MALIGAYANG PASKO AT MANIGONG BAGONG TAON!! -WEEK 74

Subject line translated:  MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS! It’s soo good to be back and to be able to see how all of your Christmas and New Years has been!! I hope everyone had a great time this year!! Cause I definitely had a Christmas that I will never forget!! So I’ll give you guys a quick lil overview of what has happened these last 2 weeks!

So last week we had CHRISTMAS PARTIES EVERYDAY HAHAHA! The only day we didn’t have a party was on Tuesday.  So we had a ton of fun that week and a lot of FOOD HAHAHAHA! We had our group Christmas party on Wednesday up in Lomacao and that was really fun. I think we had more investigators come than we did members haha so we found a lot of new people to teach! But it was just a simple party, we had some presentations and some spiritual lessons and then food and then karaoke! haha FILIPINOS LOVE KARAOKE! HAHAHA they sang karaoke until 2 am! We had left around 7 but they kept going till 2 am hahaha! Then the next day we had our ward Christmas party and it was sooo much fun, something I’ll never forget!  I remember after doing our missionary presentation at the party and going and sitting down and right after that I just felt sooo sad... I was so sad. That that was my last Christmas here in the Philippines!  Last Christmas on the mission... there is just something that makes Christmas soo special while out here on the mission! and I’m gonna miss it! 

So that was the parties then came Christmas day.  Christmas day was soo fun because it was a Sunday and soo spiritual!  I don’t know if this is how it is in America, but out here if Christmas is a Sunday they only have sacrament... so that was weird! But then came Sunday night... the night of TYPHOON NINA! hahaha We had a super typhoon the night of Christmas! It was the strongest typhoon I have been in out here on the mission! It started to get really strong around 9:30 or 10 but we went out at like 9 and it was strong. The wind and rain was coming down hard!! After we went back inside I sat outside on our little balcony and watched the trees outside and I actually watched a coconut tree fall down from the wind! That was crazy! But after it started to die down I went to sleep and then woke up the next morning and the streets were just filled with leaves and branches! Almost every single banana tree out here fell over and alot of coconut trees fell down! That morning...supposed to be p-day, we had a csp at a members house cutting a tree in pieces that fell down on their house, and then that night had dinner at our bishops house. We didn’t really get a p-day that day cause there wasn’t any electricity! So sorry if I didn’t reply to your emails! haha But then we had a brown out this WHOLE entire week! We just barely got power back on Saturday night for New Years and then it died again on Sunday and now it’s back on for now... who knows when it will die again!! haha

This whole entire week has just been service projects in the morning, working a little in the afternoon then studies at night cause there’s no power! Actually earlier this morning we got to build a member a new house!! Her house was completely gone after the storm and alot of the members came out to help us build them a new house!! Love the member support out here!  All I ask is just pray for the people out here to recover quickly from the storm! Thankfully not many people died!  But I’m just thankful I made it thru another storm hahaha! Up next is living thru a volcano eruption!! Hopefully I get to see that before I leave!! 

I LOVE ALL OF YOU SOO MUCH I HOPE YOU ALL HAD A BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR AND I HOPE ALL OF YOU GUYS HAVE A GREAT 2017!! 

Fun quote I found “When you come out of this storm you won’t be the same person you were when you went in…that's what this storms all about" 

I know each and every one of us have our own storms! But don’t forget that God has a plan for each of us! We will all learn something from our individual "storms" and come out stronger and more ready for the next storms that are to come! 

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

I HAVE A SON!! -WEEK 20

Hello family and friends!! whom I love soo very much!

Well this week we only worked three days because I just barely got back to Masbate with my new companion!!  His name is Elder Jardeleza and he is from Illoilo which means his native tounge isn't Tagalog!!  So not only do I not know Tagalog, but sometimes it's hard for him too!!!  And in Illoilo they speak wayyy fast soo he's wayy hard to understand sometimes!!  And we also got 2 new missionaries in our apartment!!  So that's coolio.  One is from New Zealand, so he knows English but the other is from the same place as my comp!! 

But ya, it's been a short week of work but it's been wayy fun.  The transition from trainee to trainer is kinda difficult!!  I'm used to my comp knowing what to do all the time and where to go!!!  But now it's all up to me!!  I decided that every time I make a decision I'm gonna pray about it and see if that's what  I should do.  I need all the help from the spirit I can get!!

Well it's Christmas this week and let's just say I don't think a Christmas miracle of snow is gonna go down!!  It's still blazing hot here!!  Not blazing hot, but super hot and really humid!!  I love it cause I can eat all the rice I want!! (and we definitely eat alot) and then I just sweat it all off!! hahahhaha 

Well, in the spirit of Christmas just give give give!!!  No matter what it is, just GIVE!!  Give all the service you can!!!!  And give prayers to those in need!!  And give help to the poor and needy!!  And for all you parents reading this, OF COURSE GIVE TO YOUR KIDS HEHEHHE!!! 

I hope everyone has a great Christmas week this week and have lots of fun for me!!

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

Christmas Presents!

SUPER TYPHOON (of emotions and physical) -WEEK 19

A note we received from President and Sister Guanzon through Facebook:   There is a typhoon approaching Legazpi. We want to notify the parents and families so they will not worry. "All missionaries were evacuated specifically those whose apartments that are near the sea. We are all safe." The missionaries in Legazpi will be moved to either the mission home or to the church for a few days. Sister Guanzon is out getting groceries and supplies. If your missionaries are emailing you, be sure to tell them to obey the evacuation and do exactly like they are asked to do.

A private note from Elder Baker to let us know he was safe:  Hello!!  I don't know if you know about the super typhoon that is here right now, but I just want to let you know I'm safe.  I came to Legazpi yesterday.  We got on the last boat for Legazpi cause right after, they shut down the boats because of the storm!  One of the guys on Masbate is supposed to leave to go home too, so he's trying to get here but probably won't for a couple days!!  I'll probably be here until Saturday or Sunday!! 

Sooo right now we are under like signal 5 or something for a danger of a super typhoon!! And it's supposed to be like absolutely crazy strong!!  So if everyone could PLEASE SEND ALL YOUR PRAYERS TO THE PEOPLE HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES!! Well that's the physical super typhoon... the emotional typhoon is that I'm going to be training!!  From trainee to trainer!  I can barely even speak Tagalog!!  It's gonna be a real test of my faith and patience!!  Well Elder Irabon had his last week in the mission field this week!!  And it was a pretty crazy week because he's the branch president we were trying to get the whole ward ready to be handed over to the new guy and we had to throw a christmas party of course!!  And that was really stressful to find enough food for everyone!!  We ended up with like 50 pounds of adobo!!  It still wasn't enough!!  We had 150 people show up to our party and the 4 moms that were dishing out the food didn't get to eat any!!  We were only expecting to have 100 people!!  It was great tho to have sooo many less active members and investigators show up!!  And then our attendance at church the next day jumped up to 95!!  We went from 60 to 95!! in one week!!  Let's hope we can keep it that steady and keep growing and eventually we're gonna have a ward in mobo!!!  Also we're getting 2 more missionaries moving into our apartment this transfer!!  So our area is gonna be split!!  Which will really help the branch grow!! 

PLEASE!!! SEND YOUR PRAYERS TO THE PEOPLE HERE!!  THAT'S WHATS GONNA HELP THEM STAY THE MOST SAFE AND MAYBE THEIR HEARTS WILL BE OPENED TO OUR MESSAGE!!  

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/melor-to-threaten-philippines/54139705

http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/12/14/philippines-typhoon-sater.cnn