October 28, 2013 Another Week in home Sweet Home

 Happiness is Getting a Letter in the Snail Mail from Katie Baker with STICKERS!!!!!

Emma Hanson and me!

The Hanson family. I love them!

The Orr family. The bomb diggity! Sister Orr made me a cover for my Portuguese scriptures!!

The one and only Mama Chisolm!  I love her!

Jon and Leah!

The Martineau Family, Sister J, Sister B and Bishop Parrish and his son Austin

Well this week pretty much flew by! 

Mom, I appreciate that you worry about me because it means you love me, but I'm doing well here. The weather isn't that bad. It's just pretty gloomy all the time, but I kind of like it. Weird, huh?! I guess maybe that's not such a good thing because I look outside and it instantly gets me in the mood for hot chocolate and a book. Yeah. That's not happening anytime soon.

So we had interviews with President Samuelian on Tuesday. HE IS SO AWESOME! I seriously could just sit for hours and listen to him talk. I would just sit there like a sponge and soak up everything he says. His big push is "vision". Vision for our mission, for our areas, for our life. That's why he had us do the strengths assessment test, because it will help us understand ourselves better and help us fulfill our vision. So I've decided that my life vision is to be in the Celestial Kingdom with my familha. Yup. It's gonna happen. And so how I'm going to get there is by focusing my life and basically all my efforts in my family (3 Nephi 22:14) and in the service of others (Mosiah 2:17). 

Essentially I want my life to revolve around those two things. I've always talked about helping families in impoverished nations, so that just makes everything go together. Does that make sense? I've also decided that I want to study Mandarin when I get back to BYU. One day China will open for missionary work, and they're going to need missionaries! So when my husband and I are old and wrinkly we can help the Chinese. It's gonna ROCK!

President Samuelian gave me a blessing during the interview and one of the things he said was do not fear. I'm a worry wart and need to stop it. I just get all these ideas jumbled in my brain and I freak myself out. 

So yeah. President Samuelian is the best. I think one of the reasons I've been sent here is to have him as my mission president. He reminds me a bit of Art TerKeurst. He just cares about everyone so individually, and understands that developing individuals' talents and strengths will benefit everyone altogether. 

We had a member drive us to our interview at the stake center because we've been short on miles (Sister Basting is awesome!!). When President heard that, he really wanted to meet her and thank her for her service. We stood outside and talked a little bit about the hastening of the work. (By "we talked" I mean he talked and we listened in awe.) He talked about the destruction of Soddom and Gomorrah and how that's essentially how the destruction will be before the second coming. We're like the angels that came to Lot's family that took them by the hands and pulled them out of the city, into the plains, and eventually up into the mountain. We get people out of the wickedness of the world, into the covenant of baptism, and our ultimate goal is the temple. That is the only place that they will be safe from the destruction that will come! Sister J and I are working hard to find those people that have been prepared and get them out of the city. I wish we didn't have to do as much tracting as we do, but alas, such is missionary life. 

This Saturday I got a call from a member of the bishopric to give a talk on Sunday (yesterday). So guess what I talked about?!?! Missionary work!! I feel like I pretty much  quoted Elder Ballard's talk. And I'm ok with that. I talked about the hastening of the work and finding the person they know that has been prepared to receive the restored gospel. I hope it motivated someone. We had dinner with the Wolthius family, and after dinner Sis W told me that her daughter was telling her all about my talk. She was saying how funny I am, that I love being a missionary, and I bore my testimony. I thought that was so cute! Kids absorb a lot more than we give them credit. And it's nice that someone thinks I'm funny. 

So that's pretty much what's going on in Sweet Home. We're trying to find more people to teach!

1.        What is your mailing address there at the home you are staying at so I can send you a coat?  (I won’t put this address on the blog.)  

2.       Do you need anything else?  Tights, boots, mittens, scarf???? Maybe some black and brown tights.

3.       What size coat do you want me to get you?  I'm not sure. Coats are so finnicky. I heard yesterday that there's a huge bag of winter coats that a member brought in for people in need. Well I'm a person in need so I'm going to check that out. 

4.       So are you teaching anyone new? I feel like everyone we teach is new to me because I've barely met them. But we have this investigator named W who is golden. She's awesome. The only thing is that her in-laws are well known in the town as anti-mormon. But she just seems to brush it off her back.

5.       What was the best thing that happened this week? that blessing from President Samuelian. 

6.       Any funny stories? Remember that Elder from my MTC district that I read his DearElder letter? Maybe not. Anyway, his cousins/aunt and uncle are in the ward. Small world. 

7.       Favorite thing you read this week in the scriptures? I started reading the Old Testament, and I love it! I just remember seminary with Brother Moore(ski) and all that awesomeness. I read the chapter about Sodom and Gomorrah a few days before talking with President Samuelian and I definitely didn't get all that out of it. So I'm trying to make my personal studies better. I'm reading about Joseph of Egypt right now and I imagine how it all happened in my head. It's pretty fun to do.

8.       Any new pictures to send home? Nope, sorry! But I did find a picture of me with the Page family at my farewell so I'm going to print it out today.

9.       Any good advice from your mission president lately? OOhh he talked about a paradigm shift that's happening right now. It's not the members help missionaries with the work, rather the missionaries help members with their work. 

10.   How is it going with the members?  Are you learning everyone’s names?  Remember you are good at memorization!  It's a work in progress. I have to have some sort of association with everyone's names.

11.   How has your first week gone in Sweet Home? Swell!

12.   What is the ward like? They're fun. I haven't met everyone, but it seems like they're all excited about the hastening of the work. 

13.   Who is the family you live with?  What are they like? They're names are the C's. They have 3 daughters that are all grown. Sister C makes amazing food and gives it to us all the time.

14.   How is Sister J?  Tell her I said HI! Oh I did. She says hi back. She's doing pretty good.

15.   I will be sending you a care package soon.  Any requests for food, etc.?  That bread from Trader Joes! Haha that was the first thing that came to my mind. Just snack food. Healthy snack food! Yummmm.

Well I've got to go- almost out of time! But I love you! Find the one!

Sister Baker