found some pictures . . . October 2010

such a cute Elder Baker!

He had this one labeled "dork", he may be right!

This must be his district . . . but I don't really know . . . he doesn't say!

  His companion is the poly . . .

He liked the sign . . . He's been on his bike as you can tell from his legs . . .

wearing helmets in the car, really?  silly missionaries!

10.24.10

Dear Fam:
I did get the halloween box, thank you for trying to get me fatter, muchly appreciated . . . we had some kids stop by and I tried to get rid of it, but their mother is not a sugar person.  This Friday is the trunkertreat.  I hope I can get rid of the few bits of candy then. 
I like living with a family much more than out in the appts.  Laundry is free and it's alot nicer and it doesn't smell like crap.  So, I totally like it alot more and no they don't feed us.  They are always gone out doing stuff, but its nice to see other peoples perspective on things.  Especially the Stake President, it's nice to talk with them and see ideas and things we can do.  The ward does feed us, the people here are not very wealthy, so we do eat, just not very much.
This week was a ton better than last week.  After we all sat down with the Bishop and the ward council, I think they understand now what the mobilization is for, and what they need to do so that we can teach and get the numbers of the less active down.  It's been rough with all the meetings and all the phone calls and things, but the ward mission is finally starting to move forward.  I am glad all my blabbing didn't go to waste!
We have 2 investigators this week.  We were trying to get in to contact with a less active and the address is bad but we were able to talk to this nice lady that is Baptist and from Texas.  Elder K and I were able to lead them in a prayer group . . . an hour of holding hands and standing with a bunch of black people yelling halliluaa!!  it was a different experience but a good one.  We stopped by and were there for 2 hours which is a huge no-no but they would not let us go.  We taught them the restoration and they (Martha and her husband Ray) kept saying  - this is affecting our salvation, teach us more.  It was really good.  We are going to set a date with them this week hopefully for some time this week.  Ray has a really bad skin infection, so they go to the hospital alot.  It's a play by ear - and by that I mean the spirit! 
Last Thursday Elder Hinkley and his wife came to visit our mission, they gave some really good insights on mormon.org, what we can do to help the members to make profiles.  It was really good.  He challenged us to clean up our are books and to clean up the less actives.  Elder K and I have been doing soooo much to clean both things up.  I hope the blessings of that will come soon.
We were out tracting Saturday and we got kind of split up.  I knocked on a door and some lady needed some help, so Elder K went to help her while I talked with this big, like really big and black guy (I kinda feel like I am the only white boy within 20 miles) and we talked and he was rushing and so we set up a time to come by on Sunday.  We went back, he opened the door and he and I started talking where we had left off the day before.  Then he looked at Elder K and said "Are you a missionary Mormon like this white boy?"  Elder K said yes and he starts laughing so hard and when he comes to he says "I thought Mormons was just a bunch of clean cut white boys and here you are, a colored boy like me."  It was really nice to clear up a lot of misnomers with him; planting seeds, that's what we are doing, just planting seeds.
The work is starting to pick up and the hearts of those we talk to are starting to soften instead of hard ones - that is such a blessing when people will listen.
till next week
love Elder Baker


Letter #2 to his dad:
It sounds like you had a blast with all the kids!  I am not so happy I missed it, but all is well, the church is still true =)
I have a quick question, In Eagan, we got our car towed and Elder Kinikini and I didn't have enough cash to pay for the car.  The tow yard would only accept cash.  President was kind enough to loan us some money so we could retrieve the car so the price would not continue to go up.  I owe President $175.  There is not a Chase Bank within 50 miles of where we are now.  I would with draw some money from another bank, however I do know that they charge on that withdrawl.  What would be the best way to take care of this situation?  If you could let me know that would be awesome.  Mom seems to continually forget when I ask about that, I think the getting old thing is starting to weigh on her (WHAT, REALLY?  He's in big trouble@!#@~)
How is the new job?  What all is going on with that?  What is your job title?  How is the house selling and searching going?
love your son,
Elder Baker

and #3
Ok, so I was able to figure out all the pictures and stuff and I will attach them to this email.  I have figured out a way to keep all the pictures on this card, so no worries for that.
(however, the pictures were not attached . . .)
I forgot about something . . . we ran into some drunk missippians (I wonder if he meant Minnesotans).  They were giving Elder K a bunch of crap for being such a small Tongan and for being a white Muhamad Alli.  We were able to go back and teach them when they were sober, thank goodness.  As they tell it and now as I am telling you, he said the only reason why they let us come in and teach them was because I am a wrestler - I look like a wrestler and because I want to go into the Air Force.  So that was a huge blessing.  Thank you to my older brothers who beat the crap out of me on the mat and thank you to all my practice buddies and to coach, who knows, the guy may get baptized some day.
ooooo sorry, one more good memory . . . Elder Toumanga is like 270   6'5" and just a huge boy.  The first day out here, he broke the peddle off of his bike, the first day, broke it clean off where your foot is and where it meets the crank.  Saturday he did it again, on the same street . . . on the same corner as the first time and he did exactly the same thing to another bike.  There is a picture on here of the second time . . . (I hope Rhett doesn't let him ride his bike, YIKES    and  no picture!)
Elder Baker

10.18.10

Dear Fam:
This was a pretty event full (interesting words!) week for us, a bunch sure has happened.   Everyday we get just a little bit older and hopefully wizer than the day before. 
How was the wedding and all?  I know it was crazy . . .
I got the picture that you sent of jenni and of Dorie on the phone.  Good job on that, I think you're starting to use all these . . well your starting to know what you can do with it all . . . which is awesome! (He must think I'm totally techno illiterate . . . which of course is true!)
Yes, I am in Shingle Creek North.  We have some south elders as well.  We are in the Brooklyn Park area.  It's a small area.  We can bike from one side to the other in about 45 minutes and then 20 minutes top to buttom.  My comp is Elder Katoa.  He is half white and half tongan.  He has been out one more transfer than me.  needless to say it's been . . . a different situation with lots of talking and discussing.  It's been a ride for sure.  We live with some members.  The man of the house is the Stake President of the area.  The address is 4709 76th Ave. N  Brooklyn Park, MN  55443.
I can read mail during lunch time or after daily planning, so it goes about 15 minutes or 30 minutes a day, i can read, but I cannot write.
Greenie bustin is just the transfer after being trained.  It's the "last" transfer of being a greenie.  After this transfer, I should know how to do most of the stuff and if I don't know how, I know how to find out how to do it.  My comp is 19, he had a rough childhood, was kicked out alot, got into the world and then when he was about 17 he flipped his life totally around and now is here.  He looks like a rough guy, but he has a huge heart.
ooooo and please get those thermals here asap.  The last few days I have been wearing some other ones.  It's getting really chilly at night and the little AZ rat is freezing here already.  Everyone we meet and they find out I am the Arizona missionary, they all laugh and say I am going to have a fun 2 y ears.  I'm glad they think it's funny ; )
No, the backwards dad did not quit smoking, the mom was doing 3 cigarrets before I left the area.  The good new is after that FHE that we had on Monday, the dad volunterred to teach the next FHE.  I am kind of upset that I missed it, but hey, the church is still true.
The ward is pretty much just a huge branch.  There is only about 10% active here and the ward mission are . . . very set in their ways and are very "busy".  We have no investigators, just potentials.  We have done some finding since I got here.  The last transfer in this area was . . . well they didn't do very much so . . . we have been trying to get more people investigating amd more people to come to church.  The only trick is that we have to wait for the ward mission to give us the names for the less active list and than after they pray about it, they are supposed to go visit them.  We have about 7 families here and well, 5 of them have moved since last month.  It's been rough.  Ward coordination was fun on Sunday because the DL Elder Emrich and I tried to teach them and show them how President Perry wants things to go and how what we are doing now is not effective at all and . . . well, let's just say it's been fun.
There's not much of anything here.  We don't have a Khols, we don't have a McDonalds, we don't have much of anything here.  We have a WalMart, a Subway and a liqur stor on every corner, hahaha, silly people.  And there is not a chase anywhere within 50 miles of where we currently live.   So how do you think I could get that $175 in cash? (this is for the fine for getting the car towed, lol) Tell me what I should do.
This week as we have been talking to people, there's been an uproar on the state government here.  They are trying to pass gay marriage here.  That is basically how we have been talking to people.  there has been lots of confusion on what we believe.  We love the sinner but not the sin.  We have also been talking alot about abortion.  It's amazing how people hear all these rummers that we believe that gay people are damned to hell and how they have no chance.  It's nice that after we talk with them we are able to agree that we are all god's children and that we have different challenges in life.  However we should still strive to follow Christ's example.  Even though nonne of us are perfect, we are able to use the atonement.  It is for sure nice to change people's views about the church from negative to positive and to get them to agree with us.
The work continues to go forward and the church continues to be true.  Thank goodness : )
love
elder baker
there are some sweet videos, but it won't let me upload them.  I'll just send them when I leave this area or sometime.

NOTE FROM MOM:  His letter never came on Monday, so on Tuesday after discussions with Dorie and Jenni, I went into his myldsmail account and looked for a letter - it was there in the sent file, but I never received it, so I copied it and here it is . . . it must have something to do with the adding the pictures or videos or something. 

10.11.10

Family:
It is good that Joyce got to the temple on . . . whatever day it was.  I had some stopel waffles (food from Holland) to party over here for that.
I miss that weather (I'm guessing he's talking about the beautiful Fall weather in Arizona).  It's been about 70-80's here and its been nice hahahaha, everyone here is dying from the heat.  They are a bunch o sissylala bed wetters, but sure enough that came around to bite me in the backside pretty hard.... Because I am getting transferred to a Shingle Creek Ward (from the mission map I see that there is a Shingle Creek North and a Shingle Creek South, it's only about 40 miles north from where he was).  It's in North Minneapolis and it's a bike area . . . and I will be there for the winter . . . yeah, fun times!
This week was a good one . . . I guess lots of stuff happened.  My comp got sick on some day this week, like I don't know what day, whatever day I bought that medicine on my card.  I'm sure you saw that (well, I hadn't see it, but you can't bet I went and checked it out today : )  So he got sick, then I got sick, then he got sick again and now we are all good.
On Saturday we were at dinner and had a good time with the Colotze family.  They have an autistic boy and a girl and then a little 2 year old boy.  It's always fun to be around kids like Josh.  It brings back such good memories for me.  ooooo Vanessa, she is awesome.  She wrote me a letter this week and said not to forget my chord for my stupid camera so I can send pictures, so thank you Vanessa, I remembered it and I'll have them at the end of the letter. (Big surprise, he forgot to send the pictures, silly boy!)  Anyways, we had a huge dinner over at the Colotze family.  Then we went to another appointment after that and they had these freaking huge steaks for us and they made us eat with them . . . oooo did I tell you we had two lunches as well?  freak I was sooo full.  I kid you not, I gained 10 pounds that day.  Then Sunday we had a mission fast for Bro. Hinkley and ourselves so we may both understand what the spirit will tell us.  oooo and while we were at our second dinner, our freaking car got towed away!!!!! I walk outside, walk up to a car, try unlocking it, yup, it doesn't work.  My comp says, hey Elder, that's not our car! so we look around, ask some of the neighbors if there was a no parking rule, sure enough there was a no parking rule, with no signs up.  Go figure that one out.  $250 bucks today to get that car out of the impound.  So, if you could kindly put or send $175 cash on my card so I can pay back everyone that we borrowed from, that would be great. (Oh my goodness, seriously? This happens to missionaries?  REALLY?) 
The "backward" family is progressing so much.  At first, Ray, (the dad) was taking little baby steps and now we got him to finally show some interest and to start walking towards baptism.  We were reading the scriptures with him on Saturday and Sunday and he said both times he has really felt the spirit and is really thinking about baptism.  Also, he is only smoking about 3 or 4 cigarettes a day, which is a huge improvement from the 2 packs he smoked and the drinking he was doing.
So, yes I am getting transferred to Shingle Creek Ward, which is in Minneapolis City.  Its' the ghetto and I am going to freeze there.  I need to still get some gloves and some boots and then after that I should be good on winter clothes and all that.  I hope all this spending money, and not making any isn't going to kill me, but all is good, the Lord will bless me.
Elder K is greeny busting Elder Messenger.  I don't know if you remember who that is, but he is still super home sick (He was in Rhett's district in the MTC).  He is having a really ruff time being away from his girl friend and he is super depressed, even more than he was in the MTC.  Hopefully Elder K can help him out.
Haven't I been out three months?  August, September October? . . . Never mind, I am a dork, scratch that idea.
pssh football this, football that, that's all everyone talks about is football.  How is the swim team?  has Ben broken any of my records yet?  hahaha
I am about 175 lbs but I will gain some more weight and my waist is now a 34 . . . so like medium or large. . . I don't really know. (he's talking about me ordering him some thermal garments) In one of my studies, I was reading some where it says, "and the Lord delights in the fatness of souls."  sooooo I am going to get fat because the Lord told us to get fat!
Well I think that is all for another week.  I am sorry it's a short letter, not much has really happened (really, nothing happened this week? sick, car towed, lessons taught, food and more food . . . nothing happened???)
This being my first transfer I kinda . . . got a headache on how it's all going to work and that stupid car thing. Next week will be better I promise. ( I actually thought this was a pretty good letter, but hey, I'm only the mom)
Love,
Elder Baker

I quickly wrote him back and asked him who his new companion was since he didn't bother to mention it and this is what he said:

elder fappouw. he is a polly same as elder k . . .

and now you know the rest of the story!

October 4, 2010

Dear Mom and Dad:
Dad, thank you for your insights on the Priesthood session.  Conference went by so fast and I wasn't able to pick up all the things I wish I could have.  Thank you for sharing with me so I can pick up more.  I am grateful that those talks that were given will soon be printed out so that we are able to study them and get what we fully can out of them.  Conference was super nice in the sense that we (missionaries) were able to rest a little bit and get spiritually refed.  It was quite the experience.  I think it has forever changed the way I look at conference. 
I'm sorry mom I can't remember when I was a sunbeam (I was asking him to remember his sunbeam teacher Bro. Clay White), it is hard enough for me to keep up with the stuff I did last year, let alone 16 years ago.  But it sounds like it was a really good trip.  I kinda wish I was there to help "keep you awake and to travel over the plains" (We call the flat lands outside of Springerville, the plains.)
I'm not having a hard time following the rules, just the get up at 6:30 am part - it's the only one I struggle with.  But he struggles with calling people for longer than 10 minutes and earlier than 10:20 am.  He likes to chat with one of his earlier comps and then talk and talk and talk.  He says he wants my help, I try to help and when I do he just tells me to be quiet or doesn't listen.  But all is well, I am trying.  Up is feeling good, down is not feeling good.
The Book of Mormon reading is still going on.  Elder K loves that phone and we are supposed to read it as a companionship and well, I can't really read it while he is on the phone, so I just sit patiently and then I try to motivate him to read during lunch or at night, but there hasn't been any luck.  We will finish it tomorrow for sure . . . I hope. 
(the guy that played for BYU) His name is something McKiniey.  He is a black guy, he ran a 4.38 40 and he was the corner. 
We are in a pontiac vib.  It's a car and it gets us around.  It's not Ana or the old malibu so it's not my favorite, but all is well.
If you could get the thermal garments that would be greatly appreciated.  My suit pants are already a little tight so if we could cut out a layer, but still be as warm, that would be great. 
oooooocrap, I totally forgot about that stupid cord.  That's my bad.  When we get back to the apt I will for sure put it in my back pack to remember to do it. (i'm wanting him to send pictures, so I encouraged him to put the cord in his back pack and leave it there so he would always have it)
All the investigators we had we have pretty much dropped.  I wonder if it's my worthiness that is stopping us from teaching, or if it is my comps.  President promised us a baptism by the end of the transfer and well, there is only one more week in this transfer, so it better be a quick one.
We have been teaching a backwards, part-member family.  The kids are members but the parents are not.  They have been having the missionaries over for 16 years, a really freaking long time.  As a companionship we decided if you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.  So, we decided to really flip it all around.  We are doing family stuff and introduced family night.  They had never done that before and it was a way sweeeet experience for all the amily.  We have also introduced family prayer.  Both things they say have really brought the spirit into there family - did I spell that right? (I will have to tell him, nope, you didn't)  They have stopped fighting and yelling as much, but yesterday when we stopped by, they had not prayed for two days and they were arguing about Church and nothing really important and so it was great to say . . . see, when you pray as a family, all goes alot smoother, but when you don't, contention rises and it's not all smooth.  The parents have cut their smoking in half since we have jump started all this family stuff. 
It is just amazing how it's family time that is where most memories are kept and also where the most help is.  It is in the family, not friends, not books, not any other thing.  It is the family, family gospel time. 
The church is so true, I cannot say it any simpler than that, but it is so true and it has changed my life so much and for sure will continue to change my life.  Thank you mom and dad for introducing this great blessing and help into my life.  That saying that goes - you never know what you have till you don't have it . . . well scratch that . . you never know what you have till you don't have it, OR you teach/help someone who doesn't have what you have.
Well, another week has gone by.
I love you,
Elder Baker
P.S.  leaves change color and then fall to the ground? and it gets a little chilly at 50 degrees? Minnesotans are freaking crazy!