Fun Events

Hello Everyone,

This past week has had several fun events as well as lessons.  We got to teach a couple lessons to an investigator named Philip.  The Spirit was felt during the lessons and while teaching him we have seen small changes starting to occur.  We mainly focused on teaching the Restoration, but he is starting to understand the need for developing a personal relationship with God and we are excited to see where the lessons go from here.  A light is slowly entering his eyes.

Another event that occurred this week was on Saturday.  Our mission president was holding a new missionary leadership training in our ward, and part of it involved him sending out all of the new district, zone, and sister training leaders out to tract our area.  Due to it, we got about five new investigators in an hour, and were able to see miracles occur.

The final two events that happened occurred this week.  On Monday we had interviews which were a great time to get to talk to President Russell again, and today we got to go to the Medford temple.  The temple trip was amazing and I learned a lot from the Spirit.  The Lord is definitely behind this work, and as we move forward in faith we will have the ability to truly be an effective instrument in the Lord's hands.  Next up is General Conference which is going to be a great way to end a spiritually enlightening week by listening to the testimonies of Apostles and Prophets.  Make sure to go out and invite someone you know to listen to at least one of the sessions, and thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

At The Medford Temple

Joy in the Work

This was the first week of my seventh transfer on the mission!  Elder Ellinghaus and I started off the week with meeting an investigator who had a bunch of questions that ended up covering the entirety of the restoration and Plan of Salvation lessons, which was fun to teach.  She says that she is also praying and reading from the Book of Mormon, so we have high hopes for the future.

Most of the week was spent working with members to find referrals to visit, or houses to knock around their homes.  It has been very different from how I am used to do missionary work, but it has been a good change.  We hope to be able to find more sincere investigators through members, and currently we have quite a few referrals to hunt down.

Outside of that Elder Ellinghaus and I had a surprise trip to Eugene on an errand for the mission president.  Also our district got to go to a wildlife safari earlier today.  The safari was fun in that we got to see a bunch of various animals from around the world and was able to find a less active member there who wouldn't mind us visiting at some point!  The lesson I learned this week is that the Lord works in mysterious ways to do his work, and as we choose to submit our will to his, we can have greater joy in the work.

Next week the blog email will be later in the week than usual due to our p-day being changed because of a temple trip, but until then, thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

At the wildlife safari

Still fun even with the rain

I'm watching you!

The birds like the wet weather

A present for my littlest brother

Hanging around

Ready To Go All Out

Hello everyone,

This week was the final week of the transfer.  The week began by going and visiting a few of the people we set up return appointments with.  We got to teach a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation as well as the restoration with a couple of people who are very interested.  We are excited to see where teaching them goes from here.

Outside of that, the week has gone fairly standard.  We ended up updating our area book quite a bit and really trying to narrow down who was actually interested in taking the lessons for next transfer.  On Friday we had a zone training meeting, where we learned about the restoration and saw a new video of the first vision.  The day ended with getting our transfer calls where I learned that Elder Smith was leaving and I was getting Elder Ellinghaus, who I had gotten to interact a lot with when I was in Central Point.

Saturday and Sunday was spent doing a lot of packing, as well as Elder Smith saying goodbyes to various members and people.  I am now entering my seventh transfer and it is an exciting time on the mission.  Elder Ellinghaus and I are ready to go all out this transfer and we are excited to see what comes.  Until next week, thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Elder Ellinghaus and Elder Baxter

A Great Feeling

Hello Everyone,

This past week has been a fun week full of miracles.  Going into the week we thought that we were going to be dropping a lot of investigators who never answered when we knocked, but this time we got an answer.  We managed to set up many return appointments for the next week which will determine how interested they really are, but things are starting to progress which is a great feeling.

On Thursday we had zone conference.  It was about the Holy Ghost as well as having faith in Jesus Christ.  It was a great meeting where I got a bunch of good insights as well as getting to see my former companion, Elder Hoskins, who is now a zone leader.  Following the meeting we had a dinner with the district and finished out the day.

On Friday we went on exchange.  I was with Elder Terry who came out with me while my companion was with an older missionary named Elder Hallam.  We found several new investigators as well as less active members.  It was a fun exchange that ended with a ward correlation.

It was a pretty good week that is leading into the final week of the transfer.  Hopefully it all ends well and there will be a lot I can report on next week.  Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

zone conference 

Roseburg Zone

Best District in the Zone

Hello Everyone,

This week was a pretty normal week but there were a few different things that happen.  To start, my district finally arrived to Roseburg, so I am no longer the district leader without a district.  Due to medical problems, they were not able to come until now, but they are awesome missionaries.  We got to introduce them to the zone on Monday and have a good district meeting about humility on Friday.  I think that we have the best district in the zone in my opinion.

Outside of that, the largest things were finding a couple of awesome people through Tracting who want to read the Book of Mormon as well as having to give a last minute talk about Sabbath Day Observance for Sunday.  The talk turned out well and it was good.  Beyond that, it was a pretty normal week and there isn't a whole lot else to say.

The work is moving forward and is definitely the work of the Lord.  I feel blessed to be apart of it and I look forward to seeing how the final third of the transfer plays out.  Thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Showing off his Valentine tie [mom note:  still don't know how to rotate pictures]

Tiger

Grateful

Hello Everyone,

This was another average week of missionary work.  We have done a lot more tracting as well as trying to reach out to less active members. To start off, we got to do service at a food bank where we helped store various food items and helped deliver the food to the vehicles of those who ordered them. Following that we got to meet with several less active members, who were very nice. Winston is a retirement community so we have a lot of  members who can't come to church due to medical reasons, but it is still great to visit them.  Towards the end of the week we met with a less active member who just had a family member pass away.  We managed to share a message that really helped her as well as motivate her to come back to God.

We also got to meet with our on date investigators.  We talked to Nora about church, as well as just get to know her better, and we got to meet with Rennie.  When we came over to visit Rennie we found that her sister was just recently sent to the hospital in a coma and Rennie was very distressed. We offered to give her a priesthood blessing and  immediately after the blessing she got a phone call saying that her sister had woken up.  She was super grateful to God and it was awesome to see.

The end of the week ended on a more depressing note.  We got a call from my last companion who is still in Oakridge.  He told me that Chuck, who I got to know fairly well and was wanting to be baptized, had passed away.  It was sad, but the Plan of Salvation is great and really does remove most of the sting.  We are now entering a new week though and who knows what may happen.

Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Valentine package from home [Carlton's Mom:  Sorry I don't know how to rotate the pictures.]

Panoramic view 

Help Trough Faith

Hello Everyone,

This week the work has started to pick up here in Winston and Green. Elder Smith and I redoubled our efforts in tracting and contacting our investigators, as well as started to try to reach out to the ward more for referrals and help in the work.  Rather than go through day by day I will share a couple experiences.

First, on Tuesday as we were tracting a series of homes on a steep hill, we ran into one lady who was a former.  She was very nice and really seemed different from the rest of the doors we  had knocked on. She has had a deep history with church members already and really wants to learn, despite a move that will soon take place and the demand of her kids who have special needs.  We will not teach her long, but she was the one we found while tracting and it was a miracle.

The following Thursday we got to teach Rennie who is battling word of wisdom problems, as well as faith in tithing.  While talking, however, she told us that she can not leave the light she has already found and she came to church Sunday despite her own doubts.  Faith has the ability to really help anyone past any concern, if they have a desire to believe.  The largest event to happen though was when we taught a different lady on Friday.  She is practically a "dry Mormon" and has many friends and family who are already part of the church.  Over the course of the lesson she accepted the invitation to baptism in April and was excited to have a baptism that would "last through eternity".  She is awesome and I look forward to seeing what happens.

Thank you for all of the support and happy Valentines Day!
Elder Baxter

Elder Baxter in Winston

Look out Winston here comes Elder Baxter!