GUINOBATAN WEEK #16 UPDATE! -WEEK 77

WOAHH that sounds soo weird I’ve been here in guino for 16 weeks now! haha Reminds me of being in mobo forever! haha I think I still might be going another 6 weeks after this transfer in 2 weeks! But I’m excited for another 6 weeks out here!! But we’ll see what happens!! 

So this week was a pretty slow week (slow as in not many lessons but very fast in time!) We didn’t get out to work until Wednesday afternoon, because I still wasn’t feeling good, but thanks to your prayers for panadero! I was able to get out and work on Wednesday and teach some of our investigators we’re working on! One of which is OGGE! We were able to teach him this week with one of the members out here and he’s really excited to learn more everytime and super ready for the gospel! Sadly, he went to Manila on Friday and got back Sunday night and didn’t make it to church... but we’ll see him next week at church haha! Then on THURSDAY we had a zone conference, so we were over in Legazpi for about the whole day! We got home at about 5 then we had a family home evening that night at one of our less actives! which came to church this week YEET! FRIDAY really good day... we finally had a whole day to get out and work! So we went out and TRACTED! HAHA not very succesful tho we only found 1 new investigator haha but she is a great investigator she texted us on Sunday and wanted to come to church but she wouldn’t make it because of the RAIN! stoopid rain! Always making it hard for our investigators to come to church! Some people might think rain isn’t a big deal but filipinos HATE RAIN!! hahaha they're soo scared of it haha!! So then Saturday came around and I did exchanges in the other area so I wasn’t in my area that day but I had a dandy day working with Elder Mahipos visiting some investigators and less actives that I know from their ward so that was fun!  Then SUNDAY! WOOW Sundays are long days! hahaha but FUNN DAYS!! So on Sundays we head up to Lomacao our group for church at 9  to 11 then we get home get something to eat then head to church in Guinobatan at 1 until 4! Then get something to eat then we get to go out and work! But it kinda sucks cause nightimes aren’t very good for work at all out here! We went out to some of our new investigators to teach with some members but... when we got there they replied by saying they were "asleep" hmm how does that work your asleep but still responded... hmm well that happened to like 4 of our investigators that night then we just went to one of our old less actives to see if he came back from Legazpi and well lucky us he was there and the members we were with totally helped him to feel welcome to come back to church again! Missionaries can only do so much! WE NEED MEMBERS HAHA!! 

But that’s pretty much it that happened this week we went out to some hill this morning and played some games and had some fun! But thats about it!! 

I LOVE YOU ALL AND THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT!! 

HAPPY BDAY SHOUT OUT TO JESS LAST WEEK AND TYLER THIS WEEK!! LOVE YOU GUYS!

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

CONQUERING TYPHOONS SPREADING GOOD TIDINGS!! -WEEK 62

Well this week was EXCITING like always hahaha!! Never a dull moment out here!!

This week was great we had a typhoon on Saturday but it was nothing really, we were told to stay inside and be ready for anything bad to happen, but I was "lucky" (my mom says lucky I say unlucky) to be here in the main land not really close to any of the coast right now so we didn't get anything too bad. It actually hit pretty bad in one of our zones out on Catanduanes island! There was a lot of rain!!! And a lot of flooding and some people may have died! So please give your prayers to those people that may have been affected by the typhoon! But like our mission hymn says, "whether rain comes down in torrents or the sun is there instead we always share the gospel word we show no fear no dread!" We were still able to get a lesson that night that we had promised one of our investigators we would go to so we made our way to her house and she was surprised and happy that even though there was a typhoon we still made it to the lesson! 

ONE GREAT THING I LOVE ABOUT TYPHOONS!! can you guess???    SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES!! 

I made sure that Sunday at church we could find someone who needed service after the typhoon and we got a project tomorrow cleaning up a yard! 

Other than that lil typical problem we still had normal work all week! It’s been a struggle here! Tracting is HARD! Well it’s easy for me BUT THE PEOPLE ARE HARD! hahaha but no matter how hard it is to keep going from house to house until you find that person that is waiting for you we keep going and pushing forward!! I guess we weren't diligent enough, cause we still didn't find the person that is ready for us...BUT I DID MAKE SOME GOOD FRIENDS!! haha  I'll tell a quick story of our tracting that I thought was fun! 

So while walking from yet another house that rejected us.. a guy yells at me in English "hey where you going" hahaha he wasn't expecting me to answer that I was coming over to become his friend inTagalog! His reply... "oh hey he speaks Tagalog" haha! Well we started talking and then he introduced me to all his friends that were sitting by us and then I was able to bear a quick testimony of our message to them and they said we could come back and teach them another day because they were leaving! hahaha It was one of those times that even though tracting is hard and stressful sometimes that it’s still SO FUN TALKING TO AND MEETING NEW PEOPLE!! 

Mom to answer your questions 1. Biggest challenge this week? Finding new investigators   2. Biggest sucess this week?  ALWAYS STAYING POSITIVE and making new friends!  3. Who was my favorite person I met this week? Either that guy I talked about earlier or the guy that rejected us right before that guy hahaha even though he rejected us, we had a funny interaction! 4. What’s the weirdest thing i ate this week? PIZZA! hahaha I had pizza for the first time earlier today! yummiest! DIY BURGER it’s this place you make your own burger hence the "DIY" and it was like real BEEF  AND CHEESE AND MEAT AHHHH!! SOOOOOOOO GOOD!!  

Love you all thanks for the support and prayers palagi! 

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

BLESSED! -WEEK 57

SOOOO this week was one of the best weeks ever so I'll tell you a lil story about this guy I met!! 

So it starts wayy back last week hehe...

So we were out tracting in one of our areas right, and no one wanted to listen haha and then we were walking past this one gate with a tree house in the back and my comp walked right past, cause the house was far away and probably wouldn’t answer... but I wanted to try so I walked up to the gate and yelled tao po as loud as I could hahaha for them to come out!  And some old lady looks around the corner at us and then looks away... then some old guy comes crawling out of his house and starts walking to the gate! (5 mins later) he gets to the gate haha and starts opening it immediately to let us in!  We start talking and his name is tatay Bueno well tatay is just like father in Tagalog but we call him tatay Bueno and bueno is Spanish right? So he tries telling us he’s from Mexico and like joking around haha he’s hilarious for an 83 year old!! And then we are talking and we get to his house and meet his wife who is really nice too, really old can’t really walk... and eventually started teaching them.  Well, we taught them about 3 times that week and the last lesson was on Saturday we really were expecting him to come to church.  Well he didn’t come.. but he had cut his foot and couldn’t walk so he said next week!! So we kept teaching him and he’s doing great and then one day we’re teaching and see he has a tatoo on his chest. We ask him what it is, and he says you know I told you I love the Lord right?? And then pulls up his shirt and… HAHAHA!!  HE HAS A FULL CHEST TATTOO OF JESUS'S FACE HAHAHA!! (we’re gonna try and get a pic with his tattoo this week) so cool and then the week ended sooo great with us walking into church at 8:30.  30 minutes before starting and he’s sitting in the sacrament hall talking with the members hahaha!! He says to us I beat you here haha turns out he beat everyone there, even the branch president haha he showed up 10 minutes before the branch president haha! 

It probably doesn’t seem that interesting of a story to you guys, but this is the cool part... he is the first investigator that I have tracted that actually came to church!! 

I’ve tracted alot of people, and alot have progressed and read the Book of Mormon and prayed but none!! None! Have came to church!!  Every baptism or other investigator coming to church have either been referrals or part member families!! Soo it was really cool for me and my comp and we just love this guy soo much!! 

Well little update on our other investigators.  We still have the part member family coming to church working for the baptismal date of Oct 1 so that’s looking good and we have one other girl coming to church, a part member also that is working for Oct 1, but might get moved back a little, we’ll see what happens!! But I’M LOVING THIS AREA AND THIS MISSION AND JUST WAYYY HAPPY RIGHT NOW!!  SO HAPPY I DECIDED TO SERVE A MISSION AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND FELLOW MEMBERS FOR PUSHING ME TO BE WHERE I AM RIGHT NOW!! 

Elder Baker

HAKUNA MATATA!!

ps.  Elder Baker’s ldsmail account is STILL giving him fits!!  He wanted to apologize to everyone if you’ve written him and he has not been able to actually see it!  He hasn’t been able to log into his actual account for about a month now!  He’s hoping it will be fixed this week!  prayers for his emails account!!!  

Preach the Freakin Gospel to the Depths of their Souls! -WEEK 55

HELLO MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!! 

So sorry about the no email last week, my missionary email is broken and it still is, so that's why I haven't been talking to you guys!! Don't worry it's probably gonna get fixed.. we'll see hahaha!!

Well little update...I MOVED!! I got transferred over to Tabaco zone I'm in Malilipot!!

ps. Malilipot is the closest area to the HUGE MAYON VOLCANO!! So ya i get a great view of that every day!! And when it erupts I'll be right here to catch all the lava!! hehe But this area is great, it's just like Mobo, my first area. It's a long strip of a highway and just has a ton of lil neighborhoods on both sides!! So plenty of people to preach the gospel to!! And we have a lot of investigators right now!! But we are gonna tract alot more, cause the last guy here hated tracting haha, so we are gonna just tract everywhere here!! 

We also have a group out here that we do a sacrament at after church, which is kinda really far hahaha and we have to walk!! But it's a cool place it's right next to the ocean!! Which means we're gonna do some tracting out there, so that we can baptize in the ocean hehe!! 

But this area is great, they had one investigator attend last week and she came back this week also!! BUT WE HAD A WHOLE FAMILY COME TO CHURCH!! A part member family, the mom is a member but her 3 kids and husband aren't yet!! But we are gonna work on getting them ready for baptism!! And we have a couple other families we are gonna work on getting to church next week too!!!!!!!  One other interesting thing!  The people here like only speak bicol hahahaha, so I'm gonna be trying to learn bicol!   Like all of sacrament was in bicol except my talk hahaha!! 

Well I'm really excited about this next week, and can't wait to give you guys another update next week!! I love you all soo much!!! 

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO THE FLYEST CHICK I EVER DID MEET!! THE BEST BIG SISTER EVER!! AND MY BEST FRIEND!! 

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BIG POPS THE BEST GRANDPA EVER AND THE BEST ACCORDION PLAYER!! AND HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO YOU TWO ALSO GRANDPA AND GRANDMA!! LOVE YOU!!

Elder Baker

HAKUNA MATATA!

And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my father!

--D & C 18:15