Hermana Courtney Baggett-Missouri, Independence Mission
Missouri, Independence Mission
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Friday, November 18, 2016
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Äldste Baggett and Hermana Baggett
Sunday November 20th 1:00 p.m.
Hermana Baggett will be speaking as she is returning home from the Missouri, Independence mission. Äldste Baggett will also be speaking as he prepares to serve in Sweden.
Our sacrament is at 1:00 pm and you are welcome at our home for food and visiting right after the meeting. Members of our ward are encouraged to attend our block and we would love for you to come at 4:00 to eat and to visit. Our ward building is located at 9894 South 2700 West and our home address is 9668 South 2950 West in South Jordan.
Monday, November 14, 2016
From the Momma!
Sister Baggett was our first missionary and we had no idea what we were doing when getting her ready to leave. Everything has been a learning experience for us and I hope that we have done a good job. During these past 18 months, there have been ups and downs, many ranges of emotions and just plain happiness. There is something really special about having a missionary out. One thing that I was not prepared for is the sadness that her mission is over. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to see her in a few days, but I will miss the spiritual connection and communication that we have had every week. We couldn't be more proud of Courtney. I have throughly enjoyed updating this blog every week and will have it made into a book for Courtney so that she can remember what an amazing missionary she was. I know it is hard to transition back into the world but I hope Courtney will remember “Onward, ever onward . . . forward, pressing forward!” The familiar anthem of missionary work also makes a fantastic motto for post-mission life. A “press forward” attitude bids a joyous farewell to the past and turns with purposeful optimism to the unfolding future.
I get a three week break from weekly blog updates as Charlie will be leaving soon. I will close the door to this chapter of our daughter's life and open the door to Sweden! Let the Swedish experiences begin.
Love,
The Momma
I get a three week break from weekly blog updates as Charlie will be leaving soon. I will close the door to this chapter of our daughter's life and open the door to Sweden! Let the Swedish experiences begin.
Love,
The Momma
Week 78 - Grateful for my mission
I never thought
this day would come but here we are and it's my last Pday. But a weekly email
from Sister Baggett would not be the same without a miracle story, so we'll start
with that!
The best story from
the week was a follow up on Bruce who I talked about last week. The Ward
stepped up big time to make sure this Veteran's Day Service thing happened. A
couple member families decorated boxes and a couple others made homemade
cookies to give to the vets. They we met with the youth on
Thursday night to put together the boxes and Bruce came and gave a little
presentation on the importance of Veterans Day and he was able to meet and talk
with many of the members. The youth loved his presentation too!
So then we get all
the boxes together and then Friday which was the actual holiday, we
sat outside the Texas Roadhouse because they were giving free lunch to vets and
had some scouts there to hand them all out! We were worried we had made too
many boxes to hand out, but the 30 we made were gone within 15 minutes! Everything
just worked out so perfectly and Bruce and some other Ward members started to
plan of how they could make next year even better and bigger!! It was just such
an incredible thing to see all the Ward come together to serve and help a
man accomplish something he knew would be a good thing. It really is one of my
favorite feelings to be able to help someone accomplish something they are
passionate about.
Veteran's Day service with Tami, Sarah, Bruce and the boys. |
As I've come to the
close of my mission I have been feeling an incredible amount of gratitude.
Before I left on my mission I felt It would be a sacrifice for me to go out for
a year and a half and not think of my personal plans, to only think of others.
I thought I was coming to Missouri to help others change their lives and so
they would understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. Little did I know then on of
the biggest reasons I needed to be on a mission was so Heavenly Father could
change my life, so he could help me understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Those others things happened like I thought they would, but my mission has
truly changed me. I'm still learning and I still have a long way to go but I am
so grateful for all my mission has done for me. One of the biggest lessons I
learned was that my mission really wasn't a sacrifice on my part, but it would
have been a sacrifice for me not to come. A sacrifice of getting to know
amazing people, getting to feel the spirit so strong every day, getting to see
people change their lives, a sacrifice of time with my savior. It would have
been more of a sacrifice not to come.
I hope you all know
that I have a testimony of Jesus Christ, he is truly our Savior. The Book of
Mormon is the word of God and when we read it we can feel the love from our
Heavenly Father. I know that when we live the gospel of Jesus Christ, we will
be happier than we ever can be with out it. I have had more support on my
mission than I could ever dream of. Thank you to all of you, my mission would
not have been the same without all of you. Love you all and see you later this
week.
Love Hermana/Sister
Courtney Baggett
The Neilson Family |
PDay lunch. |
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Week 77 - Temple Tuesday
Change of Pday because Sister Morgan
and I got to go to the temple today!:) I love to be able to attend the temple
and feel the incredible spirit that is there. So this next weeks we'll be a
great one because we started off with the spirit!
Temple Tuesday with my fav! |
My favorite story from this week is
with a man named Bruce. He is a retired army veteran and has many injuries
because his time in the service. He is a member, but hasn't been to church for
a long time. We were in his area and the sisters in the past had had some
contact with him before so we wanted to meet him and see how he was. When we
first started chatting he said he wasn't really interested in changing his
life, so we asked if we could do anything to serve him. Nothing came to mind
but we had a great conversation with him for about 20 minutes and then
left.
As we were driving away we get a call
from him and he said he thought of some service! He said he knew it was short
notice, but we could do something for Veterans Day if we really wanted to
serve, and then ideas started flowing. Of course that's not too short of notice
for us! We set up plans with some Ward members and they jumped on the idea.
Before we knew it we had families making boxes and homemade cookies to pass out
to vets on the 11th. We wanted to get the youth involved, so for activity night on
Thursday Bruce is going to talk to the youth about the significance of
Veterans Day and then we will be assembling all the cookie boxes. We had had so
much contact with Bruce since our conversation on Friday and we know
that this will help to bring us all together! Service and love bring light into
our lives that we all so desperately need.
And to follow up on the truck driver
we are teaching over the phone. We call for his lesson Sunday afternoon
and he goes, funny you called, I'm with Sisters Gudgeon and Oldroyd (the
sisters who had been teaching him in Cameron, Missouri) right now and we just
got back from church and we are going to the Independence visitors center right
now! Haha not very often you get a call like that from your investigator!:) he
was in town during a weekend so he was able to meet with the other sisters and
go to church. I'm so excited to see him keep progressing.
The weather is holding out here, it's
still very nice! I tell everyone it's because I sent my coats home in June and
so I told Heavenly Father it couldn't get that cold until I go Home because I
don't have a coat! Haha we did have a pretty crazy hail storm though, so that
made it interesting!
Our hail storm after they had melted for awhile. Some were the size of a quarter! |
Other than that all is well here.
This week I have been pondering a lot about how much my mission had done for me
and it just leaves me in a feeling overwhelmed with gratitude. I had so
grateful that God would allow me to be a part of these amazing experiences. I
wouldn't trade any of it for the world.
All is well and God is so good:)
Love Hermana/Sister Courtney Baggett
Me, Allie and her little brother and their brand new kitty at dinner! |
Lunch with some missionaries after a meeting. |
Our special visitor Sister Prior comes back to the mission! I sure do love all my sisters who will forever be my sisters:) |
Monday, October 31, 2016
Week 76 - The gospel really can make you so happy!
Lego Party |
Our Sisters at the 8 Witness Monument |
Also the happiest part of our whole
week was we had people come to church!:) if you remember the family we started
teaching who had a picture of the temple on their mantle already? They are so
prepared to receive the gospel in their lives! The father's parents are members
so they came with them to church and everyone loved it. The kids especially!
They had to leave a little early because they had a prior commitment, but as we
pulled the kids out of primary they were like, we're leaving already!? The mom
texted us after and said that her whole family loved church and she felt that
we were heaven sent. And I know that we were because the spirit guides us to
know where to be! I love when people being to understand how happy living the
gospel really can make them. That's one of my favorite things about being a
missionary:)
All is well and God is good:)
Love Hermana/Sister Courtney Baggett
Julia and Elise Marble with Sister Morgan and I |
Trunk or Treat |
Monday, October 24, 2016
Week 75 - Ain't no party like a Holy Ghost Party!
The Liberty 1st District. Elders Leary, Mogan, Bytheway, Christiansen, Reis and Anderson. Sisters Morgan, me, Hixon, Anderson, Flake and Jorgensen |
"Ain't no party like a Holy Ghost party cause the Holy Ghost party don't stop"
I went on an awesome exchange this week with Sister Anderson!! She is such a great missionary and something she taught me this week was how important it is to be kind to yourself and to listen. Words that we use with ourselves can be very destructive. Would we say to others thing that we say to ourselves? Often times probably not. But we are just as important and special as the people we love! The need to listen is so important as well. When we listen we show people we care. So show someone you care this week and listen to their feelings and their thoughts.
Friday was Sister Morgan's birthday so happy 21 to her!:) and then Saturday we went to Kloe Russell's baptism. She just turned 8 the day before and was so excited to be baptized!
Kloe Russell's Baptism. |
Love you all and hope you have a great week:) all is well and God is good!
Love Hermana/Sister Courtney Baggett
At dinner with the Hansen family playing with their lizard :) |
Sister Morgan and I matching one day. |
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