Thursday, December 29, 2016

Doorbell Ditches and Stolen iPad

Hello friends and family!

Thank you so much for all of your love every week!

 I had an awesome Christmas this weekend! We went carolling with the Wapiti Ward Elders and the Tagalog (Filipino) Elders on Christmas Eve. We had a blast delivering goodies and singing. :) We also saw some widows and had a delicious dinner! After dinner we did some doorbell ditches (ring the doorbell and run!) with treats! That was fun service! We read the Christmas Eve Story in 3 Nephi, chapter 1 that night too! :) Also, I finished the 4 gospels in the New Testament before Christmas so that's awesome!







Christmas Day we opened gifts, read Luke 2, and went to church. Oh! ...and we skyped home and we got to serve a lunch for homeless people at a bar. It was a super fun time!
Recognize these guys from home!?!

 Earlier last week we had exchanges in Ft. St. John! It was a blast! I got to go there with Sister Young. we had an awesome time! Anyway, I don't have all that much time. But yeah, I need to go! So I'll email you next year!






 Love you all so much!

Sister Baker

So...My ipad keeps getting stolen at meetings -.- haha!







Saturday, December 24, 2016

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Grande Prairie!

Hello friends and family!

First off, thanks for still loving me and being patient with me while I was the worst emailer the past few weeks! All the apologies! Let me try to attempt to catch you up to speed!

Last week I was transferred to Grande Prairie, the most north I've ever been.... ever! Last weekend it was -40, but this weekend it was 2, so it got a lot better! I'm serving in the Bear Creek Ward as an
STL (Sister Training Leader). It has been such a blast to be in another leadership position, I think one of my favourite things is counseling with other mission leaders and President Pattison to try to figure out the best solutions and game plans for the mission. My companion is Sister Priestley. She is from Preston, Idaho. She came out with me in August of last year but we've never met until now! She is a farm girl and a dancer and she's just awesome! I'm excited to serve with her this transfer!


 A lot has happened this past week! Since I was transferred to Grande Prairie, I've been in Edmonton almost as much, between conferences and meeting and such! This past week I got to go to BC for the first time! We had to go pick up some Sisters in Ft. St. John that got in a car accident. The drive, though pitch black, was beautiful! Then we had sleepovers until last night! Haha! We drove down to Edmonton on Thursday and in the 5 hours it takes to drive there my companion taught me how to solve a Rubik's cube! Man, that was fun! That night we had a MLC meeting and it was a blast. One Elder made a comment on one role play about how he is trying to eliminate the words "just" and
"maybe" from his vocabulary. We are not "just" missionaries, we are servants of God. We don't want people to "maybe" do something. We need to be bold! It was pretty powerful. I also got to be companions with sister To for a role play! Man, I miss her! Anyways, then we had a sleepover with Sister Bischoff at the Sherwood Park pad!






 With Christmas approaching, we had our mission Christmas Conference! Well, it was broken into two because there's so many of us! But ours was on Friday. It was so much fun and so sweet! The Pattisons really want the best for us! We got to sing a bunch of things and listen to some awesome inspirational messages! We also got to do a cute gift exchange. I got camouflaged toilet paper curtesy of one of my zone leaders -.- haha! We listed to an awesome Pentatonix worthy performance of "Mary, Did You Know" from some of the missionaries too! We got lots of chocolate and a cute little turkey dinner while we watched more talent! The Pattisons put together a really sweet slideshow
from back home with all of our little Christmas baby pictures in it! (You may recognize Elder Acorda from back home in good old Ontario!)



Anyways, after the conference we got to go to the temple as a zone! Man, it's been a while! I seriously love the temple! It's so peaceful and I always learn so much! Anyways, then we stayed another night in Sherwood.

Saturday we drove the 5 hours back up to Grande Prairie and then we got to see a bunch of people and go to the Wapiti ward Christmas party! It was a blast! We had some investigators go too and it was just awesome!




Then we had church on Sunday and Sunday night we had a combined ward musical fireside and all of us missionaries sang a song called "Dona Nobis Pacim." we sang it at Christmas Conference in a round!

I'm still loving the #LIGHTtheWORLD initiative! Hopefully we will be going to a soup kitchen on Christmas Day to help out! I'm excited!


Love you all and I hope that you just have a fabulous Christmas! ❤️❤️

Stay rad!

Sister Baker 🇨🇦🍁

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Praying with Santa and Hot Chocolate Floats

Hello friends and family!

Oh man! Today will be insane. Because I am leaving Wainwright!!!

Bahhhhhhhh! It's so crazy! So we have a lot to do!

 But I'll tell you about our week! Wednesday we had fun with Christmas! We helped decorate an entire old age home with some high school kids! Boy, that was a lot of Christmas! Then we did a bunch more things and even met with Devon, who we love! We met him in a cafe we really like, and
when we were just about to leave, Santa, who we also love, came and sat down! So I turned to him, because the three of us were in a rush, and said, "Well Santa, would you like to pray with us?" The look on Devon's face was priceless! But Santa said yes, so we just prayed with Santa in a cafe! Pretty sweet! Oh! We took pictures with him this week too!

Anyways, we've been doing lots of family history this week, and man, finding a name for someone else is so happy! I can't wait to find ancestors for myself back home! :)

On Thursday we saw a bunch of people and did some service and started our #LIGHTtheWORLD initiative and it's been a blast! Check out the videos and try out the challenge with me! Oooooo! There's a picture of my candles compared to Sister Jarman's. I had two nights of experience ;) Haha! We also got to eat the best bacon in the world that night! Yummm!


On Friday we got to go to the high school to help cook a seniors banquet there! That was fun too! Ohhhh! Saturday! Man! Stuff happened! We literally went to Saskatchewan... like to the very east of our mission! We took a road trip and stopped in every little town we could! The very first town we stopped in, the very first door was a lost sheep! A sweet lady answered and we are pretty positive her husband is a member of the church! So that's crazy!


Anyways, then we stopped in another town, then we were driving to Winter, because it seemed like such a sweet little town, and it turns out that there is no Winter! There is literally a gravestone for the town! It's crazy! Anyways, we then drove to Unity, the furthest part of our area and mission and contacted a ton! We went to this trailer park and the ice was soooo thick there! So we were walking to the last couple of trailers and I slipped and fell so hard and ridiculously! Man! It was awful! I wish you could see all my bruises! Anyways! Then we ate dinner at the border of Saskatchewan and Alberta and took pics and made a video, so enjoy!




On Sunday we got to meet Devon's family! They are so sweet and we love them so dang much! His twin brothers are turning 6 next week and want us to come over so bad! They're adorable! So that was a blast! Then we had a chocolate party with Santa and the Orr's! Have you ever tried a hot chocolate float? Try it! Especially if Santa makes it for you!



Yesterday we hung decorations at our favourite cafe! And ate yummy sausages and butternut squash for dinner, yum! It was an awesome week!

I have loved being a DL and I have loved Wainwright and have learned so much here! I am excited to move on to new things! :D



Love and miss you all! ❤️

Sister Baker 🍁🇨🇦