Sunday - Church and a Baptism!

For the Sabbath, we were very excited because we had the opportunity to go to church in Chennai. We were on the road by 7:30 all dressed with scriptures in hand; ready to make the 2 ½ hour trip to Chennai. We joined the Chennai 3^rd branch for their services. It was so exciting because in their sacrament meeting that day they had a boy in his late teens who was confirmed the newest member of their branch. We would soon learn that four others were also baptized and confirmed in the month of June which was a HUGE success for the elders in the area. We had a wonderful Sunday school lesson about the parable of the 10 virgins and the parable of the talents. Our Sunday school teacher was so sweet and so in tune with the spirit. It was neat because she would teach the lesson in English and then she would do a recap of what we discussed in Tamil which made all of us in the class feel so included and able to participate. In Relief Society we had a great lesson on one of the conference addresses that was given on love. The sisters in the branch share such a strong bond and show so much love to all who visit. It was so incredible to sing “As Sisters in Zion” all together because it made me realize how large our sisterhood in the church is and how far it can reach. It doesn’t matter if we are from America or India, we are all sisters and are all loved equally by our Heavenly Father.

In Priesthood, Jordan told me that three of the boys who were baptized received the Aaronic Priesthood. Jordan was so impressed with these boys because they were so sharp and so knowledgeable about the Gospel and the Priesthood even only after being taught for a month. Jordan is so excited about the incredible Priesthood leaders that are being brought up in India and for the growth that the Church will experience because of them.  The people here are so prepared for the gospel, so humble.  It will be the next Brazil, mark my words.  We had a very special treat because while in Relief Society, we found out that the Relief Society President’s nephew was being baptized after church and she invited us to attend his baptism. About nine of us stayed and we will be forever grateful that we did. One of the girls in our group, Mary Katherine, actually gave small talk on baptism and I had the incredible opportunity to play the piano at his baptism. It was very nerve wracking because almost all of them were hymns that I had never played before, but I really feel that the Lord helped me to play them to the best of my ability to I could help invite the Spirit to be with us at the baptism. (A note from Jordan, she did fabulous!) We also found out that it was the Relief Society President’s son, who is serving a mission next month, who baptized her nephew. The gospel is changing this family and because these two boys received the gospel, they will be able to serve missions and bring many more people in India to the gospel. One thing that really strengthened our testimonies was being able to witness throughout the day how the gospel is the same everywhere in the world. It is constant, unchangeable, and all encompassing just like the love of our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.