Tassie Times
Another p-day already? Crazy. I love
Tasmania so much. It is so beautiful here!
Last week I told you about our p-day
down in Hobart and our trip to the caves. I forgot to tell you a funny story.
After we finished in the caves and everyone at lunch, we got back into the vans
to drive back to Glenorchy. We'd been in the car for like 45 minutes and
everyone was just kind of chatting when I started to smell something terrible.
I looked around and saw that everyone else was starting to hold their noses
too. I have no idea who it was but someone did the nastiest stinker in the
world. Seriously, it was so bad. Everyone was dying. And laughing at the same
time because it was somewhat hilarious. Here we all were, crammed into this van
with this terrible smell. Sister Maxwell even rolled down her window. No one
would own up to it either. We were dying. So gross but so funny.
Anyway, Tuesday was great. We had
interviews in the morning with President Maxwell. I know I've said it before
but I'll say it again-- I love President Maxwell so much. He always says
exactly what I need to hear. He is full of inspiration, love, and kindness.
After everyone finished their interviews, all of us from the north piled back
into the cars and went to grab a quick lunch before driving back up. We got to
Launceston and dropped everyone off then Sister H and I went to the store to
get groceries before we drove back to Deloraine because we only have an
expensive small grocery store in Deloraine and we knew we could save money if
we did our shopping in Launceston. By the time we drove back to Deloraine it
was time to plan for the next day.
Wednesday morning and
afternoon were busy tracting and following up with people. That evening we
had dinner with the Stake President and his family. He showed us a great poster
that they made for all the chapels in the stake. At the top it says, "Do
you know our full-time missionaries by name?" Then there's a pictures of
our district with our names. At the bottom it says, "They like to have tea
with your family, but they love to teach your
friends." I love it. I'll have to see if I can send a copy of it to you.
After dinner we had a lesson with C and her kids. We taught the plan of
salvation and it went really well. We talked with them about what they needed
to do to be able to go to the celestial kingdom and they set some really good
goals of prayer, scripture study and making church attendance more regular.
They were going away this past weekend but I really think that we will start
seeing them pretty regularly at church soon! J, the 9 year old, was really
concerned because he plays footie on Sundays. I wasn't sure how to answer his
question because it's hard to tell a 9 year old to quit what he loves. But he
decided that he would pray and ask Heavenly Father what he should do and if
there was a way that he could do both.
Thursday morning we were at the
family history center again. I was really frustrated because they have changed
a few things on Family Search in the past week and now I'm all confused as to
what in the world I am doing. But I'm getting it figured out. I have started
looking at the Baker line some more and I have been able to find 2 names that
can go to the temple! Family history is the best! I never thought that I'd be
able to find people who need ordinances done but I'm finding them! I have about
30 ordinances reserved to be done!
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| We walked past this book exchange place. We didn't worry about taking a book, but you better believe we left a Book of Mormon. |
Thursday afternoon we made prayer
rocks and took them to C and her kids. They LOVED them! We had a really good
lesson about prayer. I really wanted to talk about baptism but I wasn't sure
how to bring it up. I could also tell that something was bothering C. I asked
her if she had any questions and she paused and then asked, "Will he
listen to me pray even though I haven't been baptized?" The spirit was so
strong as we were able to tell her that Heavenly Father loves and knows her and
that he wants to hear from her and will answer her prayers. Then we were able
to ask how they felt about baptism. They weren't sure but we committed them to
pray about it. I am excited to see them this week and teach them The Gospel of
Jesus Christ!
After we left C's we went to have
dinner with G and L. We were able to teach the Restoration and it was really
good. G is still struggling with recognizing the Spirit. If he has big ah-hah
moments, he recognizes that as the spirit but he is missing feeling the quiet,
gentle, subtle answers. We are trying to help him to recognize that.
Friday we were outside doing some
finding. We were down by the grocery store trying to find people to talk to.
That morning we had been studying chapter 9 in Preach My Gospel about finding
people to teach. It talks about how Heavenly Father will lead you to people or
he will lead them to you. I said a prayer that morning asking Heavenly Father
if he would lead someone to us that day. As we were walking past the front of
the grocery store, a man named D stopped us. He explained that he used to live
in Wantirna (where the mission office and the temple are) and that missionaries
used to come into his store there to buy backpacks. We talked with him for
about 10 minutes and he agreed to meet with us this week! After that we visited
a less active lady in the ward.
S had been gone all week and we
hadn't been able to get ahold of her but on Friday she came back! I am so
glad she's back. Not having any contact with someone for 5 and one half days is
killer. We had a lesson with her Friday night and we went through some of the
baptismal interview questions with her to see where her understanding and
testimony was so we would know how to help her.
Saturday afternoon we drove in to
Launceston to go to a baptism. The Sisters there called to see if we could
come so that I could sing with Sister K. Sister S had been going to sing but
she has a broken wrist and had to have surgery on it on Friday and didn't feel
up to singing. The baptism was of the cutest girl named M. She is so sweet and
the baptism was perfect. After the baptism we went to dinner with some members.
They made Mexican chicken and rice. It was the closest thing that I've had to
Mexican food since being in Australia and it was so good! After that we had a
lesson with S and taught her the Law of Chastity. We also gave her a haircut...
hahaha. S had REALLY long hair, like down past her bum. We mentioned to her
that she should trim it and she agreed. We were pretty surprised but we ended
up cutting 6 inches off. It looks so much better now!
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| So excited to cut S's hair! |
Sunday S came to church and she loved
it. The members are all really good to her. We had a meeting with our ward
mission leader. We haven't been able to find anyone really solid to teach and it’s
hard sometimes. Then we met with Bishop T. He has been gone on holiday for 3
weeks so he wanted to meet with us to catch up with how things were going. I am
so grateful for Bishop T. He helped me to feel so loved and appreciated and
made me feel better.
We had a lesson yesterday afternoon
with a lady called F. She is from Nigeria. We talked about why bad things
happen to good people and about how Heavenly Father knows and loves each of us.
The spirit was really strong. We had dinner with a single mum and her kids that
night. They used to live overseas in Indonesia and we ate this yummy chicken
curry stuff and naan bread. It was so yummy!
We've been continuing to teach
seminary this week and although it kind of throws off our schedule and it is
hard to teach that early in the morning, it has been really good to really
study some chapters in Alma. I love Alma chapter 26. I feel so much like Alma
in verse 12 when he talks about being able to do things through the strength of
God. I have felt that so often on the mission. Without the help of my
Heavenly Father, I would not be able to do any of this. I need His help and
extra strength every single day. I also love Alma 29. I feel similar to him
wanting to be an angel and be able to tell everyone of the gospel! Another
thing I love is Alma 30:44 that talks of how all things denote there is a God.
I was thinking about that last night as I looked up at the stars. The stars
here in Deloraine are absolutely amazing. Tasmania is so beautiful. As I see
all of Heavenly Father's amazing creations, I understand that scripture better.
The world around us is proof that God exists. It makes me so sad when we meet
people who don't have that knowledge.
A couple of other insights that I had
this week. I was reading Matthew 8:16-17 and I had one of those ah-ha moments.
As I read about Christ healing all of these people I realized that is why every
priesthood blessing is done in the name of Jesus Christ. It is in his name
because He is the one who can heal us, comfort us, etc. He can do that because
he literally took everything upon himself.
Another insight came from reading
Joseph Smith History. I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and his sacrifice! I
especially loved JSH 1:20 when he talked about how Satan knew he would be a
disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom. I want to do the same. I want to
disturb and annoy Satan so much! I want to help people to know and love this
gospel. I love it. I know it. I couldn't live without it!
Love you all heaps!
Sister Baker xxx
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