September 26, "There Is Nothing Quite Like It"

We brought a member along to teach Yvonne and it was an amazing lesson! It is so interesting to hear about other peoples perspective on growing up in different churches and Sister Blakley relates with that so well, being a convert herself. I loved hearing her talk about the church and saying things like, "It is simply beautiful, there is nothing like it. It is the same message everywhere you go. And the Spirit there, there is nothing like it, and I know!" Members that know and live the Gospel are so powerful and bring the Spirit so much in lessons!

We went to a funeral this week of the father of a Less active/ Part Member family and the entire district went to show support. We were all standing around and I felt the need to go talk to this lady sitting by herself. I pushed the thought away a couple times but then finally, I decided to just sit down to this lady and start talking. Lida is a hoot and she kept telling us how nice we all are and by the end of the conversation, we had her name, number, address, and a dinner appointment with the Sisters, Elders, and the Senior Couple and her entire family is going to come meet us! People like Lida are miracles and I am grateful to meet people like her every week!

Women's Conference was amazing! The Relief Society had a potluck (feast) and we watched it on a little tv in the chapel. Even though it was only 10 women there (including the sister missionaries) the Spirit was still the same from when I was at home watching it with a big ward. Some things I liked...

"Faith comes to those who pay the price of faithfulness."

"Faith deepens in afflictions." 

"He would do anything to take this from you, in fact, He already has."

I am so grateful for inspired leaders that direct God's work on the earth. 

Love yall so much! 

Sister Baker

Funny occurrences: The people here keep telling me how I don't sound so city anymore, I talk like a Southerner. Goal #1: complete

A preacher at the Senior Center decides to make the entirety of his "sermon" blonde jokes....I'm the only blonde there

One of our investigators gives us a bottle of oil telling us to anoint ourselves and proceeds to rub some on her face and tells us how she drinks it sometimes to "cleanse the insides" 

Sept 19, ''Rachels Baptism"

This week, a lot of things fell through but it ended so well with Rachel's baptism and confirmation! She was so excited to be baptized and it was such a spiritual moment to watch someone take those first steps towards Heavenly Father. She was confirmed the next day and the blessing was so perfect and tailored to her! Then after church, she got a calling as primary teacher. In Toxey we like to get them in real quick! She really is such an amazing missionary, she was baptized one day and the next day she brought someone with her to church! 

Cool experience for the week: we were driving and I see this man outside of a house and we pass by and I was debating whether I should turn around or just keep going. Then the first two commandments came to my mind and the thought "If I keep driving, am I keeping the commandments to love God and my fellowman? So with that, I turn the car around and walk up to find the man gone but a woman outside. We start talking and she tells us about her son that has cancer and how sick he is and I say the typical, "Well we would love to help anyway we can..." to which she responds, "Oh we would love that, come inside and put your hands on him or do whatever y'all do, come" and she starts leading us inside to give her son a blessing. So we walk inside and call the Elders so they could put their hands on him and give him a blessing and it was such an awesome blessing! It was so funny when she asked the Elders, "Do we (talking about us and herself) need to put our hands on him too?" She is very interested in the church so we are all very excited to see where this one goes!

Love y'all!

Sister Baker

September 12 "Toxey Update"

Being out of our area for two days made us have lots to do when we got back! We met a lot with Rachel, who is getting baptized this Saturday! It is amazing to see her faith and how excited she is to become a member! She is already an amazing missionary, inviting people from her hair studio to sit-in in our on-the-spot lessons with her and talking about the church to everyone. Her story leading up to investigating the Mormon church is really interesting; she used to stress about the after life and where we go after death and she was so comforted learning about the Plan of Salvation and how we believe that families are forever. It is amazing to me to see how something I have known since I was little and didn't think too much about brought someone so much relief and comfort. The blessings of knowing the Gospel is true are endless! 

We had an amazing lesson with Travis and Scarlet Downey (Paula's less active son and his fiancee). We had planned to watch the 20 minute Restoration movie and give them each a Book of Mormon, and leading up to it I was a little scared because Travis has told us that before he has had missionaries that seemed that they just wanted to shove the Book of Mormon down your throat, but when the time came they were so interested in the movie and asking questions and when we gave them their books they were so thankful and excited to read it! They really are such a wonderful couple and I am excited to see what God has in store for them! 

This week was a really good week and I feel Sister Bradley and I learned a lot from each other and the people and the work here. The new Elder's are going to do awesome for this area and the Senior Couple have amazing life experiences that are so helpful for Toxey. I am grateful each and every day for the chance to be a missionary! 

Love y'all 

sister Baker

Made Sister Bradley some eggs and grits! Basically a Southerner!

Sept 6 "Hello From Fairhope!!!"

Where to begin about this week? Earlier this week, we got a call from our district leader saying that they are getting emergency transferred, and that we are taking over the area for a little while until they get us new Elders, so for a couple days we were lone sisters up in Toxey. We took over the Elders investigator that has a baptisimal date for September 17th, so we are really loving her. She is a hairdresser and talks to hundreds of people a week and is already talking about the church and has some people that are interested. People are so key here, everyone in the branch is so needed and Toxey wouldn't be the same without any one of them. The Senior couple came this week too, so that has helped us a lot and they are really amazing and needed here. Paula also got a calling this week after sacrament. It feels good to see people coming closer to Christ and think that God worked through you to reach them. 

We had Zone Conference this week and I loved it so much and you always learn something you needed and your area needed. After, we did a finding activity and Sister Haught (going home in two weeks) and I went to parking lots and OYMed (open your mouth) people there and meet so many cool potentials.

This week was really amazing. It is so crazy to feel all the ways God is working on me! Things that used to scare me and I would dread now are normal, like pulling over and talking to somebody about the Gospel or teaching repentance. I am grateful for the missionaries He has placed in my path, starting with me siblings to my friends who served or are serving and now, the many amazing Sisters I have got to know better this past week. 

Love y'all! Thanks for the support and emails! 

Sister Baker