Babu Abel

Singapore Mission

1986- 1988

Kolar Gold Fields was renowned for being the deepest gold mine in the world in 1964 and was also the first city in Asia to receive electricity. During the 1960s, it boasted the longest electrical line globally. I was born in Kolar Gold Fields, which is located in southern India. After my father's retirement, we relocated to Bangalore, one of the most esteemed cities in India, often referred to as the Garden City, and also situated in the southern part of the country.

My grandfathers were Hindus and belonged to the Church of South India. However, for the past two generations, our family has embraced Christianity, and I attended a Christian school. I am the seventh child in my family.

Upon retiring and moving to Bangalore in 1983, my father started a photo frame shop. It was during this time that he met Mr. Michael, who had just returned from his mission. Mr. Michael shared the gospel with my father. As a devout Christian of the Church of South India, my father initially viewed Michael with skepticism, assuming he was from a different denomination, perhaps one of the "last day" churches. He believed that while everyone might be on different paths, the destination was the same, and he did not initially support Michael's efforts.

However, over time, my father's curiosity was piqued, and he became more receptive to Michael’s message. He later discussed it with me, and I shared with him that I knew Brother Michael from before his mission. We had played soccer together, with Michael serving as the captain of the Pollstar Football Team.

One day he was invited to our home with a couple missionaries who were serving in Bangalore. Their names were Jack and Miria Hympries. They taught our family and we were baptized in 1984. My parents, my elder sister, and my younger brother were baptized. My father was a scout master. He started the scouts for the church in India. There were very few in the church and so we met in home groups. My house was one of the home groups. Early, when we were meeting at the missionary couple’s house, we used to walk one hour to go to their home to attain the sacrament meeting. Then we met in a private school. Finally we had a rented building at Nagavara Benganhalli.

We walked half an hour to the church. Just after that my father passed away, I was in high school and other siblings were married and settled. I first attended the youth conference conducted by Michael Anthoney who was then the First branch President in Bangalore India and this was the first youth conference in India.

After my father passed away, 1984 I was the breadwinner of my family. So, the missionary couple Elder and sister Clemints who were serving as a couple missionary gave me a job in their apartment as a costudioan. They used to pay me enough to take care of my mother and brother. I always had an interest in serving a mission. I thought that I would never serve a mission but with little hope, I started working as a night watchman for the chapel and couple’s apartment that money I was saving for my mission. I had already been in church for two years and everyone was encouraging me to go on a mission. It was a hard time to make a decision. How could I leave my mother and younger brother and go on a mission for two years? In Fact, I was looking for a better job to support my mother and brother. On the other side, I wanted to serve my mission and continued to make it a matter of much prayer. In the end, I decided to serve a mission. I filed my papers and got a call to go to the Singapore mission but to actually serve in India. I was supposed to go to the Philippines MTC but the church leaders decided that I should do my MTC in India with the couple missionaries that were serving in Chennai, India. Me and my school friend Newton Samuel, who joined the church almost at the same time as me, left for Chennai together in 1986 and successfully completed our missions in 1988.

Civilian life after the mission was really tough, and finding a job with my minimum education was a major challenge. Once again, I had to make a decision whether to continue my education or find a job with the minimum education that I already had. One of my brothers encouraged me to continue my education, and with his advice, I completed my bachelors degree in the Arts, after which I took up a job in the housekeeping department in a Hotel. It was at that time that something struck me to join the law college. I didn’t have money to pay for my law education, so President Gill, who was a mission president at that time in India, paid for my college fees. I am still so grateful to him for making that opportunity possible. I joined evening college and worked during the day in the hotel. I completed my bachelor in law and enrolled as an Advocate in 1997.

In 2002, I found my eternal companion. In a five minute interview with her in her house, in front of her parents, we decided to marry. Later, the missionaries taught her and I was able to baptize her into the church. We married and were sealed in the Hong Kong temple.

We are blessed with three children, we were sealed to them in the Hong Kong temple. In 2016, I brought them to the Salt Lake temple. My son participated in baptisms for the dead in the temple and I was able to participate in confirmations in the Twin Falls temple.

I served in different callings in the church, and when a stake center was built in Bangalore, I served as branch president. Once people were telling me no chapel for the church i go to today i was a branch president in the church having a beautiful stake center. Now the same is demolished and the temple with a stake center is going to be built there. What a blessing to me to see all this in my lifetime.

My journey to the Hong Kong temple was from 1986 to 2012 . When I was called on a mission I didn’t have the opportunity to go to the temple due to the changes in the temple rules, after which it took me almost 20 years to enter the Hong Kong temple with my family. The Hong Kong temple was the nearest temple for us I always wanted to go to temple some hoe I was turn down, finally in 2012 I was building a house for my siblings i wa so down with the financial that i have to lease out my house to built that house were I was without the house so i left my wife and three childrens in there parents house and i was putting an other store in my home I ran out of money and I had only I had mondet to complete my house that time my district president called me and told me that I should think of going to temple. Now it was hard to make a decision. I have no home. My family was at their parents' house. I have no place and I have little money left over to complete my house or should take that money and go to a temple. Which is more important: the house of the lord or my house. With much prayers I and my wife decided to go temple with our three childrens we that money and went to temple and came back the day I came back from temple I had no money or no home i dropped my wife and childrens at her parents house I was sleeping in the half built house. In a few houses a client came and paid me some money to restart my house. We completed our house in 15 days and moved my family into a four bedroom house. What a blessing. To show that to

The members and many of the non-members I built a 15 feet temple and displayed it in the chapel on Christmas and organised an open house to teach about the temple. Many came to know what the temple was and what is the purpose of the temple. Again in 2015 I built the model salt lake temple in the same chapel in whitefield Road

And today we have the real Temple there in the same place at white Field Road ward.

Today I am in BYU law school in an LLM program with temples and chapels around me. Everyday I get up and see the temple in the morning. What a blessing.