This week has been pretty dang good.
So most of you know, but I am training, and it's going pretty good. Her
name is Sister Jones. She is waiting for her visa to Brazil and we are starting
to become friends. I told her of
my struggles when I first got out and how the Lord helps us grow in ways that we
could of never imagined!! It's so true though. I have had so much growth since I
have been on my mission.
So Parker stake is AMAZING. Saturday morning we had breakfast at one of the
members of the Stake Presidency's homes. The whole zone came and we all got to
know each other. Some wards in this mission have 4 SETS of missionaries in their
wards. Right now in Parker, a lot of wards have 2 sets. There are 12 SETS of
missionaries in this stake. It's amazing. Then on Sunday, we had a big meeting
with all the missionaries, the stake presidency, the bishops, and all the ward
mission leaders. We talked about allowing the work to move forward here and how
we will utilize the members to do that. The meeting was at 6.. yesterday I was
in meetings from about 6AM to 6PM.. It was insane. But so beneficial. The work
is moving forward here. We had that meeting in the morning, then we met with the
ward council, then we met with the ward missionaries, and then we had a meeting
with our Bishop. SO GREAT. Our Stake Presidency is making it so that our ward
mission leaders are basically making our schedules. The ward mission leaders are
supposed to fill any gap we have in the day with meaningful appointments. This
will allow us to have at least 20 lessons a week and constantly be busy. It's so
cool. I've NEVER been in a ward or stake sooooooo on top of things. I feel so
blessed right now.
Sister Jones and I have been busy EVERY day this week ALL day. It's been
such a blessing. We have had appointments and meetings and just lots of things
to do. We are starting to implement a family mission plan here so we are meeting
with all the members of the ward. The stake also provided every companionship
with a thumb drive that has 4 presentations on it. The presentations are for
JustServe.org, mormon.org, family tree, and
pathways program. So we can start showing these to members as well to help them
do missionary work. We have so many "tools" to use and now we get to see the
miracles start coming by implementing them.
So at the front of our planners there are all these finding ideas. Our
mission president committed us all to using all the finding ideas. So Sister
Jones and I have been doing that. One of them says to go to funeral homes and
get our names on the clergy list. We found a funeral home in our area and were
super skeptical to go in. But we felt we should. So when we went in, we were so
welcomed. Turns out the owner, who greeted us, is a less active member. She was
so excited we dropped in. She said other churches have tried to put things in
the funeral home but that she didn't accept. But she gladly accepted our help and
told us we could put cards in there for people to call us if they needed help.
It was truly a miracle. :)
Also, this week I have had such a renewed desire to work hard and be
obedient. Sister Jones and I have been getting up and just trying to make sure
we do everything right. I see the Lord blessing us for doing so.
Yesterday we had an amazing lesson with ------. We taught it with the
Elders because technically he is supposed to be in the ward they are in.
Anyways, he hasn't been coming to church a ton, so we taught it on obedience and
the Sabbath day. we were all nervous because we didn't have much time to
coordinate our lesson plans together. But the Spirit just took over. I felt the
spirit so strong in the lesson, stronger than I have in awhile. I'm not sure
what is going on in his life, but I was able to promise him that if he will
go to church every week that all the things that are going on in his life will
be sorted out. The spirit was SO strong. It was so powerful. The other 3
missionaries there then testified of my promise made and it was so amazing to
have all of us testify to him. He committed to coming to church and he is getting
baptized in Peru on the 4th of August :) :) I'm so excited and happy for him.
It's a miracle. He is so ready. We are getting all the details sorted out with
the mission president in Peru.
This week I have just felt so good about life. I feel like these next few
weeks I have are going to fly by and that I'm going to enjoy my last bit here if
I work hard. I feel at peace, and I just have been able to look back on the
growth I have made. I'm so blessed to be here. I'm so blessed to have a
testimony. There is no greater gift at this time than to know what I know.
I LOVE YOU ALL :)
-SIster Baker
