Learned So Much

Hello Everyone,

Well, this is it, the last full weekly email!  The mission is starting to come up on the end and it has been the best two years I could have ever done for myself.  But to back up, on Wednesday we had the departing missionaries temple trip.  Elder Ellinghaus and Elder Kellerstrass came in the night before from Medford to spend the night with us before the trip.  It was a great and long night catching up with them and seeing how my previous companions have been.  The temple trip was great as well and had a wonderful Spirit as the Lord confirmed several things for me.  I also had the chance to better get to know President Orton along the way.

On Thursday I had the chance to meet with the Cunningham’s and share a last testimony with them.  It was a great lesson and the Spirit was there strongly.  Friday and Saturday were pretty normal proselytizing days as well.  Sunday I said some goodbyes, did a final Tracting session, and got soaked by the Oregonian rain hitting out of no where.  Guess it had to happen at least one more time, haha!  Myles also received the Aaronic Priesthood, was sustained as a ward missionary, and has a temple recommend.  I can’t wait to see how he continues to progress!

Later today I have my final dinner appointment with my ward mission leader and then doing a family home evening with the White’s and their main fellow shippers, the Hoyt’s.  Tomorrow I will stick around the area until 4 when the transfer van comes up and takes us to the mission home for a dinner and final testimony meeting.  I will then spend the night at the AP’s place, and head home the final day.

I have learned so much over the course of the mission.  I have learned about how to work in wards, the importance of sacrifice and obedience, opening my mouth and having it be filled, and so much more.  But for now I would like to share my testimony on Jesus Christ and His Restored Gospel.  And that is that I know that Christ is my Savior and that he suffered for me in order to help me return home.  I know that as I make my daily actions into acts of faith in Him I will be given the power to repent and live His doctrine.  When I do this, I have felt His Spirit and know that despite how crazy life may be, He is there and will help us in any circumstance.  I love Him and I know that I must always invite others to come to know Him as well.  That is how we can bring peace to a crazy world.

Thank you for everyone who has helped me along this journey, both here in Oregon and at home.  See you all soon and thank you for the support!

Elder Baxter

Leavers Temple Trip

50 yard line

With President and Sister Orton

At the Mission Office

This tag picture

Baptism!

Hello Everyone,

This week was a pretty standard missionary week right up to the weekend, then the miracles happened.  To start, on Saturday the stake did a day of service where we got to come by and help pull blackberry weeds out from a park.  That was a bit of a painful experience with all of the thorns and just how deep the roots went, but also fun.  The best part of the day came that night with the baptism though.  Right after service we got washed up and went to the church and to prepare for the baptism.  I had the chance to perform the baptism and it was an amazing experience.  Myles is such a great person and I have been blessed to get to know him, teach him, and befriend him.  Following the baptism his wife did a special violin musical number of the "Spirit of God."  The Spirit was very palpable and it was a great experience.  Elder Daugherty and several other Elders that I have gotten to know were also there which made the experience even better.

On Sunday he received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and has already gotten his first calling as a ward missionary!  Guess he isn’t getting rid of us anytime soon, haha.  Another major miracle happened as well.  Last week I mentioned the hard times that came up with the Cunningham family.  Right before church started they surprised us by the whole family coming to church and wanting to forgive.  They only stayed for sacrament, but that is a huge step in their family demonstrating the spirit of repentance to us.  Then the day ended with us helping out with a move that Myles is going through as he transitions to a new place within the ward.  It was a great week and one I will always remember, especially as the mission gets close to finishing out.  Thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Myles with the three Elders who taught him

Myles and Elder Carlton Baxter

Look at those smiles!!

Planting Seeds

Hello Everyone,

This week was a bit of a roller coaster of emotions as most missionary weeks are.  It began great last week with being able to play a super complicated Lord of the Rings board game with Myles, who will be baptized this week, for p day and then doing a family home evening following that.  It was a very fun but super nerdy time in the end.  Tuesday was fairly normal outside of being able to teach a new family that we found who is from India.  As we talked we found that they only have a surface level understanding of Christianity which forced us to only teach a couple principles to help them understand.  It was a humbling experience to realize that I had the chance to truly introduce these people for the first time to the idea of Christ.

Wednesday we had another lesson with the Cunningham family.  They were getting closer to their baptismal date and had still not quit smoking, so we did a “choose this day” kind of lesson.  At the end they seemed fairly fired up about everything and had more resolve to keep their commitments, then Thursday happened.  As we went over for a daily follow up on their commitments we found a lot of contention within the home.  Elder Pace tried to step in but they turned their anger on him.  The contention they have for each other led to them not attending church or quit smoking, forcing us to take them off date with a few other side effects.  Not a good time.

Friday I had Zone Conference with Elder and Sister Echo Hawk.  It was a great meeting where they talked about all kinds of subjects.  In the end I somehow got out of having to give the usual talk they have departing missionaries do, probably because a Seventy was present, as well as talk to several of my past companions again.  One thing Elder Echo Hawk talked about that I liked is how planting seeds work.  In the end we can never truly know how many souls we bring to Christ in a similar way to how we can never know how many apples will come from one apple seed.  It was a great final Zone Conference.

We also had several lessons with other less active families who we are trying to help, as well as continue to help Myles towards baptism.  Satan has begun attacking them and they are going through a hard time, but a couple really good experiences happened.  On Sunday we were able to get them help through the ward, but more interesting is after Elder Pace and I shared our testimonies in sacrament meeting Myles got up and shared his!  He has a very solid testimony, and shared that all of the trials he is going through has made him sure that this is Christ’s Church, as well as know that the Book of Mormon is true and that President Nelson is the Lord’s living prophet.  We are very proud with him and I can’t wait to baptize him this Saturday.

I want to end with sharing that I also know that this is Christ’s true church in preparation for His second coming.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true.  I know that Joseph Smith was his prophet to begin the Restoration and that President Nelson is His living prophet.  Let us go out and be valiant in our testimonies, and if we do so we will have eternal life.  Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

P-day game time

There is beauty all around

Sunny days

Zone Conference

For Our Good

Hello Everyone,

To start, I am happy to say that our investigator, Brother White, passed his baptismal interview!  He will be baptized on June 9th for a fact now and I will have the privilege of performing the ordinance, the first time I will have the chance to do so.  Teaching him and his wife has been a great experience, they truly are golden investigators and people whom I will always remember. 

Beyond that, the other family we are teaching has been going through a rough time.  The father went in for an eye surgery, and all of the stress from recent events has created a lot of contention within the home.  On Wednesday we had a powerful lesson about the Gospel blessing families where Elder Pace and I were able to point out the Spirit very clearly.  Ultimately the surgery went well but the family still is having problems.  Lots of follow up is our plan to help them keep their many commitments.

On top of that, the weekend was very busy.  A couple random stories came out of it such as a lady pulling over to the side of the road referring to herself as an ex Mormon and giving us Taco Bell tacos, helping a lady who ended up being a hoarder move, as well as an exchange with the 4th ward Elders.  Sunday night was a miracle though.  Elder Pace and I went to the northern part of our area to contact a couple of investigators and less active members.  From it we were able to find a family who is from India who wants us to come back and teach them more about our church and the Christian faith, talked to a man at a bus stop who is in the process of reading the Book of Mormon without anyone asking him to do so, and setting up a lesson with a family the ward council has been trying to get at unsuccessful for several months.  Miracles do happen as we choose to go out and do our best to do the Lord’s will.

Life can be challenging and exhausting at times, but I know that all of the experiences we go through are ultimately for our good.  I now know the how and why of what Nephi says in 2 Nephi 31 verse 20 which says, “if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life”.  It is truly the small habits that we do each day that allow us to feast upon the word of Christ and allow us to truly receive the Holy Ghost from day to day.  If you ever feel in a stuck spiritually incorporate the day to day things missionaries do, those are the things that will help you progress and come to know Christ, which is eternal life. Thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

At Hayward Field

Hanging Out

Our Best Efforts

Hello Everyone,

This week we went through a lot of follow up from the 9 to 9 tracting experience of last week.  All throughout the week Elder Pace and I made an effort to head out and reach every follow up appointment that was set.  What made this experience different, however, is in what happened following the contacts.  We would knock on their doors and for the most part we would get non answers or people who weren’t really interested, but as we would leave the appointment we seemed to always run into someone else who was interested in the Gospel.  It is always amazing to see the Lord bless us for giving our best efforts, even when it appears initially that those efforts aren’t working.

Teaching wise, we have finished going through the lessons with the White family and the next step is a baptismal interview he has this upcoming Tuesday.  We went through the questions with him and he is more than prepared to be baptized in a few short weeks.  It has been an amazing time getting to make such good friends with this family and help them towards this covenant.  The other part member family we are working with has ran into a few troubles regarding further medical and other issues, but we are still working with them and trying to help them see how the Atonement can bless their lives.

Saturday and Sunday were pretty normal, outside of talking to a guy who seemed a bit crazy.  I have to say, certain Oregonians have, well, interesting ideas about life, haha.  When we met him he wanted us to completely explain the book of Acts to him and wanted us to be his followers.  That’s not happening.  He did take a Book of Mormon and said he would read the whole thing though.  That night we also delivered thank you notes to a few different members who have fed us and helped us out.  And that brings us to today.  Later today we will be hiking up Spencer’s Butte near Eugene as a zone and doing normal p day things.

Sharing our pure testimonies of Christ is truly one of our greatest duties in life, and I challenge whomever reads this to take some time to ponder their testimony and to share it with someone else.  Thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

The tag picture

Zone Hike

Having Fun

What a View!!

Working 9 to 9

Hello Everyone!

My final transfer has arrived and it has begun with a bang.  To start, on Tuesday Elder Daugherty and I said our last goodbyes and went to the transfer spot.  From there I spent the day in a tripan with two other Elders waiting for their respective companions in an area that none of us belonged to.  It was a good time and we were able to help out an old lady whose knees gave out on her at a stop light we were crossing at, and have a lot of good spiritual discussions that day.  By the end of the day Elder Pace came into the area and we were able to meet with our ward mission leader and introduce him to our main investigators.

The next couple days consisted of teaching various investigators, fellowshipping important members for Elder Pace to know, and some contacting.  It was a very busy time and a nice change up for the area.  The next big event happened on Saturday though. 

Our mission participated in what we call a 9 to 9, where the entire mission went out and tracted from 9 am to 9 pm.  To begin, we had a mission fast on Friday and we got going on Saturday.  Every three hours or so we would switch companions as well as switch areas we were tracting.  In the end we found 15 new investigators in our area, 85 as a zone, and 521 as a mission.  We knocked on many doors, met some cool people, and it was a busy day. 

Sunday we had church but the big thing was Mother’s Day.  It was great to be able to call home and talk to my family!  Now I only have a couple of weeks, a baptism, and then the end will come.  But until then I will continue to work the best I can as well as share my testimony of Jesus Christ and His restored Gospel to all those I can share it to, because that is my greatest duty as a missionary.  Thank you for all that you do!

Elder Baxter

Goodbye to Elder Daugherty

Hello to Elder Pace

Families are Forever (even if they are miles away!)

Final Transfer of the Mission!

Hello Everyone,

This week was the final week of this transfer and I will now be moving on to the final transfer of the mission!  The beginning of the week was pretty normal all things considered.  The lessons with the two families mentioned are going well, though unfortunately one of the families had some more medical issues and we were unable to do a full lesson until this past Sunday.

The other family is progressing amazingly though!  This past week we got to discuss temples and family history work, as well as eternal marriage.  They are excited for the temple, and as a result the wife finally got work off for Sunday and they were both able to come and stay for all three hours of church.  Then later today we will be getting to do a family home evening with them, and they will be baptized on June 9th.  He has asked me to be the one to baptize him as well!  I can’t ask for much of a better way to close the mission.

Moving onto the transfer news, we found out on Saturday morning.  Elder Daugherty is leaving to the Veneta ward in the Eugene stake and I am getting Elder Pace.  I don’t know much about him, but I will be learning more tomorrow when I meet him.  The rest of the weekend was spent going to the various investigators and members we worked with so Elder Daugherty could have a chance to say goodbye.

And that brings me to now!  The zone is getting ready to do a zone bbq for p day and I am going to be moving to my final transfer.  I will continue to do my best and really try to work the area.  I know that the Gospel is true and as we do our best we will receive the help the Lord will bless us with.  Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Zone BBQ

A Fight Worth Going Through

Hello Everyone,

This week I had the chance to attend zone conference, continue to teach with various ups and downs, and have a generally normal missionary week here in the Santa Clara 6th ward.  For zone conference, the Eugene, Santa Clara, Springfield, and Corvallis zones were all able to attend at a nearby church building.  It was a good meeting and fun to be able to talk to the various missionaries I have seen around the OEM.  It’s interesting though, the closer I come to the end the fewer and fewer faces I recognize at these meetings, but it was great to be able to rejoin with those I have served with.  We also learned that for my last zone conference, Elder Echo Hawk who spoke at the last general conference will be touring the mission.

On Monday we had a surprise visit from one of the previous Elders I have served around quite a bit, Elder Henley.  He stopped by for the night due to him having to bring in his car from Coquille to receive Tiwi repairs.  It was nice to be able to compare notes with him and see how he and rest of the mission is doing.  Definitely a tender mercy.

Teaching wise, we have continued to teach and minister to the two part member families I have mentioned in the past.  We were able to discuss things such as the Priesthood and the various auxiliaries, have one of them attend a baptism another ward was having, and be able to create a plan to help the other family to overcome smoking.  It has been a slow process, but is a fight worth going through.

This week is the last week of the transfer and by Friday or Saturday we will have transfer news.  Serving in Santa Clara has been a very rewarding experience, especially as I have gotten to train Elder Daugherty and show him the ropes of missionary work.  I know that this Gospel is true and that as we rely on Christ we can receive strength and help through our trials.  The character of Christ is to turn outward and to invite others to come and learn of Him, and I know that as we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints do likewise miracles will follow.  Thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Chance To Teach

Hello Everyone!

This week saw a couple more miracles among the people we had the chance to teach.  To start, Elder Daugherty and I had the chance to finish up the commandments lesson with one of our main investigators.  Following the lesson we asked him about how he feels about baptism since the last time we discussed him doing so.  As a result he told us that now he feels like it is something that he can and needs to do, so we were able to put him on a baptismal date for tentatively May 19th, with the expectation that the date will change once he figures out various scheduling details.  Teaching him has been so natural and Spirit led, and it was an amazing feeling to see him progress up to this point.    The only problem now comes from him moving out of our area before the date to a nearby ward, but either way he will be baptized!

Another update I would like to give comes from the part member family that we are teaching.  They have a very young daughter that has a ton of energy.  Because of this, during a lesson we had it was very difficult to keep everyone’s attention and the Spirit was not as strong as it could have been.  At the end though the less active member father who had a recent surgery limped into the room and asked for a blessing to alleviate the pain.  Elder Daugherty anointed and I blessed.  At this point the children immediately became reverent and the Spirit filled the room.  Following the blessing he told me that the pain started to leave immediately.  It was very much a testimony building experience.  His entire family was also able to come to church this Sunday, as well as the investigator from the first story.

Outside of these events, I also had an exchange and interviews with President Orton.  While the mission is getting closer and closer to the end the work is moving forward in power and authority.  I know that this Gospel is true, and thank you everyone who has helped and supported me to allow these experiences to happen.

Elder Baxter

On Exchange

The Miracle To Watch

Hello Everyone,

This week we had several different miracles occur with some of our investigators.  The first one I will mention happened on Tuesday with one of our main investigators.  We went in planning to teach the Word of Wisdom, and up to this point our investigator had been really good at keeping his commitments.  As we talked about this commandment he quickly connected to it and said he would live it.  The part that was great to hear however was a story he told us.  When he first began meeting with us back in January he was apparently smoking and we didn’t know.  Over the course of meeting with us though he gave up that habit within the first month and lost all desire to smoke.  Over that time period the word of wisdom was never brought up once and when we taught about it he had no real understanding of what it even was.  The Spirit is clearly working with him.  Then later during the week he came to church for the first time surprising us, and is now seriously considering baptism.  I am excited to see where he continues to progress!

One other story I will mention comes from a part member family we are teaching whom are on date for baptism in May (fingers crossed!).  The member in the family is the father and he had to go in for a surgery this week.  We were able to help rally the ward around them and help them out with all that we could.  This resulted with at least their kids coming to church which has been one of our largest hurdles with them.  We also learned that the mom got an answer that the Book of Mormon is true, and were able to see the family truly start to progress.  It has been small and simple things that have led to these points with both of these families I just discussed, but the end result is true conversion and that is the miracle to watch.

Thanks for all of the support!
Elder Baxter

Out doing the work of the Lord

Walking the Area

Dragon!!

Lessons, Storms and Tracting

Hello Everyone,

This week was characterized by lessons, storms, and tracting.  On Tuesday we had a lesson with one of the part member families we have been teaching for a while.  We watched President Nelson’s Sunday morning talk on revelation and discussed it afterwards.  It was a great lesson that led to talking about how they want to be sealed and how he is close to deciding to be baptized.  It has been a long time coming, but it has been awesome watching the Spirit slowly work on their family.  Now we just need to get them to church!

In the end, we actually managed to get a lesson set up for every day of the week which is a huge improvement for this area.  We are doing our best to help people overcome challenges such as Sabbath day worship and the Word of Wisdom.  They are progressing line upon line, but seeing the small improvements over time has been a blessing.

The weather this week has been crazy.  Every other day has been a rain storm, and the other day is a nice sunny day.  On Saturday we even got a nice and strong 40-50 mph winds that made the rain fall sideways on us and knock over a few trees in the morning before we went on out.  It was a crazy time where we got absolutely drenched.  Reminds me of the Newport weather!

One final miracle I will mention happened on Sunday.  All week we had been trouble finding a new investigator.  As we went for one last tracting session we were both really hoping for a miracle.  The first few doors we knocked were not interested, but by the time we knocked our way around the street one last door opened right up to us and let us come in and share our message.  We were unable to get him to commit to a return appointment, but it was a tender mercy for sure.  The Lord does bless us, but it is always in his way and time.  Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Wild and Wet Weather

Easter and General Conference

Hello Everyone,

I hope that you all had a great Easter and General Conference weekend, I know that I did!  The bulk of this week was spent with lessons cancelling, and us going out and continuing to nail down our area book.  One miracle that occurred though was one of the first people I found in the area, who has been gone for a month, has come back.  We knocked on his door, but no one was home.  As we were going to leave his apartment though, he pulled straight up and came home.  We hadn’t knocked his door in weeks, and the timing of it all truly was a miracle.  We were able to teach him again Friday night and see him commit to watching conference this weekend.  And what a conference it was!

We spent conference on one of our tablets connected to WiFi, except for the Priesthood session and Sunday morning session which we spent with the same member family.  Overall though, this was a great final conference for the mission.  I could probably go on for a while about the various things I have learned, but one thing that is for sure is that President Nelson really is a prophet and as we follow him we will be blessed.  Stay close to the Spirit, seek for unity, and keep the commandments.

Thank you for all of the support!
Elder Baxter

Baxter Street

Easter Package from Home

Easter/April Fool's Day Breakfast

Waffles with ice cream toppings

A yummy April Fool's joke.

Make Every Moment Count

Hello Everyone,

Nothing too crazy happened following the temple trip this past week.  We had several lessons with two of our families who are making great progress towards coming to church, as well as living the word of wisdom.  Outside of that, most of our week was spent going out and trying to make contact with those whom have had previous contact with the missionaries.  It has been a slow process trying to meet everyone and gage their interest level, but it will pay off soon.

One story that came from this past week was that I was able to see one of my past companions, Elder Hoskins, again.  He goes home this week and he is one area over from me, so we decided to do dinner.  It was a cold and rainy bike ride but it was nice to be able to say gooddbye and realize how close to the end I really am.  One thing I know I am going to try to do is really make every moment count and go out and really do my best these last two transfers.

I know that this Gospel is true.  Joseph Smith was the prophet who restore the church, and that Jesus really is the Christ.  Through him we can be strengthened past trials and receive forgiveness from our sins.  And best of all, because of Christ we can access these blessings today, we do not need to wait for a future day but choose to repent and come to him today.  When we do so and keep his commandments, including baptism and the sacrament, we truly can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which blesses us with all of the necessary blessings to come back as well as be sanctified from our sins.  I know this is true.

Thank you for all of the support!
Elder Baxter

Goodbye to Elder Hoskins

Going Out and Doing Our Best

Roller Coaster Week

Hello Everyone!

This was a strange roller coaster kind of week.  To start, last Tuesday we had Zone Conference where all the missionaries were given Samsung Galaxy smartphones at the end.  They are replacing our old phones for now, but as new missionaries come in they will enter the field with smartphones rather than tablets until eventually all of the tablet users are gone and each individual missionary has a smartphone. 

Each night of the week we had a lesson, unfortunately Wednesday during a dinner appointment my illness hit again full force.  The way we got around that dilemma though was by having Elder Daugherty go out with one of the zone leaders to teach while the other stayed with me.  This ended up leading to an exchange with the zone leaders Thursday to Friday night.  I hear that the lessons went well though.

Saturday we had a great lesson with one of the families we are teaching and Sunday they came to church along with five other investigators!  We were excited, and it was was the most I think I have seen come to church that I can remember.  The best part is that a lot of them are very solid investigators.

Finally that leads to today.  This morning we had a temple trip up to the Portland temple.    It was nice being able to recharge this final week of the transfer and prepare for whatever may happen.  At any rate, thank you for all of the support and know that the Lord is blessing this area!

Elder Baxter

 New Smartphone

Portland Temple

House of the Lord

We Love to See the Temple

Sick Week

Hello Everyone,

The best way to describe this week is with the words "sick week".  There has been a cold that has been traveling around the different members of the Zone, and it finally hit us.  Following last p day we came back to the apartment and my companion was complaining that he felt weak and had a headache.  By the next morning he was out.  It basically led to me spending the day doing lots of studies and some cleaning around the apartment.  I have come to one conclusion though, being sick on a mission is absolutely no fun.

Wednesday he was feeling somewhat better, so we were able to go out and teach the family we put on date the previous week, as well as do as much work as we could without pushing it, but then Thursday happened.  The sickness came back in full force so we ended up taking a field trip to an urgent care, where they diagnosed him and then took it easy once again.  Friday following district meeting the cold started to hit me.  It didn't come quite as bad but it is still not fun.  Most of the symptoms were gone by Sunday however and we were able to go to church.  Now all I have is an annoying cough.

In all of this, a couple of good things did happen.  The first one being we got to go visit the Oregon Ducks stadium today as a zone.  That was a fun experience and it is definitely huge.  Then throughout the week one of the families we found kept texting us questions about the church and told us how their Book of Mormon reading was going.  That was a miracle and really proves to me their real intent.  This week we have Zone Conference, hopefully a complete recovery, and lots of lessons planned.

Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

The Missionary Zone

A Oregon Duck Fan?!?

Teaching Is Great!

Hello Everyone,

This week was a really good week out here in Eugene.  The first couple days were pretty normal missionary days, but on Thursday really good things started to occur.  As it turned out, that night we managed to get the day set up where we had three lessons back to back.  They were all good and I believe will help out our investigators.  The first and last ones mainly focused on the Book of Mormon, and the different ways answers may come.  Several of our investigators seem to be struggling with that point, so being able to back up and talk about that was great.  The second lesson was with a part member family that we have been working to set up a lesson with for awhile.  They have met with missionaries in the past, and explained to us their desire to be baptized and sealed as a family.  As a result we were able to put three people on date for baptism, now the trick will be helping them keep their commitments.

On Friday we had an exchange, then Saturday another miracle came.  A young family reached out to a few Sister missionaries down in California on a vacation, and as it turned out they live in our area. We got to go over and teach them the Restoration.  The questions they asked were all perfect, and they showed a lot of sincerity and real intent.  It was the kind of lesson that really helps build my faith that the Lord is preparing people to accept our message.  So I guess I can say that teaching has been pretty great here in Santa Clara 6th ward!

Sunday we had stake conference where a seventy came and spoke.  It was a good meeting and he had great things to say about the two great commandments.  Outside of that, nothing too crazy happened outside of interviews with President Orton.

This work really is in the Lord's hands, and I have learned that as long as we step outside with the intent to do our best, blessings do come.  Doors open that may have been closed before and the work will hasten.  Thank you for all of your support!

Elder Baxter

Signs of Spring

Happiness is teaching!

Officially Looks Like Winter

Hello Everyone,

This week was pretty similar to the previous week, but several miracles did happen from it.  First, it snowed!  It didn't last long whatsoever, but it was nice to see snow to go along with the cold that had hit the Eugene area, making it officially look like winter.  I heard stories of how it hit the coast as well and the city of Newport panicked and shut everything down for the day.  I have come to the conclusion that Oregonians don't know what to do around snow, haha.

Moving on to the important side of things, we had several lessons with a couple of our main investigators.  With one of them we managed to bring a priest.  It was a neat lesson where the priest was able to bear a powerful testimony about fasting and really enjoyed his experience.  I think we might have just convinced him to go on a mission in a year or two.

On Tuesday we had a great lesson with the part member family at the church.  In the end they committed to try to find ways to come to church.  Previous to this they have had work on Sunday's, and while it might take some time to pan out, they took a few large steps in their faith.

One last story came from Sunday.  We were out tracting but got a bunch of nasty denials.  Ultimately it didn't feel like the right thing for us to do, so we started to head in another direction to regroup.  As we went we heard someone cry out and were able to help an older woman who had fallen on the ground and was unable to move.  She left fairly quickly, but it felt like that we were definitely directed to help her out at that time and it was cool to be an answer to someone's prayer.

The work is progressing and thanks for the support!
Elder Baxter

Winter Weather

Snow Tag

Change of Plans

Hello Everyone,

The best way to describe this week is that it was the kind of week where the Lord looks at what we plan, and then takes it and gives us something completely different.  Going into the week, we had more or less set lesson every day of the week which is great for the area, but as time went on every single one of those lessons with the exception of one fell through.  But in most of those cases we were always led to someone who needed us more.  I will tell about about a couple of those stories.

One of those happened on Thursday.  We were going to have a lesson with a part member family we have been working to get a lesson with, but a half hour before the appointment they texted us to cancel due to the flu.  Unsure of what to do, we felt we needed to go back to a street that we had only half tracted earlier in the day due to time.  This time we started on the other half and went from house to house getting various kinds of rejections, until we reached the last house we didn't get to knock on earlier.  Right when that door opened the man warmed up to our message immediately.  While talking, it became evident to us that the Lord had been preparing him, and that the Lord maneuvered our plans so we would knocked at that house at the exact time we did, so we could catch him and introduce the Gospel to him.  We go back to his home tomorrow.

On Friday another story happened that was very similar.  We were to have a lesson with another new investigator who fell through on us.  We decided to look at our area book and contact a few former investigators nearby, which led to us finding a young mother.  Then on Saturday lessons fell through again, but this time we were prompted to visit the part member family from earlier and essentially get them all to start thinking about goals to reach baptism and ultimately being sealed in the temple.  They have a lot of work to do to get there and nothing is final, but it was great to be involved in these miracles.

Ultimately this is the Lord's work and not ours.  All God asks of us is to have a willing heart, step outside our door and do our best. When we do that, the Lord can take whatever plan we have made and change it to something that truly reflects His will.  Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Baptismal Witness

Hello Everyone,

This week I got to witness the first baptism of someone I have taught!  In the past, I got to Skype the various people following the baptism, but this time I had the privilege of getting to see the actual event.  What I learned overall though is that I am just happy that she made the decision to be baptized ultimately, and whether I am there or not doesn't make too much of a difference.  The baptism and confirmation occurred on Saturday, where we were the witnesses, in charge of the part of the program while they got dried off, and were able to be in the confirmation circle.  It was a good, spiritual event, that was very well attended, by their family as well as ward members.  I am very excited for them!

The rest of the week was spent doing much of the same.  One fun story came when I had my district leader give me a haircut.  Over the course of it he ended up having some trouble and probably messed up, but didn't tell me, haha.  Due to it, he had to change my hairstyle, basically changing my life.  On the plus side a lot of various people have complimented my hair, I just hope it was real and not being nice!

We got to teach a bunch of various lessons this week, that went very well.  Teaching the part member family is going very well, though their progress is slow.  We have also had some small other updates on others we are hoping to more fully teach soon.  It is a slow grind, but when it gets going it will be great!

Now I am entering another transfer.  I am staying with my companion, finishing up his training.  We also have a temple trip this transfer sometime in March.  Training has been fun and the mission is awesome.  As I come another step closer to the end, I hope to endure to the end well and truly invite all to come closer to Christ.

Thanks for all of the support!
Elder Baxter

Baptism Day

Valentine package from home

Loving the castle entrance to this home

Everyday Adventures

Hello Everyone,

To start off the week we had Zone Conference, where they focused on the importance of the "Book of Mormon," as well as more training on how to do online proselyting.  It was a great meeting as usual, and at the end we got to have some time to talk to other missionaries and past companions which was great as well.  Unfortunately, the meeting went long which caused us to miss a lesson we worked hard to set up.  When we got back we raced on our bikes to at least apologize for not meeting with them and barely met them before they left for dinner.  All is well though and they completely understand.

Wednesday we had another exchange to help out our district leader, followed up with a lesson with Haley our on date.  We finished up teaching her the commandments in a lesson, as well as prepared her for her baptism interview.  Fast forward to Saturday, she successfully passed her interview and is ready to be baptized his coming Saturday! Haley and her family are awesome and it is easy to tell that their faith is stronger now than it was before the lessons.

We also had several other great lessons, including one with a family named the Whites.  We got to bring a member who worked at the MTC and they really hit it off, which was followed up with a great Restoration lesson, where they showed great sincerity and great questions.  The Spirit was so strong, making it a great lesson.  We also got to teach a different inactive member again and teach about the Sacrament.  Through the lesson it was easy seeing the Gospel click for him in many ways.

Overall, teaching is great and everyday is an adventure.  As I go around on my bike to appointments, I am very thank for the opportunity I have to be out here and all those who made it possible.  Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Not something Carlton sees much of!

Look a street with my name!

Playing my favorite game, Memoir '44