Week 9: BAPTISMMMM!!!!

That's right! The highlight of the week (and my whole mission so far) was yesterday at the baptism of our investigator, Geronimo! The other elders in the ward, Elder Knudsen and Elder Barrett, had a baptism at the same time, too. Geronimo was found back in the end of June, but then he moved and the missionaries lost contact with him. A month later, the end of July, they were able to find him again and ever since he has been so accepting of the gospel and the church. He is single, in his 40's, and lives with his brother. His brother didn't come to his baptism, though, which made me realize how alone he really was. But now he has the ward, and next week he will have the Holy Ghost to always be with him. One of the best parts of the gospel is that we are NEVER alone. The feeling you get when you see someone enter the waters of baptism, especially when it's someone you love and have helped get there, is indescribable. Heavenly Father has so much love for every single one of his children.

Another Hour of Power miracle: nine new investigators! Here's how that happened. Well, first, the day before Hna Bonar specifically prayed that we would reach our goal of finding 3 new investigators to teach this week. We had very little time to go finding and contacting because of the upcoming baptism, and it definitely showed in our number of new investigators (which at the time was zero). So then, during hour of power, we see a couple guys standing around their truck bed just talking and laughing, so we go up to talk to them! They said they had a few minutes then for us to teach them, so we taught the Restoration. And as we did, more and more people showed up until we were teaching 8 people about Joseph Smith and the First Vision. They all didn't live in that house, but they all were family, and said we could all meet there again next week to teach them more! Then, a few houses down we found another man who's wife had recently died and we taught him a part of the plan of salvation. So not only did we receive an answer to our prayer to meet our goal, but to meet triple our goal! And most importantly, to bring 9 more souls a little bit closer to Christ.

Tripas = pig intestines. But Hna Bonar decided to tell me this AFTER we left the member's house where we ate dinner at that day. They actually tasted pretty good, not gonna lie! But the idea of it is still gonna take a little getting used to.

We had two meetings this week: New Missionary Training and Zone Conference. So when we were walking into the stake center for New Missionary Training, I realized that Hna Bonar was wearing two different shoes! Same style, but one black and one brown. When I pointed it out to her she was SO embarrassed and made us drive all the way back to our apartment to change her shoe and then all the way back to the stake center. So ya, I thought that was pretty funny :)

Okay, now for two things I learned this week in Zone Conference:

1. Prayer is truly a conversation with God. During my prayers, I am going to try to do better at thinking about what I'm saying and then trying to imagine what God would say back. When we do this, we will receive more inspiration and God will be able to speak to our hearts and to our minds. So I invite y'all to try it!

2. The parable of the Good Samaritan = the parable of the Good Missionary. Am I going to be the missionary that sees a spiritually beaten person on the side of the road, and continue to pass by. No! I have what they need, whether they know that they need it or not, and I am going to share it with them!

I think that's it for this week! Thanks everything you guys do. Your prayers, your examples, everything! Let me know if there's anything you need. LOVE YOU!!

Hermana Baker

Geronimo's baptism!

I accidentally moved my head, but hey, the picture's still pretty cool! (Geronimo's holding up his phone because he can't read very well, so he listens to el Libro de Mormon on his phone)

BLUE BELL ICE CREAM IS BACK. I REPEAT: BLUE BELL ICE CREAM IS BACK.

Zone P-day last week! We had a huuuuuge water balloon fight and got so soaked. It was awesome.