9.23.13

Dear Everyone,

We had another fun week here in the fabulous Weiser, Idaho. Missionary work continues to be full of fun and interesting surprises. We had a baptism this week for our cute friend, Rene. It was really sweet but also kinda crazy. There was a funeral going on at the same time, so the building was a little busy. All in all, Rene was on cloud nine and didn't even notice all of the chaos. I have never seen a 12 year old girl so happy! She really is a neat person. In other interesting news, we visited an avid doll collector this week. Her tiny apartment was FULL of life sized dolls that she herself had made along with a collection of other dolls which just happened to be hanging by the neck from her walls. I have seen things I can never un-see. 

Want to hear another interesting story? Last night on our way home we passed a group of people in the park all dressed like pioneers. We decided to stop and talk to them. They turned out to be German Baptists having a church service in the park. We talked to a few of the women who were super nice and invited us to their next meeting. Then one of the men came over (he had a huge beard) and tried to bible bash us. I just bore my testimony and said that we didn't come over to argue religion, we just wanted to see what was going on. We will probably show up to their next meeting just to see what they are all about and try to make friends with the ladies. For some reason after encounters like that I always think of awesome things I could have said. Don't know why I can never think of them in the moment. 

We have had a really good week, though. We taught 34 lessons this week and have two investigators preparing for baptism. It is my favorite thing when people have soft hearts and are prepared to hear and accept the truthfulness of this gospel! I know that it is true. I love to declare it every day. I love the peace and joy it brings to my life and the peace and joy it brings to the lives of those who accept this glad message. What good news it is!! God lives and loves us. Jesus Christ died for me and you and lives again. He is at the head of this church. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. We are led and guided by a living prophet. I am a child of a Heavenly Father who knows me. This is truth and I will never deny it. I am a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it. 

Your Sister,

Madison Baker

9.16.13

We had a zone conference on Friday with Elder and Sister Zwick of the 70. That was pretty amazing. We learned a lot about teaching and learning by the spirit as well as effective ways to teach. It was a really spiritual meeting. Sister Zwick talked about their oldest son, Scotty who is mentally and physically handicapped. She talked about his loving boldness and how we can all learn from him how to invite others to come unto Christ. I was really inspired. 

 

On Saturday we taught one of our investigators about the importance of baptism and she committed to a date. She said that after meeting with us last week she finally prayed sincerely to know if this was what was right. She said that she knows now that it is all true. She feels so strongly that this is what the Lord wants her to do and she cannot do anything else. She came to church for the first time yesterday and absolutely loved it. She is coming to FHE group tonight. We are so excited for her! She has really caught the power of the Holy Ghost. 

We are also teaching a 12 year old girl named Renee. She will be baptized on this coming Saturday. She told us this week that her family doesn't want her to get baptized, but she knows that it is right so she is going to do it. There are some pretty neat people around here! A lot of our week is spent contacting and organizing and trying to get our feet on the ground and build the trust of the members. It is pretty fun/hectic most of the time but the Lord is really blessing us here. Life is good.

Love,

Sister Baker

9.9.13

So, my new companion is Sister Ketring. We have bucketloads of fun together! That is something that I have SERIOUSLY been missing. Just being silly and laughing! I am SO grateful to have sister Ketring as my companion!

Weiser is fun. It is a super cute town and everyone is THRILLED to have sisters after the last elders who served here. Our apartment is pretty nice now that we deep cleaned it ;) We even have a dishwasher!

Don't worry. I will not partake in the Chinese food. 

My experiment with the Spanish sisters was interesting. (Side note: last week Sister Baker tagged on with the Spanish Sisters in between transfers) They had quite a bit of contention in their companionship, so I spent the few days helping them to look past their differences and find confidence in one another and in themselves. It made me happy that I could be an encouraging influence to them. I think we all need a reminder sometimes to just love people and not try to change them all the time. Heavenly Father and our Savior love unconditional and that, to me at least, leaves us no excuse to do otherwise. I am amazed at how far we can go in life when we just love people no matter what. It is a hard lesson to learn, and I am definitely still learning it. But letting go of the way I tend to be so critical has brought me so much more happiness than judging others ever has. 

The town is great! We are working with some amazing people. It took a few days to get our feet on the ground with where the elders left off, but we are picking up steam. Weiser is about twice the size of Parma (still pretty small), but way cleaner and nicer. Everyone is pretty friendly so far and the members are amazing. Church yesterday felt a little like being a celebrity. We also cover the town of Cambridge. It is about 30 miles away and is about the size of Adrian. It is further up into the mountains and is really pretty. We went up there on Saturday and met up with Sister Leatherman who was previously living in the Nyssa Stake but is now living in Cambridge. She took us around to meet some of the ward members. It was awesome!     

I am loving it here! It is definitely a challenge (I feel a little bit like the clean-up crew) but I know that the Lord is guiding us every single step of the way. This gospel is amazing!

Love,

Sister Baker