in English. I have seen this to be the most effective way for someone to learn English. On Friday we are going to set Giri with a baptismal date, probably the end of August, that way he can learn English! I love Giri. He is a great example of what it means to become truly converted.

Thank you so much for all of your support. I love getting letters and emails from all of you. Remember "Every member a missionary". I love all of you. Remember, this is Jesus Christ's Church, and we are his disciples.

Love,
Elder Sorensen