FAMILY!!
Oh my gosh I really cannot believe that it's already another p-day! It has been absolutely crazy, busy, exciting, sad, and fun!!! First off, my subject for my last email was "okay mom!" or something like that lol and I never explained why! So, my district calls me mom haha! More like the elders in my district :) Whenever they start to fall asleep, I always poke them or I give them mints to wake them up. Also, whenever they start to talk and be noisy during personal study, language study, etc I always remind them that we need to be working and blah blah blah. So, they call me mom :) In a good way though! I love those elders haha they seriously crack me up. Elder Reid reminds me a lot of Chris...he can be annoying at times but he makes me laugh so much that it replaces the little things he does to purposely annoy me. Chris, I miss you randomly coming into my room and just standing there for no reason haha! And your letter this week made me laugh SO HARD!!! I read it to my roommates and they were laughing and didn't quite understand your humor (like what you said about sunny) but I was laughing so hard...thank you!
So yes....David Archuleta IS at the MTC! And yes...I have seen him...like 4 times. The first time I saw him I totally acted like one of the teen freaks and freaked out when I saw him haha! I don't think he saw me...so that's good. But um, he's so tiny! He's shorter then ME! I think the third time I saw him he smiled at me though ;) hahahaha! But yeah, it's cool to see him. My goal is to shake his hand before he leaves. He's going to Chile and leaves for the MTC there in 3 weeks so...I got 2 more weeks to try!
Congrats to Janelle Larson and Emily Jenson on their ENGAGEMENTS! So fun!! Send me a letter and tell me how it happened! It's fun to hear what goes on outside the MTC world :) And thank you Jessica (LOVED the engagement announcement! You're a babe!), Chrissy, the Hair family, Bishop Farley, Elder Brownlow, Sister Fife (LOVED the quote! Thanks!), Anothony, Kris with a K (no joke, yesterday I was like "why hasn't he written me yet!" and then that night I got a letter from you! the best!), Paul, Madz, and Elder Vance :) I am seriously SPOILED with the amount of letters I get and it makes the days go by so much faster haha so keep them coming! Plus, the elders in my district keep making bets on how many I get. Yesterday I got 6! HA! It was great. They were so mad. I loved it :) OH!! Paul, Chrissy, Kris and Sarah! PLEASE SEND ME YOUR ADDRESSES! For some reason I didn't get the address to write you back on so please do send me a dearelder with your addresses. I have letters waiting for you to mail out so...whenver you send me your address you'll get the letter!
Okay, now the good stuff!! Um...wasn't General Conference AMAZING!!!!!! And no, I was not in the MTC choir. Funny story - so there was this sheet for the sisters to fill out on their "choir experience" for this "special choir" and I kept hearing people saying you had to audition for it and lol I did not want to audition for anything so I ignored it. Little did I know...it was for General Conference, there was NO audition process and you just got selected based on how many years you've done choir and what not....lame. BUT! It was okay because the choir wasn't able to see the first session and that session was my favorite! It answered almost every question I wrote down to get answers too and so who knows if I would of found the time to actually go back and read that session. So, clearly Heavenly Father knew I needed to stay back and listen to that session or else he would of made me pay more attention on what this special choir thing was all about :) But my goodness...there were so many great talks given! I really hope that everyone took notes or is able to read through the talks on another time because the sessions touched on everything I felt like! So good...sooooo good :)
We got a new district in our zone! 9 new Elders :) They are so cute! And soooo obedient haha they make my district look bad. Since I'm the coordinating sister, I got to attend the 3 hour orientation meeting where we teach them the rules, how to do companionship study, and give them a tour of the MTC. I got to hear each of them introduce themselves, tell us why they are serving a mission and bear their testimonies. I was literally fighting back tears! There is a very strong spirit that resides in that district. It was such a wonderful opportunity to see them shine and to see them have that strong desire to be here. I wrote each of them little notes and left them in their classroom on their first day so when they got here, they had a little treat! I wrote each of them their own personal note because I wanted them to feel special and haha I didn't want them to compare notes and think that I didn't thoughtfully put time and effort on what I felt like I needed to say to them. They loved the notes! And I know ALL of their names now too! When they were each introducing themselves in the meetings, I would go down the line and repeat their names over and over again. They know my name too and I already feel a strong connection with them. They're the best!
Earlier this week, Hermana Marroquin and I taught a lesson to Irazema. She studied hard but forgot some things when it came to teaching her. I looked at her and said, "Why don't you share your testimony?" She then got discouraged and said she didn't know how!...ummmm YES YOU DO! So I told her that she knew how to do it and to trust the spirit to help her say the things she needs to say. Before we knew it, she was speaking in spanish, bearing such a beautiful, sincere, simple testimony and the spirit was there. I was so proud of her! I'm trying to help her understand how much potential she has and how much spanish she actually knows! I think this lesson helped her a lot in gaining that confidence because the lessons afterward have been great with her.
So, our new investigator Felinio...he is not as nice as Irazema haha! Our first lesson was kind of a disaster but we were ready for our second lesson. We wanted to re-teach him that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that he IS a child of God. Hermana Marroquin was reading his four verses from Alma and she struggles on reading Spanish so it took a while :) Well...Felino decided to flip through the pages, close his scriptures, look at the ceilings and the walls...just NOT paying attention to us! I was getting quite frustrated because he was not helping her with her confidence! So after she finished reading, I asked him what he learned from the verses and he said "no se"...which is "I don't know." It the most sincere, loving way, I told him how while she was reading, I noticed that he was flipping through the pages and not listening. I then broke down in tears and told him, "Felinio, we WANT you to know that Heavenly Father is a loving Heavenly Father. We WANT you to know that you ARE a child of God. We WANT you to know that God wants to live with you AGAIN and that through the atonement of Jesus Christ you CAN be with him again!" He starred at me the entire time, with direct eye contact, as I tried to get these words that I didn't even know out of my mouth. I wanted him to know SOOOO bad that what we knew was true and that HE can know for himself. We gave him a commitment and then left. I was just so frustrated with him! But, it taught me something. It was so hard for me to love Irazema and to sincerely care for her but for Felinio...because he isn't as receptive to our message like Irazema is...i already have a love for him! I already want the absolute best for him! As much as he made me cry and frustrated...it was worth it! He was able to see my sincerety and to know that I truly want the best for him and that Heavenly Father even wants the best for him, MORE then I do!
We had a speaker come for the Sunday Fireisde - Via Sikahema. He used to play football for BYU back in the 80's I think, he was drafted to the NFL and now he's a sports reporter out in Phili! He is a stud! He had us put our journals away beacuse he wanted us to relax and not worry about taking notes since that's all we did for the past two days for general conference lol. One thing that I learned from him was that when I baptize one person, I'm baptizing generations to come. Him and his companion, who also came to the fireside and it was the first time they had seen each other since their missions, taught a guy who is now married, who are sealed as a family, and whose daughters have been married in the temple and have families of their own. The convert was ALSO at the fireside. This work is amazing. I'm truly going to be converting individuals who will forever be changing the lives of their future generations. That's why I'm here, to change lives. To brings others unto Christ. To brings families to the temple. I know that because the Barkdull family introduced us to the church, they didn't just bless our lives but also our future generations lives. Richie, Chris and I WILL be sealed in the temple to our spouses for time and all eternity one day. OUR children WILL grow up in the gospel and also be married in the temple. It's a ripple effect and how grateful I am to see it from the beginning. I love this church. I love my mission! It's the best thing in the world and I know it's what I'm suppose to be doing. Family, I love you so much! I miss you loads but I know that I will see you all soon :) Before you know it, I'll be home! Promise!!! :) Until next week!
Love,
Hermana Baeza
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