Dropping Investigators

Hi family!  Wow! Sounds like you got to have an awesome experience this week Dad! I know how much fun biking is, and I can only imagine how beautiful those islands are as well. Good luck to you Noah on your high adventure!  Haha it's funny that you mention that you wonder what I will say when I come home and give my talk/a fireside, because I've actually developed a habit of preparing for that talk ever week. Whenever a speaker in Sacrament meeting is just speaking in Telugu, and I have no idea what they are saying, I think to myself "hmmm... well, if I was at home right now giving a talk on whatever topic they are speaking on (I can pick out enough words of what they are saying to know the general topic of the talk), what would I say?" So, by the time I get home, I should have PLENTY of material for a talk! :) Ya, so me and my companion are getting along just great! We've only grown closer and closer over these past couple of months. Neither one of us is very talkative, so it's taken a while to get to know each other, but slowly but surely we are being very close friends. He is also a really great trainer. I don't think I fully appreciate the blessing it is to have a companion that not only knows what to do, but that he actually DOES it! He sets a great example for me, and teaches me the reasons for why he does things the way he does, so then I can apply that reasoning to other situations.  Sorry if my sentences aren't being very well... put together. Haha as I'm writing this I'm realizing how difficult it has become for me to speak in large sentences! I'm used to only speaking basic basic English. Hopefully everything is still coherent!  Oh so guess what? We had transfers this week, and the other companionship in Kakinada was taken out! That means me and my companion now have ALL of Kakinada for ourselves! woo woo! We have so much work to do, that we have actually have the blessing of too MANY investigators! So many that we have already dropped quite a few investigators that didn't seem like they would progress very well, just because there are so many other people that we need to meet with that ARE progressing very well! Hooray! One investigator in particular that is looking amazing is a man named Ramu. Ramu has been coming to church for FOUR years already, but has never taken baptism! Apparently for the last year or two he has been waiting for one of his friends to come back from his mission so that he could baptize Ramu, and now his friend just came back this week! Ramu now has a baptismal date for the 25th! Ramu is living all of the commandments, and will believe just about anything we tell him. There is only one problem... Ramu is... not the most educated. In fact, he speaks virtually no English, and can't read Telugu (or any other language for that matter). That means he is unable to read The Book of Mormon. But, he still believes it's true, which is great!  I also get to experience some of what mom must feel as she works with her special education students. Ramu has a very hard time learning new things, so we have been trying to teach the lessons to him as simply as possible, but he is still struggling big time.  Here's how a conversation might go down. Us: God speak to prophets. Prophets teach us God's commandments. So, who teaches us God's commandments?  Ramu: Uhhh... uhhh... hmmm...  I don't know. It makes me want to cry! He has so much faith, but good learning skills is definitely not something God has blessed him with.   Oh, and one last thing. If I ever don't email you on Monday, that probably means we are having a lock down and I'm not allowed to leave the apartment, not that I'm dead. Haha I just thought of that because that almost happened today. But don't worry, they are VERY cautious with us missionaries, and never let us go out when it is dangerous, so I'm totally safe! :) Have a top notch week! Love, Elder Anderson