Hey everyone :)
So, lets just start out with a quote by Neil L Anderson from his talk,
Trial of your faith.
"With faith comes trials of faith bringing increased faith."
One of my favorite quotes ever and I feel like that describes Parker. THIS
WEEK WAS AMAZING.
So as we all know, Parker has been rough. I mean even member after member
will come up to us and say, "how are you doing? This area is so hard, are you
discouraged?" Of course we are discouraged, but we try not to dwell on it. I
have been praying so hard for focus, success, love, and the work to go forward
here. I put my faith in the Lord when I got here and it's just been trial after
trial! Well, this week my faith was finally strengthened from my trials.
So we have been really pushing member missionary work, and it's been kind
of rough. Everyone has had to change their way of thinking because not a lot of
members do missionary work here. So we were eating dinner at the Elders Quorum
house and we asked them for referrals. They said that their
neighbor across the street needed some love. So in our
mission we have stopped the "tracting" approach and do "prayer" approach. We
knock doors and offer blessings on homes as representative of Jesus Christ. We
say it takes 5 minutes of their time and we won't stay any longer. Who doesn't
have 5 minutes? EVERYONE does. So it's pretty effective. We then ask what they
want blessed and if they know anyone who needs a blessing. Then we kneel
together. After the prayer which we offer as Sisters by virtue of our calling,
we ask how they feel. If they feel the spirit, they are open and we invite them
to learn more. If they don't feel anything, we know it's
not their time. So anyways, we knocked their door the next day and she answered. We
offered a blessing on her home and she said she would love it but she would love
for her husband to be there. She said to come back the next day. When we went
back, her husband was running late from work and wasn't home. She invited us in
and cried to us about how she wants to change. We
testified to her and asked if we could come back the next day. So Saturday night
we went back and her husband was there :) He was SO nice and invited us in. We
had an AMAZING discussion with them and taught a first lesson. The spirit was so
strong. We invited them to baptism and they said they wanted to pray about it.
They are so excited to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true.
They have an amazing desire to grow. It was so amazing!!!! I haven't had a lesson like that in so long. I left their
house full of gratitude. But before we left we gave a blessing on the home. We
asked what blessings they needed and I offered up the prayer. I felt the spirit
so strong. I blessed that Trina would know who she was, a daughter of God, with
divinity in her. I blessed that Michael would turn to the Lord in all things and
as he did so, he would be able to help his wife. I was crying at the end of the
prayer. As I opened my eyes, Michael was glowing. His countenance has changed.
We have an appt with them tomorrow and I can't wait. :)
So that is 2 new investigators.
Then last night we went to see ------- I have talked about her a lot
before. She is not a member, but all her family is(kids, husband). She comes
weekly and even went to girls camp. She is so scared to take the lessons because
she doesn't want to take them and feel it isn't true and disappoint everyone.
Well a couple weeks ago I left her an invitation to prayerfully seek out taking
the lessons(she has been asked my many missionaries and has yet to really take
them as far as I know). Last night we had an appt. with her. We really studied
hard before going over on how we could help her say yes. We got to her house and
I said we were there to follow up on her prayer. She laughed and said she loved
how honest I was...she paused and said, "I'll take them." Oh my GOSH! I about
died. I didn't even have to try to convince her. Her husbands mouth dropped
because she hadn't told him. Oh my gosh. It was amazing. We talked then about
her fears, how she could really know it's true and just it was amazing. She was
crying and I just know she will be baptized SOON. :) She is ready. What a
miracle. We told some of the ward council and everyone is SO excited. This has
been a long time coming. So excited I get to teach her.
Another investigator. Three total this week!!! :) YAY! The Lord has truly
blessed us for trying so hard to do all we can. It's amazing. I feel so blessed.
I'm so excited I get to finish my mission this way.
WHat else this week? We had a relief society activity and ------- came :) She
met some women in the ward which was great. Our relief society president is
really reaching out to her. I also went to the Temple this week :) The new video
is amazing and I loved it. It made me think a lot more and understand things
more fully.
Also, one more cool story. It was pouring rain and a huge storm. We had 15
minutes in between appointments and I didn't want to waste the time. We prayed
how we could fill our time. Sister Hauet said we should visit some less actives.
I felt we should go see -------. We showed up and she let us in because
it was pouring rain. We got to talk to her and her fiance and they
are letting us come back :) She was so willing to have us back in her home.
Hopefully we get to teach them, too.
So, that was my week. I feel just on top of the world right now. I'm so
happy that success is finally coming. I'm finding a true love for so many people
here in Parker.
I'm grateful for the church. I know I needed to come on a mission to
overcome so much of my past and develop into who the Lord wants me to be. I'm
grateful I'm changed. LOVE YOU ALL :)
-Sister Baker
