10.28.13

Dear Everyone,

This week has been an extremely rewarding week as a missionary. Sometimes we just keep going and wonder if we are really doing any good and every once in a while we are blessed to see the fruits of our labor. Anyways, I am really grateful to be doing the Lord's work in this part of his vineyard.

Last week started out a bit rough, but by Tuesday or Wednesday things started to look up. We went on Exchanges Wednesday night to Thursday with the Parma sisters. I got to go home for a day :). I was able to see Viola and hear of her continuing conversion. She never ceases to amaze me. I was able to spend the day with sister Dijkwel from the Netherlands. She is amazing! She has been in the field for two weeks and has a beautiful testimony and ability to teach and share the gospel. She is also super positive, which I love since I have been trying to improve my ability to be optimistic. She taught me so much in just 24 hours! 

When I returned to Weiser on Thursday I found that Sister Ketring and Sister Poynter had been able to commit one of the less active sisters we have been working with, Lacy, to come to the Relief Society activity that night. Score! She came and loved it. On Friday we got to go on a fun adventure with President and Sister Cannon. We had a mission leadership training in Baker city (kinda weird that I go to those now) so President offered to pick us up to save on miles. The sunrise/fog that morning was gorgeous so he and sister Cannon kept stopping to take pictures which made me laugh but was pretty cool. We had the meeting on helping other missionaries cope with stress (I wish I had someone to help me with that sometimes...) It was great and I learned a lot. After the meeting, President had to go up to La Grande for an interview, so we got to join him for the beautiful drive. Fall is a magical season! He took us to lunch and told us all kinds of stories. We really got to know He and Sister Cannon on a more personal level. He even told a few off color jokes. It was awesome. When we finally returned form our journey, we met up with Malinda Turner for her baptismal interview. She rocked it. She came out of the room and declared "I am never drinking coffee again!" She updated us on Sunday and had said she forgot and accidentally drank some on Saturday and was absolutely sick the rest of the day and she was done for good. We are so immensely proud of her and how far she has come. 

This weekend we also discovered that Bob Green (See emails from July) one of my favorite recent converts is staying in the rehabilitation center/rest home here in Weiser. He is not very old but suffers from a rare form of gout (hey mom, remember when that nurse asked me if I had gout? Lol it is really no laughing matter). We went to go see him and as soon as we walked into his room he began to cry. He bore his testimony of the Gospel and told me how much I mean to him. He told me that I have no Idea how perfect our timing was when we came to his door and offered to weed his yard. He bore powerful testimony of the Lord's timing. I love him so much. He is frail in body but grows ever stronger in spirit. 

After visiting with Brother Green, we went to see Jamie. Jamie has been wanting to be baptized but has not been able to keep any commitments, including coming to church. When we saw her this weekend her countenance had completely changed. She told us how after praying to be able to feed her family, a ward member showed up at her door with food. She received the witness that she needed to start acting on her faith. She was in church yesterday with her husband and son in  toe. They stayed all three hours and absolutely loved it! Malinda and Rex were also at church yesterday. We are so proud of each of these people who are preparing themselves for baptism. 

A quick update on Ian and Virginia: We have transferred Ian to the YSA elders in Ontario and from what we here he is doing well. Virginia has been out of town for the past week and a half visiting her daughter in Mexico where it is warm. We miss her like crazy! Life is going well. The Lord is ever mindful. I love you.

Love,

Sister Baker