 |
| Our Flat |
Man. What a week. This week was not the
typical week of the mission.
Last Monday after P-Day we had dinner at the Maugers.
They are such amazing people. I'm tellin ya, I feel so at home and so loved by
them. It was just Sis. Mauger and their daughter there because Bro. Mauger was
flying home but it was great to be there with them. Sis. Mauger is a wonderful
cook so we're always excited when they sign up to feed us! By the time we were
getting ready for bed Monday night I was starting to not feel very well.
 |
| Our Study Room in our Flat |
When I woke up Tuesday morning I felt SO sick.
I had the biggest headache and it was making me feel nauseous and everything
and I felt like my head was as big as a hot air balloon. Let me tell ya, being
sick on the mission is the WORST. Another sister here was also sick (sicker
than me) so they asked if I would just stay with her all day. So I was in the
flat all day on Tuesday. I slept a LOT, I think my body was just exhausted. But
I felt terrible about not being out and doing work. I also spent several hours
reading the Book of Mormon. I almost have read the whole thing now since I've been
out and I absolutely love it. I am learning so much EVERY time that I read.
Since being a missionary I've really come to appreciate the Book of Mormon more
and I realize that I've really taken it for granted most of my life. It truly
is such a huge blessing to have it to read and study and it truly does help us
to grow closer to Jesus Christ and understand his role as our Savior more. So
yeah, I felt bad not being able to be out doing missionary work but it was
probably a good thing though to let my body kind of re-coup and have time to
get better. Tuesday was the only day that I felt really sick but since then
I've had a bit of a cold but finally today I feel back to 100 percent.
 |
| Sister Baker with President & Sister Maxwell |
On Thursday morning we had a meeting with
President and Sister Maxwell to get to know them better. Let me tell you, they
are incredible! President Maxwell is a gentle giant. He has such a great
knowledge of the scriptures and has such a light about him. Sister Maxwell just
feels like having a mother out here. She is really sweet and when you talk to
her you can tell that she just really loves each of the missionaries. I told
her about our relation [she is my mom’s second cousin] and she was excited
about that. Before we left the meeting my companion got really dizzy and
almost passed out and felt like she was going to throw up. Our Zone Leaders
gave her a blessing and then we went straight home. She was in a ton of pain
from cramping and stuff so she just tried to sleep. She ended up sleeping for 5
hours straight. She had a fever and was really sick. So yet again, I had to sit
in the flat all day. That is the worst as a missionary. I just wanted to be out
working and teaching.
Friday we did a lot of tracting and were
really focusing on finding more investigators. Unfortunately we weren't finding
a lot of success and it was a bit discouraging. But I've learned that you can't
afford to let yourself get discouraged on the mission. You just have to work
harder and pray harder. Friday evening our appointment with an investigator
fell through because he was sick (seriously so many people were sick this past
week—lots of missionaries and members and investigators. Gross, germs
everywhere!) Since our appointment fell through we weren't sure what we were
going to do. We decided that we would go to visit a couple of people that live
on a street that we had tracted a couple of weeks ago. They expressed mild
interest when we were tracting so we decided to go follow up with them. After
we parked the car we said a prayer before getting out and I asked Heavenly
Father to please bless us to be able to teach a lesson and extend a baptismal
invitation that night. The first two houses that we went to follow up with no
one was home. We went to the last house and there were no lights on and I was
about to not even knock on the door but I felt like we needed to because we
didn't have other options. We knocked on the door and a woman answered. We
explained that we had met her son a few weeks ago and she invited us right in.
Her son wasn't home but she said that she would like to know more. As we sat
and talked to her we found out that she had been having a really hard night and
had been crying right before we got there. Her husband walked out about a year
ago so she is a single mom of 3 teenage boys. As we started to teach her
she started to cry and told us "I feel like this is filling a hole in my
heart that I didn't know existed." That's like an exact experience that is
talked about in PMG so I was shocked to hear her say that. As we finished
teaching the lesson and we invited her to be baptized she immediately accepted
and now she is preparing for baptism at the end of this month. She was our
miracle for this week. It was amazing to see how Heavenly Father answered our
prayer of being able to invite someone to be baptized. I have no doubt that we
were led there right when she needed us. She is so prepared. She came to a
baptism on Saturday and she loved being in the chapel. We had left a Book of
Mormon with her on Friday night and by Saturday morning at the baptism she had
read the introduction, the testimonies and half of 1 Nephi! She wasn't able to
come to church on Sunday because of a family commitment that she had told us
about previously but I know that she will be able to come next week. I'm so
excited to teach her again tomorrow. She is so prepared.
We were also able to teach a family on
Saturday. They are doing so well! Their son is really smart and is so excited
for his baptism. I've watched as their entire family has changed. It's amazing
how much going to church and reading your scriptures and praying does. They are
like different people now from when I first met them. The son will be baptized
on the 27th of this month and then our next goal is to get them to the temple
to be sealed as a family!
Sunday our miracle contact from last week
didn't come to church but we were able to teach him after church. We asked him
why he didn't come to church and he told us that it is because he thinks that
the sabbath is on Saturday and not Sunday. He also expressed some other
concerns. He was upset that you have to have an interview before baptism and he
doesn't want to necessarily join the church, he said he just wants to be
baptized. We were able to address a lot of his concerns and help him to
understand better. Right now he says that he doesn't want to commit to baptism
in our church. It's hard because he has been SO prepared. Part of me just
wanted to throw my hands up in the air and give up. But that's silly. Just
because you run into road bumps doesn't mean you can't get over them and work
through them. People are not going to accept every commitment and not have any
concerns or questions before baptism. This is all just part of the process. I
know that as we do all we can to help them and as they pray and really seek to
know and understand, everything will work out. Of course there will be road
bumps and detours, that's just part of the journey.
There was another mission president fireside
last night and he came which was good. It was all about Jesus Christ and how he
is the Shepherd and we are the sheep of his flock. He was really touched and
before we left he was asking about President Maxwell and saying how he thinks
President Maxwell is such a great man. Then he asked if we thought that
President Maxwell could baptize him. I was shocked to hear him say that because
after our lesson earlier I thought that he wasn't really thinking about baptism
right now. I was so happy to hear him ask that. I told him absolutely!
We are still working with another investigator
right now. He is slowly making progress and right now we are not sure what is
the best thing to do for him next but we are praying hard and I know that
Heavenly Father will help us.
We watched the worldwide leadership broadcast
and OH MY GOODNESS! Amazing! I basically sat and cried through the entire
thing. It was incredible. I want every single member of the entire church to
watch it.
I love you all! Thank you for your love and
support and prayers!
Love you Heaps!!
Sister
Baker
No comments:
Post a Comment