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Sorry for the late email...we cleaned the house forever today and then passed pday with our district so we're emailing now.
I have officially been on my mission for ONE YEAR. [mom note: last Wednesday was her year mark]
I can hardly believe it. The time has passed by so fast. It seems almost no time has passed since I started out my mission here in this very city. But so much has changed. . the members, their lives, my investigators and recent-converts, and me. I've changed a lot. I'm still me, still tripping and falling and making a mess of just about everything, but my perspective of whats really important has changed. My understanding of why we're here on this earth and more specifically why I'm here on a mission has grown. My testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ has doubled and tripled in size. I know that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet on the earth today. It is all so perfect, there is no way to deny it. And I am so grateful to still have 6 more months to continue to learn and grow and to help others know what I know. I want everyone to know this, to feel the happiness that it has brought to me. I have a lot of work to do in these next 6 months and I will be taking advantage of every second.
Sister Trage and I are so happy here and so proud of our recent-converts. José and Leni both received callings in the ward this week. Young Men's counselor and Relief Society counselor, respectively. I love that this ward is helping our recent converts to grow right off the bat with responsibility in the ward. José and Leni are both so excited and it is so satisfying to see their constant spiritual progress. Leni is preparing to go to the temple in September and José is already going to mission prep [mom note: a class designed to help young men and women prepare for missionary service] so that he can serve a mission next year! I love them so much and I am so so proud of them.
To celebrate her birthday (and my one year mark), we ate dinner and cake at Irmã Cecilia's house. She and her husband are from Chile (shout out to Dad, woot woot!)[mom note: Megan's dad served his mission in Antofagasta, Chile] It was so great. The members here take such good care of us. And the scale is proof of that haha.
random stories from the week . . .
+ We cleaned the fridge today. Which sounds harmless, but we were pretty sure that another cat had died in there or something because there was a (probably toxic) smell coming out of there. We spent a good 2 hours at least cleaning and defrosting (right word?) that puppy. Tools involved: sponge, toothbrush, tape, hot water, and elbow grease. This is actually a really dumb thing to write about in my email, but I want cred for Sister Trage and I for our hard work haha.
+ Contacts with Sister Trage are the best thing in my life. Examples ::
PERSON: "I can't go to your church on Sunday because I'll be at my church."
SISTER TRAGE: "You have your own church?? Wow!"
MAN WHO LOOKED REALLY BUMMED: *sitting on the sidewalk looking bummed*
SISTER TRAGE: "What happened? Why are you so sad?"
SAD LOOKING MAN: "I'm just naturally like this."
ME: "What's your name?" (to a man on the street)
MAN: "Michael Jackson. But you can call me Mee-kai-ell Jackson."
#minhavida
+ We had a Zone Meeting this week and we started out with a prayer (kneeling). When we all said amen I went to stand up and as I went up I knocked a giant chair down. And I went down too haha. Sister Trage gave me a (fairly-common) "how did you manage to do that?" look. It's a good question.
+ There's a health channel that everyone watches here and apparently this week there was an episode that talked about the different kinds of poop and how to know if it's healthy or not. How do I know this? Because after lunch a member told us and began to explain exactly which kinds were healthy or not. And the best is that as he described a certain kind of poop Sister Trage looks right at me (because maybe I was concerned about this earlier in the week and described it to her to know if it was normal) and the entire family now knows that my poop is extremely healthy. haha
Well on that note. . . this week was a good one. It was tiring and I'm a little nervous about transfers. I think that I'll stay but I'm worried that I'm going to lose my beloved companion and we have such a wonderful time together and are working so well. But the Lord knows what He's doing so I'm trusting in Him.
Really quick, I got the package from you guys that was in the mission office. It was a 4th of July package and SO adorable. We have already attacked it and eaten almost everything haha. Also, could you shoot a message to the Tolmans thanking them for the package? It got here! I don't have their email. Will you send it to me?
I love you guys! have a great week!
um beijo
Sister M. Baker
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