Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Hey guyyssss!

Greetings from Lacey!! It has been sooooo hott and sunny and muggy lately.  So of course, today on PDay it would be gray and not that hot.  My new comp is Sister Daines from Colorado Springs but originally from Cache Valley, UT.  She has 22 brothers and sisters....yeahh...no lie.  But like half of them are adopted or from blended families.  She is pretty nice.  But...yesterday she said she has never watched Nacho Libre and turned it off cause she thought it was stupid.  Yeah...we definitely are wayyy different.  But not everyone can be Holmans and Chronisters.

Fun Facts as of late:
- i ate angel food cake that had mold on it.  Yes, mold.  I scraped off the mold and then choked the rest of it down. I am still alive.
-4th of July was legit!  We had our transfer meeting then the entire mission had a barbecue at the Lakewood stake center afterwords (only down side it was in pros aka proselyting clothes).
- i got free shave ice from the Stowers at the Steilacoom street fair. They were raising money for their hula group.  A bunch of their students were dancing infront of the stands.  They put on this song that i think is to a dubstep song and these cops joined in and did it with them. So we weren't gonna let the Fuzz show us up so like 4 sister missionaries including me jumped in and did it.  Sooo funny.
-i raked mowed grass in 88 degree heat.  I was sweaty.
- this lady told us that she didn't want to join the church cause she didn't want to get arrested.  ok....

Oh man what a week.  I am still trying to readjust and find my groove with taking over the areas and getting used to my new comp.  We had kind of a rough ish week.  Lots of cancelled appointments and an investigator dropping us.  But there were so many amazing things that happened that off set the bad.

The most amazing being that Josh got baptized!!!! MIRACLE.  He is one of my most favorite people from my entire mission.  He was baptized Sunday night by his friend, David, in the ward who is 16.  That room was overflowing with the spirit.  I gave the missionary message directly following the ordinance while the boys were changing.  I was so overcome with joy and gratitude for the opportunity and the privilege it was to find, teach, and baptize Josh.  What a transformation.  He was always a really good kid for us.  Always polite and kept commitments and learned really quickly.  But his family said it was a night and day change from their perspective.  He used to be really wild and disrespectful and rude and just not making good decisions.  He was just beaming after he got out of the font and kept saying how good he felt.  He was confirmed in sac mtg yesterday and is receiving the Aaronic Priesthood tonight at the church from the same boy that baptized him.  Josh is taking off for Mexico for the summer so we want to make sure he gets ordained before he leaves.  He might baptize his 12 yr old nephew this week before he takes off!  MIRACLE.  After the baptism Josh told us that he has a desire to serve a full-time mission and wants to go as soon as he can.  We told him that he would have to wait at least one year before he could go and he told us he would start saving.  How rad is that??  Everytime we saw Josh as we were teaching him he would be a group of 4-5 guys (the ones that were in that picture).  The first time he came to church he came with all of them.  The second time he came with one.  And when he was confirmed yesterday he came alone.  None of his friends came to his baptism on Friday and I was so bummed!  They had gone through the process with him to some extent, yet were not there to reach the end with him.  Such a testimony to me of doing what's right even if you are doing it alone.  While his friends were off doing things that teenage boys do in the summer, Josh was at the stake center with his family entering the waters of baptism and following the example of the Savior.  He truly is the elect that heeded the call of the Good shepherd that invites all to "Come and Follow Me."  He is so special!!!

Yesterday it was so hot.  We were not exactly enthused to go out finding. (Doing all of my 5-7's is something that I am really trying to get back into the habit of doing)  We had just eaten dinner and slipped into a food coma.  We were so tired.  But I knew that we needed to go knock doors.  We finally picked a street that felt right.  We have been wanting to have a baptism for 6th ward, the less fruitful of the two wards that we cover, and find someone from knocking doors.  There hasn't been a baptism in 6th ward since February and there hasn't been a baptism from tracting in a long time.  Tracting in 6th ward is difficult.  It's the wealthiest area in the stake and people are just not interested and rude.  Ya not the ideal investigator candidates.  But we decided to hit the streets in 6th.  In my prayer I offered right before we got out of the car, I asked Heavenly Father to help us find a family.  I asked for a mom, a dad, and a kid.  I have never baptized a full family, just siblings.  Jill had written me a legit letter this week and in it she said that "God takes our prayers as seriously as we do."  Amen to that.  So I was determined that God would help us find what I had asked for because I was serious and full of faith.  The street was wayyy lame.  Everyone was rude and weird or no one answered their doors.  Except, the last door that we knocked on.  It was the nicest house on the street which of course makes for doubt and disbelief from my viewpoint but we knocked it anyway.  We were greeted by Pronny (sp?) a thai lady.  She invited us in and told us that she was Buddhist but looking into the idea of Christianity through trying to find God.  In her broken english she asked us why there are so many churches and people that believe different but similar things.  We briefly taught her about the great apostasy and the need for the Restoration of the gospel.  Then her husband comes home.  Mom...dad...now where is the kid?  They then told us they had a 19yr old daughter that was going to the local community college.  The daughter and Pronny have been attending a church but both of them aren't sure what is really going on there and what the things that go on there mean.  A mom, a dad, a kid!! We invited them to come on a tour of the church and Pronny said she would like to come check it out!  MIRACLE.

I think that Heavenly Father is gonna test and stretch me this transfer.  I can already feel it.  A wise WA-TAC missionary once said, "there is no comfort in the growth zone and no growth in the comfort zone."  I know that to be true.  I am grateful for my weaknesses, shortcomings, and imperfections so that God can handmold me into someone more like Him if I allow the Atonement to work in my life.  I am really making a conscious effort this transfer to watch my speach and language.  To speak less casually and more dignifed.  To not engage in backbiting and gossip and all the junk that floats around this mission.  Lately, all this junk and gossip and rumors have come up that people I don't even know or have ever even seen let alone met, have been saying about me.  At first I was just annoyed and upset that people were lame enough to one, say it, but that two, lame enough to listen and believe it.  I felt like I wasn't guilty of the things that people were saying and that I was so much better than this image that was being falsely portrayed.  In no way am I making a comparision to the Savior, but I thought of Him and the despise and hatred and persecution that was heaped upon Him when he was guiltless and innocent.  That people chose to torture and kill the Son of God and that He loved them enough to let them use their agency so that He could be the infininte and eternal sacrifice for sin.  I am not trying to be a martyr, but I am willing to look past, ignore, and forgive people that have said mean and hurtful things about me because I know that the only person that I really care about what they think is Christ.  What thinks Christ of me?  I can only do my best and that is enough for me and Him.  You might not always start gossip, but you always have the choice to stop it.  What will you do?

Love you guys,
Sister Baylon

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