Easter and General Conference

Hello Everyone,

I hope that you all had a great Easter and General Conference weekend, I know that I did!  The bulk of this week was spent with lessons cancelling, and us going out and continuing to nail down our area book.  One miracle that occurred though was one of the first people I found in the area, who has been gone for a month, has come back.  We knocked on his door, but no one was home.  As we were going to leave his apartment though, he pulled straight up and came home.  We hadn’t knocked his door in weeks, and the timing of it all truly was a miracle.  We were able to teach him again Friday night and see him commit to watching conference this weekend.  And what a conference it was!

We spent conference on one of our tablets connected to WiFi, except for the Priesthood session and Sunday morning session which we spent with the same member family.  Overall though, this was a great final conference for the mission.  I could probably go on for a while about the various things I have learned, but one thing that is for sure is that President Nelson really is a prophet and as we follow him we will be blessed.  Stay close to the Spirit, seek for unity, and keep the commandments.

Thank you for all of the support!
Elder Baxter

Baxter Street

Easter Package from Home

Easter/April Fool's Day Breakfast

Waffles with ice cream toppings

A yummy April Fool's joke.

Make Every Moment Count

Hello Everyone,

Nothing too crazy happened following the temple trip this past week.  We had several lessons with two of our families who are making great progress towards coming to church, as well as living the word of wisdom.  Outside of that, most of our week was spent going out and trying to make contact with those whom have had previous contact with the missionaries.  It has been a slow process trying to meet everyone and gage their interest level, but it will pay off soon.

One story that came from this past week was that I was able to see one of my past companions, Elder Hoskins, again.  He goes home this week and he is one area over from me, so we decided to do dinner.  It was a cold and rainy bike ride but it was nice to be able to say gooddbye and realize how close to the end I really am.  One thing I know I am going to try to do is really make every moment count and go out and really do my best these last two transfers.

I know that this Gospel is true.  Joseph Smith was the prophet who restore the church, and that Jesus really is the Christ.  Through him we can be strengthened past trials and receive forgiveness from our sins.  And best of all, because of Christ we can access these blessings today, we do not need to wait for a future day but choose to repent and come to him today.  When we do so and keep his commandments, including baptism and the sacrament, we truly can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which blesses us with all of the necessary blessings to come back as well as be sanctified from our sins.  I know this is true.

Thank you for all of the support!
Elder Baxter

Goodbye to Elder Hoskins

Going Out and Doing Our Best

Roller Coaster Week

Hello Everyone!

This was a strange roller coaster kind of week.  To start, last Tuesday we had Zone Conference where all the missionaries were given Samsung Galaxy smartphones at the end.  They are replacing our old phones for now, but as new missionaries come in they will enter the field with smartphones rather than tablets until eventually all of the tablet users are gone and each individual missionary has a smartphone. 

Each night of the week we had a lesson, unfortunately Wednesday during a dinner appointment my illness hit again full force.  The way we got around that dilemma though was by having Elder Daugherty go out with one of the zone leaders to teach while the other stayed with me.  This ended up leading to an exchange with the zone leaders Thursday to Friday night.  I hear that the lessons went well though.

Saturday we had a great lesson with one of the families we are teaching and Sunday they came to church along with five other investigators!  We were excited, and it was was the most I think I have seen come to church that I can remember.  The best part is that a lot of them are very solid investigators.

Finally that leads to today.  This morning we had a temple trip up to the Portland temple.    It was nice being able to recharge this final week of the transfer and prepare for whatever may happen.  At any rate, thank you for all of the support and know that the Lord is blessing this area!

Elder Baxter

 New Smartphone

Portland Temple

House of the Lord

We Love to See the Temple

Sick Week

Hello Everyone,

The best way to describe this week is with the words "sick week".  There has been a cold that has been traveling around the different members of the Zone, and it finally hit us.  Following last p day we came back to the apartment and my companion was complaining that he felt weak and had a headache.  By the next morning he was out.  It basically led to me spending the day doing lots of studies and some cleaning around the apartment.  I have come to one conclusion though, being sick on a mission is absolutely no fun.

Wednesday he was feeling somewhat better, so we were able to go out and teach the family we put on date the previous week, as well as do as much work as we could without pushing it, but then Thursday happened.  The sickness came back in full force so we ended up taking a field trip to an urgent care, where they diagnosed him and then took it easy once again.  Friday following district meeting the cold started to hit me.  It didn't come quite as bad but it is still not fun.  Most of the symptoms were gone by Sunday however and we were able to go to church.  Now all I have is an annoying cough.

In all of this, a couple of good things did happen.  The first one being we got to go visit the Oregon Ducks stadium today as a zone.  That was a fun experience and it is definitely huge.  Then throughout the week one of the families we found kept texting us questions about the church and told us how their Book of Mormon reading was going.  That was a miracle and really proves to me their real intent.  This week we have Zone Conference, hopefully a complete recovery, and lots of lessons planned.

Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter

The Missionary Zone

A Oregon Duck Fan?!?

Teaching Is Great!

Hello Everyone,

This week was a really good week out here in Eugene.  The first couple days were pretty normal missionary days, but on Thursday really good things started to occur.  As it turned out, that night we managed to get the day set up where we had three lessons back to back.  They were all good and I believe will help out our investigators.  The first and last ones mainly focused on the Book of Mormon, and the different ways answers may come.  Several of our investigators seem to be struggling with that point, so being able to back up and talk about that was great.  The second lesson was with a part member family that we have been working to set up a lesson with for awhile.  They have met with missionaries in the past, and explained to us their desire to be baptized and sealed as a family.  As a result we were able to put three people on date for baptism, now the trick will be helping them keep their commitments.

On Friday we had an exchange, then Saturday another miracle came.  A young family reached out to a few Sister missionaries down in California on a vacation, and as it turned out they live in our area. We got to go over and teach them the Restoration.  The questions they asked were all perfect, and they showed a lot of sincerity and real intent.  It was the kind of lesson that really helps build my faith that the Lord is preparing people to accept our message.  So I guess I can say that teaching has been pretty great here in Santa Clara 6th ward!

Sunday we had stake conference where a seventy came and spoke.  It was a good meeting and he had great things to say about the two great commandments.  Outside of that, nothing too crazy happened outside of interviews with President Orton.

This work really is in the Lord's hands, and I have learned that as long as we step outside with the intent to do our best, blessings do come.  Doors open that may have been closed before and the work will hasten.  Thank you for all of your support!

Elder Baxter

Signs of Spring

Happiness is teaching!

Officially Looks Like Winter

Hello Everyone,

This week was pretty similar to the previous week, but several miracles did happen from it.  First, it snowed!  It didn't last long whatsoever, but it was nice to see snow to go along with the cold that had hit the Eugene area, making it officially look like winter.  I heard stories of how it hit the coast as well and the city of Newport panicked and shut everything down for the day.  I have come to the conclusion that Oregonians don't know what to do around snow, haha.

Moving on to the important side of things, we had several lessons with a couple of our main investigators.  With one of them we managed to bring a priest.  It was a neat lesson where the priest was able to bear a powerful testimony about fasting and really enjoyed his experience.  I think we might have just convinced him to go on a mission in a year or two.

On Tuesday we had a great lesson with the part member family at the church.  In the end they committed to try to find ways to come to church.  Previous to this they have had work on Sunday's, and while it might take some time to pan out, they took a few large steps in their faith.

One last story came from Sunday.  We were out tracting but got a bunch of nasty denials.  Ultimately it didn't feel like the right thing for us to do, so we started to head in another direction to regroup.  As we went we heard someone cry out and were able to help an older woman who had fallen on the ground and was unable to move.  She left fairly quickly, but it felt like that we were definitely directed to help her out at that time and it was cool to be an answer to someone's prayer.

The work is progressing and thanks for the support!
Elder Baxter

Winter Weather

Snow Tag

Change of Plans

Hello Everyone,

The best way to describe this week is that it was the kind of week where the Lord looks at what we plan, and then takes it and gives us something completely different.  Going into the week, we had more or less set lesson every day of the week which is great for the area, but as time went on every single one of those lessons with the exception of one fell through.  But in most of those cases we were always led to someone who needed us more.  I will tell about about a couple of those stories.

One of those happened on Thursday.  We were going to have a lesson with a part member family we have been working to get a lesson with, but a half hour before the appointment they texted us to cancel due to the flu.  Unsure of what to do, we felt we needed to go back to a street that we had only half tracted earlier in the day due to time.  This time we started on the other half and went from house to house getting various kinds of rejections, until we reached the last house we didn't get to knock on earlier.  Right when that door opened the man warmed up to our message immediately.  While talking, it became evident to us that the Lord had been preparing him, and that the Lord maneuvered our plans so we would knocked at that house at the exact time we did, so we could catch him and introduce the Gospel to him.  We go back to his home tomorrow.

On Friday another story happened that was very similar.  We were to have a lesson with another new investigator who fell through on us.  We decided to look at our area book and contact a few former investigators nearby, which led to us finding a young mother.  Then on Saturday lessons fell through again, but this time we were prompted to visit the part member family from earlier and essentially get them all to start thinking about goals to reach baptism and ultimately being sealed in the temple.  They have a lot of work to do to get there and nothing is final, but it was great to be involved in these miracles.

Ultimately this is the Lord's work and not ours.  All God asks of us is to have a willing heart, step outside our door and do our best. When we do that, the Lord can take whatever plan we have made and change it to something that truly reflects His will.  Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Baxter