Probably the best way to teach others is by example... - 3/9/15

9 de Marzo 2015

Once again, another week in the Mision Peru Tumbes has flown by... jajaja. But for real. Time is going by so fast! And I'm probably not going to have tons of time to write today because this morning we played ultimate frisbee on the beach for like 3 hours. So I'm pretty burnt, but honestly it was one of the most fun p-days that I've ever had! 

P-day playing ultimate frisbee on the beach.

Bridge crossing the river Tumbes

This last week was sweet! So on Tuesday we had to travel to Piura. We had to travel in the morning, and we traveled in El Dorado. Not the most comfortable bus ever, but we arrived to Piura! So that's what really matters! We went over to the mission office and met up with the Assistants and then for the afternoon we went on splits with the Assistants in their area. I was with Elder P so that was super cool. It was fun working with him again! Something crazy happened! Definitely a first of the mission. And I'm almost certain a last as well. We went over to his ward mission leader's house. He is a chiropractor (or however you spell that) and we started talking with him and he looks at me and says, "Your posture isn't the greatest. But I can fix it with 15 minutes of therapy. Do you want therapy?" So I said yes. Not entirely sure what I was thinking, but he made me take off my tie and made me lay down on the therapy table and started cracking my back, putting my body in positions that I didn't even know were possible. Honestly everything he did hurt so badly. But after 20 minutes he finished and says to me, "Now how do you feel?" And I thought about it and absolutely nothing in my body was sore or hurting at all, and I felt super peaceful. It was crazy! That 300 lb. Peruvian works miracles! jajaja. That was pretty cool.

 

On the bus heading to Piura

Me and my companion at the mission home

Wednesday was our leaders council in the mission home! That was super cool because honestly tons of people there were from my group. There were only 28 people there. And of those 28, 12 of them finish with my group! So there are tons of good friends there! The meeting was super great. President talked to us about what it means to be a leader. We, as leaders in the mission, have a big role in whether or not this mission is going to have success! We talked about the importance of a good example. Probably the best way to teach others is by example. But you have to be an example in every moment possible. Not just in some instances. We also talked about the importance of working together with members. And also about the importance of the Book of Mormon in missionary work! It was a super great conference! And for lunch we ate lasagna so that was sweet! Anything that doesn't have rice is amazing! And then after the conference we had to travel back to Tumbes. Traveling isn't the most fun thing ever. Six hours on buses without air conditioning are rough... but we made it back by 10:30. Hopefully that's the last time that I have to travel until April! 

 

With all the elders from my intake group!

The rest of the week went by super fast. We had our zone meeting on Friday. I used to always look forward to the zone meetings. But as a zone leader, they are a little bit more stressful because we are the ones that have to teach them. But it turned out great! It was actually kind of fun being able to teach the zone meeting. Our zone here is super great! It's super cool being able to work here in Tumbes. The Church here isn't as strong as it is in Piura, but we have this giant blessing of being able to help it grow! 

It's been raining a ton here in Tumbes. There have been lots of times when we have been out in the streets and it starts to downpour so we find somewhere to stand out of the rain for a few minutes until it passes. I kind of like it though! It's something that hardly ever happened in Piura! My favorite part though is that after it rains tons of giant frogs come out and are jumping all around in the street. It makes me laugh! ;) The bad part is that it makes it more humid so it feels hotter. And when it is more humid more mosquitoes come out. Right now there are tons of mosquitoes. I have like 25 bites right now on my ankles. They always bite me through my socks. But I'm going to start wrapping my ankles in ace bandages before going out to work so that they don't bite me! jajajajaja. PERU PROBLEMS.... 

J C has been passing through this difficult time, but he is determined to stay active in the church! He really is an amazing man! 

My companion and I don't really have many great investigators right now. We have a few that are kind of interested, but not any super promising investigators. Honestly Tumbes can be pretty hard. But my companion and I are sure that this next week we are going to be able to find some new people to teach!

Thanks for all the love and support! Love you all!

Elder Baker 

The months are turning into days! - 03/2/15

2 de Marzo 2015

Holy Moly! February has already come and gone! The months are turning into days! 

This last week was great! I honestly love my new companion! He is super sweet! His name is Elder M. I probably told you a little about him last week! It's super fun working with him! Because we get along super well. And even though we both have been in the mission quite a while, we both are still super excited to work! Time is going by super fast! I really have trouble believing how fast it goes by! 

Lots of stuff happened this last week. For lots of the time I had to help my companion get to know the area and get to know the members. And another thing that we did a ton this last week was talk to new people. Right now we have the goal to talk to over 100 people a week. This last week we talked to 81. This week we are going to talk to more though! Talking to people can be funny. At first it scared me so bad. But in the mission I have learned to just do it. Now it's actually kind of fun. Because you never know what people are going to say. Some people are super receptive. And some people are straight up rude. But my companion and I don't let that get to us. We just laugh about it and keep going. And it actually has helped us out a lot this last week because we really didn't have many investigators. But we were able to go find some new ones this last week! We figure that maybe 10 in 100 people will become investigators. And maybe one in every 100 will end up being baptized! We have some pretty high goals set for us! But we are super excited to keep working! 

Sunday night we had a meeting with President Rowley, the stake president here in Tumbes, and also the other zone leaders from the other zone. We have that meeting once every month. We talk about how the missionary work is going in the stake and changes that we need to make. That was a pretty cool meeting! The stake president here in Tumbes is super cool. It's fun being able to work with him! So we are excited to keep working here in Tumbes. The church has only been here in Tumbes for 25 years. So it is still relatively new. But it's growing! So that's great!

Today for Pday we watched Meet the Mormons with President Rowley and the 2 zones here in Tumbes! That was sweet. I had heard tons about that for so long and was dying to see it! So I'm super happy that I was finally able to see it! It was super good though! Probably my favorite part was the Bishop from Atlanta's dance. jajajajaja. That's crazy. And then afterwards, some of us went and ate Pollo a la brasa. I love pollo a la brasa with Inca Kola. I'm gonna miss that a ton after the mission. 

Tomorrow we have to travel to Piura for the leaders’ conference which is going to be on Wednesday. So I'm pretty excited about that! It should be super fun. I'll try to take some pictures this time... I hope we get to eat in Chilis--that would be the best! Because there are hardly any restaurants that you can trust here in Tumbes! They closed Dominos down. But not just in Tumbes—in all of Peru because supposedly they found a rat in one of them in Lima. So that's kind of a bummer! I was super happy with Dominos here! But anyway, speaking about pizza, our pensionista goes to Ecuador every weekend to visit her family. And this week she brought us pizza from Guayaquil! That was super sweet! Our pensionista here is the best! 

Sorry there's not more time today to write!!  We are pretty busy! But I'm doing well! I love you all! Thanks for all the love and support! 

Elder Baker

P.S.

That sounds super sweet about the BYU basketball game vs. Gonzaga! Sounds like BYU has a decent team this year, but they’ve had lots of ups and downs. Hopefully next year they will be better! ;) Love you! 

I’m grateful for piano. Even though I never applied myself to learn, I wish I would have. But every morning listening to piano music helps me feel the spirit! I love music for real! 

We were going through our room and throwing tons of old papers away and we played basketball with them. We are not very good though--that's why all of them are on the floor. But anyway, after we finished, I realized that it looks just like the game Paper Toss for iphones. jajaja

I really have met some of the kindest people in the world here in Peru! - 02/23/15

23 de Febrero, 2015

Hey guys! How is it going! Time is flying by here in the mission! Seems like just yesterday that I got here to the mission. But 14 transfers have already flown by! I'm down to just 3 transfers left... :( I'm going to make the best of it though!

This last week was the last week of transfers. And we were super busy as zone leaders because there were tons of things that we had to do. But our zone had 6 baptisms! So that was cool!

Saturday we received the news about transfers. So at noon we had to go to internet to print out the sheet with all of the transfers on it. We got on, and we found out that my companion was being transferred to Piura and that I was going to be receiving a new companion here in Tumbes. His name is Elder Maturana and he is from Chile. He has 21 months in the mission and only has 3 left. But he is a super cool missionary that I met a while ago and I'm super excited to be companions with him! So Elder Dominguez left this morning and Elder Maturana arrived at about 1:00 this afternoon. I'm going to love this next transfer!

I enjoyed my last week here with Elder Dominguez. He really was a great companion and he taught me a ton! I'm super grateful to have been able to work with him! We were busy pretty much the entire week doing baptismal interviews and taking care of some other problems. But it was a good week!

Saying goodbyes to Elder M!

My pensionista and her family!

We decided to do some exchanges with a companionship in our zone and help them work some problems out. So I got to go with Elder B in his area and work with him for a day which was super sweet! I met Elder B back in May when I was in La Unión. So it was super fun working with him for a day. He is from California. And he is super tall. Normally here I feel like a giant, but next to him I felt small again. I'm sure that's how I will feel when I get back to Utah... But anyway! That night we got talking about sports. And before we realized it was already 11:30 and we had been talking about sports for an hour and a half. jaja. It was super fun though! He is a great missionary. He got transferred today though to Sullana where he is going to be a zone leader. It was a great day with him!

We got a crazy call from the sisters on Saturday. They called us from the emergency room telling us that they needed money to pay for the visit and to buy some medicine that they needed because Hermana O got stung twice by a scorpion.... That's something that doesn't happen every day!

I'm super grateful for the new bishop here in the ward! He is super excited and willing to work and to help us out! So many times this last week he has come with us to visit some less active members! And we are seeing progress! Yesterday there were over 130 people that came to church! Which is a lot more than normal!

So my birthday was on the 16th and the Bishop's on the 17th. So on Tuesday night they had a little surprise birthday celebration for the 2 of us in the church. There were more than 50 members there with birthday cakes for us! It was super cool! They sang happy birthday to us and made us take a bite out of the cake and as you go to take a bite they shove it in your face and you are all covered in frosting. jaja. The members here in this ward are great! It was a super great birthday! I may not have been at home, but I didn't feel too far from home! I'm so grateful for loving members! I really have met some of the kindest people in the world here in Peru!

So Junior C had to go to Matapalo this week to work. So we weren't able to teach him, but he did come back on Saturday night and came to church on Sunday! This week we are going to be teaching him more! His dad is doing great! J C is a great convert! He is going to be a great leader in the church!

Today Elder G came to Tumbes from Sanchez Cerro, my old ward, in Sullana. And he told me that our convert,T L is doing great and is one of the most active members in Sullana! I'm so grateful to have gotten to know T! It makes me happy hearing about converts that are still active in the church!

I'm doing great! Love you guys tons! Thanks for all the love and support that you guys give me!

Elder Baker!

P.S. - Tumbes is hot. Literally. Sometimes I think I'm going to die from the heat. But after taking a cold shower I'm able to calm down a bit..... jaja. 

Birthday Eggings and Talent shows! - 2/16/15

16 de Febrero, 2015!

Well I'm no longer a teenager! Thanks for all the birthday wishes! This birthday was super sweet! And it's still not over! I'm pretty happy that it was P-day. Because I got to spend it at the beach! 

Nice little birthday at the beach... :)

Here in Peru it's tradition to break eggs on peoples' heads when it's their birthday and pour flour all over them. So today at the beach, the zone brought eggs and got me. It's not so much fun when it's your birthday, but when it's other peoples' birthdays it's super fun to get em. The beach is like 30 minutes from Tumbes and by the time we had gotten back to Tumbes my hair had turned into dough from all the eggs, water and flour. jaja. But it was super fun! 

This last week was super great! I don't have much time to write about it but I'll try to include the exciting parts. 

This last week we had a ward talent show! It was on Friday night and we 4 missionaries in the ward and our ward mission leader planned it all. And it was a huge success! Tons of members and nonmembers came! We were kind of worried that everyone was going to be super shy and not want to share anything. But the members came super prepared with tons of talents to share! It ended up lasting a good 2 hours! And everyone left super happy! 

Another great thing about this last week is that we have an investigator that is progressing! It is Junior C. I told you guys a little bit about him last week. He is JC's son. And he is super sweet! We taught him about the Book of Mormon. And in 4 days he had read up until 1 Nephi 10! I'm super excited about teaching him! He came and sang in the talent show. And the young single adults in the ward had a party and he went to it and enjoyed it a lot and got to know more members of the church here in this ward!

Another cool part about this last week was that we had exchanges with Elder C and Elder R in the zone. Elder C came to my area with my companion and I went with Elder R to his area! It was super fun spending a day with my son, as they say here in the mission. He has changed so much since the last time that I saw him! He has learned a ton! It was super fun talking about all of our times in Paita. I miss Paita tons! I will never forget my time in that Branch!

 

Exchanges with Elder R. This was exactly one year since he got to the
mission and we traveled to Paita together.

I really don't have much time to write this week. But I love you guys a ton! Thanks for the birthday wishes! I'll write to you next week! 

Elder Baker

P.S. - That's crazy that the weather is so hot. That's not right! I hope there is moisture coming. Or else this summer is going to be a super hot one! It's going to be like Piura! jaja. 

...there is something different about Piura. It's like being home! - 2/9/15

9 de Febrero 2015!

Hey guys, how are all of you!?!? I hope you're all doing well! I'm doing well here in Tumbes! This last week went by so fast! But it was fun!

One of the reasons that it went so fast was because this last week we had to travel to Piura! So, the first week of every month we have a leadership council in Piura for all of the zone leaders and for the sister training leaders. So that was on Wednesday. But here in Tumbes we are about 6 hours from Piura by bus. So anyway, Tuesday afternoon at 3 we had to travel to Piura. It was actually pretty fun though! It was my companion and me, Elder M and Elder R, and Hermana O and Hermana R. We ended up traveling in Oltursa. Normally we travel in El Dorado which is a lot cheaper. But Oltursa is like the nicest bus company in Peru and it only cost like 12 soles more which is like 4 dollars. And they have nice comfy seats that you can lean back, and they come around and serve you dinner and drinks like in an airplane. And there is air conditioning! It was honestly so nice! You didn't even feel at all the travel. It was a 6 hour bus ride but it went by so fast! 

It felt so nice to be back in Piura! I honestly love Piura! Being in Tumbes is great. I love the experiences that I'm having here, but there is something different about Piura. It's like being home! We got to Piura at about 8:30pm and we headed over to the mission home to help President Rowley get everything set up for the training the next morning. And while we were there Hermana Rowley gave us Apple Pie. That was pretty sweet! After that we headed over to the mission office which is like 4 blocks from the mission home where we stayed the night. We ended up ordering pizza. It didn't get there until like 11 though. It was the slowest delivery ever! But it was pretty tasty! 

Wednesday we had to be in the mission home at 9 in the morning. It was super fun! I love those training meetings where you get to see tons of people that you haven't seen in forever! And I also love every opportunity that we get to hear from President Rowley! He taught us a ton. He talked to us about the importance of being leaders. He talked to us about the importance of our examples. And we also talked a lot about commitments and how we can help our investigators to keep their commitments. It was a super great meeting! I enjoyed it a lot! It ended at 3 and we had to go over to the office to pick up some things to bring back to Tumbes. Our bus left Piura at 5:30 to come back to Tumbes. The only problem was that it was in El Dorado and not in Oltursa because in the afternoon in Piura there are no Oltursa buses to Tumbes. So we had to travel back to Tumbes in a super uncomfortable bus with lots of noise and lots of sweat because it was super hot. But by 11 we finally got back to Tumbes. I was so happy to step off that bus! It was a great experience, except for that it wasn't....

Things are going great here in the ward! Wanna know why? Because we have a Bishop! And a Bishopric! And they reorganized lots of the presidencies in the ward! I'm super happy about that! The ward finally has the direction that it needs! And all the members are excited to get to work! So I'm super duper happy about that! That is what I had been praying for! 

My companion and I really didn't have any investigators that were progressing after JC's baptism. So last Sunday we decided to fast to be able to find new people to teach! And wanna know what?!?!?! We have some super great new investigators now! 

The first one is Junior C. He is JC's son who is 21 years old. He works with his dad, but he really wasn't that interested in listening to us. But over the last couple of weeks we have been trying to gain his confidence and this week we were able to sit down and teach him for the first time! And we had a super sweet lesson with him where he opened up and shared some things about his life and we were able to help him feel comfortable that there really are answers and solutions to the problems in our lives! Sunday he came to church for all 3 hours with his dad! And he met tons of the young men and YSA in the ward! So we are going to continue teaching him! I'm super excited! 

And my companion and I this last week were able to find a family to teach! This family is super sweet! It is a young couple that has a 12 year old son and a 9 year old daughter! We actually talked to the father of the family a couple of weeks ago in the street, but we weren't able to find him in his house. But this week an appointment that we had fell through and we decided to pass by his house again. He and his wife were preparing some food that they were going to go and sell but they invited us into their kitchen and we talked to them for about 30 minutes and explained a little bit about us and we scheduled an appointment to go back and visit them on Sunday night! So last night we went back and they were there waiting for us! And we were able to share part of the first lesson with them and they were super receptive! I'm so happy! Our prayers are being answered! 

I really am so grateful to be here on the mission! It's not easy, but it is so worth it! Thanks for all the love and support you guys give me! 

Elder Baker 

P.S. - Yes, I did get the birthday package that you sent me! Thanks so much! My companion and I opened it and ate all the candy. I know I probably should have waited until my birthday but I just couldn't wait! It was great! Thanks so much!

My pensionista is sweet! This last week she cooked us tacos. They were so good. The thing I love most is that she serves us little to no rice! ;) So don't worry about me too much! I'm happy! :)

Sorry no pics this week. I didn't take any pictures. Next week for sure though! Love you all!