Week 19

Hello!!!! Wow I feel like a lot happened this week... we skyped which was the best thing ever!!!!! It just was a long week here in general. I am glad to hear everyone's week went well!! 

Fred's talk sounded like it went great!!! and it sounded hilarious!!!! hahahahah But, I'm glad it went well!!!

My week was good. I ate lots of food... hahaha all the food from my packages is now gone. We pretty much cleaned out all of our members!!! But, other than food we had our Christmas activity this week!! We got to watch a freaking Christmas movie!!!!!!! It was called Aurther's Christmas. It was the coolest thing ever!!!!! I actually felt like it was Christmas time. hahaha and we played games, sang some songs.. it was awesome!!

 

Me and Elder Sutton did changes again... hahah just like always it was awesome. Having a white comp would be so fun!!!!! hahahaha 

I hope every ones Christmas was amazing. I prayed for you all a lot and I hope Fred is excited to leave!! Even though he is in Cali right now..... watching football!!!!!!

 

Geez I feel like so much happened this week but I dont know what to talk about!!!! We are teaching a new family. They were very old investigators, and for a while didn't want anything to do with us but they ended up just coming to church on Sunday and me and my comp taught gospel principles, they loved it and are going to let us to teach them again! So thats going to be good. 

Well I love you all so much and cant wait for the next time I'm able to skype you guys!!!! hahaha even though its not for a little bit more time;) I love you all so much!!!!! and will talk to you soon.

elder baker 

Week 18

Hello!!!! So this week was good. Me and my comp are doing lots better!! We have so much more fun teaching than me and Elder Cruz did!!! Yes... we live in the house by ourselves but it doesnt bother me that he only speaks english!!! We get along super good!! We had a good week. We have some more dates for the first week of Jan. But, the bad news is that Alba and her family ended up not getting baptized... it sucks but we are still working hard!!

   

Me and Elder Sutton did changes again and put a baptism date with one of the investigators ..and while we were working we found a HUGE snake!!!!! Like giant. We got a picture with it, but the bad thing is I forgot my camara in the house today... so I cant send any pictures!! I'm sorry.... 

I am doing good!! It's weird that it is almost Christmas!! I'm sooooo excited to talk to you guys!! haha only 2 days:) i cant wait!!!!!! I'll be doing it at like10 in the morning!!! So 9 where you guys are!!! aghhh im so excited!!! It's going to be awesome. Thanks for sending the suit coat and acne stuff!!!! haha the mission wont think anything about you guys... trust me!! hahaha

 

Well I'll be talking to you guys in two days so I'll save a lot of the stuff to say for then;) I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!

 

Talk to you guys on Wednesday at 10 am here 9 am in AZ!! love you

elder baker

Week 17

Hello!!!! I guess I will start with you guys! I think it is so funny Jace broke his arm too!!! hahaha I love it, they are taking after me;) 

I cannot believe that Haley had surgery again!! That is terrible.... I feel so bad for her!!  ...and that's so weird that Fred farewell is already in two weeks!!! Let me tell you, I can not wait to talk to you guys on Christmas!!!! I think about it every single day!! haha maybe a little more than i should;)... but I'm just really excited!!!! It is going to be so awesome!!! AND... I got the Christmas package!!! I'm actually surprised how fast I got it!!! But it was amazing!!!! The food and everything!! Everything that is wrapped I am saving to open on Christmas. So thank you soo soo very much!!! 

    

Lets see, I have a new companion!!!! And I am still in the same area!! His name is Elder Hernandez and he is from El Salvador. He is waiting for his visa to go to Peru but he says he will be here for a while. He is cool, its definitely different without Elder Cruz but he is cool!!! He is a really good teacher, but you should have seen him the first couple of days.... he HATED the area!!! He made sure to make that clear!! hahaha He wanted to leave so bad... but we had a good couple of days and he is a lot better now!! haha He speaks absolutely 0 english.. not a single word!!! So that is weird.. but it is super good for my spanish!!!! 

    

So yeah... same area, new companion, good investigators, and we are working super hard!!!!! This week felt pretty long... but it also went by pretty fast!! Its weird. haha But, I am just happy its p-day and its one day closer to Christmas!!!! haha I'm even waiting to open the pajamas till Christmas Eve!! 

  

Lets see... OHHHHH and something else!!!!! So Magdalena (my area) used to be Magdalena 1 and Magdalena 2 two different areas!! BUT THEY CHANGED IT AND NOW ITS ALL JUST ONE!!! So my area is huge now!!!!! So we do lots and lots of walking!!! So right its just really hard trying to figure out how to work in both parts of the area!! When they are like 30 minutes away from each other!!! hahaha but were figuring it out:) 

Well I am doing good!! healthy:) Thanks again for the package!! and the emails!!! I love you all so much. talk to you soon!!!!

elder baker

Week 16

Hello!!! How was everyone's week!? I guess I will start with how cool that is about the baptism you guys went to!! That is awesome. Baptisms have such a strong spirit!!! I love going to them. 

That is also soooo crazy that its already about time for Fred's farewell... time flys doesnt it?? That is super exciting though!! 

Thanks for setting up the Skype too!! That is going to be a super great day when I get to skype you guys!!! I literally can not wait for that. 

So, lets see... I also LOVE the picture of you guys getting the christmas tree!!! I can't believe its already been a year since the last time we were all there!!! I am just happy to see you guys are getting a real tree, cuz if it was fake I would be very upset!!! 

Oh and that is crazy how close me and mitch are to each other!!! Maybe I'll just walk over there some day;) hahaha!! I wish... They get to go to the beach!!! They are super lucky!!! 

  

Well my week was good!!! Me and Elder Cruz have gotten better at teaching together!! Haha finally... but, we invited three more people to be baptized on the 22nd of December!! So lets just hope that people keep wanting more of our lessons!!! 

The christmas devotional last night was awesome. It's definitely different in Spanish because it's not their real voices!!! But, it was still really cool!! I am just super excited for Christmas!! I have the tree you guys sent me on my desk and we have a little bit of christmas music!! So, I am just getting ready for the holidays;) 

I gave my first blessing in Spanish this week!!!!! When we asked her who she wanted to give it, she said me and i was like.......what? Hahaha... but it actually wasn't too bad!!! 

This next sunday, me and Elder Kendall.. the other white elder in our ward, are giving talks in church!! Haha so that should be fun... just pray I don't forget Spanish when I get up there!! Hahaha... but, yeah everything is going good!! I am healthy, and just working hard!! We have changes this week and we will find out tomorrow if we are going to get new comps... so next time we write I will either have a new comp or I will still be with Elder Cruz!! 

Well, I am doing good!!! I miss you all tons, love you all tons, can not wait to talk on christmas!!!! I think about you all the time. Well... I am trying to think if there is anything else new this week... haha I saw a snake and two huge spiders. Like giant!!!!! Lets just say I did not like the spiders.. hahaha well i love you all tons!!! and will talk to you soon!!!:) 

elder baker

Week 15

Hello!!! How was everybody’s week!? It sounds like everybody had a good week from the emails. Haha except gage... let him know I hope he is feeling better!!!

As for me my week was good... I will start with Thanksgiving! We had a multi zone and had a lesson on the meaning "thanks" and we also ate good food!! Like Thanksgiving food!! Haha it was kinda funny because only the white kids actually celebrate thanksgiving... so all of the Latinos didn't understand it. But it was super fun!!

My birthday was good!! I got your package!!!!!!! Thank you soooo much!! Haha I wasn't able to wait super long without eating it all... but it was super good!! So thank you very much!!! Then today, my district leader Elder Sutton (the kid from Mesa) bought me breakfast and told the people it was my b-day so they gave this stuff called flan and sang happy b-day to me!! I have pics of that so I will send them!!! Haha it was super funny. Then the night before my b-day we all went out for papusas, because we were fasting Saturday night. So we had my b-day dinner one night early!!

Now for the temple, it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life!!!! The inside was sooooo pretty!!! It had murals of the jungle and aghhh it was so amazing!! President and his wife came with us too. After we finished the session, President took me in the sealing room and was talking to me about how this is where I need to take my wife some day!! It was really cool. But yeah, this week went by sooo fast!!!!!

As for the teaching part of the week it was really good!!!! We now have 4 dates for the end of this month!! I am super excited... it's with Alba and her family!! We did splits with one of the APs this week too... He is an amazing missionary and teaches so good!!! I literally felt like I sucked at teaching after being with him. But, that night when my district leader called for the daily numbers, he was with the AP for changes the next day, and he said the AP told him that I teach really good and that I am a super good missionary!! And that he thinks I'll be a leader in the mission some day!!! So that was really, really cool... but I can honestly say that wouldn't even be possible with out all the help I have gotten from my Father in Heaven. Well I love you all soooo much!!!! ...and thanks for all of the emails!!!

elder baker

Elder Baker's 19th Birthday! El Salvadorian Style!

Week 14

Hello!!! First, yes I took some pics this week!! I will send those after I send the email! This week was good!! We got to go to San Salvador on Tuesday, for some immigration stuff, and I got to go to Wendy’s!!! Hahaha BEST BURGER I HAVE EVER HAD!!!!!!! It was super good!!! Me and elder Cruz had to take a bus for about an hour and a half or two hours to get there, but I am thinking it was worth it....haha!!

Lets see, the scripture you sent me was really good!!! I really liked it and I wrote it in my agenda so I can remember it!! We had a pretty good week teaching! Haha... I think it was Wednesday night we were teaching a lesson in literally the pitch black!!! They didn't have any light... it was a little hard because you couldn't see their faces or use any scriptures or anything! Haha but it wasn't bad! Oh and we have an investigator, now, that is as tall as me!!! His name is Miguel and he has a brother that was just baptized in America!! He is super cool and I love how tall he is... because tall people really don't exist here. We were able to teach Alba and her family again!! We taught the Plan Of Salvation and the lesson went pretty well. We were teaching it for about two hours! Haha we were there for a while!! We are really hoping to put a date with them soon, but they need to go to church!!!! They are super good investigators, but they haven't gone to church yet... but we are going to work really hard with them, this week, so they will go!!! So they are doing pretty good. Other than that its pretty much just normal... lots of talking to new people and trying to teach lessons!!! Haha... the missionary life! 

We are going to the temple this week!!!!!! I am sooooooooo excited!!!! I will have gone through the Mesa, Mexico City, and El Salvador temples!!! I am really excited to see how much more of the Spanish I will understand now!!!! Aghhh... I really can not wait... we are going on Wednesday!! Then on Thursday we are having a Thanksgiving multi zone in the mission office!! We will get to eat lots of food... so that will be soooo fun!!! This week will go by super fast!!!

Lets see... I am trying to think if there is anything else about this week. We did some service for members in our ward! We moved cement slabs from one side of the yard to the other... haha I thought it was kind of useless, but I like working with them!!! OH and we found one of the nicest ladies ever this week!! We were just out trying to find new people and we found her and she let us in her house!! She has been a catholic for 80 years... and said she would never change, but she let us stay and talk to her for a while!! She lives by her self and she has a bunch of Christmas stuff set up!! She was showing us her lights and tree and pictures of Santa!! Haha it was awesome and she was just SUPER nice!!!!!! We will definitely just go back and talk with her and see if she needs help with anything!!

Well that is it for this week... it was good!! I hope you are all doing good!! My b-day is this week and I'm excited for that!!!! I'm glad everyone is going back to school and feels better!! That's awesome that Fred works with the missionaries!!! He will be a great missionary. Today is Riggs b-day!!!!!! So I will say happy birthday to him. :) I haven't gotten the package yet, but hopefully this week!!!! But, if not I'll be fine. I love you all so much!!! ...and I will talk to you soon:) 

Week 13

Hello!! So, I will start with I feel lots better... which is super good because it SUCKED!!!! I was pretty freaking sick. Monday got pretty bad again, after I emailed you guys, but I started feeling lots better Tuesday and I am now all better!! I'm not sure what I had... the tests didn't say much about it. It was really weird! Monday I got this rash all over my body and it itched like crazy, but they aren't sure what that was either... hahaha the doctors are great!!;) But, its all gone now and I feel good!! 

    

This week was good!!! We have this super good family we are teaching right now, Alba (the mom) and her two kids!! They are awesome! We have taught them the first lesson, and the second time we went to their house we just talked about the Book of Mormon because they had a bunch of questions about it!! We are going to be putting a baptism date with them for the first of December!! So, hopefully everything keeps going well with them!! I love going to their house because her kids are awesome!! Her son is 15 and her daughter is 8... Bydon and Michelle. Both of them love reading and praying, and they love making their mom do it, even when she doesn't want to!! Haha so they are lots of help!!

As for the other family I told you guys about, family Onofre, Kristy is still doing good! She reads and prays sometimes, we are working pretty hard with her because she doesn't come to church!!!! It's super annoying. But she is still doing good and we are going to TRY and put a date for the first of December with her too. She has an 8 year old daughter and she loves the missionaries!! She is super cool, and then she also has a 4 year old son Juan and he is super cute!! So going over to their house is awesome! 1) Because they have a Christmas tree and lights up and I love looking at them... and 2) because their family is just awesome! So that's pretty much it for the lessons part of the week....

 What else happened this week?? I did splits with Elder Sutton!! Haha I havn't really talked about him much, but him and Elder Kendall are like my best friends in the zone! Elder Sutton is our district leader, and he is super cool!!! He is from mesa and he skates and snowboards!!! So, as you can imagine, doing splits with him was super fun!!! We had a pretty good time. He has like 15 months in the mission and he kept telling me how good my Spanish was... so that felt good!! The Lord is really helping me with that!!! Oh and me and Elder Kendall are making a Christmas card to send home!!! I bought a Santa hat and a little Christmas tree today!! hahaha Elder Kendall lives right by us and we eat lunch with the same Cocinara, so we are planning this out pretty well!! haha 

No mom... I haven't gotten the package yet... but I should soon! Have you gotten my letters yet??  I am doing good!!! Haha I had a spider in my hand the other week... I forgot to tell you guys about that!!! The people promised me it wouldn't bite so I held it... it was gross!!!!! haha I freaked out. Well, I love you all!!! ...and I will talk to you soon LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

elder baker

Week 12--For Mom!

Mom!! Ok, so this is your email that you don't have to forward... So, I told you in the other email about how I got sick... it really, really sucked!!! But, thanks for the email!! My week was pretty boring, but your week sounded alright!! Haha... I'm glad to hear Gage is staying out of trouble and doing good in school!! I am very glad to hear dad is finally getting his knee checked out!!! It's about freaking time. Hahaha and I am sorry to hear about Haley... me and her can be sick together!! Haha as for Riggs, I'm not surprised that he feels stressed not knowing as much as everyone else... he is just like that!!!

Oh, and you had as good question!! Yes I get to Skype home on Christmas. I'm not sure the time but I do get to!! Ughh I miss you guys a lot!! The story with you and Haley in the hospital was hilarious!!! I literally laughed when I read it!!! I just remember all of our trips to the hospital! Haha!! Ughh, I love you so much and wish I could see you!! Talk to you soon. Love you!!!!