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

September 4, 2012

Well, my week has been good :) Here is an update.

This weekend, Friday and Saturday, I got to go to a sisters conference. There are 16 sisters in the mission and we all got to go to the mission home for the night. It was pretty fun :)  It's weird that I'm one of the older sisters in the mission now. The end of this month will be 6 months out.. a 3rd done. I can't believe it. I only have like a year left. How time flies.

At the conference we had a therapist come talk to us hahahah. cause us girls are crazy. We think we need to be perfect. It was nice to have her come. She has us lay down and do breathing exercises and talked about how we are good enough. We don't need to be perfect. It was a good reminder. Then we talked about our purpose, getting along with our comps, and dress code. It was a good update for sure. I was so happy that I got to see Sister Brady. I miss her. hahah. Crazy... I KNOW!!!! But she is one of my best friends now. She truly is. 

At the sisters conference we were talking about what the covenants we have made do for us. And I raised my hand and began to cry as I talked about how grateful I am for temple covenants. Never before have I really thought about it. It was like a moment of bearing testimony and in return finding a testimony. I talked about how I would of never been able to come on a mission if it weren't for Christ and now, after going through the temple, each of us is endowed with power from on high, and having that knowledge is what gets me through each day. I love the church :)

I also bore testimony there of how we can each learn something from our comps. I talked about sis brady and started to cry once again. I'm grateful the Lord knows me, and knows what I need in my life. What a blessing.

GUESS WHAT! ------- got confirmed this week.. it was so good.. adn then he bore his testimony :) :) :). How great it was! He looked at us when people were bearing testimony and said how is heart was full. Then he kept fidgeting and finally got up.  He thanked everyone from the pulpit and said how grateful he was for the sisters and that we chose to go back to his house. He talked about how happy he was that he let us in cause his life is so much better now.  

Yesterday was Labor day, so we had to have a work day. We tracted a lot but had little success.

 Love you all :) Have a good week!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Sister Baker

Pics!

Willie's baptism and Sis Horrocks

August 27, 2012

HELLO FAMILY

how are you all? hope so good! :)

well.. the girl i'm training is named sister horrocks. she is super cute. We get along great.. and she is an AWESOME teacher already.. so that's is good. 

Training is hard. I feel indadequate about a lot of things and I hope I'm giving her the experience she needs. I'm excited for the rest of training though. I can already see myself learning a ton in just the last couple of days. :)

WILLIE GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY :) oh my gosh. best baptism of my life. HE LOOKED SO GOOD. He was glowing. We had a HUGE turn out of poeple too, people are finally loving us!!!! And loving our investigators. We are making a difference in the ward as sister missionaries and that right there means so much to me. . The spirit was SOOOO strong at his baptism. The talks were amazing. Lately, we started having talks at baptisms on temples, too. It's great to get new members excited for the temple. It's awesome. I gave the missionary moment I cried the whole time that I was talking because I'm so proud of Willie. He has made an amazing cahnge in his life' and I spoke about his change and how the gospel changes us. It was great. I got compliments on how I spoke. I'm getting better at sharing the gospel and I love it.  I love being a missionary for days like yesterday. Words can't describe how good it felt at the baptism.

Well.. not much went on the rest of the week. Transfer meeting was long. 18 new missionaries came into the field.

Sis Mack is home! She wants to come see you guys. I think she might be in Utah for conference. she asked for your info. I'll send it to her today :) I miss her dearly. 

Oh, it's been cool to see already why Sis Horrocks is here. She is already touching people who I have been working with for five months. The Lord works in such great ways. He truly knows us.

LOVE YOU ALL!

-sis bake

have a good week

August 21, 2012

Hello Fam :)

How are you all? HOpe so great!

So I knwo all of you say how good I am at writing letters, but I don't think this weeks will be much of anything to say. Haha. This week was CRAZY long and I felt like we didn't get anything accomplished, YET, I've been so tired, it's unreal. I don't know what is wrong with me, or why I'm so tired, but I'm trying to overcome it. I just pray that I can overcome it during training cause I want to be the best trainer that I can be. I know I'm training this new girl for a reason, and I just hope all goes well. I'm super nervous, BUT also super excited.

I'm really going to miss sister brady. It's been really cool to see her come out of her shell this transfer. I think that is why we were together.  I found out how much I love myself. I'm happy with who I am. I'm not perfect, and I still have so many things to work on, but I have found out more who I am this last transfer. At the beginning of this transfer I got a blessing that said these six weeks would be the happiest six weeks. And truly, they have been. I've never been so tired, and so emotionally drained. But, I've also never learned so much about who I can be, and the person that I want to become. So that has been a great blessing. I know I needed to be with sister brady, and i'm grateful for her. I truly am. The Lord knows what He is doing... I need to remember that. Hahah.

------ is doing great :) He came to church this week and loved it!  I love that people in the ward love him and are making an effort to support him. He is super excited to be baptized on Sunday. I'm so excited too!! I know I was meant to meet him. He means so much to me! I'm so glad he is happy now. His daughter wants to learn now. He told us that he talked to his daughter about the gospel and he said it was the BEST conversation he has ever had with her. She is coming to the baptism. I pray she feels the spirit. ------ said he hopes she feels what he feels cause he knows it will change her life. What a good guy!!!!!! Man.. I love the gospel.

Funny story of the week..... Sis Brady and I were eating lunch.. just chillin in our apartment and I look down at her foot and yell " you have a cockroach on your foot!!!" she freaks out and sends the roach flying through the air. It almost hit the ceiling and flew the span of the room. Then we had to smash it and it wouldn't die. We were laughing so hard. Our apartment is so sketch. They are getting us a new one though!!! :) yay!!!

I forgot my planner so I'm trying to remember other events of the week. Weeks are just a blur here. It's crazy. I can't believe I'm about five months out... Can you believe that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????? I can't! After training, it'll be  Thanksgiving. Time is flying. I love Pueblo so much! I'm so glad I get to serve here.

I'll write better next week. Wish me luck on training.. So scared to meet my girl!!!!!

MIss you guys!

-Sister Baker

August 13, 2012

Hello fam :)

How are you all? Hope so great :)

Monday, for p-day, we just went shopping. It was fun. We went to hobby lobby and got stuff to make hair pieces for my new short hair! I really love my new hair. It's soo nice and easy to do. It'll be fun for awhile. I'll probably grow it back out, though. Everyone here loves it! I get compliments on it all the time.

Then Tuesday we got to teach at the R.S. activity that night. We taught about object lessons with scripture study and I told everyoen about the scripture bag game we played when I was younger. Everyone liked the idea :) So that was fun to do. Then we drove up to Springs because Wednesday I had to go to the Train the Trainers meeting... AHhh. It was fun to be in Springs.. we stayed with Mack and Sis. Folwell. Mack and I stayed up late talking. She is so great! I'm so grateful to now have her as one of my best friends. It was just so good to see her for a while! I'm sad she is going home.. cause she is my rock out here, but hopefully I can be best friends with the girl I train and that I can be a rock for her as mack was for me.

Wednesday, as I said, I went to that meeting. Sis folwell and I drove to it since we are both training and Mack and Sis brady went out together .The meeting was SO long.. But good. I'm scared but excited to train. After the meeting we came back up to Pueblo and I got a blessing since I have really been struggling with the fact that I may be training and what not. I felt so much better after the blessing. Missions are hard .You get so used to areas, and people and then when things change, it's hard. But I guess it is what a mission is all about!

Thursday we met with----- :) The motorcycle man! HE IS AWESOME! I love him so stinkin much! Haha. He will be one of my fav converts haha. Then I felt sick like all day.... so we slept for some time :/ It was a bummer. I hate feeling sick out here because then I feel so bad cause I'm not acomplishing my purpose.. but sleeping was much needed. I had body aches and everything.. it sucked!

Friday, we had another kind of zone conference thing. Then we went to dinner.

Saturday.. We met with ----- again. Satan is hitting him hardcore. He said he wanted to hold off on his baptism. We talked to him about the gospel and what the Holy Ghost does for us. By the end of our lesson he couldn't wait to be baptized again :) So exciting. he is going to be a great member of the church. 

Sunday... exciting news on sunday... -------  CAME TO CHURCH :) And he LOVED it!!! Everyoen was so nice to him and he is excited to become a member :) I'm so happy to have found him!  

The coolest thing about being on a mission is I'm learning to control my emotions. It's so great. I understand how to turn to the Lord now when I'm upset. I love seeing myself change. I'm still me... just a refined me. It's awesome. A mission is hard... but I'm so grateful and happy to be out here. Seriously.. I know I needed to come here. It's changing my life.

So that's the basics of this week. Love you all so much :)

-Sister Baker