Initial Message from President Berrett upon Arriving in Bangalore, India, July 7 2014

Dear Brother and Sister Wakefield,

We are grateful for the safe arrival of you son in the India Bangalore Mission.  He arrived safe and in good spirits.  We have great need for him as a missionary. We felt the strength of his testimony as he shared with us his feelings for missionary work.

Your son has been assigned to work in the city of Chennai serving with Elder Dondapati from India. Elder Dondapati is a great missionary.  We are confident that they will be able to help and support each other in the work of saving souls.

Many parents have asked about sending packages to their missionaries. Postage is expensive for those sending from outside the country and  customs charges are sometimes assessed. We suggest that for birthdays and holidays you put cash in their personal account.  If you send a package, we recommend all packages be sent to the Mission Office.  THE FIRST LINE OF THE ADDRESS SHOULD READ “Indian Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,” and the missionaries name should be written elsewhere on the package.  Please keep in mind that most of our transfers are done by air travel. The local airlines have a 15 kg (about 33 lbs.) weight limit.  Missionaries struggle to keep within that limit so they transfer very light and discard items not necessary.

The Mission Office address has recently changed.  The new address is as follows:

India Bangalore Mission

No. - 2, Rear Building

Garudarcharpalya, Mahadevapura Post,

Opp. ABB Tech Park 

Whitefield Road, Karnataka

Bangalore 560048

India

Week 2 - MTC - June 26, 2014

Thanks for all the letters this week it was awesome hearing from everybody! the days are long and it doesn't seem like its possible how much work you can do in a single day!  I heard the USA tied on a last second goal from Portugal but hopefully we can keep it a close game between Germany today.  I am slowly starting to get used to waking up at 6:30 here but it always comes way too early in the morning.  

I have learned so much this week and cant wait until I will be heading off to India in  just a few days.  We are going to be on the plane for 18 hours and experience 12 and a half hours of time difference. The food here isn't that great but I only have to put up with it for a little bit longer I guess.  I really love it here and it is such an amazing experience being around so many other missionaries that are doing the same thing as you.  

This week we had the opportunity to listen to Elder D. Todd Christofferson who is an apostle of God.  He talked about the wroth of a soul and how we are all loving children in the eyes of God.  Our purpose as missionaries is to help bring others closer to Jesus Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in the Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.  That seems like a lot to understand at one time but God wants us to follow the example of his son, Jesus Christ.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and only He could preserve it so that we can use it in this dispensation.  

I've learned so much about why we need the gospel in our lives and that our goal isn't too convert everybody to the Mormon religion but to help them come closer and realize why they need the Savior of the world in their lives.  There is still so much to learn and I can slowly see myself and my companion become better teachers as well as the 4 other elders in my district.  The church is awesome and only through Joseph Smith and the priesthood ordinances was the true church of Christ restored on the Earth and I am so grateful that I could belong to it.  

Love you all and stay safe,

Elder Wakefield

PS keep sending updates on the World Cup.  I love hearing about the scores and games

Week 1 - MTC - June 20, 2014

Well i have survived the first full day of the MTC and it is such an amazing place.  I have barely even had the opportunity to sit down and thinking about myself because we have been running from place to place and doing so much.  When Nana and Papa dropped me off I saw one of my friends that lived on my floor and he was my host taking me to each checkpoint making sure that I got all the necessary books and cards and keys and it was insane! When they put my name tag on my suit jacket I could feel the spirit and is over whelming comfort that this is where I am suppose to be and this is what I need to do.

We leave on July 1st where we go to Denver, CO and then to FRANKFURT, GERMANY AND THEN BANGALORE, INDIA.  According to itinerary we will be arriving in the very early morning of July 3rd.  Altogether the 3 other elders and i will be spending close to 30 hours together on a plane!!!!  I don't know how we are going to survive but it going to be quite an experience!

My companions name is Elder Dias and he just got called to be our district leader and Elder Doyle and Elder McGahn will also be coming with us to India.  Elder Christensen and Elder Kniffen are also in our district but they will be going to Detroit the day before we leave.  They also just got called to be the Zone leaders! 

The food here reminds me a lot like the cannon center butIi am surviving so that is good.  I am the healthiest eater in our district and making sure I don't go too crazy with the food.  I don't think I have forgotten anything just yet but I get $6 a week to use at the store to buy anything that I might need.  

We are teaching our first real lesson tomorrow to a simulate man named Tim played by one of our teachers who is suppose to represent someone that our teacher taught on his own mission! and we will be teaching another ,lesson to Arnold Young who may or may not be a real investigator and all we know is like 3 sentences worth of information about him.  We have so much to learn about teaching and I feel like the hardest challenge is going to be remembering how to use all of it.

We got to meet our branch president last night, President Laney, and he has got to be one of the smartest people i have ever met.  when we were singing our opening hymn in the meeting he just started writing scriptures on the board and could recite almost every scripture in the Preach my Gospel and where they were located on the page!! There wasn't a single blank white space on his scriptures! He was very intense and has some high expectations for us all.

All of the new mission presidents are coming in today and they shutting down the main building where we eat and have church because all of the apostles and prophet are coming to teach them so we might see some of them walking around

We pray almost every minute of the day and its impossible to learn without having the spirit with us as we teach! and I know that without the Book of Mormon, our religion would have no base and no fundamentals to help establish the rest of our religion.  I would strongly recommend reading 2 Nephi 31 if you get the chance this week and see just why we need to get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and come unto Christ! I love it here so much and its going to be tough to leave when the time comes but I cant wait to get out to India either!

Please forward this to anybopdy who likes and if you feel so inclined to send a letter or anything else out my mailing address until July 1st is

Elder Andrew Wakefiled

Jul01 Ind-Bang

2009 N 900 E Unit 117 

Provo UT 84602

Love you all and stay safe!

Elder Wakefield

2 Nephi 31:21