in Bremerton!

Hey!!

Everyone, guess what?? I am writing you this email from Bremerton.  Haha that's right...the wonderful world of transfers came and went.  I have been called to serve in the Manette ward here in the Bremerton Zone.  So this is a really unique circumstance.  Manette has been in the history of forever an Elders area.  No missionaries that anyone that I have met so far has ever heard of sisters serving in the area.  So when I got my transfer call on Saturday I was floored when they told me that not only would I be opening a Sister area but that I would be training AGAIN.  In other words, doubling in.  In other words, wow that is a lot of pressue.  In other words, I don't know anything or anyone in that area.  But as fate would have it, I DO know people in this area.  The Galeai girls that I baptized my second transfer, well, there family lives here in my ward.  Oh, and the Graves family, my go-to saving graces, their grandpa lives in my ward, so of couse, I have already eaten dinner over there last night.  So it really is as an ideal of a doubling in as you could get.  Plus, I do have some help.  They originally had a set of elders and a set of Spanish speaking elders in the Manette ward.  They closed spanish down and brought in us.  So the elders that stayed are kind of taking this first week to train us on the area.  Which helps A LOT.  Sis Graves came to dinner with her car FULL of groceries for us to have.  Which was a saving grace because we didn't have the time or the funds to stock the apartment.  Plus we were dead dog tired that night when we came in and there would have been no way we could have gone out to get stuff.

So here is my new address:

2511 Magnuson #333
Bremerton, WA 98310

So.. B-town is totally BROWN-TOWN.  Well, at least my district.   Hahah my district leader, Elder Hamilton is the craziest guy in the mission.  He is a Samoan/Tongan/Filipino from Long Beach and is the loudest, friendliest, high-energy person you would ever meet.  His comp is also Samoan from Samoa named Elder Polaveo and he is way cool.  Are you ready for where my comp is from??  Oh, yeah my comp is from TONGA.  So we got a Brown DL, a Brown elder, a Brown greenie, and me.  Haha it's probably the most diverse zone in the mission.  We definitely get noticed when we walk around together.  All these intimidating poly missionaries and a lil asian one on the side.  Quite the site.  So it's awesome. My comp is pretty cool.  Different.  Not like my insta-pal, Holman, who I miss a lot.  But I know we'll go through a lot together out here and so we'll probably be a pretty tight companionship.

Sis Holman's new comp is this little short basketball phenom from Utah.  Holman is not a super bubbly girl, so when she told me that she made a really big effort to come up and say hi to her new comp at transfer meeting and sound super excited about it (which inside she wasn't) I was bummed to hear that the excitement wasn't really reciprocated from the new comp.  Hm.  I really am hoping and praying

Plus it helps that these are the people that I am serving with cause my area is the GHETTO.  Hahah missionaries dream of the ghetto and I am the first sister that gets to go there.  Since they only assign the elders to go to dangerous areas of the mission, it would make sense that the first sisters they send in to one are of a persuasion other than caucasion.  We are taking over all of the Spanish elder's stuff including their apt.  Um...definitely not like my cute little apartment in Silverdale.  I probably won't ever be walking around the place without socks or shoes on, I'll say that much.  But don't worry, I'm fine!! This will all be part of my ever-changing, increasingly more amazing stockpile of mission stories.  Tonight we are tracting in the one of the more "hood areas" in Manette.  Should be interesting.  Who knows...maybe by the time I get transferred out of here I'll know how to knife fight, boost a car, or throw a pair of sneakers on a telephone wire.  Sweeet.

Yesterday, transfer day, was a day of a lot of firsts for me.  First time getting transferred out of an area.  First time getting a foreign comp, first time getting doubled in to an area.  First time training in an area I don't know.  First time I oddly didn't feel too nervous for the transfer.  Even though of all the transfers I have previously have had minor heart attacks right before.  I guess because this is all completely new everything for me, I will 100% need to rely on the Lord for this one.  No matter how much talent, skill, experience I have/do not have, I need Him to be with me this transfer as I take on all of these "firsts."  But I am ready to!

Haha last night we went to see the Samoan family that is related to the girls I baptized in Silverdale.  They are the quietest Samoans you would ever meet.  Must run in their blood.  We went over there right after dinner with the Graves.  So I probably jinxed myself when we parked the car and said that if they try to feed me one bite of food I would barf.  Luckily, I didn't actually barf, but when they sit us down to a whole tabled chocked with food, I was s-t-r-u-g-g-l-i-n-g.  The Samoan elders looked at me like "Sorry, but you got to eat that otherwise it's rude."  I looked back at them like "Pleasssseeeeee, help me eat this.  So when the family congregated in the living room, leaving us in the kitchen, I gave them my food and even my glass of juice and they ate it for me.  Phewwww.  I don't know how many times I will be able to get away with doing that o my mission.  But last night worked, so I can't complain.  Ew, the elders were chowing down on what looked like a hot glue gun glue stick.  It was crunching as they ate it.   I asked them what that was and they said a "chewy bone."  A what?  Oh a chewy bone is cartilege. um, yuck.

So, my birthday was the besssssttttt!  Wow, talk about all the love I got.  Haha sis Holman was like, "Man, today feels like a holiday."  The whole zone took me out to lunch for Red Robin, I went to a favorite family of mine, The Bisons, for dinner and she made me a special bday cake on a cakestand and got me a gift, and then I went on base with the Graves family and had more cake and ice cream at the firestation.  It was the neatest thing ever!!!  I got to sit in the truck and put on the uniform and everything and they took my picture.  After that I got to teach the coolest investigator, Franz, the guy from Laos.  I re-committed him to baptism so he is getting baptized this Sunday, so sadly I won't be able to be there for it.  That is the nature of missionary work, we are always changing and sometimes that means missing baptisms.  That night I opened all of my gifts and ate a bunch of candy.  It was the perfect day.

Then the next day happened.  I got my first ticket.  I KNOWWWW , what the heck????  Don't worry, I'm fighting it.  I'm sending Dad a copy of the ticket in the mail.  Sis Grave's dad was a cop so he is gonna help me fight it.  Hopefully the cop won't show up to court and I get off without having to testify.  But if he does, I am ready to tell teh judge that I was not going 50 in a 40 and I definitely was not driving a Toyota CORONA.  Hmm..not sure how you could speed in a bottle of Mexican beer.  But whatever you say, officer.  LAME.

Well, I know that this transfer will be a crazy/interesting/stretching/possibly scary one with lots of stories to come.  I am excited to tell you of the things that I'll experience here.  I feel humbled to know that President trusted me enough to place me here and that Heavenly Father has a lot of work He needs me to do in Manette.  A lot of expectation is put on me to lead and perform, but ultimately the only person I think about pleasing is God.  Because this is His mission, not mine.  I'm just lucky enough He has let me be a apart of it.  Have any of you seen the Lamb of God DVD? I'm sure most of you have.  If you haven't, request a free copy of it from Mormon.org.  I was asked way last minute on Sunday to teach Relief Society in the YSA ward and I felt prompted to share that DVD and bare my testimony of the Savior to the girls.  It is a really powerful film and I would invite all of you to watch it.

Love and prayers from Btown.  So long to Silverdale.  The wards really were sad when they found out on Sunday that I leaving, but the ward here is so excited to hear that they are finally getting some sisters.  The WA-TAC is greatest place in the world.  Someone told me when I got here, "Welcome to the Celestial Kingdom."  At the time i thought that was a little corny and a smidge sac religious, but I have come to agree.  We are doing the work of angels and joy our reward.  I love the Lord Jesus Christ.  He loves you guys, too.

Stay warm,
Sis Baylon

the easiest way is the Lord's way

(ps--pics to be posted soon!)

Hi from Silverdale,

Today is the final Pday of the transfer and it is sunny!!! It is also the last Pday of my friend, Elder Davis' mission.  He goes home at the end of this transfer.  Since it was a nice day today we played ultimate frisbee outside and flag football.  We don't have flags so instead we use old missionary ties.  Elders always seem to have old nasty ties from previous missionaries laying around in their apartments so they bring a whole pile of them and we tuck a couple in the tops of our shorts and thats what we use to play flag football.  Haha this is the second sport that I never really played and ended up being pretty decent at it and having fun while learning.  I can't really throw to save my life so instead they just throw me the ball (from a near distance of course) and I just run it down the field while the other elders just block for me.  Haha it's pretty fun.

So I think that there is a slug in WA in just about every color of the rainbow.  Black, brown, orange, green, yellow.  This one lady we met at a door said that if you lick a banana slug it tastes like sugar.  Hmmm I think I'll just take her word for it.

I thought that I wasn't that picky of an eater.  Then I came on a mission.  I might be picky, but I am respectful so I usually can down whatever I'm served without a fuss.  Combined with my companion we are probably the two most secretly picky eaters around.  Sis Holman hates ham.  We have been fed ham at least 3 times so far.  That day she told me that she doesn't really like carrots.  So we were naturally served Ham and carrots later that night for dinner.  One day I told her that I don't really care for corn.  We were fed corn chowder 2 hours later.  Man we just can't catch a break!

On a more serious and spiritual note, last night was Tim's baptism!  Miracle. Miracle. Miracle.  This was my most special baptism and was by far the most miraculous conversion I have been privileged to be apart of thus far on my mission. To witness Tim enter the waters of baptism changed the way I think about missionary work.  Here was someone that was so humble.  So willing.  So obedient.  And so prepared to follow his Savior Jesus Christ.  From the very moment we met him at the door, to the time that he was all dressed in white, his whole countenance changed.  He gradually came to stand a little taller, smile a little bigger, and beam a little brighter because he grew to know and love the Gospel.  The converting power of the Holy Ghost changes people from the inside out.  Just like the refiner's fire that I had described to him on his church tour, Tim was shining, gleaming, changed to be a newly formed follower of Christ.  He truly walked by faith as we taught him and relied on the feelings he received whenever we taught him, whenever we prayed together, whenever he offered a prayer, whenever he read the Book of Mormon, or whenever he came to church.

The Elder's Quorum President's daughters sang the opening song, "Teach Me to Walk in the Light."  Small children's voices coupled with primary hymns is a no fail recipe to bring the Spirit into a room.  So tender.  A couple sisters in the ward played a cello-piano duet of "Nearer My God to Thee."  Oh my goodness.  Sooooo beautifully moving.  Two converts to the church gave the talks on baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  Both just knocked it out of the park.  Brother Bison, who is a spitting image of Sean Connery gave his first talk of his entire life and just knocked it out of the park.  When our ward mission leader called him to give the talk his wife said he probably would say "no" but he said "yes."  They are one of my favorite families and they are having us over for my birthday dinner on Thursday. The other ward member that spoke on the Holy Ghost really just did an excellent job as well.  The Holy Ghost was the single thing that got Tim interested in at the door when we very first met him.  We told him that it brings peace, comforts, guides, warns, testifies.  He said that he wanted that.  In the talk the speaker told Tim that once he is given the gift of the Holy Ghost, he would never have to feel alone ever again for the rest of his existence.  Because the Holy Ghost is our constant companion and fills that empty space that so many people feel in their hearts.  Tim really needed to hear that.  He lives alone.  His father fied when he was 3 yrs old.  I don't think he has family near by.  He's never been married.  No girlfriend.  No friends really.  Just work to keep him busy during the day and the rest of the time he is alone.  I hate thinking that there are people out there who feel alone in the world.  People that do not know or have never been told that they are a child of God and that they have a Heavenly Father who knows and loves them dearly. 

We taught Mike and Christy, Taylor's parents the first Gospel lesson about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon.  That was the first time that I had taught two adult investigators at once.  That meant double the questions.  Double the opinions.  Double the checking for understanding.  Double the comments.  And so therefor the lesson took double the time to teach.  Granted one of them is on the chatty side as well as the member that we brought along with us as fellowship, so it wasn't like we were teaching for a really really long time.  Mike is a very logical, scientific guy.  He wants proof, evidence, factual things.  Christy is a bit more open to the idea of faith and always seems to gravitate towards us whenever we come over to see Taylor.  I'll have to update you when we teach them again and see how things really went.

Shauna and Kellie, if you are reading this you are about to die.  You'll never believe what happened yesterday at church.  So I am standing in the foyer with my comp talking to our investigator (now recent convert) Tim and who walks in from the chapel?  Oh, none other than........LLOYD LEE.  Hahah Lloyyyyyyydddd.  It was such an out of body experience.  My brain registered that I knew him but it was out of context.  I was blending the mission world and my old BYU-I world and it was weird!!  But I immediately knew who he was and we were so SHOCKED to see eachother.  We took a picture together outside the church building so I'll have to upload it next time.  He got a job working for a junior college in the area and will be in our YSA ward.  So crazy!

So the "I'm a Mormon" media campaign has begun!  It started back on the 3rd of October but it hasn't picked up the momentum yet that I thought it would.  At least not here in Silverdale.  No media referrals yet.  I was talking to a kid in our YSA ward that served his mission out in Fresno, CA and they had the campaign when he was on his mission last year.  He said that no sooner than a month after it started they were getting around 15-20 media referrals a week!! Can you believe that?? That is 15-20 new investigators a week.  Holy cow that is a lot.

I want to testify that the Lord will immediately bless you if you keep His commandments.  That is promise right out of the scriptures.  One way that you are immediately blessed is that you are changed, and change may be the greatest blessing of all.  You are the sum total of all that you have thought, done, said, seen, heard and felt in this life and before.  You change immediately with each good thought, each good act, and every good word changes you for the better.  When you willingly obey the principles of the gospel, you are changed by the Spirit of God to become incrementally more like Him.  The degree of change with each small act of obedience may be small, but it is real and immediate.  Don't think that you can't do this.  Often we are deceived to think that the gospel is harder than what it is.  Life is hard, not the gospel.  The easiest way is the Lord's way.

Love you all,
Sis Baylon

Miracles

Today I got invited to attend a leadership meeting that is normally just for Zone and District leaders.  President Weaver told me that if he could he would make me an AP.  WOW! What a compliment.  The night before the meeting when my Zone leader invited me to attend the meeting he said that he wishes I could be a Zone leader because I would do a great job as one.  These were powerful and confirming words to hear.  Last week I doubted my skills as a missionary.  I seem to be having these struggling moments more often than I would ever like.  They come when I ever just open the door to doubt or disbelief or discouragment just a crack.  Satan ever so gently tries to push the door open further and further by tempting me to become lazy, complacent, and believe that I am good for nothing.  But have no fear, the Savior came to the rescue.  He always does.  He always will.  As I sat in this meeting with all of these top-notch, cream of the crop elders in their white shirt and ties and suits I felt very humbled.  Very humbled to be in the presence of the such strong Priesthood.  Now, these priesthood holders are also 19-21 yr old boys.  They are by no means perfect, but they carry upon their shoulders the mantle of Christ.  They do things that boys their same age cannot do and might not ever have the privilege and opportunity to do.

 

Have any of you watched the Priesthood session of General Conference.  I have watched a few of the talks, some of them more than once, with members in their homes.  WOW.  Elder Holland, am I right??  His talk, "We Are All Enlisted" shook me and I am sure it shook many of you.  He didn't really mince words.  But in that regard, when does he not mice words.  Bretheren, you have a duty to fulfill, a calling to accept, and a Master to serve.  What are you doing to ensure that you can be worthy to join the ranks?  The Lord needs you.  People of the world need you.  You need you.  Pretty cool that our old stake President, President Waddell was amongst the speakers right?  Wow. He gave a great talk.  I loved the missionary theme that was strung all through the session.  If you have not had a chance to listen to these talks yet, I urge you to listen or watch them as soon as you can.  And when you do, to listen with not only open ears but with open minds and hearts as well.

 

Tim is getting baptized this Sunday.  MIRACLE.  I taught him the lesson on the Word of Wisdom this past week on a split.  Much to my surprise he has or should I say had an addiction to chewing tobacco.  From the moment I extended the invitation to begin living the WOW he has been sober from tobacco!! Isn't that amazing? He is 41 years old and has been chewing since he was 11 years old. ELEVEN YEARS OLD, PEOPLE!!!!  That is 30 yrs of being addicted to that awful stuff.  And with the help of us and the Savior Jesus Christ he has successfully been able to withstand that addiction.  His motivation and strength to overcome his addiction has been driven by his desire to follow Christ and be baptized in his name.  He has gone through 2 bags of Jolly Ranchers to curb his addiction.  That coupled with the help of the Savior and daily encouragement from us, Tim is continuing to climb upward.  Just purely a miracle.

 

I finished reading the entire Book of Mormon for the first time in my entire left.  Yes, you heard correctly.  I am a missionary and I have just now read the entire Book of Mormon.  I guess that's not entirely accurate.  I have read the Book of Mormon before but not like I have since coming on my mission.  Before I would study a few verses or books or chapters intently but I didn't do that for the entire book.  Or I would read the entire book but not really study it out.  This time I did both.  I testify that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  It is the truest book I have ever read.  It will bring you closer to Christ than any other published work and I know because I have read it.  I took Moroni's challenge to read it with a sincere heart with real intent and ask in the name of Christ if the Book was not true and by the power of the Holy Ghost I will know the truth of all things.  The Book of Mormon IS true.  It brought me closer to the Savior and continues to do so each and every time that I read it.  It has the power to heal the human soul.  It has healed mine.  I invite you all to read from its pages and allow the influence of the Holy Ghost enter your heart and mind.  It will bring you peace.  It will answer questions.  It will give you hope.

 

All my love,

Sister Baylon

conference weekend was the best

Hi guys!

 

Mom, I take it you haven't had the chance to email me yet because you were a litte preoccupied running in the St. George marathon!! Congratulations for completing it for the second time!  How many marathons is that for you now?  So we watched conference Saturday morning with the Finnegans at their apt and after the session was over they said that they needed to log on and watch a live video stream of their son coming in at the finish line of the St. George marathon.  I was like "No way! My mom is running that too.  Or she ran it.  Because she is probably already done by now."  By the time we logged on and started scanning all the runners coming through the finish line it was around the 5hr 25min mark.  "Oh," I said, "My mom has been done for over an hour probably."  Hhaha. Props to mom.  But at the same time I was kind of hoping that you did bad or had to walk to blew out your knee or something just so that I could see you for a couple seconds on the computer screen. 

 

Conference weekend was the best.  General conference takes on a whole new meaning and is on a way higher level for me since becoming a full-time missionary.  I feel like I hang on every word that is spoken and crave the spiritual enlightenment and wisdom that is shared at each coming session.  It's interesting because when I listened to conference I feel like I am listening not only for myself, but I am listening for all of my recent converts, less-active members and of course my investigators.  I had all three of my progressing investigators watch conference!!!! MIRACLE.  Remember Tim?  The guy we met at the door, navy welder, committed him to baptism on the church tour?  Well, he came to watch conference with us at the stake center on Sunday morning.  We sent him a text to remind him the night before that we would come by his house in the morning and so he could follow us down to the church building.  That is kind of a hit or miss scenario with investigators.  Luckily with Tim it was a direct bullseye.  We knock on his door and he opens it right away standing there in a white shirt and tie and shiny shoes. ( AHHHHH!!!! I pray for things like to happen and for people like this to find. That was me screaming inside)  We sent Brandon to watch it with our Ward mission leader, Bro Miles and his family and Sonia was watching it at home on her laptop.  So we head off to the stake center to watch conference.  Most people here just watch it at home so there were probably 10-12 people at the stake center to watch.  4 of which were us missionaries.  We told Tim that most people are watching it at home and that there are A LOT more members of the church in the area that what was currently being represented.  For those of you that watched the Sunday morning session.....WOW. Wow, right???!!!  I was like "Are you listening to this guys? All my investigators, are you all hearing this?? They are speaking to directly to you, Sonia!  Or Tim, your question you asked last night was just answered.  Brandon, this is the Prophet."  For someone that grew up Baptist and has not stepped foot in a church for quite a while, I wasn't sure how Tim was taking it all in.  He sat with his head looking down for a few of the talks or he was watching very intently.  After the Session was over we asked him what he thought.  He said that he "felt really connected to what they were saying" and that he "couldn't really describe the feelings that he felt."  (AHHHH!!!  Me screaming inside again)  The talk about the Book of Mormon either being from God or from the Devil and that there was no other option didn't really mince words, did it?  I asked Tim what he thought about that talk and he said "it makes a lot of sense."  He told us he hasn't read the entire Book of Mormon but he has good feelings when he reads it and that something keeps pushing him to do more and more.  First it was to agree to come on the church tour, then it was to accept baptism, then it was to allow us to teach him, then he accepted the First Vision and Joseph Smith, then the Plan of Salvation, then he accepted to come to conference, and he still is interested in learning more about the gospel and working towards his baptism on October 16th.  He is a miracle.

 

What were some of your favorite conference topics and talks?  I really loved Elder Scott's talk about really delving into the scriptures.  He talked about when we study, understand, and memorize verses, stories, and principles taught in the scriptures we have a mental filing cabinet of knowledge, inspiration, and spiritual strength to draw from for not only our personal benefit but also for the benefit of helping others.  I really, really connected with President Uchtdorf's talk about God weighing us as his children on completely different scales then the world does.  That all of the money, wealth, and power combined on the entire planet could not even buy you a loaf of bread in the economy of heaven. To Heavenly Father, money means nothing.  How much your worth is in the scheme of eternity to Him, where as the world looks at your bank account, social status, and appearance.  Before the morning session started the Finnegans made us breakfast.  Sausage, pancakes, eggs, hot chocolate, and toast.  Sis. Finnegan had bought this blanket from Costco a couple weeks ago and it is seriously the softest blanket I have ever felt in my life.  One side is this buttery soft sherpa fleece and on the other side is this minky velvety soft fabric.  I use it everytime I go over there.  She bought me one as an early birthday gift!! She brought it out and gave it to me to snuggle with during conference.  So naturally they had to get Sis Holman one, too.  Her birthday is not until Feb.  They bought me a blue one and Sis Holman a red one for ASU Sundevils.  It was so fun just sitting on their memory foam bed watching conference with our blankets and sipping cocoa. 

 

We watched the Saturday afternoon session with the Thompson family.  They have the cutest 4 boys you've ever seen.  They have an 11yr old that is a freak genius.  He talks about the latest HTML code website he is building and physics and other sorts of things I know nothing about.  They were the same family that had us over for fireworks on the 4th of July.  For the Sunday afternoon session we watched it over at the Piete Family's house.  Brother and Sister Piete and their 9 yr old daughter Brooke.  They fed us soup and rolls for lunch which was great for the freezing wet day that Sunday was.  Sis Piete is from San Diego and is half Filipina.  You would never really know it though.  She is a convert to the church and waaayyy cool.  They are working towards being sealed in the temple.  They might move back to San Diego in about a year so I told them that if they get sealed by the time I come home in SD that I will be there!!

 

In between the sessions of conference on Sunday we had gone to the church building so that we could prepare for a dinner/lesson that we had later that evening with a recent convert lady in the ward that has since become less-active because she married a guy in the navy who is not a member of the church.  She moved up from CA to WA and has since been working to help blend her and her husband's families.  He apparently has a lot of "questions" about the church.  Uh oh.  Sometimes "questions" can be very hostile missiles that people want to open fire at the missionaries all at once right after the other.  We learned our lesson in dealing with that the hard way when last week we didn't go in to teach this other guy, Blake, one of the lessons but let him just rattle off all of the questions that he had.  Yikes.  BIG MISTAKE.  Just a bunch of ping ponged deep doctrinal, hypothetical questions that were just all over the board that we easily could have organized and or answered all in the first gospel lesson about the Restoration.  So we were prepping for avoiding that situation with this new guy.  All the day before the dinner and the day of the dinner I just had this bad feeling about it and it was not sitting well with me.  I had a feeling that it was going to be a potentially very hostile situation and was honestly not really looking forward to it.  Well, about 2 hours before we were supposed to go over there, the wife called us and said that it would be a better idea if we didn't come over anymore.  Her husband had kind of gotten into it with her the night before and there was some remaining tension.  If we came trapsing in it would just make it worse.  She said she needs to work out her relationship with her husband and the church before she brings the church into the relationship.  Phew.  That was kind of a relief to hear.

 

But on the flip side....BRANDON GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!!!  Haha we have just been on a roll with baptism lately and I know the Lord is behind us.  It was a really nice baptismal service and a lot of ward members came out to support him even at somewhat last minute notice.  Even President and Sister Weaver came up for the baptism.  I gave the talk on the Restoration.  It went really well.  The spirit was very present so it made the talk pretty powerful.  I didn't have anything written out or prepared but just hoped and prayed that the Holy Ghost would direct me as to what I should say. 

 

Another amazing thing that happened yesterday was that we had a miracle church tour.  Last Sunday we went tracting before Taylor's baptism.  Do you remember my whole internal debacle and how stressed out I was so we felt like we should go out finding?  Anyway so we tracted this whole street and the very last person we talked to was this guy named Franz.  We ran into him about three times while we were tracting on that street. He does some independent landscaping work for some of his neighbors so he was going back and forth with gardening tools and equipment.  Finally when we were about to leave he says, "So what are you guys selling?  Anything that I want?"  Haha we tell him that we are not selling anything.  That it has already been paid for and that what we were offering was free.  And that he would definitely want it.  The look on his face was HUH???  He is single.  Probably mid-late 30's from Laos.  Said that he had actually been to an LDS church in San Diego when he was stationed down there.  He is a marine.  We invited him on a church tour.  He seemed about 60% committed.  We went back to check on him a couple days later and luckily caught him as he was backing out of his driveway.  "Man, you guys are persistant."  Haha yep.  We sure are.  No joking around when Salvation is at stake.  Now he seemed about 75% committed to coming on a church tour.  Well when we were at the church studying for the lesson that we didn't end up having to give, he showed up for a church tour.  Did you hear me? HE SHOWED UP FOR THE CHURCH TOUR.  Long story short he is on date to be baptized on the 23rd.  Day before transfers.  On the off chance that I'll get transferred out I hope that this baptism goes through because I really want to witness that happen.

 

Ok we got a brand new car this morning!!! We got a red, yes RED 2011 Toyota Corolla.  It had 9 miles on it when we picked it up from Tacoma this morning.  It smells so gooood inside.  It's pristine.

 

Sowe get fed almost every single day and 9.5 times out of 10 its really good.  I only write home about the .5 times that they are not.  Because they are usually more fun.  And by fun I mean gross and therefore entertaining.  But every single person that feeds us weird food is sooooo nice and put a lot of work and thought into the meals so I feel bad and eat it all.  Aka scrape it on to Sis Mills plate.  But Sis Mills is no longer here.  This past week we had southern food.  Hmm. I don't think I care for Southern food unless Paula Deen made it.  Lima Beans......yuck.  I hate salty food and lima beans floating in bacon juice is salty. Yuck.  Mushy fruit.  Ham as thick as a 2x4, more squash.....squish.  Salad with lettuce whiter than the driven snow.  There were like 15 dishes of food that I wasn't too stoked to heap on my plate.  So I ate what I could and what I couldn't....I covered with my napkin.

 

The work is going great here in the mission.  One of my favorite lines from Sunday Afternoon session was the guy who was the second counselor in the General Sunday School Presidency.  He was talking about teaching and living by the Spirit and missionary work.  He said that his misison was the best two years FOR his life.  Not just OF his life.  Could not agree more.  I LOVE MY MISSION.  Mission life is the best life.  I hope that everyone is doing well at home and are as happy as I am.  If you aren't happy read your scriptures and pray on your knees everyday and Heavenly Father will tell you how to be happy.  There is so much beauty in this life, you just have to look around for it.  My comp is doing great.  I already know we'll be friends after the mission.  I love and pray for you guys.

 

Love,

Sis Baylon

 

Ps. BRIANNE FLINT WRITE ME ALREADY!!