Perspective

I've had a lot on my mind the past couple of days. I guess you could say I've been suppressing my inner feelings on the latest events in my life. 

Supress: 
Prevent the development, action, or expression of (a feeling, impulse, idea, etc.)

The opposite would be to stimulate, encourage, incite. 

Suppression isn't very healthy in my eyes. I'm living unhealthy right now. My body isn't functioning normally. I'm tired. I'm eating bad food. I'm moody. I'm irritable. I'm indecisive. I'm worried. I'm sad. But I'm not facing it. 

The reason being?

I guess the reason being is I don't want to face the fact that my grandpa is really dead. He's gone. And normally, death wouldn't be very hard on me, because I have a testimony that there is a far greater plan than I can even comprehend. A plan that allows families to be together forever in the presence of God. I believe this plan unfolds for the righteous. My grandpa was and is one of the best humans I have ever met. But he knew so much about the gospel and never accepted it. I believe there is hope on the other side; I believe it with all my heart. But I also believe that we must do our part here on earth to gain the help necessary on the other side. I want to believe that my grandpa will have another chance. And I believe he can. But did he know too much? Did my family not push him enough to find faith? Now my faith is being tried. And it's one of the hardest things I've dealt with. I don't want to deal with his death because I don't want to face reality. But I need to. I need to trust that Heavenly Father has a plan. I need to remember the things I've learned all my life, and the things I taught others on my mission. I need to recognize that Heavenly Father's plan is a perfect plan, full of mercy and grace to those who have lived righteous lives. Easier said then done.

Let me tell you about my grandpa. He was sarcastic 98 percent of the time. He didn't like being told what to do. He always wanted to sleep in. He loved fox news. He always kindly offered me a beer even though he knew I wouldn't accept. He supported my family even though he is my step grandpa. He never let me forget how much he loved me. He never stopped giving. He never stopped loving. He never stopped acting as Christ would. And for that reason, I know he will be okay. I know I'll see him in full glory again one day, because it would only make sense that someone as wonderful as him would make it to live with God again.

During church on Sunday, I bore my testimony. I talked of my grandpa, and my faith in the plan of salvation. I sat down, and felt so touched that my grandpa was in the room with me. I could feel his love, as if he were right next to me, cracking a joke and teasing me to let me know he loves me. Emotional? Yes. The comfort I needed from Heavenly Father? Precisely. 

Today I went to the temple for the first time in a few months. It was beautiful. And once again I was brought to tears knowing that my prayers are heard, and all is well in the hands of God. 

I guess I just never thought I'd be old enough to see life change so much. I'm 24. Not married. Not graduated. Seeing my grandparents pass away. Friends pass away. Friends get married and have children. People moving on. ETC ETC ETC. The list could go on for days.

That being said. I am happy. I have a great life. Great family. Great boyfriend. Great friends. And all is well. Sometimes you have to take a step back, and recognize what is really important. 

I hit my car the other day. Normally it'd really bother me. But considering the fact that my car is a temporal item and I just lost a loved one, my car means nothing. What matters is how I treat the things that will last till the eternities, and that includes myself. 

It's all about perspective. 

Life is good. It is oh so good. Enjoying the journey is a must. I can either be mad that roses have thorn bushes or be happy that thorns have roses.

Women

Today in church we had a wonderful lesson. I was privileged to be able to feel the sweet spirit testify to me of a few things that I think are important for all women to know, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or not. I hope that others who read this post may be touched and feel the same sweet feelings I felt by the spirit during the lesson today.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the church I attend I want to take a moment to explain. Church, which takes place every Sunday, consists of three meetings. The meetings for those who are graduated and older are Sacrament, Sunday school, and then either Relief Society or Priesthood. Relief Society is for the women to attend and Priesthood is where all of the men attend. We believe as members of this church, that we have the Priesthood authority restored to our church and that men, during that meeting, better understand their Priesthood responsibilities and build brotherhood. The women learn of their sacred calling as women, and how to provide "relief" to our sisters in need. I also spoke of something called "the spirit" in the above paragraph. We believe in the godhead, The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost. We believe they are separate beings and that the Spirit has the ability to touch our hearts with warm, good feelings such as joy, peace, love, meekness, etc.

Okay now that you understand a little about our church, let me explain to you why I titled this women and what the lesson was all about.

The lesson took place in Relief Society and was based on a talk that was given in a General Conference. The talk was on women and their divine nature. For sometime in my life, I have struggled with self-esteem. I think most women have/currently do. I've been through things that no one should ever go through. I've had certain individuals tear me down to the point that I felt completely worthless. I want no one to feel that way, ever. God did not intend for us to feel that way, or for us to tear others down to feel that way. I served a mission for my church and about half way through my mission, I was struggling really badly with my self-esteem. I'm not quite sure what happened to bring up past hurt that I had experienced, but I felt my worth and love for myself, once again, begin to decrease. As I was kneeling in earnest prayer to my Heavenly Father, I had a wonderful epiphany. I AM A DAUGHTER OF GOD. I had heard that all my life. But at that moment, it clicked. I knew that God, my Heavenly Father, had created me. And when I put myself down, I was putting my maker down. I had never before thought of it in such a way. I was created by an all powerful, loving Father. He made me, how I am, because HE LOVES ME. He made you how you are, because He loves YOU. Isn't that wonderful, and beautiful? You are actual offspring of someone who created you to be beautiful and eventually perfect. During the lesson today, the spirit once again testified to me of this sweet truth. I need not put myself down. That only draws me away from the greatest person I have in my life, my Heavenly Father. And it diminishes everything he has given me. (Men this is true for you too, but I sometimes I get really passionate about speaking to my Sisters :))

Another thing we discussed during the lesson was why we are sometimes, for lack of a better word, introverted while making friends with our fellow sisters. It got brought up that we as women tend to compare ourselves to others. Again, I had a sweet experience with the spirit. I thought about sisterhood, and what that really means. Think about it. What does it mean to you? Safety, unity, security, one to rely on, etc. The world is so, well, worldy. Everything is about how we look, designer clothes, getting fulfillment in any way possible and, sadly, often it's all about forgetting our values. I attend BYU-Idaho, and at times I can be surfaced and shallow. But let me tell you what I felt today and what I know to be true. Satan uses worldy, shallow tactics to remove any close relationships we can have with our sisters. As sisters, we can unite to overcome so much and be a powerful force in society. We have the ability as nurtures to do much good. As I've tried to reach out to those who don't dress like me, look like me, or seem like I would get along with, I've gained spiritual bonds, and strength that are worth much more than anyone's opinion of me. Don't you see? Satan doesn't want us strong. He wants us to tear ourselves down. He wants us to think we can't be as powerful or beautiful as the women next to us. But let me tell you something. You are worth so much more than you will ever know. As you step outside of yourself, turn to God, and befriend those around you, I promise you can find fulfillment in your life and strength to be better. Even if it's with someone you NEVER imagined you would associate yourself with.

I just wanted to write this post to let everyone know that they mean something. That they were created by a God, even their God. And to let you know that I know it to be true. I'm no feminist by any means, but I do believe in strength from sisterhood. We need each other in this ever frightening world.

Why Did It Take So Long?

Sometimes, things finally click in my head. And I'm like, what in the crap, why did it take so long for me to figure that out. I think we all have those moments, but I had one recently that really made me pause and reflect. The reflection actually still hasn't stopped occurring and I still can't get over the fact that it's taken me so long to figure this out. I bet by now you're wondering what I figured out, but hold on, let me fill you in on some previous things before I spill the beans. 

Ya know, this blog isn't for me to complain about my life, my emotions, men, or any of that crap. But for some reason, it still seems to happen, so here we go again. Brace yourself. 

When I was in high-school, I had fairly high self-esteem. I mean, it wasn't perfect by any means, but  I was comfortable with me and the person I saw not only directly in the mirror, but also who was underneath the image reflecting back at me. I had goals, I loved the gospel, I had a great family, etc. I began to date, get into trouble, and I found myself accepting the lowest forms of love from those I desperately wanted attention from. My self-esteem dropped to an ultimate low point and in a cry for help, I persistently pursued the negative attention I was receiving to, well, have just any form of attention. As a result, I've had self-esteem issues for many years. I think most girls struggle with this (and guys too for that matter, but society doesn't talk of that much). I struggle with it on deep levels. I have triggers. I expect certain responses and gestures from guys as a result of previous experiences. My mission for the LDS church was a great healing time for me. I prayed more than I ever had to see the beauty I posses as an individual. I sought priesthood council and read the words of modern day prophets to boost my self-esteem and heal my wounds. Healing came, but not to full extent. I came home from my mission and began the dating process all over again. I found myself allowing closed wounds to reopen. This time it wasn't any boys fault, it was my own. I was a victim, and acted as such. I still have scars, yes. But I don't need to re-open the wound by telling myself that I'm not worth anything. I found myself chasing guys and thinking "do they like me? do they want me? am I good enough?" Instead of "do I like them? do I want them? are they good enough?" I think sometimes, we as human beings with an innate desire to feel secure with another person, forget to see what's really good for ourselves. I know I've personally done that, and it's done nothing but tear me further down. So what I've realized, FINALLY, is that I am beautiful and worthwhile. I deserve to have everything I desire and it's about what I want! This is my eternal well-being at stake and you better believe I get a good say in whether or not I like him. I know I know. It's silly of me to finally say that all. But it finally clicked. I am worth something. So are you. So is your bestfriend. So is your mom, your dad, your cousin, and that random person you don't like to see on campus because they dress funny and pick their nose. We all have value and seeing that opens up millions of doors. 

So recognize your beauty. Recognize it's not about whether or not someone likes you, but whether or not you like them. What is best for you? Go find it. Today. And make it worth while. 

When it rains, it pours

But does that always have to be a bad thing? No it doesn't. Let me just relate a few of my thoughts to you today.

A little over 9 months ago I returned from serving a mission for the LDS church. It was the best experience of my life. Before serving my mission, I was involved in some pretty terrible things, but I, through the Lord's help and guidance, was able to turn my life around. I thought that life before my mission was hard.. I had it all wrong. Life is hard now. Harder than it ever has been. I have way less friends than I used to. I'm older than the average person at BYU-I. Some men think it's a turn off that I served a mission. I'm also kind of picky in many areas of my life in what  I want and feel I deserve. I've never been tempted harder with depression, anxiety, and lack of self-love than now. I feel that at times, my life is falling apart. This past week I had many eye opening experiences.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been really struggling. I don't like talking about the fact that I struggle with depression, but I do. I'm a perfectionist and I can't handle it when I make a mistake. I'm slowly beginning to realize that this attribute is terrible, and it causes me to forget the power of my Savior's death for me. Because of Him, I don't need to be perfect now, I just need to try my best. I tend to see life with the glass half empty. Some would say I'm a pessimist; I would say i'm a realist. Take it for what you want. Regardless of however you want to label me, I feel a sense of self-defeat when i'm less than perfect. As I've been severely struggling the last couple of weeks, I felt I should receive counsel from the Lord through a priesthood blessing. The church I belong to believes that we hold the priesthood, otherwise known as the power given to man to act in the name of God. I resisted and resisted the prompting I had to have a worthy male place his hands upon my head. One day, i had enough, and I knew I needed to receive the blessing. I called my co-worker up and asked if her husband would pronounce a blessing of comfort upon me. I won't go into detail of the words spoken in my blessing, but I will tell you that it admonished me to reflect upon my life and where it is going.

Last week, a friend that is dear to my heart came home from serving a mission for the LDS church as well. As we've hung out, I've noticed that I place expectations upon certain things in my life, and when they don't go as planned, I don't know how to handle it. This is my perfectionist side kicking in. I forget that the Lord has a far greater, eternal plan, that I can't always see. I forget to trust in him and him timing. Not only has my vision been completely wrong, my car broke down twice, I had to get it towed both times, and had to drop a thousand dollars on it to fix it that I DON'T have. My brother and his wife are also moving which has been hard on my family. A bunch of other little things have been going wrong everyday as well, and it got to the point where I thought I was going to burst. Why am I telling you all of this? I guess because I need to remind myself of something too. When life is pouring negativity on me in every direction, I don't need to let it bog me down. I need to enjoy the blessings in the trials.

So maybe things don't work out how I want to with every guy. Maybe I don't get married for a long time. Maybe I have no idea where my life is going.. but can't that be a blessing? Can't weeding out all the dumb guys be bringing me one step closer to my eternal companion? Why do I forget to see things in this light at times? So maybe I'm out a thousand dollars now, but maybe if I would have had my car working, I would have been in an accident or wouldn't have been able to spend as much time as I was able to with my family this weekend. Maybe the mechanic really needed the money. Or what about all the positive that is going on around me? How about the fact that someone sent me the longest email explaining to me that I, through my example since I've been home from the mission, have influenced him to attend church again. How about the fact that my family is healthy and I'm happy. How about the fact that not everything in life needs to be about me, but about how I can give of what I've been blessed with. I'm so blessed and I need to remember that more often. I need to forget myself. Forget the fact that I feel ugly at times. Forget that fact that I want to be perfect. Forget that fact that life isn't always filled with butterflies. I need to just say, I'm alive, i'm happy, and the Lord loves me. And because of that, tomorrow is brighter than today, and I can make it through.

And then it happens

Over the past few years, I've spent my life with walls up. Here. There. Sideways. You get the gist. Walls up like nobodies business. It's not a good way to live. But I've gotten by.

One of the worst feelings ever to me is 

V U L N E R A B I L I T Y 

vul·ner·a·ble 

adj.

   1.
            a. Susceptible to physical or emotional injury
            b. Susceptible to attack
             

Okay, no one can tell me that those two things sound nice. Because they don't. But life isn't always nice. And life isn't fair. And sometimes, just sometimes, you've got to take a risk. Take the walls down. Let people in. Open up. Smile for once. A real smile. Let yourself be free. Because truly, letting walls down is freeing. And since being home, I've tried to free myself. I've tried to push old drama behind me. I've tried to not create new drama. I've tried to let go. In return, I feel vulnerable. But. I have to realize that this can be a beautiful emotion. One that shows that innocence can still live within me. One that shows that love can be real. One that shows that I can be me. One that shows that life is full of surprises and every day presents me with an opportunity to learn something new.

I don't need to be so hard. I don't need to be so sassy. I just need to be happy, and love.

What i'm trying to get at here, is, I need to be okay with putting everything on the line. I need to be okay with possibly getting hurt. Because it happens. I used to think it was better to not love again, than to get hurt again. But i'm changing my mind. I'm starting a new chapter. And i'm letting go. Join me. It might be fun. <3

This is life now

Wow. Where do I even begin? I've been home for 8 weeks tomorrow. 2 months. Where did the time go? I feel a load of emotions, especially today. A family from Parker, the last area I served in, came by today. It was amazing to see them. It brought back a flood of emotions.

It's really hard to be home. On my mission, I knew who I was, and what I needed to accomplish. When I got home, I lost that identity. With that comes emotions I have never experienced before. Who am I? What is my purpose now? Does anyone care anymore? A woman in my last area who had served a mission told me that the hardest thing for her when she went home was that she wasn't the "main attraction" anymore. She went from being THE candle, to a candle among many other candles. I thought she was ridiculous for saying that. But now, I get it. No one cares about Britny the way they cared for Sister Baker. And, I need to be okay with that.

It's a stupid thought to have, but while serving, I just felt that time stood still at home. But it didn't. Life is changed now. People are changed. Most importantly, I'm changed. It's bittersweet.

Before my mission, I ran wild. People see me as that still. Or do they? Maybe i'm the only one who sees me as that still at times. I'm trying to mix crazy "old Britny" with returned missionary Britny. It's a hard thing to balance.

I think life is beautiful. I've contemplated many times since being home why God allows things to happen, specifically to me. Really, that is the beauty of life. We get to experience things and become something. What a beautiful gift it is.

Overall, although life is hard, I love it. My dad gave me a priesthood blessing tonight and it strengthened me. The church is true. The priesthood is real. My life is good. It is oh so good. I don't need to care what anyone says of me. All I need to do is care what God sees in me, and how I can become that person.

August 26, 2013

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

July 29, 2013

Hi everyone :)

How are you all? I hope oh so good :)

I'm doing so good right now! :) Life is good. Missionary work is great. 

So guess what happened this week.... I got my "death letter." This letter is the letter that says when I'm going home, what will happen the few days before I go home, how to make goals for life after the mission and so on. OH MY GOSH IT WAS SO WEIRD. I was like freaking out haha. I had gotten a call on Tuesday? And the mission office asked if I wanted to go home September 30th or November 11th. I feel like I'm supposed to go home in September so I told them that is when I wanted to go and she talked to me about scheduling my flight and what airport I wanted to fly in to. It was funny because Monday night I was telling Sister Jones I should be getting a death letter soon and then Tuesday I got that call. Then Wednesday I got the letter. I felt like in a daze when I read it. All of a sudden going home became real. It was weird. As I read over the letter it lead me to reflect on my mission and how far I have come and how fast the next 2 months will go. I can't believe that I'm actually a missionary still and that it's almost over. I'm such a different person now. I am so grateful I have this chance to serve. Best thing I have ever done. I'm glad the Lord continued to prompt me to come after I tried to fight the promptings so many times.

Yesterday, there was a new member fireside and I was talking to Brother Pulsifer (the High Councilor for missionary work whom I just love because he reminds me of you dad) and we were talking about me going home. He has a daughter serving right now, too, and we were talking about how the mission changes the missionary more than anything. I talked to him about how I was inactive before I came out and I felt like an idiot in the MTC because I didn't know what anyone was talking about. I then bore my testimony to him about how I finally have a testimony and about how the atonement is real. He then said, "Sister Baker, the first couple weeks of your mission, you needed your mission. After that, the mission needed you. GO YOU. You are a strong woman. Parker needs you, and so do the other Sisters here." It was like the nicest thing ever to hear someone say that.  After talking to him and going home, I was writing in my journal and I had such an OVERWHELMING feeling of peace. People keep asking me if I feel stressed and keep wondering if "I've done enough as a missionary" and last night I felt peace that I have. I have of course made mistakes along the way of being a missionary, but I feel that I have become who Christ intended me to become out here. It's great to look back and feel accomplished. I'm so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost that gives us that comfort to allow us to know we are doing enough. 

We did some more service this week at both the farms and it was awesome :) I love being on the farm. Okay.. so I would never want to actually live on a farm.. but it's fun for like 5 hours a week. I shoveled up poop this week and everyone there says I'm an expert lama herder because I always catch them when we have to take them out hahahhaah. Ya... I'm a pro farm girl.. what can I say ;)

We had a lesson with the -------family this week. We taught the girl who just got baptized.. and HER DAD SAT IN :) It was so great. He totally was listening to everything, too. We made a point to talk a LOT about families being together forever because we were teaching the plan of salvation. It went so well. SIster------- text us afterwards and said he loved us :) Making progress!!!! YAY!!

We saw Moises this week, too. He is doing so great. He is like the most prepared person ever. He moves Saturday, but I will still be keeping in touch with him. So grateful I got to teach him.

 RIght now we are on the search for more people to teach. It's a rough area to find.

Oh, also, this week we had interviews. I LOVE my new mission President. He is amazing and so in tune with the spirit. It was funny, we started the interview and he goes, "Sister, I hate to say this, but you're going home soon!" So we talked about staying focused on my mission but also having goals for back home. HE let me get online and look up my schooling just to see where I am at. It was cool to get on and see what classes I had taken and stuff because I couldn't remember anything because well I haven't thought about it for 16 months haha. So he is being so cool and I just love him.

Well, that was my week. The church is true :)

LOVE YOU ALL

-Sister Baker

July 15, 2013

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

June 24, 2012

How are you all doing? I hope so great :) My week was pretty good. This week I have really gained a renewed desire for the work. It's been amazing.

 

So we have been doing service quite a bit for this lady, and she is not a member. She is an older lady, and the first time we did service for her, she was pretty stand off-ish. She didn't seem appreciative at all that we were helping her. But we have continued to do service for her, and now we have built a relationship with her :) We love going over to her house and she is so appreciative of all we do now. She has become our friend and she is even opening up about her beliefs. The last two times we went over, we were able to share a thought with her and say a prayer as well. She is coming along. In most of my other areas, all the service opportunites came just from members. It's been such a testimony builder to me to see how Lynn is opening up just from us serving her and not pushing anything on her. We are building a friendship with her and now she is trusting us. It makes me just want to go and serve everyone!!!!  Because it truly opens doors. I can't remember if I mentioned this, but the Denver North mission is piloting a program for the church, along with just one another mission. They are becoming a part of justserve.org and it's all about service in the community. So going into the new mission will be fun and full of service! I am excited.

 

We met with -------- this week, and he is doing so good. There was a baptism on Friday night and we called him and asked if he would like to attend. He agreed to come and meet with us beforehand. We hadn't seen him in awhile so we were hesitant about how the meeting would go. But it went great. We talked about baptism because he had never attended a baptism for our church before and he told us that he had been thinking a lot about his own baptism and that he knows it is the thing to do! He is amazing. His dream is to be baptized in Peru where he was introduced to the church and where his family is. We told him that we had been praying a lot about when he could be baptized and we knew he could be baptized on July 7th. We invited him to take the question of when he should be baptized to the baptismal service. During the service he was really paying attention. Afterwards he told us how great it was. He said that after seeing the person baptized with so many family members around he too wanted to be baptized in Peru with his family around. When he said these words, I felt peace and knew that it would be good for his family to see his baptism for they are not members. We are continuing to teach him and the first week of August he has a flight to Peru to be baptized there :) SO that is exciting.

 

On Wednesday this week, we had a specialized training. It was on family history and obedience. It was so good. I felt the spirit so strong. I also had a good interview with President Anderson.. since I won't be seeing him again till a mission reunion or something. I was able to meet my new mission president and I voiced to him that I wanted to train my last two transfers. President Anderson also told him that he would like me to train again as well..so hopefully that happens. I'm excited about my new Mission President and Wife.. they are AWESOME! It's what I need. I need a new boost.. and a new mission.. 

 

Then this week we went on exchanges. I got to go with Sister Kartchner.. my like most favorite companion..and it was JUST what I needed. She goes home in a transfer and we both have been struggling with similar things. We set goals and decided how we can finish strong. It's truly what gave me the desire to be a more motivated missionary. I love that girl. While together, we said prayers for each other and it was amazing. I'm just excited to be here.. and to see the work go forward in this rough area.

 

This week we taught a lesson on prayer and it was awesome. We taught about how the atonement was a prayer.. and what that signifies. I love prayer. I have such a testimony of it.

 

That is my week :) LOVE YOU ALL

 

-SIster Baker

June 3,2013

Hello Everyone :)

SOOOOOO... I'm getting transferred to Parker... I'm not sure.. but I think I might be going to a new mission? But I don't know. There is a part of Parker that is going to now be in the Denver South mission... but I don't know where the boundries are and for sure where I will be. Parker is a rich area from what I know. I guess it's pretty hard to work there. But I'm so excited. Sister Iva is my companion.. she is from Samoa. I love her! She is way cool. We can't open our transfer call paper that says what exactly is happening because it doesn't work on the computer I am on.. So that is all I know. But we are flushing the area together! SO CRAZY :) I'm super excited. I love Salida.. but I need a change in my life for sure. I'm way sad that Sister Hansen won't be my companion anymore.. but that's what missions are all about.. getting new areas and new companions.

This week went pretty good though. Right now we are in Alamosa. There was a baptism down here last night and lots of missionaries went. Then we stayed the night at the Sisters and the zone is having a BBQ for Pday. Should be fun :)

So, our new ward mission leader is amazing. He is really doing great at fellow shipping. ------is still planning on being baptized on Sunday. Too bad I won't be here.. but I think the baptism will surely happen and him and his dad will work together to become clean for life :) I'm so happy with the success that has been had in Salida.

Yesterday in church, there were so many less actives that came and women who stay at the nursing home. It was so fun to see so many people at church my last week there. While sitting in Sacrament, I felt prompted to bear my testimony. I wasn't really sad before bearing my testimony about leaving (I found out I was getting transferred Thursday), but when I got up and looked at the Branch I had to fight back tears. I really love Salida. It's been rough.. as every area has been.. but I truly love so many people there. Sister Cole got up and bore her testimony and talked about me and Sister Hansen as she just cried. It was so nice. So many people that I wasn't even that close with in the Branch pulled me aside and told me what a blessing I have been and how much they will miss me. One member told me that I am a special missionary. So nice. I felt so loved yesterday and just heart broken about leaving. But I know my time is up and that a new area needs me :)

Anyways, that is about it for the week. I feel all frazzled right now because I'm going to a new mission I think and it's just CRAZY :)

But I am just so glad that I am a missionary. I love being here. I know the church is true :)

LOVE YOU ALL

-Sister Baker

so it's confirmed.. I'm going to a new mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April 8

My week was really good! It seems like a blur though. It flew by. The days are all blending together and time is going too fast. AHH. Hahha

Sister Hansen and I are starting to go to all the YW activites because there is only one active YW and she is a convert. So we went to the activity this week and it was fun to hang out with the YW girl. She is hilarious.

So on Friday night, Sister Hansen and I were planning for Saturday. We had nothing scheduled in except for conference and dinner. I had the impression that we should do a fast to find people to teach and to also receive the answers we are seeking for from conference. Sister Hansen thought it was a great idea. We said a prayer and felt that we should fast to find 3 new people ready for baptismal dates. We also asked to receive answers to prayers from the prophets. After the Sat morning session, we didn't take a lunch break.. we just tracted for those 2 hours. Then after the Sat afternoon session, we went tracting for another 2 and a half hours before dinner. We taught SOOOOO many lessons. Found 2 new investigators. Invited like 4 people to be baptized. And just felt so good. We didn't find 3 people wiht a date like we wanted.. but as I was pondering whether my faith was strong enough.. I got to thinking about my will vs. the Lord's will. Just because we wanted to see that, doesn't mean the Lord had it in store for us that day. We did see so many miracles and I know that we were blessed for our fast. I received all the answers I wanted from conference and learned an important lesson about the Lord's will. Needless to say, we were exhausted that evening when we went in. It had been a long, good day. We worked our butts off. We met a lady while tracting who I really feel will be baptized. Her name is Beverley and she is awesome. She is about 70.. and when she opened the door she told us that she is searching for a church and that she is really going through a lot of changes in her life. She just sold her business, her husband passed away and she doesn't like the teachings of her church. We taught her the story of the restoration and the spirit was so strong. We invited her to be baptized but she said she couldn't commit right now. She told us that it's so interesting that we showed up because her best friend has been saying he wants to attend the LDS church. I told her that it is not by chance that we knocked her door, but that the Lord wants her to hear our message. 

Yesterday was good. I just love conference. And Elder Holland is the MAN! I love him. He is such a power house. I loved his talk.

When I was young.. conference seemed to take forever to be over. Now... It goes by too fast. I want more! hahah. I love conference and it was much needed. It was so uplifting to hear the great words of the modern day prophets. I feel refreshed and ready to do the work. :) I love being a missionary.

Saturday just made me so happy to be a missionary. IT made me not want to waste any of the time I have left here. There is a great work to be done in Salida and I want to see it accomplished.

Other than that, not much is new. Sister Hansen and I are getting along a lot better. She is funny. She is so innocent.  SHe has opened up a lot and we have good times together. I'm glad I'm training her :)

I love this gospel.

2 Nephi 2: 5-6. I read these and thought of the promised land as being the Celestial Kingdom. We can't obtain it wihtout the hand of the Lord, His atonement. :)

LOVE YOU ALL :)

-Sister Baker

March 18, 2013

Hi everyone :)

I'm doing pretty good myself here. Salida is crazy! It's hippie-ville haha and I LOVE IT. Like, it's unreal how hippie this town is. But everyone here is super friendly.

My new girls name is SIster Hansen. She is 19! Super crazy. She is from Pleasant Grove, Utah.  Yesterday we were both sick.. I think the elevation and weather change is killing us. She has a great testimony and talks a ton for being a new missionary. 

We live in an apt. It's pretty nice, but freezing!!! Like we woke up and our place was 50 degrees even though I had it set to 70. So we need to figure that out haha.

Salida is super small with tons of antique stores and little downtown shops. The branch is crazy haha the average age in the branch is 60.. and there are only 3 active youth. It's weird hah.  But I already love it here. :)

I'm kind of struggling. Opening a new area has been rough. But the branch has been really nice to us! We are super far away from everyone, too, which is hard. THe closest elders to us are about an hour away. Our district meeetings are an hour and 15 minutes away haha. It's crazy! So I just feel kind of lost right now, but I know in due time it will all get better! I know I am supposed to be here, so that is comforting. We also have a senior couple here with us, they are Elder and SIster Chandler.. and they are great! They have helped me not feel so alone.

As for the ------'s baptism.. IT was wonderful :)  When they got baptized, we walked behind the doors with them to put their hair up and stuff before they went into the water, so we got to be watching from the side when they got baptized. -------- went first and when she came out of the water, her and her dad embraced and she started to cry. The spirit was so strong! Then she came and stood by us as -------- went down to the font. When she came out of the water, same thing, her dad and her embraced and she began to cry. It was so wonderful. It was amazing to see it finally happen.  I know that our fast. It was great.  I am so happy I got to witness them finally be baptized. What a great way to leave the area.

I miss Sister Kartchner a lot! We got along so well, it's sad that it only lasted for 5 weeks!

I also got to see Toi which was fun! I love her! It was good to see some people from Pueblo that I love so much. We have a meeting in Pueblo tomorrow and the ------s are coming to see me in town! I'm so excited! They have been baptized for almost a year! It's crazy!!! They can get sealed in May! LOVE IT!

So, that is all the updates. I can't believe how fast my mission is flying by. It makes me want to cry!! I hit my year mark on the 28th. Unreal. What a blessing it has been to serve.

Also, I was reading the other day in Ether about the Brother of Jared. I love that he asks the Lord how to get light and how to breathe. The Lord answers how to breathe in the barges. So, then the Brother of Jared takes the question of how to get light a second time to Lord and the Lord asks him what he thinks he should do. I was thinking about my mission and how I got an answer that I needed to be out here, and now the Lord puts a lot of faith in me to know what to do! I was thinking about how important prayer is and that when we really pray, that is when we build that relationship with Heavenly Father. Then when we follow the revelation He gives us, He puts more faith in us. I just love the scriptures. I am just about done reading the Book of Mormon a second time through out here. I'm learning so much from it.

I LOVE YOU ALL :)

there are signs like this all over town

March 11, 2013

Hi everyone :)

I'm doing so good right now :)

I"M GOING TO SALIDA :) I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!! It just feels right, ya know? Sister K is staying here in both wards and training two new girls. I will go to Salida and have one new girl. We are opening up the area, too. No missionaries were there this last transfer, so should be exciting. Training, flushing, and opening the area. Too crazy! It is kind of stressful, but pretty exciting. We looked up pictures of it and it looks so pretty. Looks like my kind of town. I hear it's kind of a hippie-ville. Can't wait. :) Hahaha. Salida has been requesting sisters for awhile now so I know the branch is really excited for us to come. I pray my new girl is great and that we find success there.

-----'s baptism was AMAZING. So amazing. SO MANY PEOPLE CAME. We have a huge relief society room and it was FULL. When he was baptized the spirit was so dang strong. After, while he was changing, I got to share the first lesson with everyone in the room. I was crying the whole time. I was just so overcome with the spirit. It was such a great moment for me to talk at his baptism.  He told his conversion story and the whole room was just silent. The spirit was so strong. Then, a member in the ward got up and started to cry as he presented the LDS artwork of "fishers of men." The ward pitched in to get it for him. The member read from the talk by Elder Holland called "the first great commandment".. He told ------ that he was now a disciple. It was truly amazing. The spirit was so strong.

The best part of the whole baptism, was seeing how happy he was. He looked different. He looked happy. I asked him if he was happy afterwards, he smiled, and said he was so happy.

I just can't get over how much the Lord is truly blessing me. We are seeing so much less active work done, investigators baptized, the ward becoming more unified, etc. It's just so great.

I have such a testimony of this gospel. I have a testimony of the power of prayer. I've truly come to understand that Heavenly Father is my Father. I know Jesus Christ died so that each one of us could live again. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that obedience is so important in this work. I love that each one of us have different personalities. Through our different personalities we can change peoples lives. What a blessing.

I love this gospel.

LOVE YOU ALL :)
MISS YOU, TOO.

-Sister Baker :)

Feb 11, 2013

So, this week was SOOOOOOO good. Oh My Gosh. Seriously. So good. Dangit, I forgot my planner, so lets hope I can remember everything haha.

Monday, as you know was pday and I found out I would be staying and getting a new comp. Tuesday, we spent saying goodbye to a lot of people and then Sister T packed up. Wednesday, we woke up, packed up the car, and went to transfer meeting. 21 new missionaries came to our mission, with 7 of them being sisters. AMAZING. The meeting was really long due to the amount of missionaries, but it was fun to see so many missionaries that I have served around. Then after the meeting, Sister Kartchner and I left and went back to our place.

Sister K is from Maryland. Well, she grew up in Utah, and moved to the East when she was 14. She has been out 1 transfer longer than me, so she is about to hit her year mark. She is seriously like my favorite companion thus far, and we have only been together for not even a week. I LOVE HER! We are so much alike, yet so different that it just works. She is so cool, and such a good missionary. She has a strong desire to be obedient and to work hard, just like I do, so we compliment each other well! Wednesday night I took her to meet the Arnolds because they are my favorite family and then we had correlation meeting so she got to meet the ward mission leader in Gleneagle ward. Wednesday night we stayed up talking for a little bit about how we both have felt that we were going to serve with each other since we met earlier in our missions. We know that we will only be together for this transfer because we are both training this upcoming transfer from what president has told us and so we talked about the work we have to do here. We both feel like so many miracles are on there way to us. We are excited to see the work move forward. Even Brother Sherwood, the member we live with, said that we are the dream companionship and that so much work will be done!

Thursday, we met with the ------. They are getting baptized March 2 at 630. I can't wait :) They are the cutest. Sister K already loves them! So it's just great! Then we had a lesson with ---- that night. AND OUR LESSON WENT SO WELL!  We watched the restoration with him, and talked about how before Joseph Smith prayed he experienced opposition.  I also talked about obedience. And that's what this is really about(thanks mom;)) So overall, great lesson.  The Lord is truly working through us.

We also went to the soup kitchen Thursday and it was so much fun! It was crazy... we got hit on a lot.. but it was fun! 

Friday was zone meeting and my new zone is awesome. We now have 6 sisters in my zone!!! How cool :) And my new zl's are SO cool. I'm just so excited about this transfer. After, Sister K and I called Sister Anderson, Presidents wife. And we went and saw her. She showed us all the new sisters, and told us how 7 are coming this next transfer and that she thinks a couple of the sisters who are available to train want train. We only have 8 sisters right now that could train. So she said some sisters who train will maybe train 2 people at once!!!! OH my gosh. Scary hahah.

Saturday we got up and a member had us over for breakffast.. then we went to the ------ and helped sister ------- out with the kids because she is pregnant and feeling sick! Then we had our sister missionary class which went so well!

The work is already moving forward with Sister K and I. And... I'm feeling so MUCH better. I feel like I have a sinus cold right now.. but that's nothing. I don't know what Sister T and I had to learn from each other from me being sick.. But I do know that things are getting better and I'm so excited about it. I feel good, I love the gospel, and I'm just happy. :)

Church yesterday was great! We were asked to share our testimonies in sacrament so that was fun to do!

OH man.... you guys have to watch this video on youtube. It's olympus highschool in utah... 80 kids have recieved mission calls. It's so touching. WATCH IT :)

Well, that is the updates.

I love you all :)

-Sister Baker

Dec 3 2012

Hello family :)

How are you all? I hope great! Sounds like everyones week was good.

So this week was pretty good! We did a lot of service and I felt like I had a really successful week. I have been exhausted all week... So I must be doing something right, right? hahah.

So get this........ ----- SAID HE WOULD BE BAPTIZED. How cool is that?!! He has been learning for like 4 months now and his wife, like I said, is a member. He hasn't wanted to commit to anything. But Thursday, we went and taught him. We originally planned to teach Plan of Salvation. BUT.. We changed it halfway through the day and decided we should talk on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have been praying really hard to know how to help him because I felt like I got transferred here to help him. Well, I had left him a talk last week to read.. The one by Elder Holland on the Book of Mormon and he told me that he loved the talk and gave me kudos for giving it to him. He said he wished the Sisters would of shown him the talk sooner. He said he almost cried because he felt the spirit so strong. Then we told him that we wanted to go over the pamphlet on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we opened it up, he said, "can we just go over one principle in this pamphlet? I want to talk about BAPTISM" WOOOOT! We were so happy. We started to talk about it and then he asked why his infant baptism didn't count. We then read Moroni 8 with him and he loved it. He said it made sense. Then he asked what all he needed to do to be baptized!!!! We told him we had like 3 more commandments to teach and that was all he needed before baptism. He said to teach him the rest and he would be baptized. He said he can't see himself going any other path now. I just sat there smiling. He asked me why I was smiling so big and I just proceeded to tell him how happy I am for him! Gosh, the spirit was so strong. Best thing ever knowing that you were supposed to teach someone and that they are going to get baptized. AWESOME! I love it. So we are excited for him. He should be baptized in a couple of weeks! :)

Then, a member in Northgate ward  referred a lady to us. She is about 70 and recently lost 3 important people to her. We taught her on Thursday as well and we taught the Plan of Salvation. She really enjoyed it and said she loved the part about the Spirit World. I told her that her family is hearing the same thing that we were teaching her right then. She liked the thought of that. :) So hopefully we see success with her.

This weekend we had the Creche activity at the church. There were hundreds of nativities set up and they also set up a live nativity outside of the church. Multiple singing groups came and performed and it was just awesome. I wish our stake did this activity. Almost everyone I met that came were not members. Fri and Sat night we were there from 5-9. We met a lot of people and got to enjoy the holiday spirit and show people around. The live nativity was amazing. Live animals and all. Then a slideshow after the performance. It was put together so well. While tracting the last couple of weeks we passed out a lot of flyers for it. We met a guy who went to New Life and wasn't interested but took a flyer. Well.. he totally showed up with his wife and even brought canned goods and stayed for awhile. We got to sit with him during the live nativity and I just pray they felt the spirit and come back. it was cool to see so many people from all over attend. 

This week we also set up the Christmas tree at the mission home with some other sisters. It was really fun to decorate a tree!

We also went to the cannery this week with our bishops wife and she brought 7 non-members!!!! It was so fun! Some of the people who went to the cannery also came to the Creche. Success! We got to talk a little about the church to some of them! The cannery was fun.. made me want to do food storage haha.

So that was pretty much the week! :)

Also, yesterday at church, we got to sit through two fast and testimony meetings which was awesome. First ward we went to they sang silent night and in the second ward I felt very prompted to bare my testimony on the song. When I went up I talked about how I love that the lyrics in the song say, "Silent Night, holy night, all is calm all is bright." I got to thinking about the glorious moment when the Savior was born and the true calmness that must of been there. At the Creche, watching it live... it was so peaceful and calm. Then I talked about being on my mission and how my relationship with the Savior has grown and it is making my life calm and bright. I testified that allowing the Savior in truly allows us to feel the beauty of who he is and the comfort he brings. I hope I helped somone because my heart was pounding like crazy hahah.

The Christmas Devotional was so good. I loved Pres. Uchtdorfs talk. It was great!

Anywho, that was my week.

Pretty sure we have somewhere for Christmas and Christmas Eve!

LOVE YOU ALL :)

MISS YOU ALL :)

Have a good week. Thanks for the letters.

-Sister Bake

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

Sept 24, 2012

Hello family :)

How are you all? I hope so great.

Well.. This week started out really rough. Sister Horrocks and I were beyond sick. lets just say having only one bathroom was rough. I think we had the flu. Along with that, we have still been super tired.. so It was a rough first few days of the week. We called our mission mother, sister anderson, and she advised to stay in until completely better because the sickness we had wasn't a good one! So we did stay in for awhile. But we do feel better. Still tired. But better. The doctors called and said that our results came back fine. Kind of disappointing because it would be nice to have something to cure us.. but oh well. :) I'm glad my body is doing better.
I was saying a prayer one morning and I thought.. "I'm actually grateful that I was sick with sister H." The reason? Because I love her more now. I feel like us being sick together allowed us to get to understand each other more and be able to serve one another. Our relationship became better from it. It's nice to look at the blessings that come in times of trial. :) So that's great.

Thursday we went out finally! I hated being stuck in our apt for so long. Oh my gosh it was aweful. As a missionary you get so tired and all you want to do is sleep.. but then when you are sick it's like you feel so bad for resting. Hahha. It's crazy. But Thursday we went and saw -----and we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ. She started to cry as we taught repentance. It was a good lesson. It made me look at the steps of repentance differently. I think sometimes we are repenting but if we make any sort of step backwards.. satan wants us to feel we haven't done any better. Repentance is simply striving to rid ourselves of the sin and not do it anymore. Too often we feel we have to be perfect in the process.. but we really dont. Then we saw ------- and also taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was also a good lesson. I am so excited for her to be baptized :) She is awesome. She gets baptized on sunday!!!!!!!! YAY!!!! :)

Friday we had district meeting on the subject of the atonement. It was really good! We also went to the Chile Festival with her and her boyfriend friday night! HOW FUN :) They close off a whole street downtown and set up booths and have green chile's burning and cooking and everyone is eating them and buying them! I tried jalepeno peanut brittle and chile frozen yogurt. The frozen yogurt was sick but the peanut brittle.. oh so good. It's crazy what they mix chile with at the festival. They have tons of booths and tons of food. Some members gave us some chile's and we are just loving eating them! So stinkin yummy. Everyone down here is proud that I love spicy food. Green chile is HUGE down here. So going to the festival was fun.

Saturday, We got to go to Springs to hear Elder Holland, Presidnt Gonzales, and Bishop Davies speak to us!!! HOLY GOOD.  It was soooooooooo coool. He was walking around the chapel we were in and just tearing it up! I love him. It really made me stop and think about my work. He talked about how this is a way of life. We never go back to normal. Sister Horrocks gave me a really good compliment. She told me that as Elder Holland talked about this being a way of life that she thought of me. She told me that I'm a missionary who is myself and how cool that is. I was grateful for her saying that! I have a lot of things I need to work on as a missionary and this week I'm working on being up and studying on time. So far.. the Lord is blessing me and I'm doing so much better. I love how much the Lord strengthens us when we ask. Elder Holland made me think about how we as missionaries get into routine. This isn't a routine. There is always so much to learn. I surely needed to have him come speak to me. I'm grateful for it.
While in springs we went to lunch with the sisters and went to this ice cream place with the biggest ice cream cones covered in cookies.  Also.. My hair is dark now. I hate it. But i'm trying to grow it out. And I thought I would maybe like dark short hair. But i seriously hate dark hair on me. I want blonde again. So hopefully I'll be dying it here soon. Haha. I can't wait for long hair again! Holy crap.
Then when we got home.. I felt prompted to go see a family. We had a really good visit with them and hopefully we can get them active in the church again!

Yesterday, we had stake conference and bishop davies came and spoke. ------- came and I think she liked it. We then gave her a church tour and showed her the baptismal font. SHe said how excited/nervous she is! I'm so happy for her :) I love her! Then we saw ----------  and he is good. We are planning to go to the temple with him here soon! I love the man! He reads his BoM all the time. It's so cool. Then I of course saw the Hamler family and cried when I saw them! It was so good to see someone I know! I chatted with them awhile. They are the coolest. I love them so!

Well that was about my week.
I love being a missionary. I love the work. I love the Lord.
THanks for everything everyone :)

Ps. I'm moving into a house on the 1st of OCTOBER :) YAY!!!!!!!!!!! CANT WAIT! IT's so cute.

LOVE YOU ALL!
-SIster Baker :)

Sept. 17, 2012

Well.. This week has been a bit rough. Sister Horrocks and I are still feeling pretty terrible. We went to the doctors on Friday and should have the results back either today or tomorrow. We are tired, our bodies ache, we are nauseous, we are just all over the place. We got blessings of healing.. and I have felt somewhat better.. but last night and today my stomach has been killing me and I have no strength. I hope that they do find something wrong with us so that we can know how to solve what is wrong. :/ Anyways.. that is my sad story of the week.

So, for good news. A lot of good things happened this weekend.

------ got the Priesthood yesterday :) He is doing great. He loves coming to church and like during sunday school you can see him reading ahead and really wanting to learn. Hopefully we can plan a temple trip and go up with him and some members of the ward. That will be fun! I just love him! He is so great.

On wednesday, it was raining all day! But, Sister Horrocks and I had scheduled to tract.. so we still did. I felt like a true missionary out in the rain knocking doors. Hahah. It turned out good though! We met a guy , he has a desire to learn. He had a date for the 30th but didn't make it to church. We have taught him twice now and he seems to really be enjoying it. he's working on his prayers and so hopefully things with progress with him too!

Then, our bishop referred us to teach this lady. She came to church yesterday too! She wants to learn more and we are hoping that she will be baptized soon too!

THEN! Brittany whatley.. my friend in the ward.. gave us a referral, too! WOW!!!! I've never had so many referrals. It's great. Although Sister Horrocks and I feel like complete crap.. and have been struggling... We are trying to push forward... and blessings are coming. 

Guess what family! I ate bear this weekend. The hawken family shot a bear... and they made soup and bear jerkey and I ate it. I didnt like the soup.. but I liked the jerkey. I can't believe I ate it hahahah.

Nick wrote me this week. I just love that kid. :) He is such a good missionary. His letters lift me up. They really do. He is so great. I can't wait to hang out with him after I get home from the mission.. it'll be fun to see how we have both grown.

Also, ------ that I have been working with.. she came to church last week and this week. How great! I love seeing people come out!!!!!! I love serving the Lord.

I'm so grateful for the gospel, and the church. I'm so lucky to have a testimony and to see it grow daily. I'm so grateful for trials I've had. They have made me stronger. I love the plan of salvation. I love the Book of Mormon. I know Joseph Smith was called to be a Prophet of God.

I'm so grateful for a loving family.

LOVE YOU ALL!

MISS YOU ALL, TOO :)

-Sister Baker