True Help

Hello Everyone,

This past week was Mother's Day as well as had plenty of teaching opportunities.  To start, the past week we managed to find a few more solid people we can teach, including an older couples as well as various people a little older than us.  We got to introduce the Book of Mormon to them and teach the importance of the first vision in various lessons that the Spirit was definitely present.  Among those, we also got to teach an older Catholic lady following doing service for her, and then got to commit someone named Mario to baptism.  He was having a rough time with a move and asked us for help.  We were able to then really help him by teaching him the Gospel and how he can be truly helped.  While he is moving outside the area though, it was a privilege to get to be the one to teach him that day.

Outside of that, we also did quite a bit of service this past week from helping the Catholic lady, to a move, to service at a food bank. We also had interviews with our mission president on Monday which were nice, and then of course had the Skype call on Sunday.  Overall, it was a humbling week from getting to see the various situations so many people are in as well as how the Gospel helps them all.

Thanks for all of the support!
Elder Baxter

Sunny Days

Mother's Day Skyping

Mission Life

Hello Everyone,

This past week was a little bit of a tougher week.  Due to an upcoming Zone Conference in Coos Bay, we have to save up our miles for the car, which has meant a lot of walking.  Our feet hurt a little bit, but that is mission life.  To start off, we had three great lessons with Philip, Jackie, and a new investigator named Bradly, who came to church on his own after a member invited him.  They are all very different people, and in the end it is amazing how the same Gospel promises to bless everyone's life.  It is awesome to see, and as we continue to meet with them I look forward to seeing how they progress.

Finding this week has been tougher.  None of our Tracting has gone well, and the formers we have visited have not been all that interested.  We will keep on going though, and I am sure that blessings are coming for enduring to the end.  One fun thing that happened though was an exchange where the South Umpqua Elder's came on up to Winston.  It was a fun day to continue to get to know other missionaries and to be able to share my testimony with them.

This upcoming week is looking to be another average week in missionary work with the exception that it will end with Mother's Day.  Thank you for all the support!

Elder Baxter

Carlton with the river behind him

Part of the Work

Hello Everyone,

This past week has been a great week for teaching lessons and helping the people we teach feel the Spirit.  To start off on the finding front, this week we have had several miracles.  We got into a couple of part member homes from randomly knocking on their doors and they let us in.  Each time only the member was there, but we managed to set up future lessons where the whole family could come and listen.  Beyond that, there was also a young man who came to church that invited himself over and has several friends in the ward that we are now teaching.  The miracles have been coming as we have put in the faith and it is great to see.

Another fun event that occurred was a movie night our ward put on which all the missionaries in the zone helped out with.  The ward put on Meet the Mormons, and the missionaries were able to blitz Winston as well as invite our investigators on over to see.  In the end we had several investigators attend as well as several less active ward members.  It was a fun event that really allowed the ward to work with the missionaries and it was a nice change of pace.

On the teaching front we also had several great lessons.  First of all, we got to teach a man named Philip.  The Spirit was very strong and we were able to really discuss the importance of baptism among a series of other subjects.  In the end he said that he will pray to find out if he should be baptized and he came to church this past Sunday.  We also got to teach several other lessons to various people from all walks of life.  It was a great week as far as teaching goes and in each lesson the Spirit was definitely felt and was the true teacher.

The work promises to move on here in Winston, and despite whatever may happen, God's hand leads the way.  It is amazing to get to be part of this work and I look forward to seeing further miracles happen in the upcoming week.  Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Looking Ahead

About to Take Off

Hello everyone, this past week was a busy week.  We have been mostly focusing on doing less active work, which led to a bunch of lessons with various members of the ward.  Many of the families were nice and want to come back, but have trouble keeping commitments, so that is where we are starting as far as teaching goes.  This was also my first week with Elder Kellerstrass again.  We have been doing a lot of catch up since we last saw each other in the MTC.

We had our second real lesson with the youth pastor as well.  This time we got to go completely through the Restoration with him, and he seemed to be at least accepting of what we believe, even with our claim to be the one and only true church.  It was a great lesson, but we are not too sure where he will go from here.  We also got to do missionary work in the outskirts of our area.  We didn't see a whole lot of success, but we did see a lot of trees and no trespassing signs.  I guess the people out there don't think that the missionaries will ever visit them, but the ones we could, we did.

Outside of those, we also had stake conference this week as well.  It was fun to get together with the stake and zone in Roseburg and watch an adult session and general session that was basically centered around the stake presidency trying to simply teach the Plan of Salvation on a very basic level, so that new members as well as investigators could understand.  Finally, we as a zone got to take a hike to a nearby waterfall.  It was a fun time and the waterfall was pretty great.  That was my week in a nutshell!  Overall, it feels like work in the Winston area is about to take off and as we rely on the Lord all things will be possible.

Thanks for all of the support,
Elder Baxter

Carlton at the Waterfall

Zone Picture

Wet Elders

Elder Baxter was here

Worth the hike

A Message Worth Sharing

Hello Everyone,

This week was a really good week to end off the transfer and my time with Elder Ellinghaus.  To start, on Tuesday we got to teach a couple of great lessons to an investigator named Philip as well as a less active family named the Cahoon's.  We taught about how the Book of Mormon can answer any of the questions we may have, as well as about the commandments.  We also had the chance to lead a Book of Mormon class the ward holds every Tuesday, which was a fun time.

Wednesday was mainly focused on Zone Conference where we learned about various topics ranging from chastity to our missionary purpose.  It was a great meeting where the Spirit was definitely present and we got to continue to learn about the Gospel and the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which is the greatest motivator I have found in participating in this work.  We then got to find another less active family following the meeting who would love to have us over again.

Thursday and Friday were spent doing Tracting, and a lot of it.  The zone was doing a competition to find out what companionship could show the Prince of Peace initiative the most, so Elder Terry, our district leader, had us spend a day doing pure Tracting in Myrtle Creek, and another in Winston.  Ultimately we gave all our points to the other Elders and allowed them to beat out the zone, as well as find many new people to teach for everyone.  We then got to go and teach a great lesson about repentance to another investigator named Nora.

Finally transfer calls came and I am staying in Winston while Elder Ellinghaus is going on down to work in Spanish again in Central Point.  My new companion is Elder Kellerstrauss who was actually my MTC companion.  It should be a fun upcoming transfer and miracles are starting to come into place, and my time with Elder Ellinghaus has been great for learning how to work with members.  Most of all, however, learning further about Jesus Christ and his Atonement has been great.  Because of what he did, not only do we have the chance to repent, but we have the ability to be strengthened past any mortal challenge because of the grace of Christ.  That is a message worth sharing.  Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Beautiful Oregon

Zone Conference

Easter Box

Working Together

New Companion 

He Is The Light Of The World

Hello Everyone,

This week was another fairly normal week with a few great things that occurred.  To start off, I got to go on exchange with the other Elders in my district down to an outlying area named South Umpqua on Friday.  While there, we had a fun time as well as getting to teach several people, including a less active member who committed to come to church this coming Sunday.  Here's hoping that he follows through!  We also had a great zone training meeting about how to do effective studies that helped us gain a prompting of how to teach the next lesson with our preacher investigator, and see a mission farewell talk for a member in our ward.

On the teaching front, we also had a miracle occur with one of our investigators named Nora.  A while back she was on date for baptism, but due to various scenarios we were unable to physically meet with for about a month.  On Sunday we randomly dropped by and managed to teach a great lesson about the importance of the Book of Mormon, as well as get two more solid return appointments.  It has taken a lot of work and patience, but we are excited to see her progress in the Gospel again.

I would like to end this post by bearing my testimony on Jesus Christ and his Atonement.  Because of what He did for us all those years ago, we have the ability to repent and have a hope of an amazing future.  He has the ability to comfort us when we stand in need of comfort, and be the friend we need when we are lonely.  He is the light of the world and it is our duty to share the light we have seen with others.  To truly love Christ is to truly love and serve our neighbors, as well as follow His commandments.  Jesus is the Christ, and this church is His church with restored Priesthood authority.  And if all the world were to revile against it, if we build on His rock we can never fall.

Thank you for all of the support,
Elder Baxter

Hello Everyone,

This letter will be a little shorter, but in short it has been a good week, and especially a good weekend with conference.  On Thursday and Friday we had the chance to go and help out various home teachers with teaching less active families as well as part member families.  It has been good, and the more visits we do, the more I have seen the excitement for missionary work increase.  It has been good seeing people realize that home teaching, in its basic form, is missionary work.

General Conference has also been really good.  We had various technical difficulties that caused us to come on a couple of the sessions a little late, but the talks were great.  Unfortunately none of our investigators showed up for conference, but I know that I learned a lot and loved the talk about walking with God from President Eyring in the Priesthood session.  It was a great time and I learned a lot from the Spirit.

Teaching wise we got to set up a couple lessons, including one with a youth preacher.  It should be an interesting time, but for the most part all of the investigators seem really interested in just learning what we believe, including the preacher.

I hope that everyone reading this learned a lot from conference as well and thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Up close with a cheetah 

He got to go to the Wildlife Safari again.