What more can I do in this vineyard? - 03/24/14

Melbourne Mission Moments

I can't believe that I hit my year mark this week. So crazy! The past year has been the best of my life. I have changed, learned and grown so much. What an incredible experience I have had.

We had a really good week this week! Monday we went exploring to all of the Op shops in our area. I was such a snob before the mission. The idea of buying used clothing freaked me out. Now I love it. You can find real gems and get them for super cheap. I ended up getting a dress for $6 dollars. After our P-day we had a lesson with L. and the kids. We taught them the 10 commandments and hand signs to remember all of them. It was a really good lesson! They all were getting really into it and started a competition amongst themselves to see who could remember them the best. It has been such a blessing to teach a family! A miracle for sure.

Tuesday morning we had district meeting. Sister B and I really wanted to do something for our district so with the help of Sister Adams in our ward, we had lunch for everyone at her house. She is such a wonderful woman. She helped us with everything and it was really fun to be able to spend the time together and have a beautiful, yummy lunch! After that we had to run back to the flat because they were dropping off bunk beds. The landlord wanted some changes in our flat that required more space in the bedroom so now Sister B and I have bunk beds. I'm on the bottom bunk because the idea of being on top freaked me out because that means I'm closer to the ceiling and the corners where spiders hang out. Haha. The problem with the bottom bunk is that I keep hitting my head. It actually becomes quite comical. I've hit my head like 7 times now.

Tuesday evening was great! L and her kids all came to the chapel. L came with us to a RS activity, her son was with the YM, a daughter with the YW, and another daughter was at Faith in God. They all really really enjoyed it and it was so good for them to get to know a lot of the members!

A huge miracle for the week was that after the RS activity finished, C's mom came up to us looking really excited. (C is the 9 year old who we have been working with.) She told us that C had decided that he wanted to be baptized on April 5th! He set his own date! So awesome! It was such a surprise but we were so happy!

Wednesday we were able to go and do some service for a woman here. She has been really unwell lately and we spent 3 hours cleaning, organizing, and helping her to get some dinners made that can go in the freezer so they are just ready to go. I love service. It makes me so happy to be able to just help someone.

After we finished the service, we had another lesson with L and the kids. We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. L told us that she can't wait to get baptized. She's just ready to go. The kids are getting closer but are still a bit unsure so we are trying to help them really strengthen their testimonies. They are growing though and I'm seeing such change in each of them. Another cool thing was that L told us when they were at the chapel Tuesday night she kept just having an overwhelming feeling that she knew the place. She said she felt like she was home, like she had been there before. That was really cool. It reminded me of John 14:26 where it talks about the Holy Ghost bringing things to our remembrance.

Thursday afternoon we visited this sweet older couple in our ward. He is 89 and she is in her 70s. They are so cute. It reminds me of how much I love older people.

Friday morning we got to go to the temple! I love the temple so much. I am so grateful to have a temple in our mission that we can go to. I also have come to realize what a blessing it is to live in Utah and to have so many temples so close to us and to be able to go whenever I want to. I loved being in the temple on Friday. I took off my watch and I could have just stayed there all day. The spirit is so strong in the temple. We saw the new video and I learned so much. I left feeling like I had received so much personal revelation. I also left feeling an overwhelming amount of Heavenly Father's love for me. Without fail, I always feel such an abundance of His love in the temple.

With Sister B at the temple

After we finished at the temple, we had another lesson with a former investigator. We were able to teach the Restoration from the beginning and it seemed to go really well. He seemed a lot more humble than he was last time. I think the spirit is starting to work on him. He agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true. We'll go back this week and help him to recognize an answer to his prayer.

Saturday we had to go to the library to do an online questionnaire in preparation for Elder Hamula's visit in April. I was able to sit with Sister H and help her to understand what it was asking. She is from Taiwan and I am constantly impressed at how hard she is working to improve her English. I have no doubt that the gift of tongues is real and helps these missionaries who have to learn a language. I feel like sometimes I have a hard enough time knowing what to say and English is my first language. I can't imagine having to teach in another language. Props to all the language missionaries!

Saturday afternoon we had another lesson with L and the kids. We taught the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. I always get a little nervous when it comes time to teach the "big commandments" to investigators. I guess I let my fear push away my faith and I worry that some big, huge concern is going to come out that hinders their progression. I should just have more faith and not worry so much because the lesson went so well! L has been so prepared. She quit drinking tea about a month ago just because she felt like she should. The only concern they had was that the son likes to drink coffee but he was really willing to quit and he even flushed the rest of their coffee down the toilet! So awesome!

Yesterday L and all the kids came to church and they all really liked it! The ward was really great and just reached out and loved them all! The two oldest kids were really excited because they were invited to a Bishop's Youth Discussion that night. I am so glad that they had a good experience. We have another lesson with them tonight. After tonight we will have taught them everything so then we will just have two weeks to review and help them solidify their testimonies before their baptisms.

We had a lesson with C yesterday which went really well. Since he has grown up in the church, he already knows pretty much everything so we are just reviewing everything with him. He is so excited for his baptism and is already planning the program and who he will invite. :)

I am loving reading the Book of Mormon. I can't believe it's not even been two full weeks and I am already well into Mosiah. I've never read it so quickly but I am finding that reading it this way is making different things stick out to me and I am receiving so much personal revelation. One thing that has really stuck out to me is in 2 Nephi 15:4 when the question is raised about what more can I do for my vineyard? The same thing is all throughout Jacob 5. I have been thinking about that a lot this week. I have stewardship over this part of the Lord's vineyard in Mooroolbark. I've started really asking myself every day, "What more can I do in this vineyard?" I find that as I am constantly in the attitude of "What more can I do?" I am seeing more opportunities so serve, we are being more diligent, and seeing miracles because of it. I am so grateful for this precious time as a missionary. I feel like time just keeps going faster and faster and I don't want to waste a minute of what I have left.

Love y'all heaps!

Sister Baker xxx