Beautiful Bandon

Hello Everyone!

This past week was my first full week out on the coast in Bandon. Following P Day, we went out to the beach and got to see how beautiful the Oregon coast is.  Our apartment is only two or three miles away, so going there is a pretty common for trying to talk to tourists and other people on the beach. Other nice parts of this area include a branch that seems missionary minded, as well as getting to work with the senior missionary couple named the Woolley's.

Through out the week we have done quite a bit of service, ranging from packaging frozen dinners for people in need, serving dinner to older people, helping someone move in, and putting a huge amount of movies on shelves in alphabetical order in a library.  Most of these happened at a local community center not too far from the apartment.

Teaching wise, the past week has mostly consisted of coming in contact with people and setting up future appointments.  Many of the people we teach live far out of Bandon in the middle of a forest, so driving out to them has been interesting.  We taught one woman though this past week who was super nice and came to church this past week.  She has a lot going for her and I look forward to seeing how it all goes down in the future.

Overall, the week has gone very fast and Bandon is looking to be a fun place.  Next week I have my final Zone Conference with President Russell, as well as stake conference and final interview with President Russell.  Time is flying when we are engaged in the Lord's work and the Spirit is the true teacher.  Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Carlton with his new companion, Elder Bushman

The name tag shot

Beautiful!!!

A bit windy but so worthwhile

Ocean sun

 

Seals on the rocks

Another name tag picture

Cool rock formations

Off to Serve in Bandon

Hello everyone!  This week marked off my last week of being in the Winston ward in the Roseburg stake.  I am currently off to serve in Bandon, which is a small costal town in the Coos Bay stake, and my companion is Elder Bushman.  Due to Bandon being on the coast, I am excited to get to see the ocean for the second time in my life, as well as enjoy cooler temperatures than what I was experiencing in Winston.  Elder Bushman is also the first zone leader I had when I entered the mission, and is a missionary I seem to keep running into each time I transfer.  This will be his final transfer before going home, and it should be fun seeing how the upcoming weeks unfold!

To start off with this past week though, on Tuesday we had a great lesson with Philip, where we taught the word of wisdom.  He readily accepted it and got rid of his coffee pot after we left.  He is doing awesome and should make it to his baptism this upcoming transfer.  When he does, I will have the privilege of getting to Skype in.  The rest of the day was spent contacting, teaching a lesson to an investigator who is moving out, and watching "Seventeen Miracles" for a special event in our Book of Mormon class.  In the middle of it all, our Chevy Cruz's battery died due to a Tiwi malfunction, and we had to jump start our car with the help of a member.

On Wednesday, the biggest event was the ward inviting us missionaries to help teach in a mutual mission night, where the youth went from one room to another hearing mission stories and learning what it meant to be a missionary.  In our station we decided to get the youth teaching, so we taught them our missionary purpose and had them role playing giving us a Book of Mormon from Tracting or street contacting.  It was fun to watch them honestly struggle, but have a good time doing it, and in the end, our room was the only one we heard the youth talking about when we finished up.  Score one for the missionaries!

The rest of the week was spent doing average missionary work, including a lot of walking.  Friday morning was when we got our transfer calls, which was followed up with me giving my final district meeting for a little while.  The rest of the week was spent saying good byes, dealing with car troubles (the battery died a second time Sunday morning and we had to get the tires switched), and more teaching and walking.  It has been an honor to serve in Winston, and while here I have learned so much about conversion, how wards and stakes operate, charity for all those we have been blessed to teach, and a deeper testimony.  The people here are amazing, and I hope to be able to continue to grow as a missionary in Bandon.  Until then, thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Loving the river.  Now onto the ocean!

Saying Goodbye

Great Things Are Happening

Hello Everyone,

This past week was a really great week work wise.  To start, on Tuesday morning we had a lesson with Philip where we discussed the importance of confirmation and how it completes baptism.  Philip then agreed to baptism this coming June!  The Spirit was felt and it was a good lesson.  As we continued on into the day, we were able to then contact other various people and have a Book of Mormon class in the evening.

Wednesday was spent doing long drives to a coastal town named Coos Bay for Zone Conference.  It was a great meeting and it definitely felt cooler on the coast than the hot weather we have been experiencing in the Roseburg zone.  Following the conference, my district got to do dinner at a nearby truck stop which capped off the day.

The rest of the week was a blur.  I got to go on down to Myrtle Creek for a district blitz in their area.  I got to meet some of their investigators, as well as get to know Elder Hallam more, which was nice. The rest of the week was then spent doing a lot more of our normal missionary work, as well as having four investigators come to church, which was a miracle.

Great things are happening, and as I enter the last week of the transfer and will probably get transferred out, I can say it has been a great time in Winston, and despite what happens for transfers, I have seen the Lord's hand here.  Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Roseburg Zone

Lunch aka picture taking time at Zone Conference

A Great Time

Hello Everyone,

Following the p day at the end of last Tuesday, the week really flew by with a bunch of random events that occurred, that made the week feel a bit different.  To start, on Tuesday night we watched the Restoration movie at the church.  Unfortunately none of our investigators came, but we did get to show it to a couple of recent converts which was fun.  On Wednesday morning we had a special service at the veteran affairs in Roseburg.  It was a 2k race where we pushed old vets in wheelchairs for the two miles.  It was fun to listen to their stories of serving in various wars like World War Two and the Korean War.  Other things that happened service wise included helping an old couple recovering from back surgery wash their car and plant various plants in their garden.

We also had some good lessons as well.  We met with an investigator named Bradly and discussed the first half of the Plan of Salvation with him.  Every time we meet with him we can see the Spirit working on him, and more and more clicking with him.  We also got to meet Philip again and have a great lesson about prayer, and see both Bradly and Philip come to church.  Beyond that we met with many various people and got to set up some good lessons for this week.  We also hope to meet with Mario again in the near future as well and officially put him on date for baptism.

Transfers are coming in two weeks and I get the feeling I will leave Winston.  If I do or not though, I can say I feel like I really was able to invite people to come to Christ through the Gospel.  It is amazing to get to be apart of this great work and to really serve people in the best way possible through sharing that Gospel.  There are very solid people we are teaching now, and more are on the way.  It has been a great time out here.

Thanks for all of the support!
Elder Baxter

With Elder Kellerstrauss

A picture that was sent to Mom's phone by a member.

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