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