Week 28- Thanksgiving and buckets of rain!

A cute picture in the rain...just because.

A great week this was! Busy as always but missionary work is so exciting!

This week was thanksgiving as you all know and it was a fabulous
holiday! We went and had dinner with a member family in our ward, the
Atagi's! We went early to dinner to help make the food and Sister
Helmbold showed me up because she cooks like a champ! We were able to
meet with a couple of our investigators as well and serve at the VC so
you couldn't ask for a better thanksgiving!

Denise and Tui Atagi and Sister Helmbold at Thanksgiving dinner.

Another fun thing that happened is week was right after Thanksgiving
of course it's time to start up Christmas! There was a little lighting
ceremony at the visitors center for them to start turning on the
lights outside and they did a little devotional and they had some of
the sisters hold candles outside and sing and it was a little rainy
but it was great:) (and I'll add pictures of the VC all decorated and
the lights next week!)

Sister Helmbold and I by the VC Christmas tree.

Going along with the rain, it started raining thanksgiving day and has
been raining ever since...seriously it's been four days and the roads
are starting to look like rivers! I experienced my first freezing rain
which was interesting...the snow is much better that's for sure haha.
Freezing rain is when it rains but when it hits anything it freezes,
so we have car doors frozen shut and windshields that are a solid
sheet of ice, ice rink sidewalks and icicles hanging off everything!
Then the roads are super slick too so luckily it thawed out quick so
we could drive! It wasn't an ice storm like I've heard they have here,
but I guess it was a nice intro to that!

When we got soaked from the rain but I'm the only one that looks wet...awkward haha.
Me, Sisters Delange, Helmbold and Olsen

This week was also incredible for our area! Especially one day, it
didn't look like much would come out of our day due to the schedule,
we had our 3 hours of studies and then lunch, and we would only have 2
1/2 hours in our area because we had to be at the visitors center for
our shift. We only had one set appointment with a less active and we
didn't know who to see after. We had a list of people we could try but
didn't feel like we should go to any of those people so we were
basically at a loss. So what do you do when you don't know what to do?
Pray obviously! Haha so we did exactly that and felt like we should go
visit a member and ask if they had any neighbors they thought would be
interested in hearing an uplifting message. We felt prompted to visit
a certain sister in our ward so we went and asked if she had anyone we
could visit and she pulls out a little notebook and gives us eleven
referrals. ELEVEN. That's the most referrals I've ever had in a week
on my mission and we got them all in one day!

So off to work we headed to contact all of these referrals and only
had time to contact one house because we ended up teaching them and
getting 2 new investigators! It was such a miracle and I know that
members really are the key to this work! We could have gone and
knocked doors and maybe found some success but we were able to use our
time wisely and find people quickly who are prepared to hear a message
and already have friends in the church! So to all my lovely friends
out there, reach out to your friends and neighbors! EVERYONE can
benefit from living the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is made for
everyone:)

This week was an all-around great week here in Missouri as I hope it
was for all of you where ever you may be! I love you all and hope you
have a fantastic holiday season, remembering the true reason for the
season:) talk to you all soon and as always, all is well and God is
good:)

Love Hermana/Sister Baggett

Sister Morgan and I on Pday

Week 27-"I'm praying with my eyes open, or else I'll fall asleep"- Sister Helmbold and I's life

Boy band picture when all the missionaries in the Independence 3rd ward match!
Sister Helmbold, Elder Blake, Elder Umperriez and I.

Hey all!

The title of this weekly letter basically explains the week that
Sister Helmbold and I had haha.  We have been so tired that we can't
sit for very long or we'll zonk out, but that means we're working hard
right?:)  I was talking to one of the other sisters, Sister Allan, who
is going home this transfer and she goes, oh don't worry it only gets
worse!  Good thing I have the spirit to move me along, or man, we
would have crashed a long time ago!  I've never been this tired in my
life, but at the same time I've never been so happy!  I still don't
quite understand how it all works...hahaha but I'm the happiest I have
ever been and there's no where I'd rather be than here in Missouri
teaching about the restoration of the gospel:)

Some miracles from this week!  Last week we took our investigator and
her son to the visitors’ center to watch the Joseph Smith movie because
she was having a hard time gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith being a
prophet.  And the end we invited her to pray about the things we had
been talking about and really testified about how she can gain her own
testimony.  She said she would!  So we called her a couple of days
later and asked if she had received an answer, and she said she had!
She didn't say specifically if it was yes or no, but she said she
wanted her husband to come and watch the movie too and wanted him to
be more involved!  She may not have told us specifically if she knows
the church was restored yet or not, but with how excited she is about
her husband being involved everything is pointing to the fact that she
is gaining a testimony!!:)

Seeing this change in her from when we first met her about 3 months
ago has been so incredible.  She said she feels a difference in her
life and knows that Heavenly Father is blessing her and her family
because they are doing the right things and following his commandments
as they meet with us.  Sister Helmbold and I have had plenty of times
that we sit on speaker phone with her and dance around or cry because
of how happy it makes us to see this change in her life!:)  There is
nothing better than being able to see someone become happier because
of the changes they are making to come closer to our savior.

Another miracle from the week is I have been praying for weeks to have
an opportunity to use my Spanish.  There are a couple ward members who
speak Spanish but also English, so I have them talk to me in Spanish
so I can practice, but nothing huge and I just really wanted to be
able to use the language I have been called to speak.  That prayer was
answered this week when we went to visit a youth in our ward. She's 16
and is totally active, but neither of her parents are members and her
brother is less active.  She gets rides to church every Sunday and has
the strongest testimony and we felt we should visit her to see how she
was doing.  I actually wasn't at this specific lesson, we were on
exchanges but this girls dad sat in on the talk and the sisters were
able to teach him a little bit!  His daughter translated for him
because he doesn't speak a lot of English, but they read in Ether 12
and he said that he would read the rest of the chapter and we could
come back to talk about more!  So we get to go back and I can teach
him in Spanish!:)

This may seem like a little thing to most people, but this was such a
blessing for me and I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers,
however insignificant they seem to others. I know this is the work of
the Lord and I am grateful and humbled to be able to be a part of it.
I'm so grateful for all the amazing people I have the opportunity to
meet.  All these faithful ward members, our investigators, the elders
and sisters I serve around and especially my companion!  I love being
a missionary and I hope this Thanksgiving week you will all be able to
find things you're grateful for as well!

I love you all!  Thanks for everything and all your support, and
happy thanksgiving!:)
And as always, all is well and God is good:)
Love, Hermana/Sister Baggett

Lunch break groupies haha
Sisters Helmbold, Krause, Peterson and Allan

Teaching center, where we answer phone calls and take chats from people who have questions about the church on Mormon.org with Sister Prior.

Matching Royal shirts for fun at pday sports at the stake center.

Week 26- Keep on mission-ing on!

Stopping by the Royals Stadium on pday.  World series champs.  Sisters Flake, Morgan, Helmbold, me, Allan and Peterson.

A week of all kinds of crazy!! Everything at the visitors center has
been pretty slow in October and November due to the fact that people
aren't traveling as much, but this week was a completely different
story! The BYU game was here in Missouri and it felt like school had
come to the mission and it was the weirdest thing.... all these people
wearing their BYU gear! We were planning on being busy, but the BYU
fans didn't fail...we had our busiest day on record! Almost 1,500
people came in in one day and it was CRAZY. But so fun too!


Another exciting moment of the week! Some sister in another ward
called us up and said they had a referral for us! They had been
teaching this cute little family and they were moving, into our
ward!!!!:) ahhhhhh!! So we got together a group of members from our
ward, bunch of missionaries and we all went and helped them get moved
into their new house! It was so awesome and we are going to go by this
week to help them get moved in a little more but they are the sweetest
family and we are so excited to teach them:)

One of our less active members that we've been working with the whole
time I've been here came to church this week! She has made so many
improvements and I can see the light growing brighter and brighter in
her face. That's one of my favorite things, if not my favorite thing
about my mission; being able to see people's lives and their faces
literally change, they become full of light and hope and it makes me
so much better along the way too.

I know a lot of crazy things have been going on around the world and
hearing about them can sometimes worry people. But hearing about them
has just strengthened my testimony of the need to follow the
commandments. It is easy to slip into doing little things that may
seem insignificant, but we don't want to risk slipping. Don't walk on
the edge! Follow the commandments the way we have been asked to and
that is how we will feel that safety and comfort.

I love all of you! And no matter what happens remember, all is well
and God is good!
Hermana/Sister Baggett

Sister Helmbold and one of our ward members.

Chiefs and Royals

Sister Morgan and I at the KC stadium

Week 25- Be excited about the restoration

My beautiful VC sisters.  Top: Sisters Delgado, Wilkey, Olsen, Flake, Hixon, Delange, Allan, Marshall, Moulton
Middle row: Sisters Day, Rowley, Hunt, Me, Moss
Botton row: Sisters Jones, Krause, Morgan, Helmbold, Peterson
 If any of you noticed, Sister Moulton and I graduated High School together after we swam together for 4 years.  Now we are serving together!  CRAZY  how that works!

Hello everyone!

Another great week here in the good ole mizzou! Something I've loved
is we have had a long fall!:) the falls in Utah are usually like 2
seconds and then it snows....hahaha but this whole past month has been
beautiful fall weather and I love that:)

This week was killer though! We were able to teach so many great
lessons and our investigators are progressing:) the best part of it is
though; most of our investigators have come from member referrals! The
awesome part about investigators coming from members is they already
have a friend in the church. Someone they can feel comfortable asking
questions to or talking with and they don't have to be afraid about
sitting alone at church! These member referrals have been helping so
much so we've been doing everything we can to keep them coming!

To keep it going we've been teaching member families the message of
the restoration. It tells us in Preach My Gospel, the missionary
manual, somethings we can do to get members excited about missionary
work. "For example, help build their faith by teaching them the
message of the Restoration and other doctrines of the lessons. Help
them feel the Spirit and power of our message. Strengthening their
understanding of the doctrine of Christ will do more to increase their
trust in you and to build their excitement to do missionary work than
anything else you can do." So if we're following PMG we should be
teaching members too! We had our first lesson like this yesterday and
the spirit was INCREDIBLE. Hearing the message of the restoration can
help anyone's faith grow. Whether you're not a member, a member, a
bishop, a missionary, or even the prophet, it doesn't matter! When we
study the restoration we will feel more of the spirit and will receive
a witness that it is true and the church and the power of God has
truly been restored. I invite you all to do that this week:)

A miracle of the visitors center this week! Sister Helmbold and I were
the sisters ready to take the next group when this couple came in. We
were getting to know them and they let us know that he was a member
but she wasn't, and they were coming in because she was going to go to
church on Sunday and he thought this might be a good place to get some
questions answered before they went to church. Well guess what, you're
right!! This is basically the best place!:) so we talked with her
about the Book of Mormon and why it was important and her friend bore
such a powerful testimony of the gospel in his life. The spirit was so
strong and she said she wanted to read the Book of Mormon!!:) she gave
us her address so we could have missionaries come talk with her after
she went to church and unfortunately she's not in our ward but the
sisters who serve in her ward were there so we introduced her to them
and she is going to meet with them! So exciting!:)

I know there are people everywhere who are ready, like this woman is,
to hear this gospel and to make covenants or promises with our
Heavenly Father. We just need to find them:) it's not just the
missionary’s job though! Reach out to others; help them understand
what gives you comfort and hope in your life. That's really what the
gospel is; it's comfort and hope.

I know this church is true and it has honestly changed my life.  I've
been on my mission for 6 months now and I am not the same person that
left Utah in May. I'm have changed so much all for the better and I
know that change has come though the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I love all of you and am grateful for your love and support! Nos vemos:)
And don't forget, all is well and God is good!

Love Hermana/Sister Baggett

After playing tennis last pday!  Me, Sister Flake, Sister Morgan and my amazing companion Sister Helmbold

Out to lunch last pday with the elders and sisters!

Week 24- Dream Big and then get to um!

The Visitors' Center sisters decided to inspire our outfits on Disney Princesses for Halloween.

Friends and family,
I love you all! I know I say this often but I really am grateful for
all the support and love I have from home. It helps so much to know I
have a fantastic support system at home so thanks again:)

This week was transfers and I have again changed pday, visitors’
centers work a little crazy like that sometimes haha but I love it!
This past week has been full of crazy and wonderful things as always!
First of all, transfer week is always crazy:) I think being in an area
like normal missionaries are it wouldn't be too bad because you can
focus on the work and not bring up transfers. But in the visitors
center we're with 18 other sisters and elders come in all the time
with their investigators so it's kind of hard to avoid! So
everyone was on pins and needles for the transfer call. We usually get
a recorded phone message on Tuesday night telling us where everyone is
going on Thursday morning, but it wouldn't send out due to technical
difficulties. So the assistants to the president came into the
visitors’ center to read the roster to us.

 It's probably the weirdest transfer because they ended up keeping
almost all the sisters in the visitors’ center, but swapped up all the
companionships! It's super confusing because everyone is still here
but with a difference comp...haha it's fun though! I am now with
sister Helmbold, still in the same ward though, and I love her so much
already!! She came out with me and we've been serving together at the
VC for almost 5 months so we're good friends and now working together
is going to be fantastic:) we are already running crazy to accomplish
all the things we feel inspired to do!

My new companion Sister Helmbold and I.

One of our main goals we have this transfer is to act on promptings or
ideas right when we get them. This is something I want to extend to
all of you as well! I have always struggled with having all these big
plans and dreams and then never actually get to them. That's so sad,
look at all the opportunities I missed! But not anymore, we are going
to accomplish those big dreams!

And example of what we've done about following our promptings and
plans was we had the idea to do these things called “missionary go kits”
to give to ward members. It has a copy of the Book of Mormon, lesson
pamphlets, pass along cards, the works of missionary supplies! We
wanted to set goals with ward members of when they would be giving
things to people from these go kits.  So we have this fantastic idea
of how to get the ward excited about missionary work now when are we
going to do it? TODAY. We got with the elders in our ward and made 50
of them that day, called our bishop and he loved the idea and we
started handing them out to ward members the very next day and the
ward loves it! Getting the idea and accomplishing it feels so good
and the spirit can work with us so much more when we QUICKLY respond
to his promptings!

So I guess after this incredible week of working with members and
following promptings quickly I guess I have 2 invitations for you! 1)
When you get a prompting to do something, do it that day! No more of
this "oh maybe tomorrow" junk, do it today! And 2) be a member
missionary and carry a Book of Mormon with you, or pass along cards!
You will be amazed at how amazing it feels and how addictive it can be
to share the gospel!:) I know you will be blessed for your efforts and
will feel more of the spirit in your life as you do these things.

I love you all! Hope all is well at home, just like it is here! And
don't forget, all is well and God is good:)

Love Hermana/Sister Baggett

Our investigator at the Visitors' Center with us.  I LOVE bringing investigators to the VC because the spirit is so incredible and it really helps them to progress!  Left to right: Hermana Lamb, Sister Hunt, Dileisi, me and Hermana Delgado.

Happy Halloween!:) Sisters Flake, Helmbold, Allan, Moss me, Morgan and Wilkey