Week 71 - The temple and conference

My sweet companion Sister Morgan

Hey everyone!!  We actually took lots of pictures this week so we have some good ones!:) But it was a great week!

We started right after praying last week by having our weekly FHE with a family in the Ward! We talked about the plan of salvation and it was so wonderful to hear their testimonies and so we felt prompted to have them post a picture with us with their testimonies. They were so excited to do it! So tonight we're excited to be able to follow up and see if there was anything they felt prompted to do because of it! Our testimonies can really make a difference in someone else's life; so put your testimony out there:)

A great surprise at the jail!:) Royce and Gabriela came to visit!! They came to tell me they are going to the temple on Tuesday to do baptisms for the first time, and since I’m so close to the temple right now they're going to let my companion and I go as well:) that's what this work really is all about, uniting our families and helping us to come closer to Christ:) I know the temple does that for us! 

On Saturday we went to a baptism with a Ward member in Kansas City. Sister Morgan was serving there last and a person she taught was being baptized so that's why we went back, but the member we drove with was he craziest driver!!! Hahaha driving down the middle of the lanes and just laughing and chatting the whole time! Sister Morgan and I were like, good thing we're missionaries and the Lord is looking out for us! The baptism was amazing though:) the woman who was getting baptized had quite the week before, just as Satan always does, he tries make every baptism not happen. Her brother passed away a couple days before and she didn't know if it would all work out, but even though it was hard, she said she knew she needed to get baptized now!! She's pretty amazing:)

Sister Morgan and Mary

And of course we had women's conference and will be having General conference this weekend!:) I know we will all be able to receive answers to our questions as we listen to the testimonies of our leaders. If you have any doubts, questions or worries about the truthfulness of the church, I know if you listen with an open heart with a real desire to learn, the spirit will testify of the truthfulness to you. 

Have a great week everyone!

All is well and God is good:) 

Love Hermana/Sister Courtney Baggett

Balloons at the Liberty Jail!

The Russell Family

Petting the members donkey!!

Week 70 - Gethsemane, Jesus Loves Me

A couple of fun things from this last week! I went on exchanges with Sister Hixon and she's super great! We were in their area and taught a lesson to a man who is preparing to be baptized next week! He is super excited and is working hard to not drink coffee or alcohol so he can be baptized on that day:) anyway, he is a very passionate person and we were talking with him about the word of wisdom and he was getting pretty colorful in his language ha-ha so Sister Hixon was just like, "Hey Tim, watch those words" and he was like oh yeah sorry, and proceeds to finish his thought with out the words. He says, "if you do those things, you're going to dang yourself to dang-nation!" Hahahaha don't worry Tim, you can say damnation it was a pretty great lesson, but he is so excited to get baptized! 

And a little something a guest taught me on a presentation this week. We were talking about the trial that it would be for Joseph to be in the Liberty Jail, and he had an interesting perspective. He said, maybe part of the trial was a protection, things were so violent in Missouri at the time, and people had already tried to kill him. Maybe part of the reason he was in the jail was to protect him, because no one could get to him. It was just a thought, but I think he made a very good point. Sometimes the hard things that we go though end up being a protection for us that we may not understand. So not only can we learn from those trials, we can learn to be grateful for them along the way. 

This week the Primary president asked us to come in and share how we prepared to go on a mission with the kids. We got there a little early so we were there for the last part of their singing time. They sang the new primary song "Gethsemane" and I felt the spirit stronger than I have in a long time. They sang the simple but powerful words and those small children taught me with their powerful words about our Savior that they knew were true.  I just wanted to put some of the words here and testify that just like those little ones, I know Jesus loves me, and he loves each and every one of you. 

Jesus climbed the hill
to the garden still
His steps were heavy and slow
Love and a prayer, took Him there
to the place only He could go

Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
so He went willingly
to Gethsemane

He felt all that was sad
wicked or bad
all the pain we would ever know
While His friends were asleep
He fought to keep
His promise made long ago

Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
so He went willingly
to Gethsemane

The hardest thing that ever was done
The greatest pain that ever was known
The biggest battle that ever was won
This was done by Jesus
The fight was won by Jesus

Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
so He gave His gift to me
in Gethsemane

Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
so He gives His gift to me
from Gethsemane

Sorry this is short this week, but love you all!

All is well and God is good:)

Love Hermana/Sister Baggett

Exchanges with Sister Hixon

And you have to do something fun every once in a while.  haha  New face masks with the lovely Sister Morgan!

Week 69 - Something to learn from everyone

With the Wilsons,  A senior couple at the Jail!

After playing ultimate frisbee on PDay!

My lovely Sister Morgan and I at our favorite place Longboards!

When you're on a mission you get the opportunity to get to know so many amazing people, and from all different walks of life! They've lived all over, experienced so many different things, learned so many lessons and we get to talk to them!! Pretty incredible opportunity to be able to learn so much all at once! I just wanted to share a couple of things people taught me just this week:)

Work and sacrifice bring forth the blessings of heaven A member family in our Ward helped me to understand this so much this week!! They have a beautiful home and live on a small family farm. They have a super cute red barn, beautiful horses and they seem to have the greatest life. Their mom is a relief society teacher and so the stories she has shared in class and also the times we have had lessons with their families I learned how they were able to get to where they are today and that is a whole lot of hard work! When they bought the land the house was a huge fixer upper, but they had a vision so they got to work! For 5 months they didn't even have a kitchen because it was under construction, but they patiently continued to work to build the dream. Now their house and their land is gorgeous! But it is still so much work. Their kids are learning how to keep things running and they know the importance of working hard to be able to be what you want to be.

The importance of the sacrament Yesterday we got a call from a woman who is working to return to activity and she was so upset because she was taking care of her mom who was just in a car accident but it meant she wouldn't be able to go to church. So she called us and said she knew she wanted to know if the sacrament could be brought to them so she could still recommit to our Heavenly Father by making those promises again. We were able to have her home teachers take the sacrament to her and she was so grateful. It was just an amazing example to me how much we really do need to go to church to partake of the sacrament every week.

You need to LOVE This is something that I have learned over and over though our my mission but my companion, Sister Morgan, has helped me so much to understand the importance of love. Love is the greatest motivator it really is what everyone needs. When people feel they are missing something in their lives, every time it can be filled with the love our Heavenly Father has for them. This world could always use a little more love.

Bear your testimony often We had a couple of meetings this last week and a couple other missionaries helped me to understand the importance of bearing our testimonies often. The doctrine is important, it's what we live by, but if we want people to understand why we live the way we do and why it would be beneficial for them to like the same way is by bearing personal testimony! Share with people how you know it's true and how it has blessed you:)
I just wanted to leave you with my testimony that I know Christ is our Savior. I know we have prophets on the earth to lead and guide us just as we did in times of old. I know Joseph Smith was a called prophet of God to restore Christ's church in it's fullness and I know the Book of Mormon, along with the Bible, is the word of God. I know this is true because I've studied, I've prayed and I've worked hard every day to live it. Living a Christ centered life and doing my best to follow his example has made me into the person I am today, and will continue to make me better forever. I'm so grateful for the gospel and my testimony:) if anyone has an extra 5 minutes this week, I would love to hear your testimony! Especially how you have come to know and how it has blessed your life:)
Thank you for always uplifting and encouraging me!!
All is well and God is good:)
Love Hermana/Sister Courtney Baggett

Exchanges with Sister Guerrero

Exchanges with Sister GC!

My Jail Sisters!

Week 68 - Missionary Minded

Liberty MO!!

All the Visitors Center and Jail sisters with President and Sister Vest.  Elder and Sister Toronto and all our senior couples!

Hey hey y'all! I guess another week has gone by and every week I
struggle to know what to say to start these emails...oh well you'll
have to do with my lack of creativity! Haha but I'll tell some stories
like I love to do!

There is a less active member who has been wanting us to do service
for her and we want to help but she has had some pretty crazy life
events and it keeps falling though. So last week we were pretty
shocked to see that her and her husband, who is not a member, were at
church! We were so excited:) she said even though life is crazy she
knew she needed to make time for this. Her husband has never been
supportive of her in church, he didn't stop her but would never be
open or anything like at. UNTIL NOW.

We went over to their home later in the week to see how she was doing
and her car wasn't out front. Her husband's was though, but he usually
doesn't answer the door when we come. We decided to knock anyway and
he comes out to talk with us!:) we had a good conversation about how
everything was and we just asked if he would let his wife know we had
stopped by. We didn't say anything about church but as we're walking
away we were like "See ya!" And he said, "yep we'll see you at
church!" Sister Morgan and I walked off the porch as normally as we
could and as soon as we walked around the corner broke into a silent
dance moment! Hahaha of course we had the celebrate the miracle! He
wasn't lying either, because they came to church yesterday again:) the
wife has told us as well that she really wants us in her home and she
wants to hear the missionary lessons again so we are going to ask her
husband to join us and they can do it together:)

And yesterday at church was just super great! I love fast and
testimony meeting:) and on top of that there was a family who is
returning to activity in the church that blessed their baby:) living
the gospel really does bring families closer together! Quite a few of
the members bore testimony of missionary work. It was so awesome to
see because this Ward is seriously stellar! In the past they have
always loved missionaries, but not so much of doing missionary work or
working with the missionaries. That has completely changed! They are
asking us to come over so we can teach their families and are telling
us about their friends that they want to invite to read the Book of
Mormon and all kinds of great things! It has been amazing to see them
understand what this work is and why it is so important and
exciting!:) our 40 day fast will start tomorrow and I know great
things are happening here and I'm so excited to be a part of it:)

I love being a missionary! All is well and God is good:)
Love Hermana/Sister Courtney Baggett

Fun on PDay with Sister Helmbold and Morgan

Pancakes for breakfast with the Emmetts

After her first week in the mission she's pretty zonked..hahaha what a champ Sister Eraso!

The jail crew!