...THAT trail that we blaze!

[References this scene from Road to El Dorado.] 

Don't worry mom, I was not the one with the machete!! I was Tulio. Hm... I don't know if that makes it better... This week was long only because a lot of interesting things happened:

> We went on exchanges! I watched my STL receive inspiration that we should go get Slurpees (I know! Why doesn't inspiration work that way for me!?) Then the lady behind the counter asked about the church. Wut??! Wait but really, I want that kind of inspiration! Mine always says something like "Quit complaining and bike faster." (Kung-Fu Panda 2 style: "Wait, can you not want to see me get killed?" "You're fine." *walks away*)

> We bailed water out of our spare-tire well. Frankly, I don't know how we even found that one. But it was sssSoppin'! See picture.

> We removed the Amazon from a member's backyard. No but really! It was bad. She had said something like "I need help cutting my in the backyard" and I heard and thus thought she meant cutting her lawn and so we were like "yeah sure we'll help!" How bad could it be? I've forgotten to mow apartment lawns for, like, 2 weeks before. (Don't look Grandpa!) I know how to use a lawn mower on tall grass! And she was like "Oh good! Let me go get the machete!" And then we were like, "... :]))) the what?" She took us out to where a backyard should have been. And we almost cried. But. I lived. And in the end, I learned a lot of useful things, like how to use weed whacker, how to use a lawn mower like a weed whacker, and how to use a broken sprinkler pipe like a rake.😀 What even is missionary work?

But I learned a lot about working hard this week, even when you don't want to or feel too tired. Odd how if you can just start, you always seem to find enough energy to keep going just a little bit more, then somehow finish with a little extra energy. Like, enough energy to bike home. That was probably the biggest miracle this week. Or the fact that we finally met with a "new investigator" after 6 weeks of not seeing him. And he literally said about halfway through the lesson, "Wow, I could be a Mormon!" He has all the same beliefs and has been living the Word of Wisdom without even knowing about it! It's been a long hard fight with addictions and I'm really grateful not to have to fight it in his case. But, he's just super busy. I:"


The good thing about Florida is that the sun is hot! We used it to dry out our car.

Hna Robbins bailing. It took a deceptively long time. :(

So when I said I learned how to do things even when I don't wanna, this is really what I meant. It rivals sugar ants in evilness. It's the bike I rode on exchanges. I love the sister who owns it, but jeepers mister: this bike is a sin. A wicked tradition of our fathers, one might say.

The battle of 5 hours. I think it actually only took us 4, but only because the member, Merlin, is a work horse! And he knows how to use a machete.  In the one with the rake, you can see a little of the foliage in the background. It was thick!

 

Never Were There Such Devoted Sisters

 There we were. Waiting for a member ride to church. (Because we share the car with the elders and they have it for Sunday. Hna Robbins refuses to bike to church *sarcastic shruggy eye roll*) It just came to me. Just popped right on in there. I may have hummed. Then, she may have sang. And to make a long story short, we both had a lot more memorized than we thought. And we can harmonize. 😀 *face palm*

Anyways, we had quite a few member lessons. One of which was SO inspired! She couldn't stop talking but just kept saying all the right things!

Also, in our lesson with Lorean, she felt like she just hadn't developed enough of a relationship with God to be baptized. We'll be staying close in case she needs us, but, with help from the spirit, we decided to stop teaching her. That was really sad:( But we're glad she wants to get to know God better, and in the long run, this will be really good. It's gunna be ok... *faith!
FAITH!*

And because I can't think of anything else, I'll not be dedicating the rest of this email to my mom. Because I've hit that point in the mission that I'm sure she's the only one still reading this. :D
Mom, you'll be glad to hear that I ALMOST made my goal of taking a picture every day. I think I got 6 if the 7. Now, there's no quality to this "quantity," but... that wasn't part of the goal. Baby steps.

And now to your questions.

> I'm not close to the hillbilly at all. The city is pretty diversified and it's rare to find anyone (who will talk to us) that's a native Floridian. They're all from Venezuela. Or Puerto Rico. Yep. We hermanas just aren't around enough southerners for me to really integrate the "finna"s or the "sure nuf"s or the rest of it into my vocabulary. But the Bumby ward, who shares a building with us, is littered with accents. It's awesome!

> I can tell you right now I don't miss the 1 floor houses and shoulder-less roads. But I do love how hard they try to keep all the beautiful greenery where it's supposed to be. The lawn guys come around 2 times a week. And there are lilac and magnolia trees everywhere. It's still fun to see turtles everywhere, and the squirrels and lizards seem to only grow in number.

> I did NOT die in the hurricane. Surprise. Frankly... we've been warned on hurricane safety, but haven't heard anything about any near Florida. One hit up north, like Virginia, right?

> Training probability: So we know that between the time Hna Robbins, Stowell (who's only 1 behind us) and I go home, there will be 2 Hermanas. We've been working out Transfer Predictions, and we can't find an unakward way for me tot train. So... who knows at this point.

> As for the temple: We're allowed to go as a mission 2 times a year; every September and... March I think. Hna Robbins and I nailed it: we'll officially have the least amount of temple trips possible for a missionary in our mission as we just missed the one in September as we were in the MTC. And in Provo, you can go every P-day. Mexico you have 2 assigned days, and ours were the first 2 P-days available. BUT! You're correct, and I am grateful we have a temple and can go. Also, if a recent convert goes within 30 days or for their endowments, we can go with them. :)

I forgot the rest of the questions you asked, so if I didn't get any, remind me next week and I'll get'em then.
Until then, I'm finna Dipiar!! (The elders told us that was a word, but... I think I don't believe them...)

Ciao!!

Dinner with a member on his car. Don't look at the clock!

Oh yeah! Zone Conference was this week. There's the rest of the half of the mission, and then Hna Robbins glowing with the spirit.

  

We were looking for a members house and... We missed. But now we know their neighbors!!

There was a frog! In an earlier photo he had just jumped into the bushes, so he’s not actually there, but if you squint really hard on this one, you can see him!

This was my best one. We've been memorizing the Living Christ in Spanish and I can tell every time she reviews it while we bike cuz when I look in my rearview mirror, she's just a speck. So I went around a corner but wanted to be obedient with sight and sound so I waited. And I used my time wisely. I'm sure she's grateful!

Nosotros Soy Uno

10 September 2018

So, there's this thing called Safeguards Against Technology. In it, there are some good points on how to use your technology unsinfully. One of them is Be One, saying that if you have a really good relationship with your companion, you won't be tempted to be doing weird things on your tablet (like try and download Nephi's Adventure). So, Comp Unity is something you strive for as a missionary. In Spanish, it's called Sea Uno. And let me tell you, buddy. WE HAVE ACHIEVED SEA UNO!! NOSOTROS SOY UNO! We just found ourselves saying the same things at the exact same time. We even read Presidents email at the same rate and made the same comments on the same part of the email at the same time. Pls. Send Halp!
But on other news mom, I made a goal to take a picture every day this week! So, I will send you the one picture I remembered to take😅 Sorry. We'll try again next week.

But this week was super great! With the temple on Friday and a good ZTM on Wednesday, we received a lot of answers to personal questions! Personal revolution at its finest! But we had a bit of a crazy Saturday and were booked, running (or rather biking:) as fast as we could from appointment to appointment. In the moment, it was rul crazy but reflecting back on all of it, it was really touching and inspiring to see the change that took place between when we got there and when we left. It's almost like we're helping people here...

Our Sunday was so almost as crazy, but we did our very best to serve ward council, members and nonmembers alike! We had about 45 min. to pull a musical number together. So, dad, as much as I would've liked swordfighting lessons, the piano lessons DID ACTUALLY pay off. I've played for a couple sacrament meetings and quite a few musical numbers (especially since Hna Robbins' talent of singing is one that is often asked for.) But it was really on Sunday that "things get... a-complicated". Saturday morning, we were nowhere close to meeting our key indicator goals. By Saturday night, we had reached 2 of the 4, and by Sunday night (due to a miraculous phone call from Oscar who asked when he could get baptized 0_o) we had not only reached all of our goals, but exceeded our finding goal, the hardest one! It was a fabulous testimony booster that this is the Lord's work, that He'll get it done no matter what, and that if we do the very best we can, He'll let us be worked through to touch others’ lives. We can see some of the glory, too. Wow. God's so cool!

On Sunday, we had a cool moment where Lorean, who is hopefully getting baptized next Saturday (prayers please!!), called with a lot of questions and worries. Now, whenever you're worried, you take it to the Book of Mormon, so we read with her where she was at: 2 Nephi 3. And wowser!!! All of her questions got answer, and we all felt better!
Guys.
The Book of Mormon is God's word.
Read it!
LOVE IT!!

Also, to end on a less cool spiritual moment, the other week in church, they announced over the pulpit that they're making a "Book of Mormon: The Movie" and they were looking for anyone who wanted to try out to be in it. As a Lamanite. I larfed as reverently as I could.

Anyways, watch for that soon! (And for all of the Spanish ward in the background! Including me;)

Ciao ciao all!

Hna Baer

Us having dinner without a (sick) member.

EL TEMPLO! AY QUE BUENO!!

Fruit Flies and Sugar Ants and Cocharoaches, Oh My!

Dear y'all,

I've decided. Sugar ants are my worst nemesis. (Nemesai? I dunno.) I don't wike it! This week there was a little too much jogging of memories of Washington and Dog Sitting. I, uh, CHOOSE not to, uh, take pictures... on purpose. 😅 Yep. Definitely DIDN'T forget... But I'm sure Mom has had too close of an encounter with fruit flies too recently to enjoy fully any pictures that would've happened. I will send you the one picture that happened this week. It happened at the end of the day. Frankly, it describes the week pretty darn good. Well? I dunno. Poor my English.

But, this week was full of a lot of us trying and others not being home. We texted, called, and dropped by many people, but it was not at all proportionate to the scanty number of lesson reports we did.
After reading and applying your weekly letter😅, I realize it was pretty alike to the image of Christ standing with His arms open, which, oddly enough, was a phrase or image I found myself sharing a lot this past week. Hmm. Peculiar...

But we served a long-lost member of our ward and if was really fun to see her smiling face and feel her love for missionaries and for the Book of Mormon! We even found an old Pass-Along card in a back corner of her house. Hidden treasure! It helped refuel and refill motivation.

I don’t remember the rest of this week. But I did do some really cool studies on character and integrity. Not... that I could... recall and share now... But Richard G Scott talks a lot about faith and  character. And it was cool. So go find and read them. Or the Book of Mormon. You'll find a cool answer there too.

That's all for now, Folks!
Hna Lauren Baer

This is it. My week in a nutshell. Also, the only picture between the two of us.

Groundhog Day

27 August 2018

And he's seen his shadow! It's 6 more weeks of Winter! Or rather Summer. Or RATHER, Semoran.
Yup. I'm staying, and the even weirder news is that so is Hna Robbins. 0.o
Whodathunk.

Um.... Stuff happened this week, but I'm just going to skip to my favorite part: Sunday.
The Young Women and us gave a pretty good musical number, and also,
EVERYONE CAME TO CHURCH!!!
The Parra family! The Albarracin family! Oscar! Angel (But not the investigator, the recent convert), Regla, the Orta family, and - probably only slightly best of all - Lorean!!! I've met with her weekly for 4 1/2 months! BUT YESTERDAY WAS THE DAY!! She came!! I cried! It was so good:))))))))
!

Also, we've spent every spare minute of this last week making a gift for Oscar. We gave it to him in Sunday School (cuz who even knows what's happening in there!) He loved it! ("Hermana, are you bringing cigarettes to church?!?")

That's all.
I read a really good talk called "The Atonement" from President Russell M. Nelson. But, many moons ago. Many.

Let's go for some pictures.
My district. We all speak Spanish; we're the only "Only Spanish" district in the mission. :)

He was playing basketball and texting. It made me larf. Sorry, back to focused pictures.

The gift for Oscar. He definitely carried around for the rest of church. Maybe slightly apostate.

ERMERGERSH! Sorry... I thought there was more. But I still love you. Y'all. Vosotros... awkward...