Doing The Small Things

Hello everyone,

This week was another good week of missionary work out here in Bandon.  Overall, a lot has been the same kind of thing, as we go out and try to contact various people, as well as tract.  To start, on Wednesday evening, we were going out trying to have lessons and visit a few people, but over the course of the evening every door closed literally and figuratively until all we had left was a small street we thought we would try to tract.  As we drove down the street I felt prompted to start on a specific side, and it turned out that the very first door opened and was willing to talk.  We met a man who was sincerely looking for a religion that would fulfill his spiritual needs better than the one he was attending, and as we talked we gave him an interest and hope in ours, saying that he didn't believe it was a coincidence that we came when we did.  He still needs to get a go ahead with his wife before he lets us come over, but if all works this man will be taught very soon.  It was an amazing experience.

We also met with various less active members this week that Elder Pierce was able to connect with very well due to his military background.  We have met several Vietnam veterans, including a guy from the 101st Airborne Division for those history buffs out there.  Not all of them accepted, but there are now several families that want us to come by, have dinner, and teach them when they can make their schedules align.  It should be a good when the time comes.  We are trying hard to do this in order to help our branch president in his goal to get ten Melchizedek Priesthood holders reactivated in order to get closer to having this branch become a ward.  Our approach has been mainly focused on showing how doing the small things allows us to truly live the two great commandments, thus making God a larger role in their life.

It has been a good week and the coming week is looking promising as well.  Interviews with President Orton are coming, as well as an exchange with the Zone Leaders on Friday.  Miracles are happening and the work is moving forward.  Thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

At the Beach

With the Bandon Lighthouse

Miracle

Hello everyone,

I would describe this past week with the word "miracle".  With all that has been happening at home which I am sure many of you have heard about, it has been amazing to see the Lord's tender mercies come in many various forms.  I am also now with Elder Pierce who is a great missionary and we have been having a great time so far.  Rather than go through the whole week I will describe just a couple of experiences.

On Thursday following dinner I felt impressed to go down a specific road to visit a potential investigator family.  On the way a man in a truck stopped and asked if we wanted a ride.  We didn't but we did get to talk.  The Spirit worked on him to tell us that he was actually an inactive member and explained his whole story about how he felt forced into the church.  This led to us being able to share a powerful testimony about how now he has the chance to choose for himself to join the church, and he can do that by reading the Book of Mormon.  In the end he said that he didn't know why he felt prompted to stop, but that we gave him the best reason he has yet been offered to read the Book of Mormon.  He then accepted a copy, had us sign and put our emails into it, and then promised in a sincere way that he will read it.  He is a tourist and we won't see him again in all probability, but it was an amazing experience.

Another experience like this happened again on Sunday.  It was very windy and our moral was fairly low, but we went out anyway not knowing quite sure of what we were going to do.  We ran into a couple near the church whose car had died on them. At first they acted weird towards us, but over time they softened up, talked about how they always loved the people they see in our church, found ways we connected to them personally, and said that they want a church that expects people to actually change and repent.  I think that we can answer that request. In the end they made us promise to drop by their home this upcoming week and we are super excited to go on over.

These kind of experiences are just a taste of what true missionary work is like.  Often times the Lord will put people in our way who are ready, we just need the faith to go out and work.  As long as we rely on the Lord and not our own wisdom, new paths open up and the work of the Lord progresses, not just for others but for ourselves as well. This is why it is important to always fulfill your callings,
especially home teaching.  In the end it all leads to the same source and that source is what grants to us Salvation.  Thank you for all of the support and love,

Elder Baxter

With Elder Pierce

Circles in the Sand

Simple Teaching Moments

Hello everyone,

This email will be a little shorter due to how transfers went today, but the past week has been good. The real highlights of the week came from simple teaching moments.  To start, on Wednesday we taught a young mom with her kids listening in from a different room.  When we first entered the house, our initial thoughts were that this wasn't going to go well, but over the course of teaching the Spirit really worked on her.  It was amazing to us to as the Spirit also showed us what Heavenly Father thought of them as well.  By the end they accepted a soft baptism invite and it was awesome to see.

We also taught several other people as well.  The focus ended up being the Restoration as well as baptism.  It is truly a blessing to see how the Gospel can influence everyone for good, regardless of who they are.  I will go into a little more detail next week.

Today was transfers and I am staying in Bandon.  My new companion is Elder Pierce and I had to go on into Roseburg to pick him up which is why I am out of time.  It should be a good week and thank you for all for the support!

Elder Baxter

Mission Adventures

Hello everyone,

It was a busy week the past week.  To start, Tuesday was chaotic across the city of Bandon for the Fourth of July.  Everyone who lives here left, and everyone else from Oregon came here, making for large crowds of tourists passing through the town.  The morning started with attempting to talk to people at a parade, but we came twenty minutes late and it lasted for only fifteen minutes, so we completely missed it.  While we were there though, we came across the bishop of one of Elder Bushman's old wards.  He invited us over for dinner and gave a couple referrals which was awesome. Continuing through the day we ended up walking through most of the city of Bandon meeting various members from around the state as well as from Utah.  We then had two lessons with recent converts, and then ended up having two BBQ dinners.  Life is very interesting food wise as a missionary I have to say!  That night we then watched the fireworks from our apartment.

On Wednesday we had an exchange with the zone leaders.  I was with Elder Terry who has been in my previous zones, and we had an interesting experience.  We decided to go tracting, and the very first door we knocked on we talked to a guy who went from "not interested" to "I guess I would have to read that book of yours," while talking to him.  He then asked us to help him with a project where we would help him put up a fence.  We said yes, but did not realize how big the project was.  We came to the spot and it turned out he was splitting apart full tree trunks for the posts, and was using hydraulic machinery to dig holes and move the trunks around.  We helped out the best we could and in the end he said that he had massive respect for us.  It was a cool, but unusual door we knocked on for sure.  After that we switched back to our normal companions again for a hour.  While the zone leaders were doing their thing, my companion was driving and ended up accidentally cutting someone off.  That resulted into a chase where the guy pursued us for a couple miles around empty city streets until we finally lost him.  Wednesday definitely had a few adventures.

Thursday we got to meet President Orton.  We ended up doing a question and answer kind of meeting just getting to know him, and then had mini interviews following that.  He is a very nice man who is pretty calm. I support him as my mission president and I look forward to seeing what happens.  The rest of the day was pretty normal.  On Friday though we got to go out and do an emergency service project for a widow in the branch.  She was moving next door and the branch desperately needed more help.  Over the course of the next few days up until this morning we went on over and helped bring over her stuff, and she had a lot of it.

Finally on Sunday I got to give a talk in church about John 11-15.  Nancy, our main investigator, came.  At the end of sacrament she said that she was going to make sure that she comes to every church meeting on Sunday from this point forth.  That was a pretty cool experience to see the Spirit work on her like that.  She mentioned hard things have been happening ever since she started to talk to us which means that this must be one powerful church to get the devil that angry.  Finally, he rest of the day we went out and found a couple new people to teach and finished the day strong until Elder Bushman accidentally broke his iPad screen at a dinner appointment.

Thanks for all the support everyone and know that the work is moving out here!  I know that as we open our mouths we will be able to say the things that will help others come to Christ and that is our biggest duty as members.

Elder Baxter

Tag Sandcastle 

Fun in the sand

Small and Simple Things

Hello everyone,

This week was another average week of missionary work.  The main highlights included a lot of service in various places, as well as a few great lessons and an exchange.  To start on the service side of things, the senior couple, the Woolley's, were gone for a funeral most of the week, so us missionaries got drafted into all of the projects they signed up for.  This included packaging frozen dinners at a local food place in the community center, digging large holes and transporting plants for an older lady moving next door, and serving people lunch.  The service took a while, but people definitely are seeing the missionaries helping the community which will ultimately cause them to trust us more.  The work should go back to normal next week, and we did still have plenty of time to knock doors this last week as well.

The exchange that happened took place in a nearby town called Coquille, with my district leader Elder Finlinson as well as his companion Elder Wikan.  It was a fun time and we contacted quite a few people and invited several less active members to come back to church. Coquille is a very hilly town that involved a lot of tiring walking. Towards the end of the exchange we then ran into some members who we knew from Medford that were coming through.  On the note of random people stopping by, since Bandon is such a huge tourist town we have come across many members from Utah stopping by, as well as a member of the mission presidency, President Cropper, coming to church while at a family reunion.  Bandon is the place Oregon comes to for vacations.

Finally we had a couple great lessons.  One was with a woman named Nancy where we talked about the Restoration.  The discussion turned to her talking about how she sees a light and difference between members of our church and others, and how she wants that for herself and her family.  She hasn't committed to baptism yet, but as time goes on and she learns more I believe she will definitely make it.  We also talked to several less active members, and taught about the importance of faith to others.  It has been great seeing the Gospel of Jesus Christ bless others, even if it is only in small ways at first.  Through small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

Thank you for all of the support and have a great Fourth of July!

Elder Baxter

From last week's zone activity

Out of the Norm

Hello everyone,

This week was a pretty average week for me.  Throughout the week we did our usual service projects along with a lot of contacting and tracting.  Due to it being summer, there are a lot of tourists here and a lot of the people who normally live here are gone on summer break, making it tougher to find new people to teach.  We did find a couple new people though, and I know that as we continue to work the Lord will bless us as we keep moving forward in faith.

There were a couple things that happened though that were out of the norm.  To start, on Tuesday evening to Wednesday evening, my companion Elder Bushman went to his end of mission temple trip in Portland.  While he was gone I was with another Chinese missionary named Elder Huang.  He is from Taiwan, and while talking we found that we both came from similar families which was fun.  Chinese speaking missionaries usually work in the YSA wards in Eugene and Corvallis, but President placed him on the coast to have an English transfer or two.  It was a fun time.

After that, on Thursday we learned that one of our investigators had someone close to them pass away, so the Woolley's, our senior missionary companionship, bought us a rose to drop off for her.  It helped a lot, and now she is calling us her "favorite people".  On Friday night another interesting event happened.  We went over to another investigator's home to drop him for never letting us teach him, but this time he let us in.  One thing led to another and at the end he was on date for baptism!  The Lord works in mysterious ways.

One final story that happened occurred on Saturday.  As we were walking around town a car pulled up next to us.  Inside was President and Sister Russell on their final p day of the mission for them.  They took us to have ice cream and have small talk with them.  It was a fun, extremely random experience we had, but it was good.  On that day I was also able to Skype in and see three of the people I got to help teach in the past be baptized.  There were some technical difficulties in the wifi and all the calls were at the exact same time which created some confusion, but it was a good experience and amazing to see these people continue on their spiritual journey.

I hope that everyone is doing well and remember to always trust in the Lord and pray for strength to face your day to day trials, and as you do so you will be able to truly go out in the strength of the Lord.  Thank you for all of your support,

Elder Baxter

Tag picture

Sunset on the ocean

Temp companion

Back with his companion

Ocean breeze messing his hair up

One Year Mark

Hello everyone,

This past week has involved me learning the area quite a bit more. Work wise, many of our appointments have fallen through and it was tougher to get the people here to commit to a real time they will meet with us.  We keep pressing forward though, and part of the problem comes from various meetings changing the schedule we set up with the people here.  Some things we did manage to do though was help several people move in to new homes.  The branch here has quite a few older people, so they called in us Elders to move all of the heavy objects for them.  We also had a great lesson with another family we helped move in the past week.  I get the feeling that the upcoming summer is going to be a popular time for moving.

The first of the big meetings that occurred was on Thursday with Zone Conference.  It took place up in Eugene which meant we had to wake up early to get there, and more or less used up the whole day.  Half the mission was there, and I got to see many of my past companions.  This Zone Conference was different due to this being the final meeting with President Russell.  He taught us about setting good habits as well as the importance of having a strong testimony of Jesus Christ.  It was a great spirit filled meeting.  That night I then spent celebrating my one year mark by going to a burger place in Coos Bay on the way back with the district, and opening a package from home.

Sunday was also a major day for meetings.  On Sunday we had stake conference where a seventy came, as well as President Russell.  They both spoke, and after the meeting we did our final interviews with President Russell.  The interview was great and was my official goodbye to the Russell's.  in two weeks the Orton's will come in to replace them.  It has been a crazy but great past year and I know that my testimony has grown so much in the past year.  I don't know what will happen in the coming year, but one thing I can say is that regardless of what happens the work is in the Lord's hands and it will be an amazing time.  Thank you for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

Last time with President Russell

With past companions 

Hump Day/Fourth of July package

Foggy Beach Morning

A maze event called "Circle in the Sand"