2014! - 1/6/14

Can you believe it's already 2014? Where did the past year go. One of the fastest years of my life. So much happened in 2013. It really was a great year. But I can´t wait for what 2014 has in store. I have no doubt that this year can be even better than the last!

This last week was a great week here in Puerto Paita. It was the first week here for Elder Gonzalez. This is his last transfer in the field, but fortunately, he is super excited and wants to work until his last day in the field. Which is honestly all I could ask for in a companion. He is super funny. I love working with him. He is from Mexico and people from Mexico speak so much differently than Peruvians. It was kind of hard to understand him at first. It is still really hard for me, but it's getting so much better! 

Standing on the pier.

 Tuesday was New Year's Eve. People celebrate New Year's Eve here with fireworks and by burning life-size dummies. On Tuesday almost every house had their dummy sitting on their porch ready for that night. At midnight they light them all on fire. I don´t really quite understand it, but that's what they do. I wish I would have taken some pictures of all the dummies. Some of them were pretty funny! We celebrated pretty hard on New Year's Eve. We went to sleep at 10:30. We got up at 11:45 though and went up to the roof of our apartment, watched all the fireworks and took some pictures wearing our 2014 glasses that we bought for 50 centimos. They have tons of fireworks here--it's ridiculous! SOOOOOOOOOOOO many fireworks. It would be impossible to sleep through everything! It was so dang loud!

2014! "SOY SOLTERA! Y HAGO LO QUE QUIERO!"

This week Elder Gonzalez and I spent a lot of time visiting members so that he could get to know them. The members here are pretty good. There aren´t too many of them though. But the ones that are here are super strong faithful members! It has been great getting to know and work with the members here in Paita! Honestly in every area, you learn to love the members! Members of the church are great! Peruvian members of church are AMAZING! :) 

I read Lauren's letter right before I started writing this and it made me laugh, because Elder Gonzalez and I are doing almost the exact same thing here. Trying to build a teaching pool. We really don't have many investigators here right now and it is honestly super hard to find people to teach. We studied a lot in chapter 9 of Preach My Gospel and looked for ways we could find more people to teach. One of the things I like most is that it says that the Lord will place people who are prepared to hear the message of the gospel in your path. This whole week I was praying, for the guidance of the spirit, to help me find and recognize those who were ready to hear this message. 

This week we were able to find about 5 new investigators. One of the coolest experiences happened on Friday though. It was definitely an answer to our prayers. 

On Friday afternoon we were walking along this street and we saw this guy. We kept on walking down the street and as we got closer to him we said hello and asked how he was doing. He looked at us and he said, "I want to talk to you guys with my son. Can you guys return later this night?" We told him that that would be no problem. That was a pretty unusual experience. Usually we have to plead and beg to be allowed in people's houses here in Paita. We returned that night at about 7 and met him and his son. His son is 24 years old and has a problem with alcohol but he really wants to change. The father really cares for his son and really wants him to be able to change. We were able to talk with them for a while about how this gospel blesses all those who accept it. We also talked a lot about the fact that we have a loving Savior who died for our sins and thanks to His sacrifice for us, we can change. Before we were able to invite them to church they asked if they could attend with us this Sunday. 

Sunday morning they showed up at the church at 9:00 and stayed for Sacrament Meeting and for the second hour for a class for investigators and recent converts. That evening we went and visited them in their house along with his wife and his other son. We taught the Restoration and they were super receptive to it. They kept on talking about how much they like what they have seen about our church. They say that they like the Catholic church but they feel like there is something missing. I am so grateful for the opportunity that we have right now to teach this family. I know that Heavenly Father answered our prayers and placed these people in our path. I know that this is the Lord's work. There is nothing I would rather be doing right now than helping to share the message of this gospel! 

Honestly, 2013 was a great year. And 2014 is going to be even better! Thanks for all of the love and support that you guys show me! There is not a doubt in my mind that the church is true! 

Elder Baker

 

Our district at the beach today for zone activity.

P.S. 

OH! I Forgot to tell you! Today there was a tiny earthquake in Paita! It woke me up from my nap. PRETTY CRAZY, N0?!!!!! It was a little shaking. I thought it was Elder Gonzalez shaking the bed at first, but everything in the room was shaking and he was in the bathroom! Crazy! 

Almost 2014, but not quite...

Monday, 30 December 2013 

I can hardly believe that my first Christmas has already passed by in the mission. It seems like just yesterday that it was July and I was getting packed to go to the MTC. Honestly so much has happened since that day. I'm so grateful for the decision to come on a mission. The mission really is so cool. It is something that I will never regret. This last week passed by really fast. Christmas in the mission field is something that I will never ever forget. 

Tuesday was our mission Christmas conference in Piura. We had to be in Piura at like 10 in the morning. The devotional was about an hour and a half and it was really cool. After the devotional we went and every zone had a sketch that they did and then we ate lunch—chicken, french fries, and Inca Kola. Pretty great lunch if you ask me. After lunch we watched The Polar Express with President Rowley. I absolutely love that movie. It wasn't quite the same though in Spanish. The voice of the conductor was just not the same. It was super fun watching that though. First movie I've seen in five months! After the conference we headed back to Paita. We went to go visit some members and to wish some people a merry Christmas. After that we went and ate our Christmas dinner with our pensionista. Everyone here celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve. They have their turkey for dinner and then they all stay up until midnight to celebrate Christmas. It was pretty fun eating dinner with our pensionista. She's the best. We had to be back at our apartment at 10 pm but it really was a pretty fun night. 

Merry Christmas from zona Paita!

We spent Christmas morning with our district playing some games and listening to some Christmas music. The best Christmas present I could have received, I got on Christmas day—a big fruit cake. Just kidding. But the best present ever was talking on skype. It was crazy when McKay showed me some snow. Snow is something that I definitely haven't touched in a while. There is none to be found here. The people here really don't celebrate at all Christmas day. They just go on and live their lives in a normal way on Christmas day.

The rest of this week was pretty normal without much happening. It was a little bit hard to teach people this last week because everyone was busy and traveling with their families. It was a pretty good week though. Thursday we had our district meeting which was super fun. I love our district here in Paita. We had our district meeting which went super well and then we ate a bunch of candy and Inca Kola. Not the healthiest thing ever, but it was pretty good. 

Friday morning we got a call from the zone leaders. They had received a call about 10 minutes earlier from president saying that Elder P had to be in the mission office the next day at 8 in the morning. He didn't say why, but we all knew that it was because Elder P is the new assistant to the president. Friday night we had to go to the upper part for a baptismal interview. Since it was the last night with our whole district together we decided to go and buy a couple of roasted chickens from Plaza Vea and french fries and to eat dinner as a district. It was pretty fun. The people here in my district are really cool people. This district is the best.

With my zone leader - Elder P

Saturday was a big day, because this week was the final week of this transfer. Saturday nights before transfers we get a call from the zone leaders with all the information about transfers. Saturday night at about 9:30 we got a call from Elder Erickson. Elder Castillo was being transferred. My new companion here in Paita is Elder Gonzales. He is from Mexico. And this is his last transfer. So in another 6 weeks I will get a different companion. Elder Gonzales is a really cool kid. I'm super excited to work with him this transfer!

Sunday was really busy. We had church in the morning and then there was training in the upper part that we had to go to. After the training we came back and we went so Elder Castillo could say goodbye to a couple of people in the ward. After that we had to come back and Elder Castillo had to pack everything up. Transfers are kind of exciting in the mission, but at the same time, they are a little bit sad. It's hard saying goodbye to people when you honestly don't know if you are ever going to see them again!

Hope you enjoyed your time off. We don't really get time off here in the mission. Well, we get 8 hours on p day—10  in the morning until 6 at night. But other than that, we're kind of always on the job. It's okay though. This work is the best work there is.

Lauren, sounds like you had a pretty good Christmas. Christmas in the field is the best isn't it! I really actually enjoyed it. Only 1 more left for me. 0 more for you. You're already at the halfway mark! Crazy how time flies! Gotta make the most of every minute! Thanks for being such a great example to me! Love you! Keep up the great work!

I'm so grateful to be here in the mission! I know that the church is true! There is nothing I would rather be doing than sharing the gospel with others!

Thanks for all the love and support! 

Elder Baker

I think this year the song "I Saw Three Ships" is going to take on a whole new meaning! - 12/23/13

Merry Christmas from the ocean!

 I really don´t know how much time I will have to write today, but I'm going to write as much as possible!

I really cannot believe that it is almost Christmas. Christmas is less than 2 days away. Christmas in Peru is soooooooooooo much different than in the United States. First off, it's 20,000,000,000,000,000,000 degrees out here. Definitely going to be dreaming of a white Christmas, but I really don't think I'm going to be seeing much snow. It's going to be different, but it's going to be good. It will be my first Christmas on the beach. Pretty cool, no? I'm super excited for Christmas morning. I think this year the song "I Saw Three Ships" is going to take on a whole new meaning! My first Christmas where I will really be able to see three ships come sailing in. Right now there are soooooooooooooooooo many boats here. They are all here so that all the fishers can be here with their families for Christmas! Super cool! Another thing that they do to celebrate Christmas here in Peru is that they eat fruitcake. Not even joking. In the states fruitcake is a joke. Here "paneton" is the real deal. Christmas isn't Christmas here without fruitcake! And the worst part about it is that it is nasty! Mainly just because I hate raisins. But it's okay though. I really am loving my time here. I'm going to have one of the best Christmas days ever!

This last week went pretty well. It was a little hard to teach people because everyone is super busy getting ready for Christmas. But we were able to have some really great lessons! One of the lessons we had was not so great though. We were teaching this less active member about the plan of salvation. We were teaching her about the fall of Adam and she told us that if Adam hadn't partaken of the forbidden fruit he still would have been able to have kids. We tried to explain it to her forever! It was honestly so frustrating! We finally just had to end the lesson and challenge her to pray about it and really ask if what the scriptures and the prophets teach is correct or not!

Tuesday we had a baptism! We really didn't have to do much for this baptism though! It was the baptism of a super cool kid who is 15 years old. He has been attending church for the past 3 months and finally decided to be baptized! It was soooooo cool watching his dad baptize him. I still think the best part about every baptism is watching the person come up out of the water and seeing the giant smile on their face. I am so grateful to be a missionary. As missionaries we really do have a front row seat to miracles happening in people's lives every day! 

Wednesday was the championship soccer game of a tournament here in Peru. La U. Really I hate the team just because their name literally translates to "The U". Supposedly they won this tournament and that makes them the best team in Peru. After the game hundreds of people mobbed together and marched through the streets chanting and singing and swinging their shirts over their head. It was pretty cool watching it from the safety of a member’s house. I definitely don´t want to be out in the crowd! It's going to be so crazy here in July during the World Cup. I can't even imagine what the missionaries in Brazil are going to do!

Thursday our zone had our interviews with President Rowley! President Rowley is the best! It was fun seeing the assistants there too! I had become really good friends with Elder B in Piura so it was fun to see him! I can't wait for the Christmas devotional we have on Christmas Eve when we get to see a third of the mission! I'm sure that will be fun!

Thursday afternoon we had a lesson with Hermana G. She is a super amazing person. She is a mother of 5 children and 2 of them are twins. The twins are only 1 year old. We ended up finding her on the list of potential investigators. We have been teaching her for the past few weeks and she really likes the gospel. She said to us on Thursday that she really believes that this church is true! That was one of the coolest things to hear as a missionary! I'm super excited. The one problem is that she isn't married, but she is currently in the process of getting everything together that she needs so she can be married! Her family is the best!

Friday was the Christmas concert in Paita. It was a concert by a youth orchestra from Piura. It was super fun. It was DEFINITELY a youth orchestra though. But overall it was really fun. President Rowley and his wife came. Our zone sang Silent Night at the end of the concert in Spanish and English. That was super duper cool. After the concert they served hot chocolate and fruitcake. I don´t know about you, but when it is a million degrees outside I want cold chocolate milk, not hot chocolate! And fruitcake is never good. I ate it with a smile though!

Saturday we went "Caroling" with our zone. There are tons of little parks here and so we went from park to park singing Christmas songs and we ended up getting tons of references from it! Even though this Christmas is going to be hard being away from family, I am super excited for it!

I am so grateful to be a missionary, especially at this time of the year. I know the church is true. At this time of the year I am especially grateful for my loving Savior. I know he lives. And I know that he died for every one of us. I am so grateful for this time of year when we can reflect on his birth and his marvelous life. I know this church is true. I am so grateful for the opportunity to share this gospel with others!

Thanks for all of the love and support! I really hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Paita Perú!

Love, Elder Baker

P.S. Sounds like Kaysville is super pretty with all of the snow! I hope that you have a great Christmas this week! I would love to have a day skiing in snow. It would be pretty hard to ski here. I can´t wait to talk to you on Wednesday! It's going to be the best! Love you! Merry Christmas!

Lauren, So your members shower you with presents? I have received a total of 0 presents here. But it honestly doesn't make me sad. Because these people don't even have the money to buy their kids presents. I really hope you have a wonderful Christmas! Christmas in the mission is going to be the best! Thanks for being such a great example to me! Love you tons! Merry Christmas!

Summer here is going to be a killer! jaja literally.. - 12/16/13

One more week in Paita. I have almost been here in Paita for a month now. Crazy right? This last week was a pretty decent week. Not overly amazing, but not bad at all. And it's definitely starting to warm up. I cannot wait for January and February. Summer here is going to be a killer! jaja literally..

Tuesday morning we had our district meeting which went pretty well. I really love district meetings. My district is really cool. There are 2 other gringos in my district so it is kind of fun. They are super cool. My whole district is really cool. I really love being here in Paita. After the district meeting we went and had a practice with our whole zone practicing what we are going to be doing for the Christmas conference on the 24th in Piura. I'm so excited for the Christmas Conference. It's going to be sweet! We are singing this really cool version of Silent Night in English and Spanish. It's super cool. I love music. Music brings the spirit so strongly into my life. Thank you so much for the music you sent me. It honestly helps so much. With everything. When I am sad. When I am homesick. When I am happy. When I am frustrated. It always helps. Music is the best. Especially music this time of year about our Savior.

Wednesday was a super duper duper hot day here in the mission. We went out at 10:00 am and sweated like crazy all the way until lunch. It was ridiculously hot. Super pretty day though. I am so grateful to be here on the ocean. It's so pretty. I honestly feel so blessed to be here in this area! After lunch we went to visit some people in the area called Nueva Esperanza in our branch. It's in the upper part of Paita and is super far away, so we don't go there very much, but we ended up going to visit some members there. I'm grateful that most of my time is in the lower part of Paita. The upper part of Paita is completely dirt. And TONS of wind. All of the 18 other missionaries in our zone are in the upper part except us. We're so blessed. Wednesday night we had a Family Home Evening with a less active family and the leaders of the branch. It was super great. I really think it helped inspire Hermano L to prepare to receive the Melchizedek priesthood. He realizes the importance and knows how much of a blessing he can be to his family! It was a super great night!

Thursday we went and had a service activity in the morning. We went and painted Hermana C's house. Hermana C is our pensionista. She is the coolest lady ever! And her house is super cool overlooking the ocean. The only problem was that it was a ugly green color. But we ended up painting it turquoise. It looks pretty cool now. It was kind of hard to paint though, because part of it is super duper high. We ended up having to tape paint brushes and paint rollers to the end of these long poles and paint on the top of a ladder to get it done. We finally got it done though and it looks so much better! It was a pretty fun morning. After that we went and had a ton of appointments that afternoon. We were literally running from one appointment to the next because we didn't have enough time. I was so tired that night. It was a great day though!

Painting our Pensionista's House

Friday was day 150 of the mission. Can you believe that? 150 amazingly hard and challenging and so worth it days. The mission is the best. We had weekly planning in the morning then went to teach a lesson to a 15 year old that lives here in Paita. His whole family was baptized earlier this year, but he didn´t want to get baptized with them, because he felt like he didn't have a testimony of the gospel which is a valid reason to not want to be baptized. He has been coming to church almost every Sunday for a while now with his family and has now decided that he has gained a testimony and wants to be baptized. He has had all the missionary lessons before so we went over to review with him to make sure he remembers everything. He remembered everything! He knows the lessons better than we do! jaja not really, but he knew almost everything! He is ready to come with us to visit investigators! He is a super great kid. He's going to be such a strength to this ward and to his family! I'm super happy for him!

The highlight of Saturday was during personal study when I read the talk called "Put Your Trust in the Lord" by Elder Ballard from this past general conference about the importance of spreading the gospel. That was a super great motivation for me. There is nothing better that I could be doing right now than sharing the gospel. I know that what he said is true. If we put our trust in the Lord, He will bless us with all the things we need to be successful at sharing the gospel. The Lord is hastening the work. This church truly needs everyone to reach out a hand and help share this gospel with someone else! I am so grateful to be here on the mission!

Sunday morning we went to church and about 8:45 President Rowley showed up with his wife. President had some interviews in Paita in the afternoon so he decided to come visit our branch for the morning. President loves Puerto Paita. We truly have one of the prettiest areas in the mission. An ocean front chapel. Not many members of the church have that! All of Sunday went great. I love being a missionary. It's hard and challenging, but the blessings are worth more than anything!

Today for P day we didn't do much. We went and hiked to a cool spot to take pictures this morning, but other than that we just kind of stayed in our apartment and relaxed. Mainly just because my companion doesn't feel really well today. It's been a great day though!

Thanks for all of the love and support! Love you guys! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Love, Elder Baker

P.S.

Sounds like it's pretty cold there. How about I give you about 30 degrees of warmth from Paita. Then it will be better for both of us!

I really think I've gained 15 pounds here. The food is great! And I love fish! So I love Paita! Cause it's a fishing town!

Going to obey. Obedience is better than sacrifice. - 12/9/13

Giant Christmas tree on the beach

Monday. Monday. Monday. Mondays are good days. But then again, pretty much every day on the mission is a great day. There have been so many great things this past week. One of them being that I haven't been sick at all this past week. I've kind of gotten used to getting sick here.  Sick equals diarrhea. Or however you spell that horrible thing. It comes and it goes. I don't take any medicine. I just drink lots of water and it passes. One of the joys of South America! :) It's never super bad, but there is almost always one day a week where I don't feel completely perfect. This week was a great week though!

Tuesday morning Elder C and I went over to the house of Hermana E, who was baptized last Saturday, to paint the main room in her house. Painting is pretty fun. I really actually like painting. Getting ready to paint, however, is the worst. Honestly it took like 3 hours to get the walls ready to paint. All the old paint was chipping off, so we had to sand pretty much the whole room. As we sanded, the walls slowly changed from purple, to green, to blue, to orange, back to purple, and to pink. It's pretty normal here though. People paint their houses a different color every year. Gotta keep it interesting! Painting ended up going really fast. And it didn't look too bad either!

Painting is pretty fun!

Tuesday our pensionista made us pancakes. Pancakes! She has been cooking for missionaries for almost 20 years and she says that she knows gringos love pancakes. She is the best. She always asks what kind of food we want. Fish, chicken, beef, intestines, huevera, pizza, lasagna. You name it, she´ll make it for you. She always says to us, "The missionaries need to be happy. And if the missionaries have to eat food every day that they don't like, they aren't going to be happy." haha. She's the best!

Wednesday was a great day. We went running on the beach. I always love starting the morning with running. Mainly just because it makes me feel like I'm doing something for myself. Honestly, I'm getting chubby. And I don't like it. Definitely a great motivator to do your exercises though! One of the best parts of Wednesday night was the Family Home Evening we had with Hermana Esmeralda, and 5 people from the ward. We watched the Joseph Smith Restoration video. It was a super great thing. After the video we had a testimony meeting. It was so cool hearing everyone's testimonies about Joseph Smith and the Restoration, especially the testimony of Hermana Esmeralda. She is honestly one of the nicest ladies I have ever met. She's awesome. She is going to be a great member of the church and a huge strength for the branch here in Puerto Paita.

Thursday we had a zone meeting. I love getting together with other missionaries. Missions are the greatest. In the meeting we talked about the importance of goals. Honestly if we didn't set goals as a missionary, we wouldn't get much work done. We talked about how we can set more effective goals. President Rowley wants us to start using a 3 step system where we set long term goals, and then break it up in to weekly goals and then break up the weekly goal into what you need to do every day to reach this goal. It will be really good. We had some news at the end of the meeting. We are no longer allowed to use backpacks in this mission. Pretty big bummer for me. I honestly love my backpack. I'll be fine though. Going to obey. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Also, we are not allowed to use skinny ties any more. Luckily that only applies to 1 of my ties. The others are all okay. It made me think about the pictures of the ties dad used on his mission. None of them would be approved now!

Thursday afternoon went pretty well. We ended up finding 3 new investigators. That's a lot for one day here in this area. We are super excited. I am praying that some of them will be able to progress. We are in desperate need of new investigators in this area right now.

Friday morning we had weekly planning and we set some goals for how we can find more new investigators. We are praying a lot. Going to have to act by faith, and I know that we will receive the help we need. I really love weekly planning. It's a super great time to focus individually on the needs of every single person that you are teaching. It's super great.

Not much happened on Saturday, except that we painted the front of a house of a less active family! Elder C and I are the painting pros of Puerto Paita. We painted the front of this house bright yellow. That would be kind of weird in Utah, but it is completely normal here. Everyone plasters the front of their brick house with cement and then chooses a color to paint it to make sure that it stands out from the neighbors. I love it here. It reminds me of the show Dragon Tales where everything is rainbow colored. jajajajajaja, but for real.

Sunday was a great day. Sunday morning in church we got to sing church hymns. I love Christmas music. It would be impossible to get in the Christmas spirit for me if it were not for music. I absolutely love Christmas music. I love the hymns in Spanish. They are a little bit different. Like Silent Night is Noche de Luz. (Night of light). But even though they are a little bit different, they still carry the same message of the birth of our Savior. I'm so grateful for this Christmas season!

Sunday night we went up to the upper part of Paita to watch the Christmas Devotional. It was super great. I enjoyed it a lot. Probably more than I ever have before. Even though this Christmas is going to be different, I am still looking forward to it. It is important that we remember the true meaning of Christmas. One of the best parts of the devotional was when all the little kids were singing with Elder Nelson and the little boy winked at the little girl sitting next to him. I almost died of laughter! I love Christmas. Christmas time is the best! It's pretty weird to be sweating to death the month of Christmas though! Definitely something I'm not used to!

Today for p day we went and took some pictures with our district at the giant Christmas tree at the beach. Pretty cool. My first Christmas at the beach. It's pretty cool living here in Paita. Being able to wake up every morning and sitting up in my bed looking out the window at the ocean. I'm super blessed. After we took some pictures we went and explored El Mercado. El Mercado is crazy! People running around, animals, clothes, food, raw fish. You name it, it's there. There is so much fake stuff. Soccer jerseys are super cheap.  Nike shoes. Shirts. Nike backpacks. Bomba. Not sure how you spell it, but that's how you say it. There is no such thing as original Nike here. I love Peru!

 

Nativity at the beach.

My district here in Puerto Paita

Thanks for all of the love and support! Love you all! I hope you all have a great Christmas!

Elder Baker

P.S. Thanks for all the notes for the Christmas tree on my wall. It's super great! I love it!

 

My Christmas tree in my room

 Lauren. I love reading your letters. The Lord has prepared all kinds of people to hear this message though. A missionary in my mission baptized an Evangelical pastor! Cool huh?? Well anyways. Love you! Keep up the great work!