Week 16

Hellooooo!!!
This week was great! But nothing really special! Sadly Desmond and Samson weren't baptized this week! BUT that's okay!! Desmond smoked again but he felt so bad and really gained a testimony on repentance so that was amazing and a blessing in disguise!! He still wants to so bad and wants to be ready so we are working for April 30!! And with Samson he was so sad that he couldn't get baptized this week!! We learned he actually has to meet with our mission president, not an elder, and he couldn't come till this week!! Samson was literally heart broken! He legitimately started to tear up! I felt so bad! And because next week is general conference we are doing it April 9th!! He is so pumped to start his new life!!! He's been through a lot and loves that through Jesus Christ he can find new life! He told us on church at Sunday that he wants to serve a mission too!!! He would be the most amazing missionary everrrr!!!!

This week we met with a potential named kawa and it was so cool!!! So he's technically a Muslim and he's from Iraq!! And when he moved here he saw the difference between how Muslims live where he's from and how Christians live here and the lifestyle they have and he loved it and wants to be Christian! The only thing is he only speaks Turkish and a little Arabic! But no English or German haha!! But we found him at a street display and tried our hardest to talk to him with very broken German and basically got "God, book, church" and that's it! Haha but he wanted to meet with us and we talked through google translate on his phone haha!! And the second time he called someone on his phone who spoke Turkish and English!! And we had a great lesson with him!! But can you imagine... You come here and want to be Christian so bad and will do anything for it and all of a sudden two girls come up to you talking about God! So he now has a baptismal date!! It's not till May 7th because we are going to need a while to find a translator and everything!!! But he's seriously amazing and already has an amazing testimony of God!! Talk about prepared people!!
When he came to church we tried to translate everything on google
translate while people were talking! And he probably couldn't
understand much but he was so happy and never stopped smiling!! He is seriously amazing!! He is living proof that we don't do anything and it's all the spirit!!

So we got a referral from the office this week and when we called
and he was very specific that he just wanted a Book of Mormon and not to meet with missionaries! He made that very very clear!!!! Haha!! He told us to give it to his neighbor!! So we took a bus all the way out to freakin Vietnam in the middle of freakin nowhere to give this guys neighbor a Book of Mormon for him! We finally get there and sister Carroll pulls out her great little app on the iPad and plugs in the address and we have to walk 33 minutes to this guys house!! And it's taking us through back ways and fields and trails and we went on a legit adventure to get there.. Mud and all!! And we finally get there... But the name on the clingal thing wasn't the name he gave us!!  So we looked and realized the iPad took us to the complete wrong place!!!!! His house was on the OTHER SIDE OF THE DUMB BUS STOP!!!!!!
So we had to walk all the back (but before we walked I made sister
Carroll let us door the house it took it too cause, we had to be there
for a reason.... so we did and it was an adorable sweet little man who was very Catholic haha)...so we walked back to the bus stop and it took us a way where there were fences blocking off the apartment building and sister Carroll wouldn't let us hop the gate so we had the walk all the way around!!!! Then 30 minutes later we get there with the clingal thing and she lets us in and takes the book and that's it!!! We didn't even get to talk to her! She just shut the door!!! Dumbbbbb!!! So we were going back to the bus stop but decided to go the closer bus stop and went completely out of the way and left our area on accident but finally made it back to Herne!!

So every other week we go to this place called lebenshilfe where
people with Down syndrome live! I absolutely love love going there and it was our turn this week and we got to color eggs with them!!! So even though I wasn't home with you guys I still got to color eggs!!!
Easter is huge here!!! Like Germany shuts down the weekend of Easter!! And everyone gives out eggs as gifts... like hard boiled eggs!! Isn't that weird!?? Haha I've gotten like 15 warm hard boiled eggs this weekend!!!

Hahaha funny story!!! So, Sister Carroll and I both got a hard boiled egg today from a lady in our ward and when we got home she was putting hers in the fridge and I was sitting at my desk and I was like "oh put mine in there" so I go to throw it at her and it happened to hit the one beam thing in the middle of our house and egg shell exploded everywhere and egg got all over sister carroll's stuff haha!! She wasn't super happy with me! So she told me I'm not allowed to throw eggs in our apartment anymore!! But I've thrown two since she said that haha!!

So we got a pack of American cookie mix and we were so excited!!!!
So we made them and we forgot about them in the oven!!!!! And we burned them!! Haha we finally has something American and yummy we can eat and we burn them!! We were sitting at our desks and were doing studies and something smelled weird and we just look at each other and sister Carroll ran over to the oven to get them! They are little dark but they don't taste too bad!!! Haha

We played soccer again for pday!! And football for a little but the
Germans hated football so we switched back to soccer but it was
freezing and raining!!!

I'm sorry this weekend was kinda crazy!!!! But I want to hurry and send this so you can email back haha!!!! Love you!!!!!:)

Week 15

HEYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!

This week was good!! We've been meeting with Desmond a lot!! He is super excited for his baptismal date and really wants to be ready but he really wants to do it on the 26th... so this Saturday! Everyone cross your fingers!! He is awesome! We taught him the plan of salvation and he thought it was so cool that he chose to come here from the beginning and chose to make the celestial kingdom his goal! He told me the other day that he is so thankful for us cause he can tell we really care about him and want him to be happy!! Him telling me that made my day!!!

So guess what!!! On Sunday Samson came to me while we were walking to church... and we were talking and he said he wants to actually be baptized this Saturday cause his birthday is this Sunday and he wants to start his new life on his birthday!!! Isn't that amazing!!! Ahh he is amazing!! I really hope we can work it out to do it by then! We have a couple things we have to make sure are okay but our fingers are crossed!!!

It was super funny cause we have to call the zone leaders and everything when we get a baptismal date and we called them... and I told them...and you could hear elder arnasen say CALLED IT!! Hahaha and they were like we knew it!!!! And they asked how we keep getting baptismal dates!!!?? So that was a confidence booster!!!

OH MY GOODNESS AMAZING STORY OF THE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!! Soooo a couple weeks ago I was going to call an investigator and saw another name, JJ Prince, and I thought holy crap that is a rad name I want to get ahold of him!!!! So I tried to call him and it didn't work!! But I still wanted to try to get ahold of him and I looked for a progress record and couldn't find it...so I was so sad!!!  BUT sister Carroll and I were contacting and I walked up to this guy and started talking to him.  He said he used to meet with missionaries but lost contact so I told him that we would love to meet with him and continue teaching him...I got his number and asked for his name AND IT WAS JJ PRINCE!!!!!! WHAT?! I FOUND HIM!!!!!! It was so amazing!! He was confused why I was so surprised!! Haha but I'm so excited!!!!! So I'll keep you updated on him!

Amir got the priesthood this week!!!!!!! He was so excited!!! He is
seriously amazing!!!! He has been so excited all week!!!! He came up to me after he got it with a big smile on his face and was like
"Sister Baker remember when we were in McDonalds and you said that I could get the priesthood after I got baptized?? Well you were right cause now I have it!" And he was just so excited!! He makes me so happy!!!

We were playing soccer today for pday and we played with some of
our investigators and members and other missionaries! It was actually way fun!! Our investigators play on like an actual pro team here I guess and they just killed everyone... hahaha I realized how terrible I actually am at soccer!! ...and the elders both have played their whole lives and the friends people brought have also! So pretty much sister Carroll and I were the only ones who don't really play... so no one wanted us on their teams!! Hahahaha

That was probably so fun for jace and Fred to go up to Utah!!!!
Utah is so much fun!!! And what the heck?! No Colten didn't tell me he was moving to New York over the summer for work?! THATS SO FUN!!! I love New York!! And that's probably going to get him so much money!!!!
But I'm in Germany so I win!! Hahaha

Those pictures of you at top golf were so fun!!!! I love top
golf!!! I always loved going there!! I'm so good at it! I would have
definitely beat dad... No question!!!

To answer your questions... Joanna is great!!! But we just learned
since she is a foster child she can't be baptized till she is 14 which
is so sad!! Because Schwester Wohlgamuth has an older foster son and when he was younger he loved going to church and wanted to get baptized but he had to wait till he was 14 also and by the time he reached 14 he wasn't interested anymore and didn't want it! And I don't want that to happen to her!! But I also want to start talking to her older brother and try to get him interested again!!

We haven't met with Abu this week! He's been in Frankfurt all week and isn't getting back till Friday so that sucks! But we are still in contact with him! So that's good!!

We have been meeting with Sulay a little more!! He's been meeting with the sisters since before I got here! He's Muslim but we finally
learned yesterday that he is very confused with what he believes!!! So we are going to keep meeting with him!! He just had surgery on his face which is sad but he met with us anyway haha!! We called him apparently the day he got out of the hospital and he said he still
wanted to meet with us so we did! But we got there and he had to go back to the hospital cause something was wrong but met with us again the next day!! So it's goin good with him!!!
Well I love you all and will talk to you soon!!!!!
Sister Baker:)
 

Me & Sister Peterson!!

This is the bathroom in the library!!  hahahah

This is Sulay!!!  He told me I couldn't send this to my family because he looks like a criminal...but, I did anyway!

This is Desmond!!

I found chocolate with tortilla chips in it and it tasted kinda good!!

This guy says he can take dad!  😂

This is Samson!!!!!  It took me 6 1/2 minutes to make him smile!!!

This is Ike...he has an amazing story but too long to type!  So, remind me to tell you about it when we Skype.  He is my hero...other than you guys of course!!

  

Me & Sista Carroll❤️...and the Elders hahaha

Me & Amir

Week 14

Hey family!!!

Oh my goodness this week was amazing!! Where do I even begin?! Well I guess I'll start with AMIR GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! He came to us Monday night at family home evening and asked us a few questions about baptism and I was getting kinda nervous, BUT, then he said he doesn't want to wait till the 19th and he wanted to get baptized this week!!!!

I was so excited!!! So we met with him everyday this week to finish everything we needed to teach him, and answer any questions he had! It was funny when he asked us very specific questions about the law of chastity and sister Carroll would just look at me hahaha! I was so excited all week!!!! He is amazing!! And on Thursday when we met with him we talked about testimonies and he totally bore his testimony!!!!

It was so amazing and spiritual!! His baptism was AMAZING!!!!! A great turn out! A lot of members came especially for how last minute it was!!! Ahh I wish you could have been there!! When he got the Holy Ghost he was just smiling ear to ear!!!!

We met a guy Desmond! He's from Africa and he is so cool! We were a little nervous at first with where our lessons would go cause he didn't seem super interested the first time we met him! But we invited him to church and he came! And get this!!!!!! We have a member in our church named Osarro, (he has been a member for almost a year I think! He was baptized in Italy... I think, but moved here) and him and

Desmond were friends IN AFRICA!!!! They went to church together in Africa!!! And haven't seen each other or heard from each other since Osarro left! And Desmond walked in and was so happy and was like what the!!!! And they were talking and sis Carroll and I were like what???!

Haha so we talked to Desmond about it this week and he said that he knows this church is for him and he already feels like a member haha!!

We just have to work of the word of wisdom with him! He really likes beer! And he smelled like weed when we met with him... And he actually asked about the word of wisdom and he agreed to stop drinking and he didn't say anything about smoking so I said, "Desmond I have to ask you a question.. Do you smoke?" And he smiled and looked down and he said, "Baka my sista, I'm not gonna lie to ya, ya I do" hahaha but he promised he would work on it and said he would call every time he felt like he wanted to drink or smoke! AND THEN!!! At church after Amir was confirmed and received the Holy Ghost... He leaned over and asked "how long does it take for someone to get baptized?" And we talked about it and he wants to get baptized!!!!! We set a date for March 26!!!!!! How exciting!!!

Hopefully we can figure out the whole word of wisdom thing by then! He said he knows that with our help he can do it! So wish us luck!!!

And I met this awesome guy Samson and I met him on the street! And it turned out he used to meet with missionaries in France but when he moved to Germany he lost contact with them! He left Africa when he was 15, all by himself! He has moved all around with a couple guys he has met! His family is Muslim, but he said he is not because he doesn't like how they act and he hasn't prayed in 3 years!  We met with him and he said that he believes in God sometimes, but not other days. We told him that God is our Heavenly Father and loves him and stuff like that and asked him to read the Book of Mormon and pray that night and we met with him on Thursday, later that week, and he said that he believes in God and that he has felt better and happier since he prayed! And that he never can sleep and since he started praying again he can sleep better and sleeps all through the night! Isn't that cool!!!

So it's crazy how much God is really in charge of our schedule haha!!! We had such a busy week and all of our days were so full like each lesson an hour apart!! But people would always cancel but because of them we were in the perfect place for other people!! Like we met Abu

and Julius!! And ran into three investigators we couldn't get a hold of!!! Then the next day we were going by on a less active and she wasn't super happy but then Abu CALLED US!!!! And said his class got canceled and he wants to meet so we did and it was an amazing lesson!!

He is awesome!! And loves God so much!! He's actually a Muslim but said he feels something different about our church and said he would change but it's a big decision so he has to pray!!! We didn't even ask him to pray yet! And we taught him how to pray the correct way and without your forehead on the ground and he said he would pray like

that!!

And we met with Ardalon and he is so interesting!!! I don't know what to think about him! He believes a little part of every religion haha!! And just what he thinks is so strange but all his beliefs kinda don't go together! Like he believes God is a ball of energy but he also said he's seen gods hand... So we will work on that!! haha ...and when we were leaving

he said he had a weird question and asked if our church has a problem with weed and we said yes, but he wants to live our doctrine so he will stop for 40 days! So that's cool I guess!!!

On a less spiritual note.. Stinky cheese is real!! Like really real and really stinky!!!! A girl in the young women's was having a birthday party at the church and they asked if the missionaries could come and we did and there was food and they had yummy bread with a bunch of different kinds of cheese and I obviously picked up the wrong

one!!! Cause I go to eat it and it smelled like the grossest, sweatiest, nastiest stinky feet ever!!!!! Like a fat old man who wears no socks and sits out in the sun all day and doesn't shower!! Think of the stinkiest feet you have ever smelled and multiply it by 10!!! It was that bad but it was already by my mouth so I had to take a bite and tasted just like it smelled!!!! I tired my hardest to eat it but I couldn't! Like it was bad!!! And I already wasn't super hungry cause we went to a bakery and I got a little food there! So it was twice as bad! So I payed elder Shelly €5 to eat it for me hahahah!!

This part is for jace haha! I was teaching Amir about families and he asked to see a picture of my family and he said Jace looks like Leonardo Decaprio!! So that's cool! I don't see it, but I think that's a pretty good complement!!

So, I accidentally contacted a crazy homeless man! hahaha His name is Mark and he was super nice to me, but turns out he's actually crazy and I gave him a Book of Mormon and there was a card with the elders number on it.... hahahaha and they got a call from him and he was in the hospital and wanted them to come visit and they did! He says he trained in France in special fighting ring and learned to kill people.... But don't worry he called and said he doesn't need any help anymore cause he "found his ying to his yang" haha so we are all good!!!!

That's going to be fun!!! I'm so happy for jace! That will be so fun for him to spend a week with his brother!!! And that's fun for the rest of you too!!! Have so much fun in Provo with everyone!! Send me a bunch of pictures okay!!! That sucks about the hole boxes thing though!! If I was home I would totally help!!!

Joanna is great!! Adorable as ever!! I have another video so I'll send it to you!!!! She is my favorite person to visit!!! I feel bad cause Schwester Wohlgamuth can't walk very well so Joanna can't get out much so we go over at least once a week!! And she wants to get baptized but is afraid to get her face wet so we are trying to work on that too!!

Well sorry this email is so long!! But I love you so much and miss you like crazy!! I'll talk you soon!!!

Love sister baker

This is our friends!!!  He is deaf and signs to us on the bus!!!!  He's so cool!!!!
 I try to read his signs but he signs soon fast!!!!!!  He always tells us we are beautiful though!!!  😊

Amir's Baptism!!!! 

Week 13...cont.

This is Joanna!!!  She is my favorite!! 

She's like 6, I think!! Maybe older!?? Her story is actually sad! So that isn't her mom!! Her parents didn't want her so Schwester Wohlgamuth said she would watch her and then her mom died. Her dad refuses to take her or help with her at all and then he left... and they don't know where he's at. 

Schwester Wohlgamuth is old and can't do much with her so we try to come over as much as possible!! 

She's so cute though... I just love her!!!

Week 13

This week was awesome!! Being a missionary is seriously amazing! First things... AMIR!!!!! Oh my goodness he is amazing!! Amazing doesn't even describe it!!! We taught him tithing and he loved it!! We get nervous sometimes teaching people about tithing but he said that is makes sense and it's the least he could do!!! Then president came down for his Muslim interview and asked if he's been taught everything for the bap questions and we said technically but we didn't know how he would answer them and he said he would ask anyway to see what we should focus on AND HE DID AMAZING!!!! President said he's never talked to a Muslim that has been more converted than Amir and that he has an amazing testimony and will be an amazing member!!! Guys I just want all of you to meet Amir!!! He's seriously awesome!!!!

My contacting story for the week.. So we were contacting the other day and it wasn't going very well and it was cold and raining so no one wanted to listen to us on the street and it was just not a good contacting day and people weren't in the mood to listen to us on the Bons, but then I noticed this guy and I thought why not one more! What's the worst that could happen! So I went up to him and asked if he has seen the Because He Lived video and he said yes! I was a little

surprised and thought maybe he didn't understand me so I asked again and he said, "ya about Jesus"! And I got super happy and was like ya!!! And we started talking and turns out that when he was 19 his uncle met missionaries and had them over once while he was there in Africa... and he loved what they said! When he moved to Germany a little later he found some more and met with them and everything but had to go away for a little and lost contact with the church but had been looking for a way to get a hold of them but finally gave up!! But then I just walked up to him!!! He's so excited!!! His name is Steven!!!

So we have a family in our ward the fockers!!!! And we went over for a dinner appointment and told sister Carroll I was so excited cause I'm going to "meet the Fockers" but she didn't get it so it wasn't as funny to her but I laughed for a straight 3 and half minutes!!!! Hahaha

I figured out a new way of Bon contacting!!!! I was standing in the Bon and it started moving and I wasn't ready and I stubbed... and tripped... and fell on someone and said something really danglish on accident... and he started talking to me and we ended up talking a lot about the

church! He's not super interested! He's happy with his Muslim ways but he's super nice and a cute old man!! It was awesome!!! But I also learned that teenage Muslim boys don't care much about religion!! I started talking to one cause he had an American hat and just talked and I gave him a meet the Mormons card and I guess it had

our number on it cause we got a call that night and he said in very broken English "I'm guy with toll cap.. I want to go on date with you ya?" So we had to explain why we are here again haha!!!

Oh my goodness tell amberlynn to email me!!!!! I miss her!!!!

I'm glad your home safe!!!! Sorry the plan ride sucked!! But I bet the family is super happy your home!!! I'm glad everyone is good!!! That cool it's almost spring break there!! That's weird cause I'm still FREEZING here haha!!!! It's should start warming up soon though!! I

love you all and will talk to you soon!!!

Sister Baker!!