August 29," Get Behind Me Satan, I'm Going To Church!" 4 Months

This week was a crazy week but a lot of good happened too, which makes it all worth it!

We had a lesson with Elizabeth, one of our investigators, and we were planning on going in and teaching her one thing but as we were talking with her I felt inspired to completely teach another lesson, so we pulled out the Ensign talk, "He Will Place you on His Shoulders and Carry You Home" and read that with her. As were talking, she got really excited looking at the pictures in that talk because apparently her grandparents are from Germany and have pictures next to those exact statues and buildings. She was really touched and amazed that of all the talks we could have shared with her and her kids, we shared the one talk that she has a family connection to. I am really grateful that the Spirit helped us know what she needed in that moment and I feel it really opened her up to the message we are trying to share with her. 

We had exchanges this past week so Sister Bradley and I drove to Monroeville (about two hours away) and I was companions with Sister Masiasomua for the day. It was so awesome to be with her because she was serving with Sister Jensen right before I came to Toxey so she was asking me about all the people we were seeing. Plus, she looks and acts so much like Vinny Baby so I was laughing to myself as were talking because I felt like I was talking to Vanessa. She really inspired me and I came away from that exchange really excited to come back and work in Toxey.

Our main struggle here is getting people to church! Everyone always tells us after each lesson, "Oh yeah I'll be at church, I'm coming" and we get all excited and then no one comes. So that has been our focus and will continue to be our focus here. Paula was able to come and it was so cool to talk with her after as she told me about how she burned her hand and how it was hard for her to get ready for church and she was getting frustrated and finally just screamed out loud, "Get behind me Satan, I'm going to church!" That's why she is one of my favorite ladies.

Love y'all!

Sister Baker

Pictures:

Sister M and I and our matching outfits, she copied me ;)

The Flower's "bomb shelter" in their front yard

August 22 "Im The Best Trainer Ever"

So this week was a wild one but Sister Bradley is handling it like a champ, all the crazy discussions, the tracting, the last minute schedule changes. I am really grateful for her and how she is just pushing through. We have a lot of fun and it is good to be able to rely on her.

Earlier in the week, all our appointments fell through (my favorite thing) so we decided to start walking to save miles. Well, it took about 35 minutes before we hit our first mailbox and Sister Bradley kindly pointed out that her heels were currently bleeding quite a bit. Since we walked all the way there we decide to knock on one more house, get let it, and we start talking to these two ladies and I ask the younger looking one if this lady next to her (in a wheelchair, looks so frail and weathered) is her mom to which she responds "this is my sister" and with that, I just move on because there is nothing I can do to help myself at that point. After that, we decided to start heading home only to have it start raining on us. And to make this occasion even better, my shoulder strap on my bag completely tore off. At the end of it, I was just laughing because that's mission life for you! Gotta love it!

Something I have been trying to do a lot more in lessons is to testify of Jesus Christ in the first couple of minutes of being there and make sure that in every lesson, no matter what we are talking about, we always bring it back to the person and Him. This week has taught me a lot. In one lesson in particular I started bearing my testimony about Joseph Smith, the first vision, and the Restored Gospel and for once in that lesson, everyone was silent and paying attention. It was a realization moment to me just how powerful personal testimonies are. The phrase, you don't know what you have until you share your testimony is so true. I am so grateful that as I am focusing on Him and bearing testimony of Him and His work, lessons seem to be a lot more powerful and impacful. I am grateful for the testimony that I do have that this, the Gospel is all true and it truly can help people. I know that as I bear it more, people will be able to feel the love and the Spirit of what we are trying to teach them.

I love these people, I never thought I could love these people quite this much! They have taught me in so many ways what to be Christ-like really means! 

Love y'all so much!

Sister Baker

August 15 "Sister Bradley"

Hello fam and friends! 

So, I have a new companion, Sister Bradley. It is different being a trainer and having a new companion but throughout this week I have seen how good she is and can be for Toxey! I am excited for this new change and have seen already the ways I have become better because I want to be that example of going up to people and talking and putting myself out there. 

Sister Bradley is from Helper, Utah and she loves Toxey because she is from a small town so it feels like home to her. From what I have seen thus far the people like her and she really has just jumped right in!

This past week was lots of driving and being out of our area so we were not able to see too many people but it has still been a pretty good week. Yvonne has committed to a baptismal date on September 10th to which we are really excited about. We are hoping having this date in mind and having something to work towards will help her as she is trying to really know for herself that it is all true. 

Having a new companion has made me think about when I first got out here and what I was thinking and going through only 3 1/2 months ago, and it is crazy how you just fall in love so quickly with these people and this area, with the lack of decent roads and all. I love Toxey and I am so grateful the Lord has sent me here to start my mission. I am thankful for all the ways my trust and faith in God has been strengthened here on a mission and some days I really don't want to fall asleep, it feels so amazing to be a missionary and I am worried the feeling will leave when I wake up.

I love y'all tons!

Sister Baker

Picture Explanations:

Last District Picture in Toxey

New comp Sister Bradley

August 8 "Blessed Week"

This week was so crazy but in the best way! I love Toxey, the people here are truly the best!

To start off, we had to drive to Tallahassee (6+ hours one way) to get our Tiwi system fixed in our car (the thing that tells us to "check your speed" if we get a certain amount over the speed limit) Side note: the thing is still acting up, I think because now we made it angry and it yells at us ALL the time, so we drove 14 hours for that but it actually was exactly what I needed. While it was getting "fixed" we did splits with the head STL's who serve on the TCC campus and talk to people our age ALL day. At first, I was really scared but then we just started talking to everyone and generally the kids were pretty nice and accepting so it was really fun! Sister Haught was so awesome and I loved having the time to see her example as a missionary since she goes home next transfer. It really made me think about what kind of missionary I want to be and I learned so much and already I have seen a difference in Toxey applying what they taught us.

Lee really wants to know if this is all true. We think she already knows but she still hasn't had "the prayer" with God yet but this week she is going on vacation and she is bringing the BOM and she is going to find a quiet time to pray and really ask "the question". So we are really excited for her because she told us how much she is looking forward to someday getting baptized and feeling clean and having the HG with her all the time. 

This week we meet with Paula Downey's less active son and his fiancee and their new baby and we LOVE them. I feel like they might be the family I am here for because they are just so wonderful and responding so well to us.

This Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and Paula bore her testimony and she talked about being less active and how difficult that was and how "when you are at rock bottom, Satan wants you to follow him further down" and then she looked at us in the congregation and said "I would not be here at this pulpit if it was not for those two beautiful sister missionaries. It is through the grace of God that I am here and that He still has a work for me to do." AHH! Moments like that are amazing! And her husband who is not a member came to church and we are hoping that what was said touched him like it touched us.

Elder Parker, an area seventy, came and gave a blessing on the Toxey Branch that it will be prosperous and that the Spirit of God will go "house to house, door to door, heart to heart." It was amazing that he felt inspired to come here and he didn't know why but he needed to come to Toxey. Well we know why; this area, this branch, these people, they needed him. President Johns has often told us that the Branch is at a crossroads; at this point we can either flourish and become a ward or we can follow the branches around us and close down. It looks like Elder Parker just told us which one Toxey is! 

ALSO, fun news! I am going to start training a new incoming missionary, fresh out of the MTC this week, and Sister Jensen is going to Dothan to be an STL. I am really excited to help a new Sister and hope and pray that I can be a good example to her.

Love this work! Love y'all!

Sister Baker

August 1 "Will I Be As Happy As Y'all Two Are"

This week, Sister Jensen and I drove two and a half hours to Mobile to meet the new mission president and his wife for interviews. They are so awesome and I think they are so good for this area. President Smith told Sister Jensen and I how proud he and our Heavenly Father is of all that we are doing in Toxey. It was nice to hear that God is mindful of us all the way in Toxey Alabama.

We were able to see Yvonne this week and man I love that lady! We read with her the Joseph Smith- History, the BOM intro, and taught her about our current prophet Thomas S. Monson. It was so neat to hear her say towards the end of the lesson, "If I join this church, will I be as happy as y'all two are? Will I smile as much?" It was amazing to promise her that if she believes in and lives the way the Restored Gospel teaches us to live, that she CAN be and WILL be happy. She also kept telling us how when she prayed, and that peace came over her and she knew the answer was yes, that the pain in her leg was gone. Her leg that has been bothering her for weeks now, the pain just instantly left her and she could walk around on it. She told us she believes everything we have been teaching her and knows it is true now! I am very grateful that Heavenly Father answered this prayer in a way that she could recognize.

It made me think back to all the ways He has answered my pleadings and prayers. I am very grateful for Him and His loving guidance and comfort, and that of all the things a God could be doing, He listens to each and every one of His child's prayers. I feel I am coming to understand God's plan for each of us so much more as I strive to help others come to live it as well.

Random things: transfers and training ends next week; Sister Jensen and I performed at the Senior Center again (it is truly amazing to me that playing the piano in front of people used to be so scary but now I keep it my bag at all times because I never know when I'll need it); and every night I dream that I am teaching a lesson to somebody or that I am on my mission doing something somewhere.

Thank y'all as always for your examples and love! 

Sister Baker