Ajay Kumar Kommalapati

India Bengaluru Mission

2015 - 2017

Hello, my name is Ajay Kumar Kommalapati and I’m a convert to this church, I joined the church in the year 2013 and was taught by missionaries who were very faithful and humble who taught the gospel simply and clearly. My family is of 7 people & my sister Suma was the only member for almost 10 years and once I joined later my other siblings and my father also joined the Church.

I’m really blessed to be in this church and to learn more about my purpose on this Earth. Grateful for the plan of Salvation which helped me to come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly father.

I decided to serve my mission and was called to the “India Bengaluru Mission '' (Nov 2015-Nov 017) and I love my mission and I would love to share one of the best mission experiences that I had on mission.

Soon after I finished my 18th month mark on mission after serving for almost 15months in the city of Rajahmundry, I was asked by my Mission President to serve in a new area, where the church has a Home Group. Yes, a new area in the Mission in a city called “VIJAYAWADA” which is 4-5 hours bus drive from Rajahmundry. Vijayawada was opened to missionary work previously, but missionaries were not specifically assigned to stay in Vijayawada. I had the privilege to serve with my companion Elder. Tahiliani. For us both it was our first experience serving in a home group. We had a group of 5 members attending the home group at the beginning, even though the member list showed that many people had moved to Vijayawada. Five or six weeks later, there were about 25-30 people attending the church service every week.

First Gathering at the Vijayawada Home group

Vijayawada is a city which has a lot Christian families and churches. It was not an easy task for us to work with the people. Most of the people whom we had met said “We are already Converted in Christ”. They requested us to visit the Hindus and share the gospel with them. Despite all the challenges we had the first few weeks we were able to meet with a lot of members. We had to travel a lot on buses and autos to meet with them to get to know them a little better and to seek some referrals from them.

We did get to know the area a little better, and started to do our finding. Every day we tried talking to a lot of people and knocking on their doors. We are thankful for the spirit's guidance which helped us to identify the people whom the Lord had prepared to receive the gospel.

Right in front of our apartment we have a hill where 90% of the people are Christians; we decided to name the hill as “PI HILL” because that is where we can find a lot of potential investigators who can receive the Restored Gospel. Weeks passed by, and we were working with a large group of investigators. Later we had to drop a lot of them because they never progressed. But two of the Investigators that stayed were very strong, and kept our commitments. One of them was Bro. Kallu Sam Sagar and another one was Bro. Manelli Krishna, two YSA aged young men who were prepared to receive the blessings pertaining to this gospel.

We taught Bro. Sam in an Outdoor stadium & he always paid attention to our teachings. He accepted our baptism invitation on July 9th. We were able to have his baptism in Rajahmundry chapel. Bro. Sam's mother was able to travel from Ongole to Rajahmundry to be part of the baptism service. Bro. Sam is now preparing to receive the Aaronic Priesthood.

Meanwhile we started helping Bro. Krishna. We taught him the gospel simply and clearly; he always knew that the things we were teaching him were true. He waited to receive a personal testimony about the Gospel. Eventually he was able to recognize the truth. He started to read, ponder, and pray about the Book of Mormon. He received his witness, and he was ready to be baptized.

On August 17th we were able to have his baptism service. Since he couldn't travel to Rajahmundry because of his work schedule we had to look for a font, or for a pool in or around Vijayawada. With the help of our home group leader Bro. Rajeev we were able to find a canal to have our baptism. It was late in the evening around 7:00 pm. We parked Bro. Rajeev's car turns on his car's headlights to shine light on the water. We were able to baptize Bro. Krishna.

These two young brethren have a great testimony and desire to learn more and to grow in this gospel. I was blessed with a great opportunity to meet them, and help them make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Bro. Krishna became the first person to be baptized in Vijayawada and in his family. I thank all the members for their fellowship with these brethren, and special thanks to my fellow Missionaries Elder. Devarapalli, Elder. Tahiliani, Elder. Ramisetty and Elder. Tuscano for helping us with setting up everything for the baptism. The Gospel brings great joy and love in our lives. The Restored gospel and its standards help us to be a better person, and blesses not only us but all the people whom we love. I do have the testimony that the church of Jesus Christ has been restored by Prophet Joseph Smith and Prophet Thomas S Monson is leading us and guiding us in these latter-days. I do believe that the Book of Mormon is true word of God. I bear witness of these things in the sacred name of the Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.