Pinto

2004-2006

Growing up in India we would face frequent power cuts. While this had negative impact in our daily activities, one evening it turned to be positive experience for me. Our neighbors came out to spend time when we lost power and my My cousin and I were playing basketball. Unfortunately, I fell and from nowhere someone with a clean hand raised me up immediately and

When I observed their attire it was a little familiar. There were two young men dressed in white shirts and dark trousers. They introduced us with a friendly tone and invited us to listen to their message of truth. We agreed to meet with them the following Sunday evening. Yes, their appearance was not new, I may have met them a few months ago on a Sunday afternoon after playing cricket and was stopped by the same or similar young missionaries, who invited us to attend their church service. I was interested in attending their church, as I was somewhat in that spirit attending Christian churches whenever invited. But unfortunately, the visiting card went to my friends’ hand who is a strong opponent of any Christian denomination apart from the Roman Catholics. But God was mindful of me and sent the missionaries one more time to bring the Good News. But life is very interesting. When I returned home from attending evening church mass my friend got to know that missionaries were teaching my family and he did not want me to meet with them and he did not let me go in until they barely finished teaching at that time 21 souls in my family and my neighbors. When they said that I was late and missed the teaching, I felt bad, but they were kind enough to teach the whole lesson or Plan of Salvation to me for one more hour. It turns out that I was the only one to stay active in the church, when my three cousins that were baptized along with me ended up not coming to church later. I guess they did not understand the gospel presented to them or gained a testimony like I was blessed with. That is, I know that Joseph Smith Jr. was a prophet of God, I felt peaceful assurance in my heart, which I have never felt before. God answered my prayer through the gift of the spirit - Peace.

That answer to the prayer changed everything. I was baptized, stayed active in the church, made new friends, prepared to serve a mission and the day I fell on my mission was when my family knew that I was going out of the house to serve the Lord.

I served in Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Delhi, Erode, and Kakinada from Aug 2004 – Aug 2006 under the President Brent R. Bonham. I happened to be in his first set of Indian missionaries he set apart. Went to MTC in Manilla with my buddy Elder (Manuel Karunanidhi) David, his sister, Sister (Sabitha) David, Elder (Veshangal) Chathri from Nepal, Sister Guptha, from Delhi, and Sister Bamandla, from Hyderabad.

When I joined the church I knew my wife, then an investigator, attending church service with her brother Vinod and then was baptized in January of 2003. I knew her as a good friend from my branch (Bangalore 2rd). After I came back from the mission, I started spending more time with her and eventually was married in June of 2008 and sealed in the Hong Kong temple.

We then came to study at BYU-Idaho and we both graduated in accounting. Then moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, for work and then was blessed to have two lovely children. Evelyn and Ethan. We live in Provo now while my wife is attending the BYU MBA program.