Santosh Rathan Prasad

India Bangalore Mission

2008-2010

My parents joined the church when I was 6 yrs in 1993. My father baptized me when I turned 8 in 1995 in Indiranagar chapel Bangalore. The sister missionaries, Sis. Anne Sironmani, Sis.Kyriakos, Sis. Ramkissoon and a few other missionaries taught us. My father says he joined the church because he saw Christ in these wonderful Sisters.

All 8 of us( Parents, Grandfather, five kids) were baptized and are active in the church. We all grew up in the church, Gospel became our life, Even though we had visited different churches before but we held to this Church and Gospel as it is true.

I might have been 13 years old when a missionary asked me to go on an exchange with him. Then we didn't have a mobile phone with us, he asked me to wait at a place and they would pick me up. I waited for a while, then the rain started pouring heavily. Then many thoughts went through my mind as I was waiting for almost 45 minutes then I decided to leave but missionaries showed up with dripping clothes. They were sorry for making me wait and we continued to the appointment. I was really proud and happy for the great missionaries and their commitment, they truly loved God. That day I had a strong impression to serve and be like this committed and Strong missionary.

I had a great association with the church and the members which made me stay strong and active in the Church. There were a lot of good people who helped and cherished our growth. My father worked outside Bangalore, so he wasn't active in the church and mother also got engaged in her job. My older sister, just two years older than me, took responsibility for taking us every Sunday to the church from Ramamurthynagar to Indiranagar in two different buses. She sacrificed a lot to raise us and did her best to keep us active and strong in the church.

Once I finished my graduation, I started preparing to serve. I worked for 8 months, saved some money and applied to my mission. India Bangalore 2008 January 5th reporting to MTC Philippines. Wonderful experience received my patriarchal blessing and was endowed in the Philippines temple. Learned about preaching my Gospel and Book of Mormon and entered the mission field on 26th January 2008. My First area Hyderabad, WestMarredpally 2nd branch. My trained Elder Davis, 6.5 feet tall from Idaho. Very strong and committed missionary, he trained me for 10 weeks. We had great success in that area, wonderful people and great commitment to serve the Lord. Initially, the mission was so tough that at times I felt like going back home but other missionaries encouraged and supported me to stay strong and active on the mission. I like fun, I tried to have fun in every way possible but my trainer was very strict and strong on the mission, he would never let me do anything that would even have a slight deviation. We didn't attend weddings, family occasions or birthday parties. He would simply say we are here to do the Lord's work, there are many waiting for us, we can't afford to lose time. Even though it was very hard and at times irritating, I did follow him. Later he turned out to be my hero on the mission. Then I moved to the 3rd ward, Maddinaguda. New companion and the new area had a misunderstanding with my companion because he was very different from my trainer. He had a different style of work and I thought it was wrong. But later understood the comparison was incorrect, just learned his good work and worked with him. At the end of 10 weeks we had great success and we had no bitter feelings at all forever. Then an Elder from the same area and I were transferred to Erode. From Madinaguda to Erode, from 200 members to 40 members, big change and moreover Erode is a small town. Here I felt our mission was more than preaching the Gospel. My companion from Idaho, he set a goal of increasing the sacrament attendance from 40 to 100 because there were more than 300 members in the membership list. We worked really hard, visited every member possible on the list, he has known for his commitment and hard work but no great success but still he never gave up, the lesson I learned from him was to work hard no matter what happens. Finally, when he was released from his mission we had around 95 members active, what a great blessing from our Father in Heaven. Then I was transferred to Goa, a place in beautiful but for missionaries toughest area. The greatest lesson I learned was not all times we will succeed, but failures teach us better lessons than sometimes what success can give. I didn't have any baptisms here but became the strongest in tracking and finding people. Then I was transferred to Vizag and from Coimbatore. Got released on 5th January 2010, I served during pres. Nichols mission president. Mission was the greatest blessing and work that I have ever done in my life, no regrets and nothing can compensate for these two years of my life. I love serving the Lord and his people.

In 2015, I was married in Temple to a returned missionary and had a baby boy in 2017 Jan. Everything that has happened so far is a blessing from Heaven, I accept it and am happy about it.

I believe that God lives and loves each of His children, I believe that Jesus is the Christ and Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration. I believe that scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon are a word of God. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.