MERRY CHRISTMAS SKYPE!! 🎄 -WEEK 75

Because of TYPHOON NINA, Elder Baker's Skype

 home for Christmas was delayed.

He had no power for a couple of weeks.

And actually it still comes and goes.  But, he was FINALLY able

to Skype us and it was SO awesome!

We are so thankful for the technology that affords 

us the ability to be all together as a family even though 

we are in so many different locations.  We were able to 

talk in the Philippines, in Pittsburgh, in Orem and in Mesa, AZ.  

We had so many people around that got to say HI!  

We are so proud of the wonderful job that Elder Baker 

is doing and we love him so much!

BAGONG BALITA! -WEEK 66

WELL ACTUALLY I DON’T HAVE REALLY ANY NEW NEWS! I'm still here in GUINOBATAN! With my companion Elder Ayson and still struggling in this area. We were really sad this week because one of our GREAT investigators found a job last week and his schedule is either 7 pm to 7 am which we can teach him in the afternoon when thats his schedule, but every week it switches. This last week it was 7 am to 7pm and his house is too far away and when he gets home he goes right to sleep so we didn't get to teach him at all this week... and then our other progressing was in a different area with his girlfriend all week so we didn't go to him either! BUTTT WE DID get some delicious food this week!! Well more like lil snacks! Something I love about being in the Philippines and being in an area in the "bukid" or like mountains is that the members always give us coconuts!! hahaha Coconut juice has become my all time favorite drink ever!  Like there is nothing better than stopping and drinking a coconut while out walking in the heat of the ppines!! hahaha and I ate some weird lil yellow thing they said the name is "merienda" but that just means snack hahaha some people call it "passion fruit" hahaha I don't know what it’s called, but it was weird looking BUT SOOO GOOD!! I’ll send a pic of it haha! And then we ate some pomelo which is like a filipino version of grapefruits! I don't know maybe it’s the same I never ate grapefruits! haha 

Well, that’s about it haha!! see you all next week. Thanks for the love!! 

LOVE YOU FAM!! 

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

 ALWAYS remember to wear shoes when playing b-ball!

 FHE!

 out working....

district activity! 

buds for life! Elder Downing : ) 

 With Elder Nicks

Legazpi ZONE Conference

tracting 

One of Elder Baker's new favorite fruits?  Wait...that's not a fruit snack?!!

PAMBIHIRA ANG PPINES!! -WEEK 39

Short and Sweet and Awesome!!!  Sounds like he didn't have power for some of his P-day..... his email came through at 3:20 AM which was actually the end of Pday for him, so he was out of time and had to get back to work!  

Soo first off, sorry momma I'm on soo late, but there was a brown out for like 3 hours earlier!!  So we have just been waiting to email and now we only got a lil time!! 

But this week was wayy great!!  Not really any cool things happened but it was just a great week in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ!!  Something cool happened this week.  We had interviews with our Mission President who will be leaving soon and I asked him one phrase to describe his mission, and he answered right away with "Jesus Christ" like what woah  I was like k that was wayy sick cause if someone asked me that question I would say like sressfull/or hard or fun!!  But nope he said Jesus Christ!!  He then ended the interview with "we all have one master one leader, let's serve Him diligently"!! 

I LOVE THE PPINES SOOO MUCH.  IT'S CHANGING MY LIFE BEING OUT HERE ON A MISH AND ESPECIALLY IN THE PPINES!! 

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

ps from Shawna (Like he said in the email, he had interviews in the city.  Some of the YSA kids took some pics and I found them posted on facebook!  Lucky ME since he couldn't send any!)

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 

and all these things shall be added unto you.

--3 Nephi 13

PPINES UPDATE -WEEK 38

Well this week was the first week with my new comp!!  And well it was AMAZING!!  So it was really hard last transfer because I was trying to go and work and teach people, but my comp was really just wanting to sit around at the members house, so it was like making me pretty mad.  I wanted to go work but since he was like 24 he was just like ya don't tell me what to do.. so it was annoying!!  But then this new guy came in and everyone was saying he was gonna be lazy too but NOO he is not lazy, he's like let's get out and work!! hahaha the first day with him we went out and got 12 lessons!! hahaha  It was soooo sweet!  That's the most we've gotten in a while!!  And like all the other days are like 10 or 8 lessons!!  So it's great to be back in the grind of things!! 

Well update on some of our investigators!!  Well we found this girl last week, she was a referral from our new convert family!  She is 11 yrs old and her name is Shella Cervantes!  But everyone calls her aunty cute!! (aunty means like sister) hahha but so we call her aunty cute too hahahha!!  Well we first taught her last Saturday and then she attended church the following Sunday!!  And she attended yesterday din!!  So that's working out great!! We also found a friend of Justing her name is Betsey, and she's pretty cool too, she reads the Book of Mormon but her mom wont let her attend church at the "mormons" but hey, we'll get hat figured out! (i'll have elder nonu take her out) And then last week we had one of our old investigators who I thought still wasn't interested but then she told us last week she wants us to start teaching her again!!  So that's awesome!!  And then a couple days ago we were over there and I saw a ctr ring on her finger hahaha!!! 

Something that is pretty funny but kinda annoying!! Is Sundays!!  On Sundays I'm pretty much like the first counselor!!  The president calls me all the time to do something for him or like I had to teach Sunday school and Priesthood class two weeks ago!! and I almost always have to teach at least one class if I'm not teaching Sunday school I have to teach Priesthood!!  But it's been great cause I learn sooo much more and it helps me like feel more comfortable getting up and teaching or talking in front of people!!  But then again when I come home and have to speak in front of 300 plus people I'm still gonna be pretty freaked out!!  But it will be a lot better talk than my last one cause I have learned soooo much on this mish!!  I love it and I'm soo gratefull for this mission!! 

LAST I WANT TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO MY MOMMA!!! AND TO ALL OTHER MOMS AROUND THE GLOBE THAT ARE READING THIS!!!  HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!  I JUST WANT TO TELL YOU THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING THAT YOU GUYS DO FOR YOUR KIDS!!!  I'VE SEEN SOME OF THE BEST GUYS OUT HERE AND THEY ALL SAY I'TS BECAUSE OF THEIR MOTHERS!!  YOU FIND OUT THERE'S A LOT OF SECRET MOMMAS BOYS WHILE YOU'RE ON THE MISH!!  BUT I ALSO JUST WANT TO GIVE A LIL EXTRA SHOUTOUT TO MY MOM, BECAUSE IT'S HER BDAY THIS WEEK!!  AND IF IT WASN'T FOR MY MOM I WOULDN'T BE HERE!!  ACTUALLY I DON'T THINK I WOULD HAVE GRADUATED HIGHSCHOOL, BECAUSE SHE WAS THE ONE WAKING ME UP AND MAKING ME BREAKFAST EVERYDAY!!  (MAN I MISS THAT BREAKFAST!!)  MAHAL NA MAHAL KITA MAMA!! 

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed

and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.

For behold, they are blesed in all things, both temporal and spiritual;

and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven,

that thereby thay may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. 

O remember, remember that these things are true;

for the Lord God hath spoken it.

                                                      --Mosiah 2:41

PPINES -WEEK 36

Alrighty, so to start out my momma has some questions she wants me to answer that will probably be fun for everyone to hear about!!   So ...

no.1  When I go out tracting what is it like??   Well when we go tracting, we don't do what other missionaries do and knock doors... WE JUST YELL OUT "TAO PO" OR "AYO" hahaha  tao po is just saying "PEOPLE" hahahahah and the people are actually usually really nice and either invite you in or will let you give them a lil pamphlet!  But just because they let you does not mean in any way they want to listen... the people here are just too nice to say no!! 

no.2  What made me laugh this week?   Well I'm glad you asked!!  So the other day I was listening to my ipod in the apartment and one of my fav disney songs came on!! "circle of life" from lion king! And you know the beginning where it like screams african words?? YA WELL I TURNED UP THE VOLUME FULL BLAST AND WAS SCREAMING IT AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS!! hahahaha the guys that live with me came down stairs and started listening and were DYING LAUGHING AND MY COMP WHEN HE LAUGHS SOUNDS LIKE A HIENA!! (you know like the animal on lion king that has a weird laugh) hahaha  Then we were all laughing!  Then after, we were sitting there and I was like lol this is like the language of Nate Garry's mission!!! HAHAHAHA!!! T hat was a really funny time!!  All the neighbors like ask me what was going on in the house hahahaha!!  

no.3  Who was favorite person i taught this week?   Umm this week was probably teaching the Golimlim family!!  We taught them last night!  They are a recent convert family of all girls. The dad lives in Manila!  Well,  Elder Jardeleza shared a scripture about charity!!  And then as we were teaching I just felt the spirit so strong teaching about the importance of charity and I shared how when I first got here I couldn't speak or understand Tagalog... and it was the hardest couple months of my life!!  And how charity is what I tried to develop when I was new here because I knew if I had charity, I wouldn't be worried about myself... I would only care about the people!  And I think now that I've got the language fine, I kinda started slacking in LOVING EVERY SINGLE PERSON!!  And I realized I need to start looking for people in need everywhere I go at all times!! 

no.4  Favorite meal this week?   One of my favs is an egg plant that you like smash flat and then dip it in eggs and then fry it!!  And it's seriously soo good!!  But my other favorite snack this week was BALUT!! lol!!  Which is a 18 day old bird egg that you like boil!! hahahaha it's actually really good!! 

no.5  What am I currently studying?   Right now I am reading the Book of Mormon and the New Testament!  In the BOM,  I am in Mosiah chap. 24 lol same chapter my mom quoted in her email to me!!  Well, I had always read chap. 13 cause it's the commandments but never found all the other great stuff there!!  I invite you to read this chapter it's really cool!! 

LOVE YOU ALLLL SOOOOOO MUCHHHHH!!

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

yea,  the Lord did strengthen them that they could

bear up their burdens with ease,

and they did submit cheerfully and with patience

 to all the will of the Lord.

                            ~Mosiah 24:15

BALUT......WHAT??? -WEEK 18

Well this week I had BALUT for the first time!! And it was actually really delicious!!! lol I sent a pic of me and the egg and if you look closely you can see some black lines... ya that's the chickens hair... lol I just loaded it with salt and had no regrets!! That was while I was in Legazpi for the Mission Christmas Conference!! lol kinda early, but it was soo cool to see all the missionaries in our mish and to see my batch from the mtc!! Also I finally busted out the selfie stick my fam sent me and lets just say I fell in love with it instantly!! lol

"BALUT"

"selfie stick love"

reunited and it feels so good!

Elder Baker and Elder Downing from the MTC with a couple Sister Missionaries too

Well this last week we celebrated my comps birthday which is the same day as my girl Elle!! (HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLERY!!)  Well to celebrate we had a FHE lol that's how we celebrate birthdays here, hahha plus alot of lessons!!Well we also had another baptism!! Oh side note... at the Christmas conference, we found out who the top baptizer is and guess who it was... Elder Irabon "the great" that's his nickname in the mission!! And it's no wonder why!! He has over 70 baptisms in his mish!!

 I hope everyone is having a great Christmas month soo farr!! And always have the Christmas spirit of giving this whole month!! I am able to give the greatest gift of all this Christmas season and that is eternal life! (D and C 14:7 I think lol I'm not perfect ok!) but this month I invite you all to pray for opportunities to give.. whatever you're giving, maybe it's service or maybe it's a dollar to someone in need! But the most important thing to give is your heart to that person, and let them know they are loved by you, and a loving Heavenly Father!!

Well as you guys know by now, I love giving challenges to you guys back home and along with giving the challenge, I want to invite you all to read Moroni 7:45-47.  First just read thru it, don't mark it or anything! Then read thru it again, and think about what you could do to develop better charity and go thru and mark the things you do good, and don't mark the things you don't do. Then work on doing those things better this week!  You can also read 1 Corinthians 13 that's a sobrang maganda chapter! (very beautiful)

Oh k funny story to end! So last night when we were about to eat dinner the members I was with wanted me to pray in English to bless the food... AND IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I'VE PRAYED IN ENGLISH COMPLETELY SINCE THE FIRST DAY IN THE MTC!! And it was really hard!  It kinda made me happy and wierded out at the same time!  Well time to go.  I love you all!

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

Teaching wherever he can!

  Grab the biggest leaf around..instant Umbrella!

   

  

45. And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up,

seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil,

and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, 

believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

46. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing,

for charity never faileth.  Wherefore, cleave unto charity,

which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail - 

47. But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever;

and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

I ATE WHAT?! -WEEK 16

soooo.... I ate CHICKEN INTESTINES THIS WEEK!!!  I have a picture for proof!!  But computer is being dumb so probably no pics... but next week maybe!!!

I don't have alot of time because the dang pictures broke my computer!!  But I just wanted to share a quick story.  So on Sundays we do exchanges and while on exchanges I'm with a member in our ward and then I become the senior companion... man it's pretty scary being the one in charge while teaching, but I also love it, it's soo fun!!  I teach wayyy better too, because I actually have to be more focused and can't just rely on my comp to teach them!!  But yesterday, we were teaching a less active during our exchanges and we were teaching about repentance!!  And then at the end of the lesson we were talking about her coming back to church and she said she was just too lazy and stuff and then the weirdest thing happened... I started talking to her in almost perfect Tagalog ( k maybe not almost perfect, but really good) but while I was talking to her, I was feeling the spirit soo strong as a taught her and testified to her about attending church and the benefits and blessings of church, and I know she was feeling the spirit.  I could see it in her face!!  And after, she said ok ill do it!!  Because earlier she said I'll try and then we said "dont try just do!!"  And then she decided she would start coming back to church!!  We'll see if she attends this week.. hopefully!!

Also funny story!!  There's an American guy that lives like 30 minutes away from our apartment and I see him sometimes riding around on jeepneys and he always yells at me lol!!  But today I saw him at a restaurant for lunch and he came and talked to me and said " hey I was thinking about you the other day, I really was!  I was upstairs in my room praying and I started thinking about you!" (you know why he thought about me.. the spirit was reminding him of me so that we the missionaries could teach him the gospel!!)  But after that he said " I wonder if I'll ever see him again and if I do I'm gonna talk to him!"  Well, he did and we were just talking about where we were from and weirdly he has family in Scottsdale lol!!  But after, I asked him if he would be interested in listening to our message!  And well, he said no... but I know that we are supposed to teach him!!  That's not just a coincidence that he thought about me while praying!!  So next time I see him I'm gonna try to teach him!! 

Time to go.. but I love you all... ALL OF YOU!!  We might not talk but I see all the people that get this email and I literally love you all!!  And your support, whether it's helping me or my family!  I'm so grateful for it!!  And everyone that reads this, if you see my mom this week you better give her a hug this week and tell her that her son in the PPINES loves her sooo much!!  Because it's Thanksgiving week and I realized how much I didn't thank her for everything she did for me growing up so this will be my way of kinda making up for it!!

ps. "don't try just do!!" whatever your trying to do better in your life stop trying and just DO IT!! 

pss. don't forget to pray! there is power in prayer! - did you think to pray hymn!

psss. if your having a bad day listen to or read some hymns!!  They are amazing!!  They help me alot!!

pssss. I LOVE YOU ALL AND DON'T FORGET 👇

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

"Chicken INTESTINES"

Oh, how praying rests the weary!

Prayer will change the night to day.

So, when life gets dark and dreary,

Don't forget to pray.