Seriously Like The Good Old Days 9/21/2015

This past week was slow but good. We were able to do some good missionary work. We now have 3 new investigators and we're sure at least one has real intent to learn about the gospel.

My companions are awesome, They are doing better at speaking Spanish all the time so that I can get integrated in to speaking Español.

Sorry I have to keep this short because I'm not using my iPad and other missionaries need the computer. My iPad froze when I updated the software! Hopefully I don't lose ALL my information in there. I'm hoping that by next week I can use my iPad and even log in past the lock screen :/

love yall a ton!

Love,

Sister Baker

Obedience 9/14/2015

note:
We have received Sister Baker's flight arrangements from Dallas to Salt Lake City.  As of now she arrives on Wednesday, November 25, at 2:15 in the afternoon.

Hola!

I'm not going to lie when I say that Spanish is both easy and
confusing to understand. It's easy to read but hard to hear. THEY
SPEAK SO FAST. My companions are helping me learn to conjugate Estar
and Ser and it has helped quite a lot.

I also learned and experienced some miracles towards obedience. When we
were heading over to a potential appointment there was a group of not
friendly looking guys near the passage we would have to use to get
into our recent convert Ivan's apartment. With it being kinda...
extremely sketchy we turned around. Then we contacted a lady on our
way to our car, like we have been taught to do as missionaries. While in the middle of contacting the lady, I heard the sound of the Ivan's daughter talking very loudly near their apartment.
Ivan had come out of his apartment and was waiting for us and once we
walked back to the apartments the group of guys was gone. If we had
just gone straight back into the car we would have missed our chance to have a
lesson with Ivan. Obedience works.

Something else that was awesome was that we got a new investigator
named Phillip. He had called the mission office and referred himself!
He is awesome. He's done a lot of research about the church and is
very open and understanding especially about the odd things about the
church and the not so nice things others say about us. When we first
got to his house there was a package on his doorstep, we didn't think
much of it until the end of the lesson. At the end he opens it and it
was Mormonism for Dummies.

He came to church yesterday and we know he may have been a little over
whelmed but that he liked it. Everything at church that day was about
trials and spiritual gifts and we know that was just what he needed.

God works in miraculous ways and when I take time to look at my own
work I see His work enveloped completely in it.

Love y'all so much and hope your week goes well.

Love, Sister Baker

¿Hola, como le va? 9/7/2015

Buenos Días!

I am now serving in the Dallas 1st and 9th Bilingual Wards! I have 2
companions, Hermana Cloward y Hermana Stripling! They are the best and
they are helping me learn some Spanish because most of our lessons are
with Spanish speakers. I am loving this new area and the people in it.
It's very diverse in economics and culture.

 Like on Wednesday we visited an English speaking less active member and her place, and I mean this in the nicest way possible needed about 50 gallons of
Frebreze sprayed on everything including the lady. About half way
through the lesson I caught Hermana Cloward staring at my chair and
yes there were bugs on it but I noticed that the moment I sat on it(
no big deal to me I'm so used to bugs at this point of my mission) then
it clicked in my head that maybe these weren't normal bugs, so I
wrapped up the lesson we said a prayer and we left as soon as we could.
As we hurried out Hermana Cloward said that she thought that those
bugs looked a lot like bed bugs.....so we quickly brushed our clothes
like mad men and in doing so my companions found 2 bugs on me!
Aaaaahhhh so we then having no other choice decided to drive back to
our apartment, shower, and wash our clothes, so we hopped into the
car. I FOUND 2 MORE BUGS ON ME IN MY SKIRT. Long story short we took
all precautions to make sure the clothes we wore were taken off
immediate when we got in our apartment (for me even before I got into
the apartment with decency) and we all showered and got ready for our
next appointment. So far we haven't seen any bed bugs so that's a good
sign. *sigh of relief*

Then yesterday we ate with a very well off (wealth) family and they
told us of how they and a few of the families in the Ward chipped in
on a private jet to go to the Nebraska vs. BYU game on Saturday -_-
they said the jet they used had belonged to some Saudi Arabian prince
so the bathroom had gold lining on everything......but luckily the
members were quite humble about it. They also remarked about how the
winning catch was thrown by a player that returned home from his
mission just 3 months previous. They showed a lot of joy and pride in
the example of this great player and even showed us the interview with
him the following day. The player showed absolute love for his mission
and was a perfect example of an R.M. It made me overjoyed to see this
returned missionary show that enthusiasm and gratitude for his mission
for everyone to see :)

Hopefully I can show that love for my mission that I have even after
its done. For me I know the missionary work will ever stop pressing
forward. I'm so grateful I get to keep serving my fellow man and know
that I can keep progressing as a member of God's church with or without
the name tag. I love being here in Texas and I love getting to help
others come closer to Christ.

¡Nos Vemos!

Love, Hermana Baker


Here are some of the potential bed bugs I found crawling on me......ehhhw

On The Move 8/31/2015

I am getting transferred!

I have loved getting to serve in Frisco. It's been an amazing experience to get to know the people here and get to know the missionaries here as well. Love getting to serve with Sister Awerkamp and Sister Klinkowski. They are the best!

I know I grew up a lot here and that I made a lot of friends that I'll continue to be friends with, which if you knew me before you would think it doesn't sound like me. I have learned a lot about why it is important to remain friends with people. I know for a fact and I even have gained a testimony that staying in contact with people you meet
has its blessings. I believe that it becomes easier once you have true intent to gain and keep friends. That's another way we can follow the example of Jesus Christ, he never left anyone out, behind, or forgotten.

My best moments here were:
Teaching and helping baptize Nick, Andrea, Kaitlyn, and Daniel (all my pride and joy came from them)
Getting to know the spontaneous YSA
Meeting some wonderful and some hilarious families in the Frisco Sixth Ward
Learning to discover more of who I am as a missionary and has a daughter of God.

Remember you always are blessed when you follow the example of Jesus Christ :)

I hope y'all have a good day and a good week too.

Love, Sister Baker

P.S. Man I'm gonna miss Frisco.

Full Time missionaries I serve with

Little Miracles 8/24/2015

Hello everyone! This week was filled with lots of little miracles.

On Saturday we got to go to the temple with one of our recent converts in the Frisco 6th ward. It was wonderful to have members there to help her through the process of doing baptisms for the dead. Overall she said she had a wonderful time and that it was a great spiritually uplifting experience for all of us.

I also got to go on exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders and I survived. During it we contacted 9 referrals and also established a stronger bond with Daniel our recent convert and his mom who is taking discussions, and attended one of his marching band practices and it was great!

Another miracle that happened was one of the young single adults brought their little sister who is not a member to church and she brought her friend who's also not a member to church! It was great to see that kind of love that friends have in sharing what they really love with each other.

I'm loving the Frisco area and it will be interesting to see whether or not I get transferred next week. I've been serving here in the Frisco zone since I got to Prosper in February. I look forward to finishing off the rest of my mission wherever the Lord would have me. I know that as long as I stay focused on my purpose and continue to be
obedient to God's commandments and mission standards I will be able to continue to "forget myself and get to work".

I love y'all and I hope y'all have a good week and that you get to see the daily miracles that God gives you!

Love, Sister Baker

When Ye Are In the Service...8/17/2015

This week I came tothe conclusion that service leads to happiness.  Yes
I did know that already but it was something I relearned this week.

About halfway through the week I became unmotivated while we were
planning because we were unsure which way to go with the missionary
efforts in our wards that we cover. My companion being new to the area,
and this also being her second area, was finding it difficult to help
me in my lack of motivation. Later that night, I looked back on all
the other times I ever was going through a hard time on my mission and
I realized that they all had a similar theme of me being in
"poor-me-land" as my mom has put it to me. So I needed to get the
train out of there. But I wasn't sure how? Not just to pick up my mood
but to help me regain my motivation. My companion and I continued the
week and I tried my best to have my thoughts center on the mission but
I still felt like I was missing the mark.

Then on Sunday one of our leaders in one of our Wards gave us a huge list of
Less Actives to find and meet. It was a blessing to receive this list
because it was just what we needed to distract ourselves from our rut
and to get to work. Then in Sacrament meeting right after our Ward
council meeting, someone brought up the fact that Jesus Christ put the
example forward for us to do service for others,  which
everything Jesus Christ did brought true happiness. The spirit then
hit me that that is what I need to focus on this up coming week. That
when you think outside yourself only then do you gain true joy. It
connected in my head, that's how we mere mortals do missionary work.
It's serving with all our heart, might, mind, strength, and soul
because we literally give our all when we don't think of ourselves. We
do the will of the Father when we think and act on the will of
Heavenly Father. Therefore when we are in the service of our fellow
beings we are only in the service of our God! Yes! That finally
clicked in my head! It only took my whole life and a mission to
understand, but I got it none the less!

So that was a good part of my week and I wanted to share that with y'all.

Also we helped some less active young single adults come to sacrament
meeting as week yesterday! We've met with them a few times and the
sister has a thing for animals (she works at Pet-mart). It's funny
when the sister came to church with her brother, she brought with her
one of her dogs....but hey it's still progress.

Loving Frisco and the seeing the little daily miracles and the funny moments.
I love each of you, you have no idea.

Love,

Sister Baker

A Tie or Two 8/10/2015

This week we were able to do a lot. Especially preparing for the two baptisms that we had on Saturday. We had to get everything organized, had to make sure everyone's schedules lined up, and everything was set in place so that nothing was forgotten about or would cause any problems later. Not going to lie it was a really stressful week. Both I and my companion we're doing the most we could but it still felt like we were falling behind. But with prayer and a lot of faith everything worked out. A lot of the members from the ward helped us in the setting up of the baptisms (they helped a ton) and it was great to know that we weren't in it alone. I can definitely testify that God sends his help through other people.

Andrea's baptism went great it was really touching to see how happy she was in getting baptized. Her husband, Ray, isn't a member and definitely isn't interested in becoming one anytime soon, but through meeting with them both a few times before the baptism he warmed up to us and to the church. We know that his heart is beginning to be softened from the love and the sincerity of the members that have and are befriending Andrea.

At Andrea's baptism it was really hot because the temperature outside was maybe around 106 so with the humidity it felt hotter than that. Andrea was sweating a lot mainly because she was nervous but the heat didn't help. After she was baptized she bore her testimony of how much she loves being able to feel the Spirit so much she even wished it upon everyone, non-members, members, families and kids that they get that chance or the opportunity to feel the Spirit so well and to appreciate it as much as she did the moment she stepped foot into the church. She was looking for this joy in her life for a long time and she found it.

I absolutely love the photos that you have sent me! They make me smile and I can't help but giggle when I see the pictures of Maeve and Damian. I LOVE ALL OF MY FAMILY! I'm glad all of you are having a wonderful time. I can't believe there will be 2 more added to the family. It will be exciting to see how Christmas goes this year :D  

Tell everyone I love them and that I think that they are all gorgeous. Even soba.

Love, Sister Baker

P.S. Tell Eli Jack and Alex that Auntie Chloe misses them and can't wait to play Legos with them.