Oct. 29, 2012

Welll hello family :)

HOW ARE YOU ALL?! Hope so great :) Hope your week was awesome.

P day was good this week thanks to all the birthday cards/money. :) We went shopping and had a blast. I was in need of a good shopping trip haha.

So in our mission we started a new program called ATM. This program has us set up appointments with members, have them pray to know of someone they can share the gospel with, we then share the story of Joseph Smith and bear our testimonies, and then ask the member to bear their testimony and then ask who came to mind. I was really kind of scared to start it. BUT this week we were given 5 names of people that members could talk to or that we could visit. It's been really cool.

Tuesday we went to the Hawkens and tried to program out on them. I began to cry as I shared the story of Joseph Smith. I don't usually get emotional as I share that story... but I couldn't help but keep crying. I just love the church and I'm so grateful it's been restored.

It's finally getting cold here! YAY! I've been wearing jackets and tights and scarves. I love it! :) We had a lesson with ------ this week. We didn't get to go to the temple Saturday but we should be going with him on Thursday! :) 

So we were tracting this week and as we were standing on this doorstep a car drove by and I made eye contact with the driver. Well, the people at the house didn't asnwer and we moved on. A couple minutes later that same car I made eye contact pulled into the driveway of the house that didn't answer. They had totally avoided us. hahah. SOOO, we went back and knocked on their door.. and now we have a return appointment with the lady who lives there and she is excited about the BoM... Persistence pays off :) hahah.

So this week, we have been feeling really down. We can't seem to find anyone to teach.. we have been all over the place and it's just been rough. BUT THE LORD PLACED MIRACLES IN OUR PATH YESTERDAY. Sis H and I have been trying to focus on making goals that are from the spirit and trusting that we can reach those goals. Well, yesterday morning we went to Westcliff to speak. I spoke on gaining our own testimonies and it went really well :) I talked about how I gained a testimony and the trials I faced. I used a lot of quotes from Elder Bednars talk this last conference called "Converted to the Lord." Westcliff is this crazy small town and the LDS church is literally a mobile home.... SO CRAZY haha. It was an hour away and we got to drive through the mtns. There was fire in the mtns. last week and we got to see the damage to some homes. SO sad. But anyways. It was fun to go to Westcliff. While speaking I bore my testimony on how the Lord places us in our families for a reason. I'm so grateful He gave me a family that would save me through my trials. Thanks fam bam :)

So once we got back to Pueblo we thought there would be no way we would reach our goals since the day was half way over. We had to go pick up our dinner calendar and I felt prompted to go tracting by the ladies house we picked our calendar up at. We needed 3 more baptismal invites and to find 2 people with date. We weren't finding much success but we decided to hit another street. We met a guy and we began to share about the BoM and then told him the story of Joseph Smith. He loved it and said he was searching for something like this :) MIRACLE. He accepted a date and is excited to have us come back. So that was one with a date, and we had gotten 2 invites out at this point. We needed one more invite and one more person with a date. It was getting pretty dark and we needed to get home. BUT we decided to talk to one person right when we were getting into the car. As we turned around a lady walked around the corner. We ran over to her and started to talk to her. She told us of her trials in life. I read Alma 7:11-12 with her and when I looked up tears were rolling down her face. She said she knew it was the word of God!!!!!!!! And we continued to testify. She said she recently became christian in Feb but doesn't have a church to attend. We bore testimony of ours and when we invited her to be baptized she looked down, paused, and said " I'm ready." OH MY GOSH. Such a miracle. She is having so many trials right now and is so excited to learn and be baptized now. The Lord truly provides when we are focused on His will, NOT ours. Happy Happy day :) What a great way to end the week. :)

Some crazy stories of the week. Some guy tried to bash with us for an hour. We just sat there testifying. Anyways, he asked what blessings I've seen since being a Mormon. I stated simply, "I'm happy" He said, "that's it?" I just smiled. Of course that is it!!!! That is all I need.  Adam fell that men might be, men are that they might have joy. It's sad that people don't understand that. So in talking to him, I gained a testimony of the fact that I'm happy and that my testimony has become more solid. I didn't feel any need to defend myself to him. I know what I know, and I love my testimony. :)

Needless to say, I'm so happy today. The church is true. I'm so blessed and I'm grateful I have a testimony. :)

I LOVE YOU ALL :)

MISS YOU ALL!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN :) :) :)

-Sister Baker

Oct 22,2012

Hello familia :)

How are you all? I hope so great! :)

WOW.. This week was rough days.... Sis H got sick with my throw up sickness this week. And I had a cold all week.  But.. I do feel a lot better! I can't believe how sick I always am. It's probably because I'm so stressed out all of the time. But I guess it might just be the trial of my mission and I just get over it and move on.

For P-day.. there is a HUGE mural down by the river here. I kept singing "down by the river..."We took pictures down where all the artwork is. It was fun. The mural goes for sooo long. People just have drawn tons of stuff all over the place. It's like a huge graffiti wall. Pretty cool. So we had fun walking down there and talking about crazy missionary life hah.

Then Tuesday was interviews. They were really good. I had a good interview with President Anderson and then a good Interview with Sister Anderson.After interviews I have a deeper appreciation for them. President and I talked about training and how it's been going. I told him that I struggle sometimes with the aspect of perfection but that I truly loved Elder Uchtdorfs talk on happiness. We talked about how satan makes us feel discouraged and upset when we aren't perfect..and Heavenly Father just wants us to be our best. Perfection comes in the next life. It was really good to talk to him about it. We also talked about Willie and I started to cry because I'm just so happy that I got to teach Willie. President and I were both getting teary eyed talking about finding people we were meant to find on our missions. It was good. I'm grateful for him. We also have workshops on interview days and sis H was throwing up... she threw up like 5 times while at interviews sooo.. we left early and were in until Friday :( It was soooo aweful. I tell ya... missions are so hard and you are tired all the time.. and you just wish that you could stay in for a day and sleep... but then when you get to stay in.. it sucks. We were so dang bored. But so sick. Our district leader even asked us not to come to district meeting because he didn't want us to get others sick. I guess tons of people in our mission have been sick with the throw ups too. But like I said before.. staying in is hard.. but it's fun to get to know Sis H better. We played scrabble, phase 10, and life over and over again and just laughed as we layed there dying together. Toi took care of us too. She brought us dinner two nights and came and visited us haha. I love her so!

Friday we went out for a little bit. We saw ------- and I love her so much. I think I told you, but we had her write down 50 things that she loved about herself. She had a hard time doing it.. but finally got like 47 things or something like that. It was cool to read her list and see the talents that she has. She is awesome. I'm so excited to see her continue to progress. Hopefully we can get her to the temple again. We did some tracting too. So that was good. Then we went to the ------- and we had a birthday party celebration there too. We had cupcakes and everyone sang to me.. it was fun :) I love that family.

We went to the adult session of stake conference and it was really good! I sat with the Hamlers :) So that was fun. Then a guy named Constantine in my ward had us and the Elders over for another birthday party at his house. He bbq'd and had cake and ice cream. It was fun! I'm so grateful for all the people who celebrated my birthday with me!

Yesterday was regional stake conference.. did you guys have the same thing? It was pretty good. They talked about how we shouldn't be "usual". We need to be different as members of the church! Before stake conference.. there was a "new member meeting." The boyds and willie came. They all bore testimony and it was awesome :) Terrance.. who is 11.. got up and started to cry and said that Sis H and I were like his sisters. How dang cute. He is the sweetest kid. I love seeing the gospel change lives and feeling so much love for the people I get to teach.

Then we went to Toi's. You guys saw the pics :) It was a good day. I was so sad I didn't get to have you here for my bday... BUT..I'm so grateful I have Toi.. She made me feel right at home. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE GIFTS :) :) :) I loved them!!!!!!!

I miss you all so much. Love you all :)

-Sister Baker