Email from Rory Baxter

It has been awhile since I have had fun picts to send. We had so much fun having the girls here with us tonight. Our Ky has been looking forward to making choc chip waffles for the girls. They have been looking forward to eating them ;) We had all the fixins - strawberries,  bananas, eggs,  hashbrowns,  milk,  juice. It was pretty quiet for awhile - it was fun to listen to the quiet of everyone enjoying their breakfast for dinner. So happy we had the girls here with us,  esp with transfers on Tuesday. Girls still have not heard whether they will stay or not. They should know tonight. Can for sure let you know soon k. Hope that you are doing well. Know your cute girls are happy and healthy and having amazing experiences.

Will write more soon!

Rory  (momma Baxter)

So good to hear back from you!  I have missed writing to you too. We haven't had the girls for dinner since Christmas. The girls come on Monday for laundry and sometimes for lunch. I will make sure to take more weekly picts for you k. I will also write just because,  feel free to write too!

The girls sent me a note late last night that they are both staying!  We are SO excited!  Dinner calendar is finally going around,  so hopefully we will get some slots to have them come soon.

We are staying busy with end of term tomorrow. Also still rearranging furniture,  girls got a new day bed, will send picts soon! We are doing well mostly.

PS - Sis Ras is doing well at home. Bouncing to Dr appts and making more appts as needed. No for sure Dr news yet though. We'll keep you updated as I talk to her k

Well, need to run,  maybe have choir babies to care for....will be sure to write again soon. Have a great week!

Rory

A Historic Week

Hey everyone!

Something historic happened this week! On Wednesday, the missionary department held the first ever worldwide broadcast for all 75,000 missionaries! It consisted of the presidency of the missionary department in Salt Lake and some of the apostles and other general auxiliaries. It was a training on the 8 fundamentals of missionary work. We heard from David A Bednar, Dallin H Oaks, Bonnie L Oscarson, and others. Something that I took away most from the broadcast is that we should always be testifying of the Savior. No matter where you're at, or who you're talking to, always testify of the Savior and of His Atonement.  Christ's sacrifice is central to all of human history. It's the most important message that we can share. Something else that also struck me was said by David A Bednar. He was talking about the Holy Ghost and its role in conversion. He told us that the Holy Ghost isn't a missionary's tool, but rather the missionary is a tool for the Holy Ghost. The spirit is the real teacher, and we as missionaries are just here to assist.

So I've discovered something hilarious; sister Hart gets scared super easily! So of course, I scare her all the time and record it, and then screenshot the video at the point where her face looks terrified. It's pretty funny. Every time I scare her she tells me to go home haha 😂

Well that's about it for this week! Love you all!

Love,
Sister Hanna

 

Dinner Appointment

Dinner with Renetta Frederick. Food Storage Stew on fine china!

Hi everyone!

This past week has been packed with awesome, spiritual stuff! To start off, we had an amazing lesson with our new investigator, Teresa. The last time we had met with her, we gave her a Book of Mormon and a specific chapter to read, and also a Restoration pamphlet. When we went back Wednesday night, she had read everything we gave her, and she even made notes and wrote down questions that she had for us! The best part about this lesson was that she so readily accepted Joseph Smith as a prophet! Which is AMAZING, because that's a topic that a lot of people struggle with. She told us that she loved the way Joseph Smith described the First Vision. So we showed her the clip from the Restoration movie that shows Joseph praying in the grove. Afterwards, we asked her how she felt as she was watching it and she said that her heart felt anxious, but that it was a good, exciting kind of anxious. How awesome is that!? We are so excited to continue teaching Teresa, and we're planning on putting her on date for baptism tonight.

Something pretty cool that also happened this week was companion exchanges. I usually don't like exchanges, because it's weird leaving your area and your companion. But this exchange was fun! I went on exchanges with Hermana Gifford in McMinville, which is about 35 minutes away from Monmouth. Hermana Gifford is a Spanish sister, so obviously she works in a Spanish area. At first I was super nervous to work in a Spanish area because everyone there speaks Spanish and I do not haha. But it's amazing the things that the spirit can bring to your remembrance! The majority of the conversations that we had were all in Spanish, so I just had to stand there and listen. But it was so cool because I could understand some of the conversations! Not the entire conversation, but enough of it to understand what was going on. And on occasion I could understand a question when I was asked something. I now have a new found desire to learn Spanish when I get home!

Another great thing that happened this week was on Saturday. I was having a rough time because Satan was being a jerk and he wouldn't stop messing with my head. I was feeling all of this fear and anxiety and doubt that I couldn't seem to get rid of. So during companion study I told Sister Hart that I wanted to get a blessing from the Elders and I told her why. She shared with me a scripture that she had read during her personal study. It was 2 Timothy 1:7, which says "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." There are no coincidences! Then, in the blessing that Elder Woody gave me, he repeatedly said that my Heavenly Father wanted me to know that only good things come from Him, and that fear and doubt are from the adversary. It was amazing, and so is the priesthood!

A funny moment from this week: We were eating dinner at a member's home and they had the football game playing in the background, and it was the Cardinals that were playing! Needless to say, I struggled to keep from looking at the TV haha. But the funny part was that I turned to Sister Hart and I said "oh no, the Cardinals are playing." To which she replied, "I don't even like baseball." I died laughing, and she couldn't understand why I was laughing so hard! She thought it was the MLB team that was playing, not the NFL team. I will never let her live that down, haha.

And now, my favorite experience from this week. We were eating dinner at a member's house the other night and we decided to show her an 'I'm A Mormon' message. This video was about a family who had lost their 4 year old son in a sledding accident and how they used the Atonement to overcome this trial in their life. The video reminded me a lot of my aunt who lost her son when he was 3 years old. As the video continued to play, the spirit that was in the room became so overwhelming that I couldn't keep my tears back. It took me a moment to realize that the reason why the spirit was so strong was because my cousin was there in the room with me. I knew from the moment that I thought it that Hunter's spirit was in the room with us. I was able to keep my emotions in check just long enough to bear my testimony about the plan of salvation. I know without a doubt that my family will be eternal, and that we will all be reunited one day in heaven. After we left the dinner appointment, I just had to sit in the car and cry for a few minutes because of how beautiful that experience was. I had never experienced anything like that before. After I told Sister Hart why I was crying and explained to her about how I could feel my cousin, she told me that she could feel his overwhelming spirit as well, and now that I had told her who it was, it made perfect sense as to why the spirit was so prominent during dinner. Families are forever!

Well, that's about it for this week! Love you all!

Love,
Sister Hanna          

Email from Mamma Baxter

Laundry & Lunch Day

Girls are here today working on laundry and lots of other things. So glad that we can offer them a comfy place to eat and work on things as needed.

Sorry picts are fuzzy, I think my phone camera is dying....wanted to be sure you had them anyway though.

Love our cute girls!

Rory/Momma Baxter

Monmouth

Greetings from Monmouth!

Big changes are happening! My new area is awesome! It's bigger than LaPine, but it's still small town. It's a cute, little historic town with lots of old buildings and houses. I love it! There's no snow (yay!) and its cloudy all the time! Which I love! The ward is big! And there are so many awesome members! Monmouth is also a college town, so we're over the YSA as well. We teach a Book of Mormon class at the college and we get to attend FHE every Monday night. My new companion
is Sister Hartvigsen! She's from Utah, is a total hippie, and she's got fantastic hair. She's been out for three months and was trained here in Monmouth.

So we've seen lots of miracles this week. We do this thing called Power Hour. What we do is we go over to a members home and we pray with them, and then they send us to an area that they felt inspired to send us to and we go and tract for an hour. It's super powerful and every time we've done it we've been able to get a new investigator or we manage to find people who will listen to our message. Members are the key to missionary work!

Another miracle! We contacted this referral named Teresa, and she was so nice and receptive and eager to learn more! She grew up Catholic, but she explained to us that she just doesn't really know what to believe right now. She had a Mormon coworker and he talked to her about the gospel all the time. She had a lot of questions that we were able to answer and I could tell they already brought her a lot of peace. The spirit was so strong in her home. She's golden! And we're going back on Wednesday to teach her more.

The people here in Monmouth are so great! And I'm so excited for what's ahead! I know that God has a plan for all of us, and he's waiting to pour out blessings upon us all! I love you all!

Love,
Sister Hanna

PICTURE: We took a detour on our way from LaPine to Monmouth. We got out of the car and explored the Detroit Dam (with Sister's Munford & Parrish)

 

Text from Bishop Russell

Sister Hartvigsen from Ogden UT - her new companion

Email from Mamma Baxter

Hi there momma friend!

My name is Sis Rory Baxter (momma baxter to the girls). Just wanted to send you a quick "hello" and an update about your cutie girl!

I was so excited to get a surprise visit from a couple of cute girls last night. We were so happy to welcome to Sis Hannah! Now we have Sisters H squared - lol. Our sweet Sis Hartvigsen was so surprised to get a comp with last name that also starts with H. SO love our sweet sister missionaries! The girls popped in for lunch today too, which gave us more time to talk. Sis H is replacing our dear Sis Rasmussen who needed to go home because of medical concerns. She mentioned that she was able to send you a quick note about her emergency transfer? Sis R left on Tues, and both Sis H arrived back home to our area late that night. I was so thrilled that they came to see us, and then again today. Your cute girl seems wonderful, and we are looking forward to getting to know her tons better.

The girls are getting settled in and will be able to meet everyone on Sunday (we had nasty ice storm last weekend and missed church and school closed for 2 days). Our Sis H is excited to introduce your Sis H to everyone. I know they have already visited a few who are extra special. We hope that she is happy here and that she has wonderful experiences in our ward.

We were excited to find out that Sis H was Sis R MTC comp. I know that it was a great comfort to our Sis H to know who her new comp would be, and to find out that Sis R already knows her was an even bigger blessing!

I heard from Sis R's mom today. She arrived home safely and is settling in as best as she can. I will be updating the girls as often as I can since most info will be posted via email to me or FB.

I will look forward to getting to know you better as Sis H serves here in our area. I love getting pics of our cute missionaries and sending them along with a note. Feel free to ask me questions anytime k. So excited to have a new missionary momma friend! Talk to you soon!

Rory
  
PS - can you send me Sis H bday? Thanx!

Goodbye!

Photos posted on Facebook by the Pearce's.

My 1st Transfer

Hi everyone!

How was everyone's New Year!?

So I just got off of the phone with President Samuelian and I am being emergency transferred! I'm being transferred to the Monmouth zone, which is about an hour from the mission home in Newberg. I'm actually replacing Sister Rasmussen (MTC Companion), who is going home because she needs surgery on her back. I'm super sad right now because I love LaPine so much, and I will miss the people sooooo much. But I know that this is an answer to prayer, it's just not the answer I wanted haha. I'm so grateful for the time that I got to spend in LaPine, and for all of the people who loved me and took care of me. Sorry that this email is a bit depressing and sad haha. I've got to get everything packed because I leave LaPine tomorrow. I love you all!

Love,
Sister Hanna

PICTURES: Drinking Jamba Juice in below freezing weather!