Week 20

Hey Family!!!!!!

Oh my freakin gosh to start off this week I sat in CHEWED
GUM!!!!!!!!!! Real, disgusting, mint, already been chewed gum!!!!!! And I didn't realize till I got on the bus and sat down and stood up to move to a different seat and felt my skirt stick!!!! I had to flip my skirt around and try to get it off using hand sanitizer!!!! HAND SANITIZER!!!  Which surprisingly worked very well!!!! But how freakin gross is that! Freakin Germans throw your gum away!!!!!!

So I finally got bible bashed by a Jehovah Witness!! His name is
Solomon, which makes it even better! We met him in the library a
couple weeks ago, or well he met us really! He walked by us then like double took at our name tags then got really close to my face and said in English "you speak English" and I was like uh yes! I do! So do you! And we started talking and I could already tell he was preachy cause in the three minutes he talked he quoted 7 scriptures from the bible, and he wasn't super nice and interrupted me all the time, But we got his number and went our separate ways! Then this week we ran into him again and he asked if we had time and we happened to have just gotten stood up, so we did! And we met with him! We went and sat on a bench and started talking about the restoration and then he starts bringing up magic and the devil and I was like uh what? That's not even what we were talking about!!! The he asked what I know about magic and I said not much and he looked so surprised and goes "how even old are you?" And I told him 19 and he went off on how I'm not experienced and I don't know anything! So I, being the kind, patient person I am, simply bore my testimony on how I don't need to be experienced or old to know that what I'm saying is true, then he brought up terrorists so finally we were over it and I said we had to go! BUT then the next day we had to call these two guys we contacted and sister Cressler wrote it down and called it but accidentally called SOLOMON!!! And we had to set up an appointment with him!!! And that's when he pulled out his Jw bible (which they rewrote and changed when it says God to jehovah and changed all the words) and started literally preaching to us for 20 minutes and wouldn't let us get a word in so finally I said "is it my turn?" So I answered his questions
that he kinda asked during his lecture and and shared my testimony again...and thought we were going to end on a good note...and then all he said back was "so how's George bush and what do you know about the illuminati?" WHAT?!? I was so done by then, I just said "can we end with a prayer?" And so we did and then while we were walking away he said you study up on the illuminati and we can discuss that next time!
Ya okay I'll do that!

But on a better note!! Sister Cressler is amazing!!! She loves talking to people just like I do!! Even the crazies!! Haha it's amazing!!! But don't worry they aren't all crazy!! We met so many cool people this week!!!! And have so many potentials we have to meet with and some of them are even kinda German which is a miracle!!! We met a guy Richard and he is from Africa and is so nice and loves hearing what we have to say!! I love it!!! And we met Dominick, he's from Australia!! And we went dooring finally and a man told us to come back cause he's putting his babies to bed!! Hahaha Samson went dooring with us cause he was going to the activity with us that night at the church and he loved it!! He would get so excited!! One of the houses I clingled and I turned round and Samson was at a different house and waiting for the door to buzz open and I asked if he clingled it and he was like ya these ones and he pushed more than one because said he thinks they all need to hear it!! So I was nervous that all these people
would open the door haha but none of them answered!!

I GOT MY PACKAGE!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy!! It came at the literally perfect time!!! We had zone training on Thursday and that's when it came!!! I loved it!!!!  I loved the Pete's shirt! And that night we had dinner at bishops house and they had me open it there! And I shared my Reece's cause they don't have those here and they loved it and I gave them all a hot Cheeto but they didn't like that so much cause Germans hate spicy things!!! Haha!! And I LOVED all the pictures!! But if I got a dollar every time a girl here saw a picture of my brother and said he's cute I would be so rich.

So I'm going to substitute some words in this next story...So we
were sitting at the bishops house and we're all talking and I was
telling a story... but I cant remember what I was saying and I think the ending wasn't good and the bishops just goes "hm shiz happens" but she didn't say shiz!!!!! It took everything I had not to laugh!!!!!
But then I made the mistake of looking at my companion and we both just cracked up and they were just looking at us like we were crazy!!! Haha I loved it!!!

Weekly fill of Samson!!! Guys he is literally my best friend
here!!!! I love him soooo much!!!!!! He asked for 5 more book of
Mormons this week!!!! What the heck! Go Samson!!

Cool story of the week! We were dooring on day and it wasn't going super well and we were kinda just cold and sick of it but we doored this man and he was just kinda rude and we were going to leave but I felt we should do this other name so we did and we go upstairs and this sweet old lady was so happy to see us and invited us in and was just so German and I couldn't understand her! And she couldn't understand me cause of my strong American accent! But we finally got our message across and pulled out the Book of Mormon and it turns out she's super evangelist but she wants us to come back and I secretly left a Book of Mormon... and I'm super excited!!!

Well I'm doing great!! Happy, healthy and safe!! The mission really is going great!!! My favorite thing is I can literally feel Gods love for people through me!! I have such a love for people I just meet and the only way I can explain it is I feel a glimpse of what God feels for them and it's amazing!!!! And I just love that I get to testify of my Savior everyday, multiple times, in different ways to different people in different languages!!! It's really wonderful!!!

Funny story! So sometimes we help our bishops daughter with English and we were helping her with her American history study
guide and some of the questions made sense like who was the first
president and where is the statute of Liberty...but then we flipped the page and it asked "when was the first hamburger sold in the United States?" Hahahah what!???  no one knows that!!! That's the weirdest question ever!! But it's 1885 if anyone was wondering!!
Got to go. Love you!!
Sister Baker

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Samson thought my shoes were ugly so he wanted to try them on! hahahaha

Black people must attract black people!!  This baby just went straight up to him!! hahaha

Sister Cressler

Our Dinner!

Week 19

This week was amazing!!! So I got my new companion, sister Cressler!! She is seriously amazing! We have so much fun together and she loves working hard and talking to people just as much as I do!! I can tell this is going to be a great companionship!!! Haha we have soooo much fun together and we are so alike!!! We went and got them from Frankfurt and were just in meetings all day...but the train ride there was sooooo pretty!!!!! And I got to see a bunch of people in Frankfurt!! It was so much fun!!!!

Samson got the priesthood this week at church!!!! He was so happy! He even wore a white button up shirt! He was kinda sad when he figured out that he was getting it in priesthood meeting and sister Cressler and I couldn't be there so we asked bishop and he said we could sit in and watch!!!! His smile was so big and he was so happy!!!!

After church we had gemeinde Essen and he stayed to eat and then helped clean up afterwards and got mad at me for not cleaning as much as him!! He would have never done that before! He didn't even like being in the same room as a lot of people!!! He is just part of the big ward family now and everyone loves him!!!! It's amazing to see the difference in people lives when they come closer to Christ!! He is even a great missionary!! He came to me and asked for five copies of the book of Mormon for his friends! Three English, one German and one Albanian!! Hahaha ...and we were walking somewhere all together and he totally contacts people!!!

Amir is still amazing!! He works in Essen a lot so we don't get to
meet with him as much! But he is an amazing little missionary!! He has found the Essen sisters 4 new investigators and brought a girl to
church and translated everything to Persian for her!!! Him and Samson are asking for book of Mormons left and right to give out!!

Desmond wants his baptismal date pushed back again!! Ahh he drives me crazy! Last time we met with him he told me straight up "I know the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph smith is a prophet and everything you tell me is true and I know I will get baptized I just want to be in the right mind set" which I guess maybe makes sense! He is super stressed with school, work and his visa...and all that... but I can't get in that big head of his that baptism And the Holy Ghost can help him!!!! Ahhhh!!!!

So I got a pie shoved in my face this week... A full on real whip
cream covered stinky pie! No joke. Shahira, one of the elders investigators, made a deal with elder crossley that if he got transferred that she could shove a pie in his face! But she brought two cause sister Carroll was getting transferred also.  Soshe was going to shove it in her face! So I helped her get the pies ready and made the mistake of telling Samson to hold the other one so I could video tape shahira for her! Then I wasn't paying attention AT ALL to Samson then all of a sudden he shoved the pie in MY FACE!!!!!! WHAT THE FREAKIN HECK?!? It felt so gross after!!!! But don't worry I got him back!!

So that night I got a call from a random number and they spoke
kinda bad German and he was saying he's in Bochum and wants to meet and I was like well it's 10 so can I call you tomorrow! And he was saying something that sounded like he lived in Essen so I was trying to explain how there are other missionaries in Essen and I can give them his number and they would love to meet with him!! But he just wasn't getting it so finally I was like I have to go I'll call you tomorrow! So I hung up! Then the next day he called me again and said he was in Bochum and said something about living in Essen again but when I tried to explain the other missionaries again he didn't understand so finally we were like okay we will meet in Bochum! So we met them and long story short it turns out they meant Essen food not Essen the stadt! So they were asking if they could take us out for food!! Hahaha and they spoke barely any German...only Arabic so we called Ike our Arabic speaking member and told him to tell them that we were missionaries and what we did so now we have an appointment to meet with them, and Ike, to teach them!!! We will see how that goes!!

For pday we went to Gelsinkerchin and went to this park with a
"palace" but it's not really a palace it's just a big building... A big
disappointment really! But it was a pretty building!! Haha and the
stuff around it was super pretty!! And we played football in the
park!!! So that was fun!!!

That's awesome about all the mission calls!!!! I'm so happy for
Braden!! That's so cool he's leaving so soon!! And that's cool for
Colton too!!!! And I'm happy Gage's arm is okay!!!! I love you all so much!!!!! And I'll talk to you all soon!!!!:)

Sister Baker! 

 

Week 18

HEYYYYY!!!!

So to start out with the best news!!! SAMSON GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!! Ahhhh I'm so excited!!!!! Saying he was excited is an understatement!!!! He showed up way early and he brought three friends!! It was so cool! I have a picture of him after he was baptized and I have never seen him smile that big before... ever!!!! The spirit was so strong!! Ahh it was the best best best day ever!!!!! Then yesterday at church he was there before us!! He was so happy to get the Holy Ghost!!! Elder Shelley gave him the blessing and it was beautiful!! It was seriously perfect!!! He is super sad that sister Carroll is leaving and he came up to me and was like "you're not allowed to leave.. Just tell them you can't ever leave Samson!" Hahaha he's so funny!! The other day he was leaving the church with a member and he's a quiet shy person and I started saying "make sure you put your jacket on its kinda cold tonight...and make sure you talk to her she knows a lot of English... and don't be late tomorrow cause we need to make sure everything is ready to go!" And all he said was "k mom! Bye!" Hahaha now all the Africans that heard that call me mom so that's a little weird but what ever!

So now what my mom has been waiting for.... 
Yes we got transfer calls!! And sister Carroll is leaving Herne and going somewhere far away called Coberg!! And I'm training!! What the heck?! Training!!!
I'm so nervous but so excited!!! Sister Carroll said my German will
sky rocket so that's good!! I'm taking a train to Frankfurt on Tuesday morning. Then I will meet the girl I'm training and have meetings and spend the night there! And come back to Herne on Wednesday!

Andddd Elder Crossley is leaving so I will be the missionary who's been in Herne the longest!!! So I have to know where things are and who people are and everything!! AHHH pray for me!! This will be an adventure for sure!!!

But something kinda cool is Sister Carroll's new companion is
my MTC companion!!

I ATE RAW MEAT THIS WEEK!!! FREAKING RAW STRAIGHT FROM THE ANIMAL MEAT!!! It looked like someone took a package of raw ground turkey and put it on a plate and served it to me!! And you use a knife and spread it on bread!! It was so weird!! So I thought okay this is okay... I'll just put a thin layer on... and won't I even notice that I'm eating raw meat they just got out of an animal! But NOOO a member walked by and was like "that's not how you do it" and just took a big spoonful and just slapped it on my bread!!!! It was so gross!! But not too bad! It could have been worse?! But still so gross... I mean it was raw meat! But I would rather eat the raw meat than the stinky cheese.. No question! Hahahaha

So I was talking to this lady in our ward and someone came up to me and was like, "Hey sister baker want some jelly beans?" And I was trying to listen to this lady cause she is old and hard to understand and so I just throw them in my mouth and they were the STUPID TRICK JELLY BEANS THAT TASTE BAD!!!! 
So all of sudden my mouth starts tasting like legit throw up...but I'm talking to this old lady member and she's going
on about temples and the perfect guys (I think??)...and I'm trying not to gag and react cause she will get mad...but now I'm not even paying attention to what she's saying!!  I'm just trying to swallow these jelly beans, but still look like I'm totally interested in what she's saying and just nodding along. Then I walk away and the person next me was like, "do you know what you just agreed too?" And I was like not at all hahaha! So we will see what happens next Tuesday with her!!! hahahaha

For pday we didn't do much!! There isn't much to do in herne haha!! But we went to Gysenbergpark to just hangout and see what was there!! We played a little soccer and football and ate ice cream!! Well not much happened this week!! But I love you all so much and miss you and I'll talk to you soon!!!
Sister Baker

We made brownies!!!!

I don't know...this was just fun!!!

SAMSON'S BAPTISM!!!!!!!

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