June 12,"Building the Kingdom"

This past week, I have been falling more and more in love with Pace! I am excited to see where this area will go, it has so much potential! Sister Lewis and I have been able to meet some really cool individuals along the way so we are looking forward to see where those take us! The Lord is in the details and we are working hard to let Him use us as He needs!

So some updates on the people of Pace: We are teaching two men named Shy and Anotonio that the sisters found. They are really cool individuals and we are hoping that as we continue to read and pray with them, they will start to feel the desire to really know these things are true!

Chelsea is an investigator that we are teaching that is engaged to a LA. She wants to be baptized so badly but her living and financial situation is making that difficult right now. We taught her about the temple and families and she bore such a powerful testimony of the temple because of her past experience of losing a baby and wanting to see that baby again! My mission has over and over again reinforced my gratitude towards the things I have grown up knowing but never really appreciated since I never had to do without that knowledge. Being here for the past 13 months has really opened my eyes!

We had Elder Uceda from the 70 come and speak to us at Half Mission Conference and then again at Stake Conference! He was such an inspiring speaker and I learned so much from Him. He really focused on us doing all we can to have the people we teach pray, read the BOM, and come to church. He promised that we could "find less and convert more" by thinking about, praying for, and planning more intently for the people the Lord has already given us. He also talked about how we are not here to baptize everything that moves but build the kingdom of God by making disciples of the Lord, rather than just teaching and baptizing! I am so grateful for inspired servants of the Lord that direct this work! 

Love yall!

Sister Baker

June 5," Pace Is The Place"

As much as I felt that it was my time to leave Tally, it was sad to say goodbye to so many people that I grew to love! I feel like I grew a lot in that time I was there and I really do love the many wonderful experiences and moments I had and the people I got to know and see progress! I know Tally will continue to grow and I am grateful for the chance I had to be apart of it!
Pace is in the Pensacola Zone and we live right next to the bay, so it is beautiful here! Everyone here lives in a nice house and owns a boat that is right out front! It is definitely a smaller city and the people seem friendly! My new comp Sister Lewis just got out of training and is secretly the most hilarious person I have ever met! I love her; she makes things fun! The ward is so kind to us and I am really looking forward to getting to know them better and working through them!
So the story on Pace: it used to be a thriving area with tons of baptisms, even two sets of missionaries at one time, but for some reason all those recent converts went less active and the works started to slow down and the missionaries before just kinda tracted forever and didn't see too much success! Sister Lewis and I feel very inspired that working through the members is the way to go here, and already there is so much potential here from the members! We are excited to see the miracles that come from that and as we do our part as well!

I feel like Pace will be a very growing area for me, and that I will grow to love it and the people here so much! 

Love yall! Congrats to Don and Amanda on their new baby! Cannot wait to hold that little man soon!

Sister Baker

May 29,"Im Getting Ready To Turn Jesus Loose On Her"-Jennie Brown

So some transfer news! I am moving to the Pensacola Zone, to Pace! I am so grateful for my time here in Tallahassee and as STL-T and sad to leave all those I have grown to love, but super excited to go to Pace with Sister Lewis and to continue the work there! Our President likes to put missionaries in leadership early in their mission and then once they have been in there for a bit, he sends them back out towards the end of their mission! I am looking forward to being a regular missionary and to go where the Lord needs me to go! 

Diamond was able to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead this past Saturday with the ward! The closest temple is 4 hours away in Orlando so it was an all day adventure! She was so excited to go and has a great experience there! I am grateful for the blessings of the temple and how close it is to me where I am from!

Wanda, our investigator whose husband recently passed, is doing really well! As we were getting out of the car to teach her, the thought came to me, "invite her to be baptized" and I thought "no that's crazy, we have barely taught her anything" but the thought kept coming back. I silently prayed to myself that if we needed to, God would help me do it! During the lesson it felt right, so we got her on date for June 24th! (Awkward moment when you find out that her name is not actually Wendy but Wanda because she is wearing a nametag- we are certain though that she said her name was Wendy but who knows) We taught her the Restoration and finished up 3 Nephi 11 with her and she loved it. When we asked her to pray about the BOM, she said,"I don't even need to pray about it, I know it is true." 

We went on exchanges this past week with Dothan and I was with Sister Leavitt! It turns out that Sister Leavitt is taking my spot here in Tally which I am excited for her. She will take good care of the people I love her and it was cool that she got to meet some already during our exchange! 

We saw Venetia who is doing so good too! There are some reasons holding her back that she hasn't really brought forward yet about why she doesn't come to church or want to set a BCD, but she wants to and notices the great peace she feels since she has been taking the lessons. She says that she is noticing this "cleansing feeling" that allows her to feel happy, relaxed, and helping her to be able to forgive people that have hurt her. The Gospel really does change peoples behavior quicker than a study of behavior changes behaviors. (President Packer) 

And to add to the truthfulness of that quote, Shayla is progressing so well! Last lesson, her concern was that every time she started going to a church, she never felt any different and doesn't know how the spirit speaks to her. This past lesson, though, we found out that her real concern is that she is in fact feeling the spirit and it is speaking to her, but she is afraid of change and unknown territory. She said "I didn't expect "it" to work so quick, like I haven't even learned too much yet or done anything but I am already recognizing myself making decisions I wouldn't normally make and feeling good about everything." She is sending her daughter home to California to be with her dad for 2 months and that is going to be really hard for her but she sees that as an opportunity to get closer to God in this time! She told us "I usually run away when something new happens but "it" is telling me to run to y'all." 

These people are amazing and I will miss them!

Love yall! It has been a good 13 months! 

Sister Baker