I love reading about the Savior... I feel so blessed to be able to wear His name on my tag every day and be a representative of Him. - 9/15/14

Melbourne Mission Moments 

I don't know what has happened to me but I just cry all the time lately. When I'm reading emails, when I teach lessons, when I pray, when I study. Suddenly I'm an emotional roller coaster. Gotta love those Twitchell genes...

BUT, that being said, I've been so blessed! Sister V and I are having such an amazing transfer! We have been so blessed and we see miracles every single day. I'm so grateful to have Sister V as my companion for this last transfer. She is exactly what I prayed for. She wants to work hard and be obedient and she helps me to do more and to be better.

On Monday "Auntie and Uncle K" took us to the Werribee Open Range Zoo. It was so fun! I love that couple so much. We saw so many animals, especially African animals. Sister V felt like she was back at home. It was such a fun p-day and so nice of them to take us there!

Entrance to Werribee Open Range Zoo

A great P-day with Auntie K

After p-day we went to have a lesson with an Indian family who are Sikh. They were about to leave so it was a short lesson but they asked us to come back on Friday. After that we went and had dinner with a family in the ward. I love the opportunity it was been my whole mission to be in members' homes. There's something special about being with a family who is living the gospel. After our dinner, we went and visited a less-active sister. She had been having a hard day and it was perfect timing for us to be there.

Tuesday morning we had district meeting. After our meeting we all went to get lunch together. After that Sis V went to a few appointments before driving out to Melton to do exchanges with the sisters there. Sister V stayed and worked in their area and I brought Sister F back to our area with me. Sister F is from Germany and she is such a good missionary! I loved spending the time with her! When we first came back to our area, we went tracting for about an hour. Exchanges bring miracles. Let me tell ya, every time we are on exchanges we meet the most amazing people or have the most amazing lessons. In the hour that we went tracting, we met 5 people who were willing to have us come back! One was from Indonesia. Right before we got there, she had been crying. She is recently divorced and is having a hard time. We were able to bear testimony of the strength and healing that comes through the atonement of Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong. I'm so excited to see her again this week. We also met a guy named A. He was telling us that he was really busy with work and he is part of a band and there probably wouldn't be a time that we could come back. We asked if we could sing him a song. We sang I Am a Child of God and as we sang, he started to cry. He was so touched. I love the power of music.

Wednesday was great for Sister F and me as well. We were able to visit a less active in the morning and have a wonderful lesson with her. We also had a lesson with an Indian woman and we did some good finding. That afternoon we drove back to Melton to switch back. When we got back to our area, Sis V and I went to teach the girl that got baptized my first weekend in Tarneit. We had dinner with a wonderful family in the ward. They offered to take me and Sister V to Victoria Markets in the city before I go home. Apparently Victoria Markets has tons of souvenir stuff for really cheap. I'm excited to go there!

Exchanges

Sister F and I decorated the wall in my flat

Thursday afternoon we had interviews with President Maxwell. I love President so much. He had me role play with him in the interview which was really good. As I taught him about God being our loving Heavenly Father, I was overwhelmed with the feeling of love that I had. I KNOW that God is our Father and that He knows and loves us so much. President said so many things that were so kind in my interview. He got teary when he talked about me going home which naturally made me cry. Man, I will miss President and Sister Maxwell so much. After our interviews, we met with the Assistants to talk about the Sisters and how we can better help them. I felt such trust and respect from the Assistants which made me feel really validated. Sometimes I doubt myself and my abilities so it always feels good to feel the trust of others. That evening we went to J's to have a lesson and dinner with her family. J is slowly progressing. Very slowly though. But I know that she'll get there. Just a side note--we had a vegetarian lasagna for dinner and holy moly it was so good! There was pumpkin and zucchini and broccoli in it and it was just so yum! After dinner, we drove to Deer Park to go on exchanges with the Hillside sisters. Sister V stayed there and I brought Sister T back to our area. We didn't get back until it was time to make plans and go to bed.

More Exchanges

Friday with Sister T was great! She finishes her mission the same time as me and I prayed going into the exchange that I would be able to help her feel the spirit and really help her to be able to have a strong finish to her mission. And the words came. As we were having companionship study, the perfect things to tell her came to mind. I could tell that she was really touched and I feel like it will carry her through the next three weeks. We were able to see several less actives in the morning. Then we went to see a part-member couple. They are Tongan and Sister T is Tongan so they got on really well. O, the husband, is not a member. When Sister T asked him if he had been baptized he said, "Not yet. Maybe soon though." Uhh... WHAT?!  I had no idea that he felt that close to being ready to be baptized. It was amazing. We're going to really start focusing on him and teach him the lessons so that he can get baptized sometime this year. Sister T and I were also blessed while we were finding. We only knocked on 4 doors and we were invited inside at two of them! We had a lesson right before dinner with the Sikh Indian family that we saw earlier in the week. We taught about prayer and the spirit was strong. We had dinner with a couple in the ward that evening. He has cancer but he is so positive and optimistic and trusting in the Lord's plan. It was inspiring. After that we drove back to Deer Park to switch back.

Sunny days are the best!

Saturday morning Sister V and I, as well as some of the Elders, spent the whole morning helping  a recent convert move. It was a beautiful day and the sun was out and it felt good to be serving. K's non-member sister has recently moved down from New Zealand and I think we made a really good impression on her. Hopefully we can start teaching her soon! After we got back to the flat to change, our zone leaders dropped off a new phone for us! It was so hard to be without a phone for so long and I am so grateful to have one again! That afternoon we picked up one of the Laurels and went to visit K. K is the daughter of a recent convert. I have been praying really hard to know who can be baptized this transfer and I felt that K could be. We had a really good lesson with K and we invited her to be baptized on September 27th! She is praying about it. We have a lesson with her tonight so hopefully that goes well!

Sunday was a really good day. I got a last minute speaking assignment on Saturday so I got to speak in Sacrament meeting. After church, we had some appointments fall through. We really weren't sure what to do. I was feeling frustrated because I didn't feel like I was getting any guidance from the spirit. Finally we decided that we would go see if there were people outside at a nearby park. There were no people in the park so we decided to knock on a few doors.  At the third house, we met a beautiful family! We met the dad, H, and his three children. They were so beautiful. We have a return appointment with them on Thursday. I have such a good feeling about them. I can see them in white.

I've been reading in 3 Nephi and in Mark this week. I love reading about the Savior. I am trying so hard to be more like Him every day. He is my perfect example. I feel so blessed to be able to wear His name on my tag every day and be a representative of Him.

God is so good to me. I love being a missionary. I love it.

Love y'all heaps!

Sister Baker xxx