Week 45 - Snowing on Easter and miracles galore!

Snowing on Easter!

Sister Training Leaders feast!

All the Sister Training Leaders and Elder Seaman at the Mission Office.

This week was probably the craziest week ever!! We had lots of

meetings, lots of lessons and lots of miracles! So I'll just hit the
highlights:)
We went on exchanges with 2 amazing sisters!:) I learn so much from
all these sisters I'm around and I'm so grateful for the things that I
learn from them! We were able to find some new people to teach and
they got to practice their Spanish even though their not Spanish
called!:) hahaha you learn to be versatile on your mission that's for
sure!
We took a giant trip to the liberty jail and Kansas City temple with a
huge recent convert family!:) so enjoy that fun picture!:)

Liberty Jail trip!

Another huge miracle!!:) I've been talking about Royce the last couple
weeks and we have a new update! He and his wife who is a recent
convert had to go to liberty for a meeting and she had a prompting
they should go see the Liberty jail. So she convinces him to go and he
LOVED IT. We talked to the sister who gave the presentation and she
said she thought he was a member because he was answering all the
questions. Then the best part! While they were standing next to the
jail the sister felt prompted to ask if anyone was a convert to the
church in the group. Many people raised their hands and then she asked
if any of them had heard bad things about Joseph smith before they
were baptized. Many raised their hands again and they had a discussion
about how you need to trust the testimony you gained though the Book
of Mormon and going to church and prayed and not all the bad things
you hear. The next question she had she directed right at Royce and
asked how his experience there had affected him and he said he knew
Joseph had so much faith and he knew he was a prophet of God.

ISN'T THAT SO AMAZING!? The sister that was serving didn't even know
any of concerns; she thought he was a member!!! I know that that was
the Lord's hand perfectly because he knew that was what Royce needed.
I'm so grateful that this is the work because he knows perfectly what
we all need.
What an amazing work we get to be a part of!:)

Love you all! All is well and God is good!:)
Love Hermana/Sister Courtney Baggett

Our Spanish class.

After the women's broadcast with our Spanish sisters.

Week 44- How to come to know the church is true

Hola todos!:)
Hope everyone is having a great week! This week was definitely an
adventure for us to say the least:) last week I talked about Royce who
was preparing to be baptized this past Saturday the 19th. He was super
excited to get baptized and had a testimony of all the things that we
had taught, but as I have seen many times on my mission, Satan works
hard on these people who are ready to take the big step of baptism. On
Tuesday, a friend of his told him about a whole bunch of anti-Mormon
things that are definitely not true, but after hearing them he was
super overwhelmed and anxious and said he wasn't ready for this.

It was and is really hard to see him doubt the testimony he has
because of things he heard from others. And as I have said in other
emails with other people, this happens all the time, when people are
so ready and have great testimonies but Satan fights hard right up
until the very end and sometimes he gets the best of us. We pray that
Royce and others who have struggled before their baptism will be able
to remember their testimony and hold to the strength that comes from
the spirit. We have hope and faith that he and the others will
remember and will make covenants with God though baptism when it's
their time:)

Some good things that happened this week though!:) There was another
baptism of a man named Walter. His wife had been a member her whole
life and they had been married for 12 years. Every week she took the
kids to church and he just wasn't interested. When she started coming
home from church looking like she was going to pull her hair out
because the boys were crazy, he started going to church with them so
it wouldn't be so stressful for her. He went every week and even had a
calling but said he needed some answers before he actually joined the
church.

Walter and his family

That brings us to a couple months ago when a member of our ward, who
is really good friends with Walter, struck a deal with him. Walter
really wanted Brother Peterson (the ward member) to run a half
marathon with him, so Brother Peterson said, I'll run it with you if
you read the Book of Mormon and give it an honest chance. Brother
Peterson though Walter would laugh it off as a joke but he said, it's
a deal. And the rest is history! He started reading the Book of Mormon
and 2 weeks ago says to his wife, hey I think I'm going to get
baptized. She was pretty floored, but as she spoke at his baptism you
could feel the amazing spirit in their family. I know this gospel
truly does unite families, I'm seen it with my own eyes and felt it in
my heart. It was one of the most powerful baptism's I've been to and
I'm so excited for this sweet family to go to be sealed in the temple
in a year:)

We also had our first English class this week and it went so well!:) I
love seeing the people who come begin to have confidence in themselves
as they learn something new and it's such a great thing for them to
know living here in the states. I love it all!:)

Teaching at the English class.  Elder Bagley and I and some of our students.

I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in its
fullness though the prophet Joseph Smith. I know we have a living
prophet today, who is Thomas S Monson, and I know he truly does
converse with Jesus Christ so that he can lead us to know how to
prepare before the second coming of Jesus Christ. I have gained this
testimony not only though study and prayer but also application of
commandments into my life. I see this difference and I know that is
because these things are true.

So if you ever have any doubts, or curiosity to know if these things
are really true, do what I did and what Walter did. Read the Book of
Mormon and give it an honest chance. I know that it will change your
life.

We took this after we chased our investigators dog for 45 minutes!   Missionary work includes more than people realize!

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

Week 43 - Miracle baptism and Elder Stevenson

A picture from the all mission conference.

A mission leadership meeting at the mission home.

What a week!:) it was so crazy busy with multiple big meetings and
driving back, forth to independence a couple of times, and teaching
tons of lessons but it was fantastic! One of the most exciting things
that happened this week was with our investigator named Royce. His
wife is a recent convert and he has been preparing to be baptized in
April, but last week we finished everything that he needed to be
taught and we felt really strongly that we needed to invite him to be
baptized sooner.

We are having a temple trip with recent converts on March 25th, so
after a lesson we explained to Royce that we had taught all the
lessons and if he felt ready, he could move his date up to March 19th
so he could go to the temple to do baptisms with his wife just six
days later. He agreed whole heartedly!:) so he will be getting
baptized this weekend and we are so excited for him!:)

Sister Hunt, me and Hermana Krage

Another amazing experience that I will never forget was he opportunity to have an apostle and member of the 70 come to our mission. Elder Stevenson and Elder Anderson came to speak with us and it was an amazing meeting! The part that stood out to me the most though was not what he said, but what he did. The first thing Elder Stevenson did  when he entered the meeting was ask President Vest if it would be okay if he could shake each of our hands. We have over 200 missionaries in the mission and we were all able to personally shake each of our hands. As I watched the missionaries go one by one to shake his hand he smiled wide and genuinely said nice to meet you to each missionary, a quote came to mind. "Even though multitudes followed after Christ, his ministry always consisted of blessing people one by one." I was so humbled with a testimony that Elder Stevenson is truly an apostle of God because he was doing exactly what the Savior would have done if he were the one in the meeting coming to address us. He was blessing us and loving us one by one. It was an amazing experience I will never forget.
I know that we are truly led by a prophet of God and I am so grateful for the direction that we receive. We have another opportunity to hear from the prophet and leaders of the church in just a couple weeks for general conference. I invite you all to prepare for the upcoming general conference and I know you will be able to receive revelation though the spirit as you prepare and watch general conference.
On to another great week! All is well and God is good! Love Hermana/Sister Baggett

Week 42 - I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Sisters Fuhriman, Rowley, Delgado, Moss and Krage after we sang at a nursing home.

CHICKEN FEET! A family was about to cook this up for dinner.  I wasn't too disappointed that we had to                      leave before dinner!

We survived transfers!:) I get to keep my companion, Sister Krage,which we're super excited about! And we are so excited for what this transfer will hold! We had another great week!
Our miracle of the week has to do with an investigator we recently found. We had our first lesson with her and turns out she's met with missionaries before. We asked what she remembered and she basically recounted the lesson about the restoration and asked us if we could get her one of those "Mormon bibles" because she had one before and knows it's true and wants another! She's so prepared!:) we asked her if she knew that these things were true if she would be baptized and she's like yeah I know I need to! We invited her to pray about a day that she could prepare for to be baptized and she said she would, so we will be following up with her soon!
She had a special light in her eyes as she talked about Christ and the restoration. that is one of my favorite things about being a missionary. Seeing that light in people's eyes and seeing how happy they look as they begin to more fully live the commandments. It's so amazing to be a part of this work!:)

This week I just wanted to bear my testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Throughout my mission, and my life in general I have been able to not only learn more about my savior, but to gain a relationship with him. I truly know that he had the power of God, he healed people. Not only their physical infirmities, but of their spiritual wounds as well. He has, and is continuing to heal me and make me better as I strive to live the commandments of God. I know that each of you can feel this healing power and I invite you all this week to pray to know what you need to do to have an increased relationship with him. I know our Heavenly Father will answer you through the spirit.

Have a great week, y'all! All is well and God is good!Love Hermana/Sister Baggett

A selfie with all the missionaries in our ward with our ward mission leader, Brother Wofford!  Elders Bagley, Roberts, Bingham and Reis, Sister Krage and I.

Selfie with the Ramirez gang!