Remain Faithful

Hello everyone,

I feel like I have been through a spiritual roller coaster the past week.  To start, on Tuesday we found out the AP's were coming to our area for an exchange.  I later learned that this is something they try to do for most of the new missionaries, but the pressure went up for planning quickly for a unplanned event.  The exchange went very well overall, and we had some great study sessions as well as being able to find a couple great new investigators throughout the day.  By the time they left we were feeling pretty great about everything.  We were even able to get a hold of a couple of younger boys that had dropped off the map for a while who want to be baptized!

As with all spiritual experiences though, opposition does come.  Following a district meeting that I feel went well about our missionary purpose, all of our return appointments for the new investigators fell through.  It didn't feel like anyone was home.  In fact, one of the more promising ones had a man answer the door who more or less told us to never come back and avoided telling us if the person we were looking for was home which broke our hearts, as well as hearing that another investigator wasn't interested from a third party source.  It definitely felt as if the devil was on us.  But God always prevails.

On Saturday, the sisters in our district had a baptism.  It was nice to see and President Orton as well as Elder Hoskins, now my zone leader, come as well.  Miracles also started to come.  We are put through tests sometimes to see if we will remain faithful despite whatever happens, and if we endure well that is when the blessings flow.  We finally got in contact with an entire family named the King's who have been taught for a while.  We got to reestablish connection and see how cool they were.  They will definitely be baptized some day, they already are dry Mormons basically.  On top of that, we also saw the Trivett family.  The son wants to be baptized and is praying for a date while the Mom is taking large steps in getting the testimony she once had back.  It was great being able to testify of how the Atonement of Jesus Christ can help us past anything.

The work continues to move forward, and as General Conference approaches I would encourage you all to take a question you have to it and be prepared to have the Spirit testify to you!  Thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Let the sun shine

Working together

Beauty everywhere 

The Real Leader

Hello Everyone,

This past week was another normal week for missionary work, but there were a few highlights.  To start, we had zone conference on Thursday with Elders Whiting and Parrella of the Seventy.  The meeting was great and was focused on the importance of having the Spirit to be with us and the need to sacrifice our desires in favor of the Lord's will, in life and on the mission.  The Spirit was felt and it was a great meeting.

On Saturday a couple of things occurred.  First, we were helping a woman scrape off paint on her house for service, and at the end Elder Dillon fell off the ladder.  He didn't break anything, but it wasn't exactly a great way to end a service.  He is okay though.  We then got to go down Waldport where I got to conduct a baptism interview for a ten year old convert.  It was a simple but great experience, and it was neat to have the Spirit testify to me that he was ready for baptism.

Sunday was full of teaching.  During sacrament meeting I gave a talk about conversion, using experiences from the mission to teach.  People seemed to like it, and I am just glad that it went well. We then got to teach a part member family, where an interesting dynamic is going on between the couple. One is Catholic and the other is Mormon, and us missionaries are in the middle trying to keep things focused.  It was a good experience though.  We then got to teach the part member family we met last week again as well and gave them a very basic introduction  the Restoration.  They were very sincere and wanted to know more which was great.

That brings us to now.  The work is progressing and the Spirit is the real leader.  My job is to learn how to follow the spirit rather than get in its way, which in the end is the trick for everyone.  Thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

I promise to have pictures for next week!

Willing Instrument

Hello Everyone,

I am starting to get use to the Newport experience.  A lot of the work here involves random spurts of service, finding, and working with members in various ways.  On Tuesday and Wednesday we mainly focused on service.  There was a young couple moving up to Lincoln City out of our area that we were referred to help.  When we got there we learned that none of their friends showed up, but that they had huge respect for us.  It was fun talking to them and helping them get use to missionaries.  We learned that they pretty much already believed the same things as us, now it is up to the Lincoln City Elders to teach them.  We then helped out a recent convert in the branch with some issues, and had a normal rest of the day.  On Wednesday we did more service trying to help a member paint her deck before the Oregonian rains come.  It was hectic, and only a part was finished, but it was great to get to help her out.

The rest of the week involved a lot of finding that didn't pay off. There were many people who said no or weren't there.  Towards the end of the week we started to become discouraged, but as we prayed to let us be an answer to someone's prayer things changed.  On Sunday we were blessed to serve others by giving three blessings and finding a small part member family that needed to hear the Gospel once again.  The Spirit was felt throughout the day and was a reminder to me that this is the Lord's work and not ours.  Our duty is to be a willing instrument God can use to save His children.

Overall that was the week in a nutshell.  This upcoming week we have a zone conference where two seventies are touring the mission and will speak.  Half the mission will be at one conference on the 14th, and the other half the following day.  That should be a good experience. Until then the church is true and thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Whale statue at Depoe Bay

Welcome to Newport

Hello Everyone,

This past week was my first week up in the Newport ward.  It has been a fun, crazy time trying to learn the area as well as help my companion, Elder Dillon, learn how to take over an area for the first time as a missionary.  To start, there is no planned service in Newport, though we are looking around to volunteer in one.  The work here involves a lot of Spirit led tracting as well as street contacting. We have run into quite a few tourists here for Labor Day as well as homeless people.

Work wise, it has been slow.  It feels like the whole town has left for Labor Day, but should return the upcoming week for school.  But the members we have met here are awesome and are extremely missionary minded.  It has been great getting to interact with them as well as learn the culture of the Newport ward.  Plus, we have the nicest apartment in the mission complete with a pool table, washer and dryer, dishwasher, and other nice things.  I am definitely spoiled up here, haha.

The big event though was a baptism of someone named Nicole up here. She was someone Elder Dillon and his previous trainer taught.  She seems very set in the Gospel and it was fun watching Elder Dillon's confidence boost through it.  Now my hope is that we can fill up the font again while I am here. 😁

This upcoming week should be a good one.  I will hopefully meet with a lot more of the people we teach and miracles will happen.  Until then, thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Elder Baxter and Elder Dillon

Newport beach

The nicest apartment in the mission

A place to study hard

The pool table