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!!!  

BI...BI...BINYAG!!! -WEEK 29

WELL THIS WEEK WAS PROBABLY MY FAVORITE WEEK EVER!! IT'S UP THERE WITH THE BAPTISM IN THE OCEAN!! 

Well, binyag I baptism in Tagalog!!  And we had a baptism this week of  MY FAMILY!!  I call them my family cause they literally are my family hahaha!   I love them soo much!  This family is the referral we received back in December!!  Or something!  But we've been working with them for a long time getting them ready for baptism and sadly the dad didn't get baptized because he has work 3 hours away and he's only home 2 days of the whole month!!  But he wants to get baptized!  He heard our lesson about the restoration the first 2 times we taught them and he knew it was true!!  But he can't attend church so he can't be baptised!!  But he wants too!!  The family is already planning a temple trip!!  

So the baptism was great.  There was 4 of them.  3 the Cantoria family and then their niece that lives with them!!  So what we did is I baptized 2 and my companion baptized 2.  I got to baptize the mom and the niece!!  It was sooo great!  But the best part was the testimonies!!  SO, the niece bore her testimony and it was really funny!  She said the missionaries are soo great,  one time even though elder Jardeleza had lbm (loose bowel movements) they still continued to teach us!! hahahha   

But the moms testimony was great.  She talked about the first time she met the elders in the hospital, she could feel something was different about them!!  And her kids would always see us walking by their house when we would have to walk home and the kids would say I want to be like them someday! hahaha   But then she just talked about how in the first lesson we taught her, she knew our message was true!!  When we taught her the true nature of God the father and his Son, she said that it was true and the catholic church teachings were wrong!!   I was soo happy the entire time she spoke I was just smiling the entire time and AHHH IT WAS SOOO AMAZING!! 

LOVE, ELDER BAKER

I LOVE THIS WORK!!  I LOVE THIS PLAN!!  I LOVE THE PPINES!!  I LOVE THE GOSPEL!! 

HAKUNA MATATA!!

Now we know that we must also

Witness faith in Jesus' work,

Be baptized to show obedience,

As was Jesus Christ, our Lord.

LIVIN THE PINOY LIFE!! -WEEK 25

So we had transfers this last week and it was really sad because the two other elders in our apartment got transferred!! The sad part is that they both spoke English!!  And now the 3 other people in my house are pure filipino!  And don't speak English... LIKE AT ALL!!! HAHAHAHHAHA it's wayy cool tho I was thinking about it and I'm like... holy crap I'm in the ppines, living in a house with 3 other filipinos!! And speaking a different language 24/7!! hahahhaha 

I LOVE IT!!!!

So these last 2 weeks have been great with this new family we got!!  They've attended church the last  2 weeks!  And they love the gospel!!  Everything we teach them, like the word of wisdom, and tithing, and law of chastity, they think is great!!  And they're like, why doesn't our religion have that?!! haahhaha they're the best!!!  And not only do they love to listen... THEY LOVE TO SHARE THE GOSPEL!!  They give us referrals and introduce us to their friends around their houses!!  So now we have a ton of investigators by her house!!  And a lot attend church!!  This last week we had 12 investigators attend church!!!  WHAT!?!?  That just doesn't happen out here in the Legazpi mission hahahha!!  But I'm lovin it!!  This branch/ area is PROGRESSING FOR SURE!!!  Maybe when I come back after my mission it will be a ward!!!  (p.s. mom and dad better start saving for me to come back!) 

I LOVE YOU ALL!

LOVE ELDER BAKER

HAKUNA MATATA!!

Search, Ponder and Pray
Are the things that I must do.
The spirit will guide, and deep inside,
I'll know the scriptures are true.