Also, please send letter! It has been a long time since I
have received a letter!
Sorry about last week and the lack of an email! My iPad had
some errors and had to be reset.
Week of 9/14-9/20
Monday: Today was pretty fun! We played volleyball and chair
soccer. We had a great dinner then a good lesson about prayer and scripture
study.
Wednesday: We had a great district meeting then I tried
updating my iPad and it messed up so we had to take it in to the office. Later,
we had some great lessons with Jose, and a man named Hno Israel and Hno
Gonzalez. Now we are just going over commandments with Jose. He is almost
ready!
Thursday: We did service at the Food Bank again and it was
great! They always give us food to take home. We then met with some recent
converts. Mario and Ivan. Later that night, we had a coordination meeting and
language study.
Friday: We had some great studies then some weekly planning.
Dinner fell through so we ate at home. We had a great lesson with Jose and he
feels comfortable going towards baptism.
Saturday: This morning we had service in the park with Joe.
It went really well then we went to a baptism for other missionaries. Jose came
with us and loved it. Later we taught a couple and they want us to come back!
Sunday: Church was great! Great lessons and then later in
the evening we had a lesson with Jose. We are reviewing all the lessons now.
Week of 9/21-9/27
This week was pretty crazy. After opening up the area and
cleaning up an apartment, we are moving to a different apartment. We absorbed
the area of the other Elders and are moving into their once nasty, now clean,
apartment. There were some issues so the branch is back to 2 sets instead of 3
as we were planning in the beginning of the transfer.
Monday: Pday! Much needed. We played volleyball and it was
great. We were rushing all over in the morning because we didnt have enough
money on our laundry card. Money is tight when you open up an area/apartment...
We had an awesome dinner then a good lesson with Jose. We gave him a blessing
inspired by the prompting Elder Wilstead received.
Tuesday: Service at the food bank followed by studies and
loading up my iPad. We then had great lessons with some recent converts. One
had some really Catholic questions and the other kept calling me short for some
reason. He was shorter. By the way, I'm the shorter of our companionship
because Elder Wilstead is 6'7". We had dinner then a lesson with Jose to
go over the Plan of Salvation.
Wednesday: We need to go finding, so last night we planned
for a ton of finding time today for after our meeting. On our way out of the
apartment, we received a call from the office that we need to clean the other
apartment and be in there by Saturday. So there goes the rest of our week. We
spent the afternoon just throwing junk out and prepping it to be cleaned. We
had dinner then went with Jose to a stake volleyball tourney activity.
Thursday: We had service at the food bank then we jumped
right in to cleaning the Park apartment. Park because it is off Park street. We
spent the afternoon just cleaning. We did go to dinner then we went to the
church. Jose was going to have his interview but said he is not yet ready. We
will continue visiting him but he is not ready to be baptized yet. To be truly
and painfully honest, it was tough to maintain emotions for the rest of the
night. I steadied myself on the verge until I fell asleep. After a lesson
teaching English, we stopped by Walmart to pick up some needed supplies for the
Park apartment. As we returned to the car, a note was left on the windshield of
the car saying, "Hey missionaries! Just know your work is appreciated! You
keep going!" I almost fell to my knees to offer a tear filled prayer.
Friday: Elder Wilstead had a doctors appointment in the
morning. After that, we went to the apartment to clean. The senior housing
couple, the Wagoners, have helped us a ton! The Hermanas that we serve with in
the branch have helped us too. We cleaned like all day then went to a branch
activity. We cleaned the Park apartment enough to sleep there. We also unpacked
most of our stuff.
Saturday: We had studies and we were joined by the Zone
Leaders for those studies. After, we went to the other apartment to eat because
all our food was there. We ate, packed a few things, and left. We unpacked
stuff at the Park apartment, finished cleaning, then went to an appointment. It
was a great lesson with a very nice couple. We read from the Book of Mormon
about faith, hope, and charity. Then we went to the Other apartment to start
cleaning. Elder Wilstead made some great lemon pepper chicken then we went to
work. The apartment is clean, all the furniture is staged to be taken out, then
it will need one last run through with the vacuum.
Sunday: Today we had normal studies and then church. Church
was great and I'm excited for General Conference! I have prepared some
questions so we will see. We made dinner at home and had to do some planning.
Then we gave some blessings to some older sisters in the branch as the Hermanas
visited them.
I have learned a lot this week. I am working to make sure my
focus is purely desiring to help people and change lives. I am also reading a
lot of talks by the late Elder Neal A Maxwell. I love the way he explains
things in an intellectual and ofter poetic way, without forgetting a good
amount of wit. As for things temporal, I have been putting my willpower to the
test. I have recently been making habits to better my life. I have created a
habit of flossing and using mouthwash every single night. I am also testing my
willpower with some intense desires, candy and sweets. I am not partaking of
candy, sweets, desserts, or soda for a little while. So when my birthday comes
around in November, please don't send candy! I will make an exception the
birthday cake but thats it. I am also working harder to be more diligent in my
studies and I am seeing some great results!
"The more we know of Jesus, the more we will love Him.
The more we know of Jesus, the more we will trust Him. The more we know of
Jesus, the more we will want to be like Him and to be with Him by becoming the
manner of men and women that He wishes us to be (see 3 Nephi 27:27, The Book of
Mormon), while living now 'after the manner of happiness' (2 Nephi 5:27, The
Book of Mormon)." - Elder Neal A Maxwell
Hope you all had a great week! Please write letters and send
packages! But no candy please :)
Love,
Elder Dallin Baker
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