Sister Samantha Sue: Week 17

Thank you thank you thank you for the package! I loved it soooo much!! I already hung up the halloween decorations and I'm excited to listen to the CDs you sent :) This week was 105841384 times more interesting than last week, that's for sure! Where do I even start?

Monday was Zone P-Day we went to Art Rascon's house and all hung out there. He is in the mission presidency, and also is the main news anchor for ABC News, so he's pretty much famous! And he has a super nice house and the most beautiful family. And at the same time, he is the most generous person I have ever met. His life = my life goal.

Tuesday I went to Dayton on exchanges with Sister Wilson. We had such a fun time! At the dinner appointment, we had finished up eating and I was about to throw away my cheap Styrofoam plate, when the Sister looks at me and says, "Oh, actually we wash those." And I kinda laughed, but then Sister Wilson was like, "No, she's serious." Oh shoot! Okay! They told me it was Sister Casas' turn to do the dishes, and since I was there instead, that it was my turn. So I start washing all these Styrofoam plates, and when I look over at the family and Sister Wilson they just start busting up laughing. They were all playing a prank on me. Man, it was a good prank too. I totally fell for it. So that was funny, and embarrassing!!

Friday we went to the temple to do baptisms with Geronimo and Luis!! Suuuuuper special and spiritual experience. It was really difficult to figure out a ride to the temple, but everything finally ended up working out. I was talking to Luis after and he said that when he was being confirmed he felt a firm and gentle power that started at his head and just flowed down through his whole body. How cool! They both did 12 names. Luis was even confirmed for someone named William Baker! Who knows, it could be one of my ancestors!! This is an experience that I know both of them will always remember, and I will always remember it, too. Next step: help them find their own names so they can do the work for their own family.

The whole week we had soooooo much foooooooood. Because it was Hermana Bonar's last week, everyone was all of a sudden willing to feed us. Even some of her recent converts from her other areas came up and took us to eat. Saturday was definitely the worst day though. We had a brunch, two lunches, and a dinner. We thought we were going to explode we were so full. But Heavenly Father definitely helped us out with that one, and we're still alive, so no worries there!

As missionaries, we don't get to watch the news and we hardly know what's going on with the weather. But we were given a whole bunch of flood/hurricane warnings this weekend because of HURRICANE PATRICIA. Apparently, it's one of the biggest hurricanes the world has ever seen... We got a lot of rain, but no flooding or anything so that's good. The rainiest day was Saturday, which also happened to be what's called Spoke N Pedal, where we can't use the car until 5:00 pm. Oh, the joy, of riding bikes in the pouring rain.

Yesterday I received some of the most scary/nervous/exciting/mostly-scary news I have every received in my whole life...... I'M GOING TO BE A TRAINER. Aaaaahhhhhhhhh. Don't try to think about it logically, because it doesn't make sense! There are only two new hermanas coming out, and plenty of other hermanas who have much more experience than I do. I mean, I literally just got done being trained myself yesterday. But that being said, I have a lot of trust in the mission president. So today at transfer meeting I will pick up my greenie and the adventure will begin! Neither of us will know what we're doing, neither of us really speak the language, but we're going to do all we know how and let the Lord do the rest.

Through pure inspiration, one of the APs, Elder Mitchell, called me last night just to check up on me and see how I was feeling. He shared something that has stuck with me that I would like to share with y'all. Ether 12:27 says the Lord has given us weakness. Not weaknesses (plural), but weakness. In other words, he has allowed us to be weak. How lucky are we to have the grace of our Savior Jesus Christ, so that this weakness in us will be made strong! And all we have to do is turn to Him. It really is that simple.

This next week is going to be a challenging one that's for sure. But I feel your prayers strengthening me every day, and I know everything is going to work out the way the Lord has planned.

Love you so much!

Hermana Baker