12/3/2012

HELLOOOOOOO :)
It's officially December! YAY! The temple lights are on and it is so pretty! Everyone is just in a happier mood and life is just oh so good! I loved the package of letters I got from the ward and the cute necklace from the Hafford's! And MOM! THAT SCARF! You literally read my mind. I've been wearing this pink one that is the same type of scarf and I've been wanting a new one and wa-la! You bought me one that is sooo cute :) Now I'm good for the winter! Yes, if you can send me just one pair of gloves...that would be perf. Thanks for the VS stuff too ;) hahaha...you're the best maymer! Chrissy!! One of your friends is in our YSA ward and we are visiting her. I guess she grew up in Livermore as well and she asked me if my name was Olivia haha and I couldn't lie. Small world! Oh and uhhh China is going to be a three year mission?! One of our zone leaders just told me that his sisters mission friends little brother got his mission call and it had a phone number on it and he called it and the secretary put him on hold and he talked to President Monson and he told him he will be one of the first missionaries in China and that he will be serving for three years. CRAZY STUFF!! So exciting. Oh man. I love it!

So, let me tell you a little bit about the adventures with Lourie. Lourie is this very sweet lady in our ward who kind of finds her friends by walking around the streets. So, with that said...she finds the craziest people to be her friends haha. We have been trying to meet with her friend named Robert and finally we got a hold of him and made an appointment. We go to the house and this guy named Levi opens it. We spend about 5 minutes outside just trying to figure out if this was actually Robert's house. Turned out it was and Levi invited us in since Robert wasn't going to be there for another 20 minutes. We walk in and haha it was sooooo gross! I didn't necessarily have a bad feeling of "Sister Baeza, get out of there right now" but I just got a "haha oh man, wait til my parents here about this!" kind of feeling ;) We were totally in an addiction recovery home haha. It smelled like smoke and it was just filthy! However, we taught Levi and he's this 22 year old guy who obviously is trying to recover from drugs and alcohol. We have a lesson with him this week so we are stoked! We hope he's home and has the desire to learn more. There are more adventures with Lourie but...I'll save them for a later time :)

WE WORKED IN THE VC THIS WEEK! It was so fun to be back for a shift! We worked in the morning so it was a pretty slow shift but we were able to still give some tours. I didn't think I would miss the VC as much as I do but I can't wait to go back. I love being off-site and having all the time to teach but...the VC is my HOME! That's where my family is at and I just miss everyone so much. Stephen received the priesthood yesterday and also received a calling! He went to the Ward Christmas party over the weekend and our ward mission leader said he had a blast! He was talking with lots of people and he totally fits right in. Isaiah also came to church AGAIN! It's funny, I've only been able to teach him with Sister Merciales once and the other two times was when we were on exchanges and I got to stay in my area both times. He is changing! Like, sincerely changing! So we had a lesson with him on Thursday and I was really excited about it. We were suppose to finish the Plan of Salvation but lol I forgot so we just started from the beginning again. Which! Ended up working perfectly because our member present was able to share powerful experiences how the gospel has changed her and has brought her back to the church and etc. There was a point towards the end where I was sharing my testimony to him on the atonement and then before I knew it...the words, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" just flowed out of my mouth! We were planning on inviting him to be baptized next week only because he told us straight up he doesn't like to feel controlled so we decided to go slow on him but haha the spirit literally spoke for me and at first he wanted to set a date for the middle of next year...haha yeah, nope haha! So we went from December 30th to January 6th but then he said he thinks he can do December 30th :) AHHHHH! It was so great! The ward is even shocked on his progression and that he even has a date. I'm praying that he will be ready by the 30th but I know that some of the commandments will be hard for him to follow. I just hope he's really sincere about all of this. However, I think he is. He truly is a different person then he was a few weeks ago when we met him at his door. THE GOSPEL TRULY CHANGES PEOPLE! It is so amazing! He even dressed up in church clothes all on his own yesterday :) So cute! I love it!

Sadly I don't have much else to write about today but there was something that a member in our ward, Tiffany, said that stood out to me. She said, "I can't look at my Heavenly Father one day and say I had the time to go to Disneyland or to stay up really late to watch the last few minutes of a movie but I didn't have the time to read my scriptures and pray everyday." How true is that? Life is crazy, at times I feel like it has to be! However, we can always get up a little bit earlier in the morning to read some scriptures. Or, we can always finish watching that movie another night and go to our bedside to say our prayers. I've said this before but my mission has been teaching me some of the most important life lessons. I wasn't a horrible person before my mission, I just didn't understand how to truly apply the gospel into my life. Looking back on the things I would do haha it makes me grateful that I chose to serve a mission so I can correct myself to live my life more centered on the gospel. It really is amazing how much I've been able to learn. One of my goals that is kind of a mission long goal is to write a summary about each person I've ever taught. I started working on it a few days ago and looking back at my first planner has brought a flow of memories. I am no where near the same person I was when I first got into the mission field. My trainer and I laugh about all of the things we went through together and she too has recently commented how proud she is of me. I had to change a lot. And it sucked. I didn't want to change! However, I know that I'm a better missionary because I chose to change. It's true that we cannot experience true joy unless we are being obedient. Obedience, to me, is the secret ingredient to life. If we truly seek to be obedient to all of God's commandments, how can we not be happy? It's not saying that we will have perfect lives - not the slightest. It just means we will know what pure, simple, real joy feels like. Although we can never be perfect, I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can be made whole again. We can learn from our mistakes and CHANGE. We can set high goals for ourselves and reach our potential. Like President Eyring said last night at the Christmas Devotional, "The Savior was the perfect gift from our Heavenly Father." I love my mission. I love it so much. I can't imagine my life without it. I don't want to forget the people I've taught. I don't want to forget the experiences I've been having. I just wish time can just stop and I can have a moment to reflect on everything that has happened. At times, I don't ever want to go home. The mission is just too great. I just want to wear my badge every day for the rest of my life! Life is good. God is good. God is too good to me. I hope you all have another great week! I invite you to think about someone who you feel could use the gospel in their lives. Let them get to know the missionaries in the ward. Give them that opportunity to repent. I love you all SO much! Thank you for all of the support. I miss you all lots! The church is SO true!


Love,
Hermana Baeza
1591 E Temple Way
Los Angeles, Ca 90024

1. just finished weekly planning. only 10 minutes to eat. most dis-functional dinner ever!
2. our fridge!! (oh yeah, no need to send me christmas decorations haha we are covered!
3. we've been together since august 15th...CRAZY!

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