March 18th 2013

The funnnnnnn has arrivedddddd!!!! (name that movie)
Well, I don't have too much to say since I literally just emailed you a few days ago so, this may be short. I know, first short email on the mission...crazy! Thank you Elder Petersen, Sister Vance, Sister Rose, and mommy for the letters/package! I loved it all! Also, thanks for the emails I got this week but again, with time, I won't be able to reply quickly but...I love reading them! :) Letters are best though!

So, this was our week:
Wednesday: temple p-day, dinner appointment, correlation meeting with our ward mission leader and the other missionaries

Thursday: weekly planning, taught Danielle at a coffee shop and by the way, she is stoked for baptism! Again, there are some things that we need to...figure out first about her but we have faith that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ she can change! We handed out 4 Books of Mormon that day and contacted 8 people. Not too much success but we tried hard!

Friday: Sister Morgan had the stomach flu. She literally threw up every hour on the hour all....night...long. I got zero sleep. We stayed home all....day....long. I was SO BORED! Ahhh! It killed me. I took a nap during lunch and then like, two 10 minute long power naps and then I stayed awake the rest of the day. I cleaned the apartment, finally unpacked, worked on mini projects and tried so hard to entertain myself. It was so boring...

Saturday: she was still kind of sick. we finished weekly planning, Danielle cancelled on us because well, she forgot and then we tracted for 2 hours! We handed out 7 Books of Mormon and contacted 13 people! Again, worked hard but a lot things didn't go as planned.

Sunday: Church, I had Aaron (14 year old, recent convert) sit by us and I explained to him what my missionary planner was and helped him sing :) SO CUTE! He even wrote me the cutest note in my planner that melted my heart. He wrote, "I want to be a missionary just like you Elder Baeza serving a mission. Sounds like fun." HAHA! Yes...he called me Elder Baeza in his note because Elders taught him :) we had the funniest dinner appointment with Sister Ko who is from Korea! We had 2 other sisters from the ward there and they were all converts so we got to hear their conversion stories. Then we tracted and contacted 9 people and handed 6 Books of Mormon! Our total number for the week of Books of Mormons was 28 :) yeah!

We had a cool experience where this kid asked us, "How do you know God is real?" and the first thing that came out of my mouth was "prayer!" I testified to him that I know that God is real because He has literally answered my prayers. He has given me comfort when I've been sad and has given me peace to questions I ask Him about. He was really focused on what we were telling him and when we had gone to another apartment complex, we looked over and saw him skimming through the Book of Mormon and then went back home holding it in his hand. I know it sounds like that I may of not liked this week but I truly did. I found a quote that my trainer Sister Cole once said and it says, "It's about the amount of work you put in, not the amount of work that's shown." This week, with all the random things that came up, we put in a lot of work but...a lot of it doesn't show in our numbers. But it's okay!! Be of good cheer right (Thanks Grant!)?!? It will all work out if I just trust in the Lord that my efforts will come out into great results.

Something that our teacher in Sunday School said yesterday was, "People say that conversion is a life long process...don't let it take your whole life until you are converted to the gospel!" It's so true! We need to be more active in our testimony to make them stronger so that when the opportunity comes to share the gospel, we will not only have faith in ourselves but also in the Savior that He will help us say the things we need to say! Sister Morgan and I had a really good companionship inventory where I just flat out told her that I don't mean to stress her out or to make her feel like she isn't being obedient enough but that with every single one of my companions after Sister Cole, I try to make them a better missionary then myself. I see them as future trainers and if I never get the opportunity to train someone, I want to at least know that I did my part in helping my companions to be great trainers for these young missionaries who are not entering the field. I'm still having Sister Set withdrawals...ugh. I just love her! And I think she's having withdrawals too haha.

I love this work! I love being a missionary! There is a ton of work we need to do in this area and in our ward and I am looking forward in pushing myself even more to be the missionary that the ward needs and that my investigators need me to be. My mission has shown me how grateful I am to be a part of the home ward I'm in and the home stake that I'm in. Like seriously, we have the best ward and stake! The members are amazing and so willing to do missionary work! You are all my family and I feel the love and the prayers that you give in my behalf. My parents raised me to be the person I am today but I know that you all had a huge part in raising me in the gospel and helping me become the person I am today as well. I am forever grateful for each and every single one of you. I love you all so much! And yes...I do miss you all too :) Please try to find people for the missionaries to teach! I love this quote that I found back in 2009 for a little spiritual thought I gave in seminary,

"We properly pray for the safety and success of the full-time missionaries throughout the world. And a common element in many of our prayers is a request that the missionaries will be led to individuals and families who are prepared to receive the message of Restoration. But ultimately it is my responsibility and your responsibility to find people for the missionaries to teach. Missionaries are full-time teachers; you and I are full-time finders. And you and I as lifelong missionaries should be praying for the full-time missionaries to do our work!" - Elder Bednar "Ask in Faith" Engisn May 2008

:) have a great week! the church is TRUE!

Love,
Hermana Olivia  Baeza
olivia.baeza@myldsmail.net
1591 E Temple Way
Los Angeles Ca 90024