Rochester, MN

September 19, 2011

dear fam.

Now that you say that stuff about grandpa I remember you saying something like that when I first said I would be coming here. Sorry I didn’t pay a lot of attention to that.

Treats are good, butterfinger, twix, gum … ummm the stuff you normally put in a box for me whatever it is, is always nice =)

Yup, there were a few chilly days … had to wear a little sweater not much. But I already miss the heat and humidity. The first frost came as well. People are saying that means snow earlier too.

Ok so info about Rochester. 2nd ward is mostly singles and interns and residents.  Tons of little kids, 4 nurseries and 2 primary’s. They have church right before us and gooodness is it loud in there. How they feel the spirit is beyond me. The zone leaders cover that ward, Elder Browning and Potter. They also cover 4th ward which is still younger, but kids are more in the teen years and that ward is right after us not a lot of info there. Elder Marks and I cover 3rd Ward, we cover the Mayo section but don’t have a lot of residents, more IBM and other backs. We cover a large portion of the city of Rochester, seeing that we are the only bike area in the 5 wards here. Our ward is very focused on Spanish work, they seem to be struggling finding people to teach ... i don’t know why Spanish people are so receptive but then unwilling to continue to meet. I have been able to use a little Spanish getting referrals and what not. President asked me to stay strictly to English, soo i am trying :)

There is lots of energy and excitement and smart people here. I got a dictionary awhile back to help me with reading Jesus the Christ and it’s also coming in handy for when we contact people. Using big words … yyuuuuuccckk!  I don’t know about first ward or 5 ward they meet in a another building, but from the small talk, all the wards are somewhat missionary minded and younger folks. In the Rochester zone there are tons of missionaries that used to be assigned as zone leaders and then there are also a lot that leave Rochester to be a zone leader. Lots of heavy artillery here it seems. I haven’t been able to figure out why I’m here yet but hey if that’s what the Lord wants He can have it :)

  

Maybe dad just needs like a metal suit like iron man that way he can do all the stuff he wants to without hurting himself :) that would be pretty cool.

Well this week was a really good week. We were able to pick up 5 new investigators.  Robert is one of them. He is 21 I think. It’s a little strange teaching someone my same age but I’m happy to do it. He has quite a pit of potential. He has previously given up smoking, drinking, partying, but he is living with a less active already returning member Meagan. She is 20.  Meagan was baptized when she was 16 went out with the sisters as much as possible but then fell of the deep end for a while. Robert started living with her and they are changing for the better :) that was a sweet find. Robert also does construction stuff right now he is replacing roofs, or something like that.

Heaven is the next one, she is dating a member Corey Wood, who is a less active. They are both 18 I think … been dating for about a year. I hope the gospel will help them out and get them to be who the Lord wants them to be. I’ve learned quite a bit about keeping a prayer in my heart when we teach them. It’s the only way to go now that i have realized that.

Julie and Lance Condron. The missionaries have met with them a lot, about for a year straight. When the missionaries were not here they saw what a huge difference in their lives with how close they are as husband and wife but also how close they are to God. They all started to drift apart. We did have to clear up some anti and that is never fun. Anti is so disgusting. How another Christian can rip another Christian church and put it as equal to dirt, just makes me sick!

Condron’s have been able to read from the Book of Mormon. They are an older couple. I think 4 kids and they have all moved out, they are kinda like you guys, old ha-ha.  And the last one we got yesterday his name is Mark. We were having dinner with a member, the Herds. He wants to be an anesthesiologist, or umm the person that puts you to sleep before the surgery. They had just signed up for dinner Sunday and it turned out to be for the better. Mark lives on the other side of the street.  Mark is an orthodox Christian and knows the bible extremely well.  He tore his acl in a skiing accident so lucky he is home a lot. He had surgery about 4 weeks ago I think, so still in a lot of pain and not mobile. He is in his mid 20s. His dad’s side of the family is LDS, and I can’t remember much more. When we meet with him later he is going to bring one of his friends over as well, probably more anti. But hopefully he just wants another friend to hear the truthfulness of the restored gospel.

Other interesting news ... a cable for my bike snapped. It’s the one to shift my back derailleur. It got stuck on the lowest gear so going up hills was quite a challenge trying to pump my legs. there are quite a few hills here. There’s also lots of corn fields, open space more up north in our area. We cover like city, city and very country country.

I think that covers this week pretty good

love you

elder baker