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

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