Week 41 - Be The Light

Ninja turtle shirts for Sister Krage's birthday!

Some past sister missionaries coming for a visit!  Sisters Sydnie Pistorious and Elise Allen, Mama Lyons, Sister Krage and I.

Church miracles again this week!:) we had 3 investigators come to church and we weren't really expecting any of them! The first was a man who has been progressing really well but he has been super sick all week. But he was there even though he still had a fever! The second is a woman we've been working with who hasn't been able to come to church for like 4 months. She texted us 15 minutes before church and just said "hey we're here!" We were like WHAT!? And then the third was a woman who we haven't even talked to for like a month. She wasn't texting her back so we decided to move on to people who were ready to progress. She showed and loved it and now we are going to start teaching her and her kids!!In my studies this week, I read a poem from a talk given PresidentThomas S Monson that really stood out. It said,

"I met a stranger in the night
Whose lamp had ceased to shine.
I paused and let him light
His lamp from mine.

A tempest sprang up later on
And shook the world about.
And when the wind was gone
My lamp was out!

But back to me the stranger came--
His lamp was glowing fine!
He held the precious flame
And lighted mine!"

I think it hit me so hard because it reminded me how much others around us can help us during this earthly journey. At times we will be the one to light some one else, but at times we will be the weak one who needs some light, but that's why our Heavenly Father didn't leave us alone in the journey, because he knew we would need loved ones to help us along the way.He also gave us the incredible gift of the gospel. He has reveled it all though out history because he loves each one of his children! I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to teach this amazing truth to others and to be blessed with so many amazing people to hold me up and relight my candle.

I love you all, all is well and God is good:)

Love Hermana/Sister Courtney Baggett

Doing Family History with a recent convert and a member.

Lunch for Sister Krage's birthday with a member of our ward Sister Danyelle Ferguson.

Week 40 - Get in the shower! We're going to church!

First of all, I'm pretty sure Summer came to Kansas! This whole week it has been like 60 to 70 degrees all week and man it's been so nice! It's been nice to drop the coats for a little while and super great because everyone was outside!:) we were able to talk with so many people! It was a miracle to find 5 new investigators and then the 2 sets of elders in our ward were able to find 11 more! It's so exciting to find people who want to learn more about Christ and are ready to change their lives!

Lunch with some of the missionaries.  Elder Amosa, Bylund, Bautista and Antonio and Sister Krage and I!

My personal favorite thing that happened this week was with our investigator for church! She has been really trying to come to church but something always gets in the way every week and this week we were like it's not happening this week!! Her phone was going right to voicemail on Sunday morning and we needed to do something, so we went over to her house right before church to see what the problem was!
She opened the door and was like "oh man I forgot about church!" We were like don't worry, you have 20 minutes before your ride is coming to get you! She was like, no, I don't think I have time. But we weren't just leaving after that! We really were bold about how much she needs this and asked what we could do to help her so we went into her room and picked out an outfit for her and said okay, get in the shower, they're coming in 15 minutes! And she actually made it tochurch!:)
She had an amazing experience and talked about how much she loved being there are we were so grateful our boldness was good! I'm so excited to see her keep progressing:) and this is a perfect example of the little thought I wanted to share this week. Something I love most about being a missionary is seeking people's lives change as they start to apply the teachings of the gospel. You can literally see the change in their face; they're happier and they have a glow of peace and love.

Heart attacking a family in our ward because they just had a baby.

And of course a picture with the baby!

I can personally testify that the gospel has personally blessed and changed me and my family. I know that my family is the way that it is because of the gospel. I can't explain how grateful I am to have been taught the gospel and to feel the difference in my life! I know that although things like, reading the scriptures daily, praying and going to church may seem simple, I know those simple things will change your life.
I hope you all have a fantastic week! Love you all!

All is well and God is good:)Love Hermana/Sister Baggett

We may be missionaries but girls still wanna have FUN!!

Week 39 - They're Getting Baptized

Our District

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!:) we had a festive little time heart attacking a couple of people in the ward and investigators but that was Valentine's Day for us!:)

This week we were challenged by our zone leaders to invite everyone that we were working with to set a date for their baptism. By setting a date it helps them to have a goal; they know what they're working toward and it really helps them to progress. Whether at date is next month or in 6 months, it doesn't matter! But it helps them to stay on track for their goal! So this week we knew we needed to talk to everyone and see what we could do to help them set a date! 2 of them we had talked about it before and they were really hesitant and decided against it, but we knew it was inspired that our leaders challenged us to do it so we prayed to know what to say and talked with everyone! We saw some huge miracles and this week we were able to schedule baptism goals for 4 of our investigators!:) it was so amazing!

Exchanges with the sisters serving in Iola Kansas!

One of them came to church was telling everyone about his date and how excited he is about it!:) this was also the first week that he stayed for all 3 hours of church and he loved it! So this week was so great and I loved being able to see the miracles Heavenly Father helped us to see after we set goals and followed the direction of our leaders.I just wanted to leave today with my testimony of the simple statement of "God is our loving Heavenly Father." It may be simple, but how powerful is that statement? The all-knowing, all-omnipotent,all-powerful being loves me, no matter how insignificant I may feel,he knows and loves me. And I know that he loves each of you as well!I know this church is true and I know that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan designed for each of us.

I love you all:) all is well and God is good!Love Hermana/Sister Baggett

On exchanges with my favorite sister Sister Moss!

Valentine's Day

This was sent to me (Tamara) by a new friend that is in Sister Baggett's ward in Kansas...
Here's a little missionary Valentine's Day love for Tamara Baggett! The sisters were at our house for dinner and we cut out a bunch of hearts for them to decorate doors with. The second picture is the sisters doing Spanish interpretation during our visiting teaching conference. Enjoy!

Week 38- 9 down, 9 better to go!

After a leadership meeting we had at the mission home with President and Sister Vest.  All these sisters are amazing!

Hello friends and fam!! It's been another fantastic week out here in
Kansas and what's even crazier...it was my 38th week on the
mission...that's nine months!! Hitting half way and saying 9 months
when people ask how long I've been out is a pretty weird feeling.
Weird because I still feel like a brand new missionary because there's
still so much I don't know, but also weird because I feel like it's
been forever at the same time! I've loved every minute though and I'm
excited to have an ever better next 9 months!:)

Me, Sister Prior, Sister Montgomery, Hermana Krage having a great time at a training meeting!

Big miracle of the week!:) our investigator family finally made it to
church again!:) they had been once before but things kept getting in
the way for them not to be able to go again. They made it though and
had such a great experience:) we were also able to go to the visitors
center with them this week to watch meet the Mormons and a
presentation about the family! It was a over all great week for them:)

At the Visitors' Center with on of the members and our investigators who are preparing for baptism.  I don't know why hispanics don't smile in pictures...they never really answer me when I ask but I promise they were really happy to be there!

And a little update on my Spanish! People ask a lot if I actually get
to use my Spanish out here. In my first area I hardly ever used it so
I wasn't learning much because I didn't get to practice much. But out
here, we have so many Spanish investigators and there is a really big
Spanish population! We get practice too with translating, they asked
Krage and I if we could translate for a baptism (half the people spoke
English and half Spanish so we went both English to Spanish and
Spanish to English) and also in relief society.

Funny story about translating in relief society! Sister Krage had the
headset on and I was helping her come up with phrases and looking up
words and things but we were both dying because relief society is the
last hour of church and our meetings start at 2, so that means relief
society is at 4 and we were both fasting...your mind doesn't work that
well at the end of fast Sunday!:) hahaha so almost at the end of the
meeting, Sister Krage covers up the microphone and says "comida,
nesesito comida ahora" (food, I need food right now) and she said it
like 3 times! I was laughing and was like, ya know sister it would be
really funny if they could hear you saying that! Then after the
meeting one of the Spanish sisters came up to us and was like, don't
worry sister I'm hungry too! Hahahaha I was dying and she was a little
embarrassed but we all laughed it off haha:)
But for the end of that, I have had the opportunity to speak a lot
more Spanish out here and I love it!

But that's all I have for this week! I love you all, all is well and
God is good:)
Love Hermana/Sister Baggett

One of my favorite sister missionaries Sister Moss

Week 37- I hate thinking of titles of emails

Lunch in the Instacare waiting for our other sisters!

Another great week in Kansas and it was really great because it was 60 degrees! Yeah you read that right, it was January and 60, the weather here is super whacked! Ha-ha but we really enjoyed it! Then cold is supposed to come back next week though so we'll be back to real winter!

A little from this week:) the family that I talk about all the time, the ones that had a huge baptism all together, has my heart again! We were sitting next to some of the little girls who were just baptized at church yesterday and the one that was sitting next to me is 8. Her dad got the Aaronic priesthood 2 weeks ago and this week was going to be the first time he passed the sacrament with his brother-in-law and friend (both of which are also recent converts). After the prayer they started to pass and the little girl leans over to me and goes, "look that's my dad! He's passing the bread!" There was no stopping the tears then! She watched him the whole time and was so proud and happy. It was so incredible to be able to see them pass the sacrament and then even more so that his little girl was so proud of him too:)
We also were able to have one of our investigators at church this Sunday and he is so awesome! He's the husband of a recent convert and he really excited to get more involved in the church himself. He knows that the church is true and knows that it has been the best thing for his wife so we are excited for him to experience this same change in his own life:)

69 degrees on Friday!

And some crazy adventures we had this week....we got a flat tire, had to get a new battery in our car, had toe surgery (for the second time and the better be last in my mission ha-ha) and spent half of a day with another set of sisters because one of them was really sick! But we were able to share the gospel with the people who helped us out so everything is still great:)

Surgery for an ingrown toenail.  But, we're doing great now!

Overall I'm doing great as always and loving the work! Love you all! Make this week a great one! All is well and God is good:)
Love Hermana/Sister Baggett