Monday, May 28th, 2018

Let me just say, WHAT A WEEK!  It has been so so sunny and beautiful.  I don't even think it's rained on us in a week and a half.  I have a solid white line from the straps on my shoes and the rest of my feet are turning tan.  On Saturday we were talking to people on the street and I bent over to fix my sock.  I undid the strap from my shoe and a random lady actually laughed out loud and had to apologize for laughing at my tan lines.  That's quite the segue into having to talk to the missionaries!

You'll never believe what we did on Saturday.  We got to go to a concert!  You read correctly, a concert in Edinburgh.  The Nashville Tribute Band.  They sing songs as a tribute to Joseph Smith, the pioneers, etc.  It was great and their music is pretty popular among all the missionaries.  They are related to a sister that just left this mission and so we got a performance from them.  One of their songs really hit home for me.  It's called American Dreams, talking about a man who met the missionaries in Dublin💓 and left to go to Ohio to join the Saints.  

Sunday!  What a day!  A day of miracles!  We had confirmed with ____ and her family that they would be coming to church on Saturday, but yesterday morning when we tried to contact them her phone was off.  We waited for them until about 2 minutes before church started and we didn't see them, so we sat down.  Five minutes later they all walked in!  What a blessing!  They loved church again and I think there was a change of heart even from last week.  

We also had another lady show up to church in time for relief society.  We taught her earlier this week because she texted us and asked us to meet!  We were driving back from Oban and got a text from her asking if we could meet in the next hour.  We got there in perfect time and we were able to have a member there as well!  It was amazing.  She has a really deep interest in family history.  We were also able to have her meet the family history consultants and they are going to get together sometime this week to help her with family history!  Yay for the Spirit of Elijah!

After church we were chapping and tried to go by an inactive lady's house.  We think she moved, but we decided to still chap the street.  We were able to meet two awesome ladies who invited us into their homes.  One had a mother who used to meet with the Elders in Paisley before she passed away and we had a great conversation with her.  She asked us to come back later and we were thrilled!  As we were leaving I complimented her succulents and plants and she decided to give us two of them!  She was so sweet and now we have two succulents.  Another woman invited us in immediately and started asking a bunch of questions.  She's going on a two week vacation and we were able to leave her with a Book of Mormon.  She said it was perfect because she needed something to read while on vacation.  

Unfortunately there was another loaf of bread (aka - huge spider).  In the exact same spot, about the exact same size.  We saw it and Sister Anderson was having none of the spider that day.  She immediately got our mold spray and starting attacking the spider with it.  It pretty much died on the spot and we haven't seen another big bertha since then.  

Embarrassing moment of the week:  We were GQing and I saw a woman coming up.  I greeted her by saying, "Hello sir!" very loudly without a man in sight.  There was no recovery and Sister Anderson had to walk away because she was laughing so hard.  Oops.  Luckily that is the first time I've done that, and hopefully the last hahhhahah.

 

Spiders/Blessings/Miracles

There wasn't too much about the royal wedding, but we did see a few more British flags flying and people asked us why we weren't watching it.

OKAY I JUST WANT TO TELL YOU ABOUT MY MONDAY MORNING.  I woke up this morning, bounced out of bed, prayed, and started walking out of the room when BAM ALL I SEE IS THIS MASSIVE BLACK BLOB ABOVE MY CLOSET.  What was that black blob you ask?  A SPIDER THE SIZE OF A LOAF OF BREAD.  Okay a small loaf of bread.  As soon as I saw it, it ran to the corner, so it was not in a good shoe smacking place.  We were watching it periodically, but the wonderful creature decided it wouldn't move out of the corner.  That is bad news.  Finally, we decided the best option would be to get the vacuum out and suck it up.  The only issue is that the vacuum has horrible suction power.  We worked up the courage (I worked up the courage) and got the vacuum at the ready.  It took everything in my power to muster up the courage, but FINALLY I did it and big Bertha died.  Right after,  the vacuum broke, so that is a miracle in and of itself.  ANYWAY, not a great start to my pday, but at least there isn't a massive spider chilling above my closet now. 

This week we had conference in Edinburgh.  At conference I was able to catch up a bit with Sister Osmond (who Sister Scheib trained after me and replaced me in Dublin).  I asked her about all of my recent converts and how they are doing.  She said they are all doing really well and another person I taught while in Dublin Sister Osmond baptised.  It gets better.  She told me that WILLIAM IS ENGAGED.  He met her when he went on a trip to Galway and went to church.  She is a returned missionary from Utah who came to Ireland for University.  They met and have been dating ever since and now they are engaged.  They will be getting sealed sometime in November I think.  When she told me that I burst into tears from the pure joy I felt.  It is amazing to know that he is continuing on the covenant path.  Also it has been amazing seeing how God had played a role in this.  Who would have ever thought that a Brazilian and a Utahn would meet in Ireland and get married!  What a miracle.  

This week our zone had a fast for our friends to progress and attend church.    _____, who we have been teaching off and on due to her busy schedule who hadn't been in contact with us for a while let us know that she would be coming to church.  She also brought her husband and their two children along with her.  We had a very powerful lesson with them in Gospel Principles.  The ward was also great with making sure their kids were taken care of and fellowshipping them.  Our ward mission leader even invited them over for dinner and they came.  They had a really great time and they committed to come to church next week as well.  We are so blessed to be trusted to participate in these miracles.  This was such a blessing because we had never been able to teach her husband and then he came to church!  Yayyayay.

I love the Scotland/Ireland Mission! 

Monday, May 14, 2018

So the question is how do you email when you just talked to your family yesterday?? 

I am so grateful for my amazing family to always love and support me.  It breaks my heart seeing so many broken families around me, but makes me even more grateful for mine!  I LOVE YOU ALL BAKER BUNCH.

Monday, May 7, 2018

THE HIGHLIGHT OF THIS WEEK BY FAR:  On Sunday Mark was able to pass the sacrament for the first time.  It was great to see him being able to exercise his Priesthood.  This past week he also went ministering to families in the ward and he will be teaching Gospel Principles once each month!  We are so excited to watch him progress!

Unfortunately, our friend ____ no longer wants to meet with us.  He didn't show up to his lesson and his phone was off.  We found out from the senior couple who found out from his member friend that he doesn't want to meet with us anymore.  I was really sad about this.  It is painful when you see someone's deep desire for forgiveness, but for whatever reasons they choose not to take the steps necessary for it, especially when you care about them so much.  We keep praying for him and trust in the Lord's timing!  If it's meant to be it will happen eventually.  It's all in the Lord's timing.  

I don't have a lot to report this week other than the fact that while we chap we get mistaken for everyone you can think of.  People coming home, salesmen, Jehovah Witnesses, milk men, catalog collecters, santa claus, you name it, we've been mistaken for it.  Sister Anderson suggested we get bigger badges because apparently our missionary clothes and badges don't do enough for some people!

CINCO DE MAYO!  On Saturday the one American in our ward (Tessa) had us over for cinco de mayo lunch and we had the most delicious enchiladas!  I miss Mexican food.  It's just not really a thing here, but the biggest blessing when we get it!  Also Sister Anderson's mom sent us proper salsa.  It was so good and almost gone - hahaha.

Monday, April 30, 2018

Weirdest thing happened this week.  Sister Anderson and I taught a first lesson to a man and when we walked out of the restaurant we were in, in Oban we hear, "SISTERS!"  (echoed about 12 times).  We were then surrounded by 14 members from Utah and one of them was from Murray right by Wheeler Farm.  They were excited to see us because they had seen missionaries every place they had been in Scotland.  We gave them pass along cards to hand out on their way and they said they gave away a Book of Mormon earlier that day!  Woohoo member missionaries at all times, and in all things, and in all places. 

Unfortunately, ___ does not want to get baptised anymore.  He is still very excited to learn and loves to come to church. He was talking to his parents about his decision to be baptised and they talked him out of it because he was baptised in another faith by his Godfather.  He is still very excited to learn and he loves the members, but there is just a little bump in the road right now.  All we have to do now is trust in the Lord's timing and do our best!

This week Sister Anderson and I were chapping and we look at the door and I'm like "hey it says Anderson."  I didn't think much of it because it's a pretty common name.  As we walk to the next door Sister Anderson was just pointing and laughing.  I was really confused until I looked a little bit harder and it said BAKER.  We died laughing and that probably doesn't sound that funny, but we thought it was.  

We were able to finally teach our friend ____ again.  While we were there her 7 year old came up to us and said, "Fairies, mermaids, or princesses?"  Then we were presented with a picture after that she drew for us.  It was so cute and is now in my journal.  

Sunday was a very exciting day for us.

1.  I was stuck playing the organ again this week and unfortunately I couldn't opt out to use the piano because in our chapel there is only an organ.  I'm getting better at making it not sound as jumpy, but I still love the piano a lot more.  

2.  This week Sister Anderson and I taught the 5th Sunday lesson along with our Ward Mission Leader.  We talked about the importance of member missionary work (because what else do missionaries talk about) and goal setting.  We printed out these cute handout that said, "Help to 'GROW' the Lord's Kingdom!"  With the letters GROW going down the side.  We used it as 

G - goal

R - reality

O - options

W - way forward

We talked about how we can use this with inviting our friends/family/colleagues/etc. to learn about the Restored Gospel!  The members seemed pretty on board with it, so hopefully we can continue to work with them to improve it.  

One thing that stood out to me as we were preparing and teaching was the importance of being converted to our goals or whatever we set our mind to.  One sister shared how she had a goal to be healthier and run a 10K.  She said she ran every day for a year and a half and ran the 10K.  After that they went on holiday for 2 weeks and she hasn't ran since then.  It is important that when we set our mind to something we become converted to it.  It will profit us nothing if we don't let our goals change us into who we need to be.

3.  We had a baby blessing in our ward and there was a munch and mingle after.  It was a good potluck.  I was impressed with the ward/family. (And we got to take some of the leftover sweets).

4.  With all of the changes in calling things got jumbled around and we got a new Ward Mission Leader.  He is really excited to help us and the ward.  He said, "We have a small ward, but the way I see it we have 50 missionaries in this ward."  We are so excited to be working with him and the other members.

Monday, April 23, 2018

LET'S JUST TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER.  So here weather is actually a hot topic (no pun intended).  It's not the awkward filler topic when you don't know what else to say.  It is the first thing that everyone talks about.  THIS WEEK WAS BEAUTIFUL (other than the 5 days that it rained).  By beautiful I'm talking a full two days of not wearing tights, or boots, or a scarf, or gloves, or a COAT.  That's right WE WENT COATLESS AND TIGHTLESS.  It was amazing.  We were even praying for sunburns, but that didn't happen.  Today it is a bit colder and we had to revert back to boots, coats, and tights.  BUT STILL it was amazing.

MIRACLE IN OBAN:  So don't remember if I talked about it last week, but one of the few members up there (Donny) had a tenet move into his house and he invited him to church, scripture study, and to meet with missionaries.  ____ accepted the invitation and went to all these things with Donny.  Last week we taught him the Restoration and he readily accepted baptism.  Because we split our time there with the senior couple they were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He is loving everything he is learning and says the most sincere prayers!  And another mini miracle is that he is a chef and will be cooking for us this week!  We are so excited and we love to watch his enthusiasm to learn.  As well as Donny's dedication to helping him learn and being his friend in the Gospel.  It is amazing.  We love member referrals!

____ is the first member referral I have received on my mission and what a miracle it is!  We have really been working with the ward to find those people that they know to learn the Gospel.  We continue to push them to pray for missionary opportunities, act on promptings, and open their mouths!  When they do MIRACLES HAPPEN.

This week I have been reflecting a lot on what it means to Minister as well as something President Nelson said in the UK/Ireland Broadcast.  He said something along the lines of, "How do we minister?  Just like Jesus Christ...that's all."  I love the simplicity of this answer.  Truly all we ever need to do is follow the example of Jesus Christ.  We have been inviting every member to think about what they can do in their lives to better follow Christ (3 Nephi 27:27).  I invite you all to do the same!

I've also been thinking a lot about "Give Said the Little Stream."  "I'm small I know, but wherever I go the grass grows greener still!"  The smallest things make the biggest difference.

Monday, April 16, 2018 - "Today is a great day to be a missionary!"

Last week on Pday I went to my first castle of the mission!  7 months, 1 castle.  How pathetic!  This wasn't just any castle.  This was a proper castle.  Inverary Castle.  Worth every pound.  People lived in it until 2001 or something crazy like that!  Also if anyone has seen Downton Abbey it was filmed there!  We had fun exploring the castle and the gardens.

15 MIRACLES:  Okay so 14 of the these miracles was the temperature.  It was 14 degrees this week in Oban and SUNNY.  We were walking around with no coats on, rolling up our sleeves, no scarves, praying to get a sunburn (we didn't), but it was soooooo nice!  The biggest blessing.  The 15th miracle is in progress.  We got a call from the recent convert in Oban named Donny.  He told us that a young man just moved in and they started talking about the Gospel.  Donny invited him to church and HE WENT WITH HIM YESTERDAY.  He also said that he wanted to learn more and would go to the scripture study this week that the senior couple puts on!  Yay for member missionaries!  We are so grateful for them, especially in an area where only 10 people attend church regularly.

Sad thing of the week:  So President Nelson and Elder Holland are on a world wide tour with their wives.  Their first stop was to the British Isles and they were going to do two broadcasts.  One for missionaries and one for the general public.  All the missionaries in the Glasgow area went to the stake centre to watch together.  Only one problem.  The internet wasn't working for the live stream and it wasn't recorded.  We found out about 45 minutes in that the construction workers at the church accidentally sawed through the internet cable and that there was no hope of getting the internet to work at the church.  We were all scrambling to see what we could do to at least watch some of it.  The Glasgow Sisters called a member (as we were driving to her flat) to see if we could watch it there.  Luckily we could and we caught the last 10 minutes or so of the stream.  We were glad we at least got to watch some of it!

One thing I took from the broadcast in the short amount of time we had to watch it was how President Nelson said he bounces out of bed every morning in excitement to see what that day has in store.  In our attempt to best follow the Prophet, Sister Anderson and I have started "bouncing" out of bed in the morning and saying, "Woohoo!  Today is a great day to be a missionary!"  I have noticed that little change to my morning routine effects the rest of my day and my attitude throughout the day.

Scare of the week:  I almost had to play the ORGAN.  It was 9:55 and there was no organist to play.  As soon as I sat down at the organ the lady who normally does it walked in.  Phew!  I was then told that everyone who could play would be going on holiday next week, so I get to play the organ next week!  YIKES.

One of the many highlights:  Scottish scenery!  The drive we get to do each week is seriously so beautiful.  We always see sheep and highland "coos."  We have been dying to get a picture with some coos and it was perfect.  We saw them on the drive and there was a little pull out.  We stopped for a few minutes to get some pictures with them.  We were so excited.  3 big ones and 4 wee ones.