three cheers for wifi cameras

Links in red (click for more info)

It's always a good day when emails show up and say "From: camera@samsung.com" Today we got pictures from Megan's camera as well as a few from Tammy, a member in her area, via Facebook. 

It seems from the first few pictures that her feet, ankles and legs have taken a bit of a beating. She talks briefly about it in this letter. I'm sure by now the swelling has gone down. The bug bites however may be a continual problem...she's always the one getting bitten on camping trips and outdoor adventures. And we'll excuse the serious need for a pedicure since she's losing herself in service haha

Any pain in her feet must not have lasted long since this looks like a Pday excursion to try on shoes. (No explanation from her for any of these pictures so I'm guessing) Missionary or not...girls will be girls. I love that she is enjoying trying on shoes that I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have any interest in at home

Megan and Sister Garcia

Sister Garcia and Sister Cieslak

Sister Garcia, Megan and Tammy's daughter

Megan and Sister Garcia. I love that Megan is wearing her Stately Type t-shrt. I'm a huge fan of David Lesue's work. This Brazil tee is the perfect Pday shirt. 

Tammy and Megan

Megan and Sister Garcia

Sister Baker and Sister Baker (there will be another Sister Baker joining them in the mission in about a month)

Megan and Sister Porter. Megan and Sister Porter connected via Instagram when they both posted about their mission calls to Natal. Although they had talked before the mission they had never met until this (which I think is at a Zone Conference) 

Sister Garcia, Sister Olla, Sister Cieslak and Megan. I believe that Megan and Sister Garcia share an apartment with Sister Olla and Sister Cieslak. Sister Garcia and Sister Cieslak are Brazilian and Sister Olla is from El Salvador,  I think, but has lived in the US so she speaks Spanish, English and Portuguese

So curious to know what is going on in this picture

We are grateful for Megan's sweet trainer, Sister Garcia

week 6 . There's MORE SOL in MOSSORO (you dont pronounce the L in sol so that actually works as a pun okay?)

[mom note: the post titles are all Meg. I am not the one grasping at straws to make a pun. All her.)

Links in red (click for more info)

Well it's official! I'm in the CAMPO! (mom note: field)

Wow. I have so so so much that I could write about this week, but I'm short on time (and a bunch of people sent me emails that I needed this week so I was reading those which took up time. But thank you thank you to each and every one of you who emailed me. If I didn't reply it's just because I'm so short on time today, not because I didn't love your email. Because I did.).

So yesterday I said bye to my sweet sweet CTM Sisters (and cried a ton) and got on a bus with all Elders. I was literally the one and only sister going to Natal haha. I slept through the entireeee flight. Like before the plane even started moving until we had landed. So exhausted. Then we got to the airport and met up with Pres and Sis Soares and the APs and they were all SO nice. Took a bus to the mission escritorio (mom note: office) and a chapel and met up with all the missionaries who would be our trainers. The Elders didn't find out until later who would train them, but it was fairly obvious for me since I was the only sister haha. My mãe (mom//trainer) is Sister Garcia. She is the absolute sweetest person I've ever met. And she's hilarious. Thank goodness. She keeps calling me her filha (mom note: child/daughter) and taking wonderful care of me.

I genuinely feel like a baby here though. I have no idea what's going on or what anyone's saying so I just smile and laugh a lot (which is definitely why babies always laugh, they just don't know what's going on). This is also the reason why I think babies cry a lot. It's definitely pretty frustrating not being able to talk to people or only understand them half the time. The language barrier is killing me right now. But I know that as I work hard and exercise a lot of faith, that will pass and I will be able to speak Portuguese. Heavenly Father has promised me that in my mission call. So I will preach the gospel in the portuguese language. It's just going to take an adjustment period. 

Yesterday Pres Soares welcomed us to "O Melhor Missão do Mundo!" He said, I know everyone says their mission is the best, but ours actually is. Apparently our mission is #3 for number of baptisms in Brazil!!!! What?! And even better, it is #1 in retention! Go Brazil Natal! Am I right?? We did contacting yesterday on the street and the people are so open here! They are so willing to talk about God and Jesus Christ and genuinely want to follow his example. We invited people to be baptized while we were contacting yesterday. Like, Hey how's it going? Will you be baptized? Okay slightly more in depth than that, but that's the basic idea. And we had six people who were interested! We set them up with the missionaries in that area to take things further! Crazy crazy crazy! 

Last night we slept in the casa (mom note: house) by the escritorio (mom note: office) with the sisters in that area. And I met the other Sister Baker! Haha. She's way cool. But since there's already one Sister Baker, that means that I'm going to be "Sister M Baker" which in Brazil sounds like Sister Emmy Baker so I feel like I stole Pie's name haha. [mom note: there is actually a third Sister Baker going to her mission that just entered the CTM today...that won't be confusing haha] But the sisters were all so nice and understanding that I was tired and shellshocked but they all talked to me and were so sweet and I'm already so grateful for every sister here in this mission. 

Today has been more traveling! Sister Garcia and I are in Mossoro. Which apparently has great great ward members, tons of baptisms, and is one of the hottest places in the mission. Haha, of course. Like Natal itself was actually really nice and breezy, but here it's hot hot hot and the sun is apparently stronger than in other parts. Holla. Haha. [mom note: when I saw where she was living I checked yahoo weather. It said it was 92 degrees with 48% humidity and a real feel of 106 degrees. Keep in mind its the tail end of winter for them. I guarantee she will be missing her beloved Provo winter weather] But other than the heat this seems like the best area that I could start my mission in and I'm SO excited to just get to work! Also in my area are three out of the four elders from my CTM district. Elders Fallon, Collier, and Phillips are all in my area and I think a couple or all of them are living in the same house as each other. I definitely thought we'd all be split up, but I'm way excited that I'll see them around still. Poor Elder Giles is all by himself in Sousa, but we'll see him later this month probably, and he's working harder than anyone at the language so I know he'll be fine. 

I know this email is lacking my usual charm and embarrassing stories, but there was just too much that happened in the last couple days to even go into my whole week! And if this email doesn't make any sense, cut me some slack haha. I've only heard portuguese for the past few days so my english might be off. 

I miss you guys more than I can explain. This is HARD. Probably the hardest thing I've ever done. And it's only the second day in the field. But this work is worth it. I do not doubt that for one second. 

I love you so much!!!!

Sister Baker

PS // I asked Pres and Sis Soares about Davis and President Soares said "I love that guy!" haha. Way cool connection! (mom note: Davis is Megan's cousin. He and his family lived in Brazil for a few years. If I remember correctly Davis served in the stake with President Soares and was also the Soares' home teacher)

[mom note: none of these pictures came with an explanation so I'm guessing on what or who some of them are]

View from the CTM in Sao Paulo

Comic book version of the scriptures...looks like a Megan doodle job but I can't be sure

CTM teachers

CTM Mission President and wife...President and Sister Swenson

Sao Paulo Temple

Megan's district at the Sao Paulo Temple...Sister Clinger, Sister Hatton, Sister Hartvigsen, Sister Johnson, Elder Fallon, Elder Giles, Elder Phillips and Elder Collier

Megan and Sister Clinger at the Sao Paulo Temple

Sister Clinger, Sister Hatton, Megan, Sister Hartvigsen and Sister Johnson at the Campinas Temple

All the missionaries in the CTM going to the Natal mission...one of these things is not like the others

All the Natal missionaries once they arrived at the Mission Home. 

Megan with her companion Sister Garcia and her mission president and wife...President and Sister Soares

Megan and Sister Garcia

week 1 . #brazil #iloveit but i struggle as much here as i do in the USA with...ya know, life. ha.

links in red (click for more info)

Oi familia! (And everyone else!)

It's FINALLY Pday [mom note: preparation day or Pday for short. A day set aside once a week for missionaries to shop, do laundry, write home, play sports and take a break from regular proselytizing activities] This has been the longest wait of my life haha. And then I opened up my email to twenty eight emails. You guys are all rock stars. It made me feel so loved (and also slightly panicked because I don't have much time to email) Luckily some American sisters who have been here for awhile gave us a great tip about taking pictures of emails so we could read them later. So I have mostly just skimmed all the emails you lovely people sent me but I promise to read them very thoroughly when email time is over.

So wow...I'm in the CTM in Brazil. I've only been here for a week and a few days even though it feels like I've been here foreverrrr. Every day is so long and busy that by the time we eat lunch (almoco) it feels like it's time for dinner. We have tons of classes throughout the day so we can learn portuguese which is sometimes really fun and sometimes the most frustrating thing in the world. Lemme tell you though, I am so grateful for the four years of spanish that I have under my belt. They are making this so much easier to learn than it would be starting straight from english.

On our second day here we started teaching investigators (pesquisadors) in PORTUGUESE. Wait, what? Did she say in portuguese? Yep. Fresh from America and we're trying to teach a lesson in a new language. It was actually painful it was so bad. But the good thing is our lessons have only gotten better, because they really can't get any worse.

Well actually, we had a lesson with a new pesquisador yesterday named Selete. It was definitely one of my hardest days here. Lots and lots and lots of tears were shed for probably 3 hours straight and then some more later. Rough. But my district [mom note: group of missionaries] is honestly a dream and made it so much better. The elders gave each of the sisters in my district a blessing and that was such an amazing experience to see them use their priesthood to comfort us. I just love them and I love the priesthood and I love this gospel!

But back to Selete. So our whole district (all the sisters actually) had this crying breakdown in the middle of class so Irma (Sister) Mendes (our teacher, she's a riot...we love her) decided to change class around and talk to each of us individually about why we are here and we read scriptures. I was feeling better until I realized that Sister Clinger and I had to teach a lesson in like 10 minutes to our brand new pesquisador and we had nothing prepared because of the cry time. Sweet sweet Sister Clinger basically took the whole lesson on by herself and all I had to do was bear my testimony (we've done that before but usually I am the person who talks to the pedquisador about if they have questions or whatever because I usually sort of understand what they're saying, but this time I was just down for the count because I could. not. stop. crying.)

We walk downstairs to the little room, me sobbing the whole way and we knock on the little door. And Irma Mendes was inside! She was role playing Selete! Thank goodness because anyone else would've thought I was straight crazy. So Sister Clinger starts teaching the lesson, she knocks it out of the park. Then it's time for my testimony. I go to wipe my nose since it's all nasty from crying and when I pull the tissue away there's blood all over (like my fourth nosebleed this week, whats wrong with me?) hahaha So my nose just starts leaking blood like crazy. I've got tears streaming down my face, makeup everywhere, my eyes are swollen to the size of Texas, and I've got a bloody tissue stuffed up my nose while I try to bear my testimony in broken cavewoman style portuguese. Oh AND there's a video camera in there so I guarantee the people watching it just really had their day made.

Okay so I'm going to try and give you as many details as I can about life in the CTM and this last week, but times getting shorter (ahhhhh email is stressful haha. I'll send home some letters with Mr. Cheney's/MissionTies next week. [mom note: a quicker easier way to send letters. See more info after her letter] Best idea ever to do that mom)

THE CTM

The CTM is really nice. It had started to feel slightly like a prison after this last Wednesday, but getting out and going to the temple in Campinas this morning was an absolute dream. All the people here are so so nice, even if I can only understand a few words of what most people are saying.

MY DISTRICT

Okay my district is the literal best. All the sisters are already like best friends. Sister Clinger is an amazing companion (as you can tell from my previous story) and she shares her cookie butter with me so I love her. Sister Hatton is so sweet. She's quieter but sometimes she'll just say something seriously hilarious. Sister Johnson and Sister Hartvigsen feel like people I've know for years. We all get along so well and we entertain ourselves just telling stories or quoting dumb videos or just cracking jokes (they like puns...score!) all day long.

The Elders are the sweetest and think I'm funny haha. It's weird because my whole district thinks I'm this super outgoing personality and that I have like zero percent shyness at all. HA. Its just because being with people for like 16 hours a day really breaks down any barriers.

Some of the elders without any sisters in their family are kind of freaked out by the fact that the sisters will just burst into tears randomly. Their reactions are priceless. That's the thing about the CTM in general...this has been one of the hardest weeks of my life. There have been times when I've been really sad but I have also had SO much fun. And I have felt the spirit so powerfully it is amazing. I wish I had more time to focus on the scriptures and the gospel though. It sounds weird but we're spending so much time on portuguese I feel like I never have time to really get into my scriptures, and all I want to do is just curl up in my bed and read them. I think everything here is just a matter of giving myself time to adjust and trusting in the Lord.

MAIL

Thank you sooooooo much for the letters through MissionTies. Mom you might get emails from some of the other missionary's moms about mission ties because my whole district wants their moms to sign up for it haha. You have no idea how much I needed those. Send a trillion more, I love mail!

BRAZIL

Still can't believe I'm in Brazil, Partially because we've only been outside of the CTM to go to the temple, but we're hitting the streets of Sao Paulo after email so that will be exciting.

Kay, I know there's a million more things you guys want to know about but I'm running out of time. I love love love you all so much and miss you every second.

Mom and Pie [mom note: our family nickname for Emily] how's NEW YORK? You crazy kids running around the city...I love it.

Dad the scripture that you shared with me and the quote in the letter you sent was PERFECT. I read it to my whole district because it was exactly what we all needed. I'm so proud to be following in the footsteps of you and mom and serving a mission, and I know that you understand how hard this is, but you also have come out the other side of it, so I know that you understand how many great things will come from this too. [mom note: here's what Derek shared..."One of my favorite scriptures is found in Psalms 30:5 and it tells us that "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning". I love that concept. To take it a step further, it is good that challenges and struggles wont last forever, but even better to understand that they come with a purpose...they help us become who we are supposed to be. Neal A. Maxwell gave a General Conference talk during my mission that has one of my favorite quotes of all time. He said that, "we find that sorrow can enlarge the mind and heart to give place, expanded space for later joy." What an amazingly true concept...that as we become more and learn from our challenges, we are better equipped to comprehend the joy that comes our way. I love it!"]


Pie, Luke, Nate. I LOVED your emails and letters. Keep them coming. You are my favorite people and I'm sorry I can't write more to each of you, but I'll send some letters, promise.

Kay time for me to peace out and go get A MILKSHAKE in the city, you don't understand how excited I am for that. The food is pretty good here but there's definitely some stuff I'm mission (uh I mean missing haha) from America.

I love you guys so much and MISS YOU like crazy. Thank you for being the best in the world. Stay cool.

Lots and lots of love from Brazil.

Sister Baker

[mom note: MissionTies is a website that allows us to email the company with letters or pictures for Megan. They print the email and/or pictures and mail it to the CTM. MissionTies is associated with Mr Cheney's Cookies which is an American bakery right across the street from the CTM. Because of their close proximity to the CTM an email we send on a Monday is likely to show up in Megan's mailbox Tuesday. The advantage of this is Megan can receive and read letters any day during the week and not have to wait until Pday. It is a paid service but we can add sub users to our account with no cost to you so if you'd like to be added to the account so that you can send snail mail letters to Megan as opposed to or in addition to emailing her email me at dbakerfam[at]cox[dot]net. I know she enjoys getting emails but she really loves seeing letters in her mail box during the week.]

from the CTM Mission President

Dear Parents,

Sister Swensen and I are very happy to let you know that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil Missionary Training Center.  What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they begin their missionary experiences with us. We will surely take good care of your missionary.

    

The missionaries now have companions and are settled into their rooms.  They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study.  Their branch presidents and wives, will meet them this Sunday.  These wonderful couples are richly blessed as they work with, motivate, and interview the missionaries assigned to their branch.

The MTC has a full-time live-in physician to care for their health needs.  He is assisted by his able wife who is a nurse. We are also happy to report that the cafeteria food is plentiful, healthy and very good.

Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple.  This will be either Wednesday or Friday, depending on individual assignments.

Your missionary is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of many others. President Lorenzo Snow said: “There is no mortal man that is as interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the Gospel as is the Lord who sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children".  We love these missionaries as if they were our own.  We will watch over them carefully to ensure they are ready for a wonderful missionary experience after the rewarding time they will have in the MTC.

We thank you for preparing such a wonderful representative of the Lord.

President Robert Swensen and Sister Julie Swensen

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION . . .  

PLEASE DO not send packages to the Brazil Missionary Training Center. All packages must be sent directly to the mission where your missionary will be serving not the MTC. If you have already mailed a package to the Brazil MTC, please understand that the package cannot be forwarded to his or her mission and will be returned to you.

WE Strongly ENCOURAGE SENDING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. Please write your missionary´s first and last name. Your missionary will provide you with his district and box number. Also, please DO NOT SEND ANYTHING BY FEDEX, DHL, UPS, or other private carriers.  The cost to process this type of correspondence is exorbitant.

oh hey just casually emailing from BRAZIL

Bom dia!

Hey family!

I've made it safe and sound to the CTM in Brazil! When we were landing in Sao Paulo I looked out the window and saw all these little colorful houses basically stacked on top of each other and it was a very "Im not in Kansas anymore" moment haha. And then driving to the CTM was just insane. Like I was looking out the window and it just hit me that EVERYTHING is in Portuguese. Everything. I mean I know I knew people spoke Portuguese here, but it's different actually being here and having everyone around me speaking a language that I DO NOT UNDERSTAND ONE WORD OF. All the new missionaries and I have been like deers in headlights all day. At the airport, in the car, arriving at the CTM, just the whole day has been new and different and exciting and scary.

From what I've seen the CTM is really beautiful and nice, but I'm not going to lie it's not home and that is hard right now. But I'll acclimate soon I'm sure. The three girls that I was with on the plane are my next door neighbors and they're all so nice. And my companion for the CTM is Sister Clinger from Boise Idaho and she is super sweet and we'll get along great for sure! It's nice that everyone is in the same boat as me and not like fluent in Portuguese or whatever. The only problem is none of us really have any idea what's going on, but hey we've only been here a couple hours so I'm sure we'll figure it out. 

Mom I found your sweet note in my carry on and bawled my eyes out reading it. It made me miss you and everyone else so much, but it was also just what I needed. Some words of comfort and advice from my momma. It also made me so proud to be following in yours and dad's footsteps and serving a mission. You guys are the best parents in the world. No doubt about it. Seriously I am so lucky that I was born into such a wonderful and loving family where I learned so much about the gospel and missionary work. Being away from you guys just makes me even more grateful for what I have at home.

Oh random question: did we end up packing hangers for me? I know they were on the list but I don't remember packing any. There's no hangers in the CTM so I'm making do with hanging stuff over the hanger bar and folding stuff up. It works, but if there are hangers hiding somewhere in my suitcase that would definitely be easier. Haha when I saw that there weren't any hangers I almost just didn't unpack my suitcases but then I could just hear mom's voice: you can't live out of a suitcase for six weeks megan! haha So don't worry mom I unpacked. Mostly.

Also the keyboard is definitely weird here so just ignore it if I miss words or mispell something or whatever. But to be honest I think the hardest thing about the keyboard is that the buttons are super chunky because it's not a mac. #firstworldproblems. But actually, it's making me type slower and my fingers are sore because I have to lift them up so high to hit the keys hahaha.

It's funny because it's still sort of surreal being here. I thought once I was here it would be like BAM! You're a missionary. But I still feel like Megan, just Megan with a supa cool nametag. Like I still keep thinking I should check my phone or stuff like that. I think that I'll get over that kind of stuff in a few days here. It's been good though because when I have some free minutes, instead of checking instagram I write in my journal or read my scriptures and things like that. I am realizing how much time I just wasted on my phone at home. Like I don't think it's bad to check instagram or facebook or whatever, but I realize now I was just doing it to kill time or when I was bored.

I finished the Book of Mormon on the plane to Atlanta! Like could I have been more last minute? But it was kind of cool to finish it as I was flying here. It felt really I dunno symbolic or something haha. But I LOVE the very end of the Book of Mormon. I realized that I haven't read that last chapter very much because let's be honest, I usually get stuck in Jacob or Alma, but it's just SO good. I was feeling the spirit so strongly as I read on the plane (sitting next to a man who had about 6 alcoholic drinks during the flight. Isn't 12 in the afternoon a bit early for that buddy?" But honestly, I just was overcome with how amazing the Book of Mormon is. It is true. It just is. You can feel that when you read it. I am so excited to get to know the scriptures better for myself while I'm here, because as much as I love them I'm realizing how many things I don't know about them. So excited to learn more! And to share these words of God with other people here in Brazil!

Alright, email time is almost up so I'm going to finish this up. I LOVE YOU GUYS! More than I can write with words. You all have no idea how grateful I am for you, and for my life back home. But I realized that I am so blessed to have you guys for eternity. A year and a half is nothing compared to that. And since I'm here I can help other people have eternal families!

I love you! I miss you!

Peace out girl scouts

SISTER BAKER (what?! so weird writing that I can't believe I'm a missionary I love it)

flying

First leg of the trip...OC to Atlanta. We were so glad we sent her with a wifi camera that allowed her to email us this picture from Atlanta where she met up with other missionaries heading to the Brazil CTM. 

We (mom) has spent the rest of the day/night watching Megan's flight on some flight app, eating ice cream and generally being pouty and grumpy all from the comfort of bed. Tomorrow we (mom) will quit sulking and begin to tout the benefits of missionary service and share her testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.