Last stop- Plano, Texas

I've been called to serve in Plano, Texas for this next 6-5 weeks. I'm going to be back-up training Sister McBride! She is a beautiful new missionary and I get the privilege of finish training her this transfer. We're also going to be covering the missioinary work over 3 wards! AND GUESS WHAT ONE OF MY BISHOPS' NAMES IS.......BAKER! Bishop Baker fully enjoyed getting to announce my name yesterday at Sacrament Meeting. Though he wo'nt replace my favorite Bishop back home :)

We actually gained a new investigator yesterday at a "Sundaes on Sunday" event after church. His name is AJ and he is getting ready to marry a member in the 4th ward. When he came up to us he had a Book of Mormon in his hands and we actually thought he was a member. Thankfully his soon to be mother-in-law told us that he was ready to take the discussions. We were over joyed to see the faith this man has in learning the gospel and having joy in his family and in the future.

Fun story, by happy happenstance I got to see an old Texas Dallas missionary, Sister Carlson. I had the privilege to serve around her back in Allen. She was a huge example for me of being a great missionary when she was on her mission and even after. She's been home for 9 months, so when I saw her walk past me in the church hall way all I could get out was "HEY!" and she turned and we both smiled and hugged and chat about how she was doing. She and her family were visiting Texas and visiting the members that she befriended during her mission and one of the areas she served in was Plano.  I told her I was in my last transfer and I asked if she had any advice and she told me to work hard and enjoy my mission. That was just what I needed to hear.  She also said that it was okay to be happy about going home, which was also something I needed to hear!

God really sends us the opportunities to receive what we pray for and what we need to keep going. It's up to us to seize those opportunities and usually they come when we are "anxiously engaged in a good cause"- Doctrine and Covenants 58:27-28 (my Ponderize scripture for the week)

Remember the invitations given to us in General Conference will help us in whatever we are facing and going through. The promises given come from our loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, so you can always be confident that you will be rewarded for your righteous actions.

Enjoying to serve, 

Sister Baker

Got to go chalking!  Sister McBride chose the quote and I chalked it. It was very therapeutic!

The Last Transfer 10/12/15

I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED. Hard to believe but I'll be going to a new area tomorrow and have no clue where. I know that where ever I go it is where God wants me.

This past week was exciting because we had a baptism for a Spanish speaking investigator, Jose. He is a strong child of God in his understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his willingness to learn more. It was a small turn out for the baptism but that didn't matter. He was smiling the whole time.

All I know is that I'm going to work my hardest this last transfer so I can help as many people as I can to find the thing that leads to eternal happiness in this life and beyond, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love being a missionary, I've never been happier and I've never been more tired.

I just want to testify that I know at it is worth the struggle to share the gospel and bring out the light in others because it brings ridiculous amounts of peace and happiness to all how accept and live it. I'm glad God sent his helpers to inspire me and invite me to serve a mission.

Serving has been the best choice to change my life for the good, and the lives of countless other people.

Loving to serve always,

 Sister Baker

You can guess who is Jose

 Got to have zone meeting at e stake presidents house which is huge and has gospel art everywhere

Tex Says "Hi!" 10/5/2015

Dear Family And Friends,

General Conference was great we watched it at the church for all 4
sessions and we had an investigator come to two of the sessions! I
loved getting to hear from my first mission president, President
Durrant. I learned about ponderizing at the beginning of my mission
and it's been a while since I've heard it brought back up again :)

So the reason why my email didn;t get sent until the end of the day was because I was at the TEXAS STATE FAIR! I loved getting to go with my district and a few missionaries from my zone and it was fun! I had some deep fried
Oreos and they were actually good. THEY CAN DEEP FRY ANYTHING HERE.

Sister Baker

Tex says Hi!

Fun Times 9/28/2015

I think I'm getting better at understanding Spanish, surely but very slowly.  Sometimes I feel like I'm in the movie Nacho Libre. Its a lot of fun.

Sorry to keep this short my iPad is still not working so we are at the library at the SMU campus right now trying to see if the computer will recognize my iPad it but no luck. 

Anyway i'm going to share the highlights of my week through some pictures because I can finally upload the ones from my handheld camera.

this is Lilly a recent convert. we visited her at where she works

she made some Elote for me, esta rico!

and I still cant get over the sky over here

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