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...

Wow. Whadaweek.

20 August 2018 

0 ___ o

I'd say 'Let's begin with the biggest and best news,' but it's all kinda a tie.
So we'll just go in order.

Mon: We had a FHE with some very inspired members and Oscar. They shared a video called "The Touch of the Master's Hand," and it was really good. 10 outta 10 recommend.

Tues: We broke the car again. :) When we got it (from the elders), there was 20 miles of gas left before it broke, 1 mile of oil before it broke, and not clean. #typicalelders We also met Victor and Margret. Turns out Margret is a member but because of work, she can't come on Sunday. But he's not. More on this later.

Wed: We made it! We went to Gringos Locos to celebrate. I got a deep fried chimichanga. [Starting out 6 months to sexy on a good foot.] They were filled with baby birds. I was filled with much pain, but no regrets! We also chugged some Guaraná, which is a soda based off of a fruit only found in Brazil. Flashbacks to O-South/Windy Ridge days.

Thur: was awesome. Elder Costa of the 70 and his wife AND Elder Carpenter AND his wife came on a Mission Tour!! Which basically means they came and poured out revelation upon our ears. Wowowowowowow!! So good! We even walked in late and half the mission watched😁 The mockings still haven't ceased...

Fri: was awesome. We went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead with Hna Robbins recent convert from Valencia. It was Sooooo good! ...Wow.

Saturday: was not quite as awesome. Frankly, I don't even rememb-- OH WAIT! We went back to talk to Victor, and what started out as a shaky lesson became a really powerful learning experience. It was so cool to watch his heart soften and open as we shared the message of the Restoration. He even said he'd read! Please pray people!! We're excited!

Sun: ...nuffing. Literally nothing happened. We weekly planned. Not very fun.

And that's it. Thanks!! Ciao!

Making the bed with Hna Robbins. Aka visualizing Lehi’s dream

Wow. I wuv da Temple!!

Hna Robbins had to stop for a smoke. I love word of Wisdom problems.

Maria Alejandra left for home. We're so proud of all the good things she's done!! She's gonna be such a strong member!

Guaraná. 10 out of 10 WOULD recommend!

When Salt Lake Knows Who You Are

So there I was. Just trying hard to be a good missionary. Weekly planning like any other Friday. When the phone rings. It was the Mission Office. (Dun dun DUNN!!)
"Hello?" My companion answers the phone.
"Sister Baer!"
Toast.
"Salt Lake just called."
Crispy toast.
"There's something funny with you're account."
*face palm*
Dad, don't laugh too hard. Salt Lake called to tell me to spend more money. (Elder Faulk in the mission office suggested buying peanut butter for my peanut butter sandwiches. Hah! What a punk.)

But to whisk through other news,
 > We're not getting kicked out of our apartment!

> We didn't die by lighting #blessingsofservice

> We met a cool less active from Venezuela who talked for 2.5 hours

> Our less-active from Columbia is flying home this Saturday :( She made such good progress! We're so proud!

> I did not lose my driving privileges. Drat.....😒

Spiritual Moment Time!
We had a pretty long week, and had a good cleansing Saturday. We not only met and cleaned out the storage area for 2 ladies, we also cleaned out our teaching pool:) There was a lot of faith happening that day. But, while I don't know if I'd want to relive Saturday, I'm grateful I had that chance to fight the fear of and doubt in the future with Enos 1:15. It was hard to have two of our investigators simultaneously drop us, and then have to stop teaching 2 others. But We wouldn't've met Betsy and Rachel otherwise.
The Lord works in Mysterious ways.
Wow.

... that's all.

Us making Arepas! Yay!

I still wish the song went "Rain came down and the flowers came up." Oh well.

Salt Lake called. Pictures, so it happened.

Update on the piano: They Fixed It! Then on Sunday, we were moving it for the 8-year-old baptism and it went to tip. And I wet myself. (See photo 2;) But don't worry about it; it didn't fall. We're good!😅

Hace Calor

It sounds like the name of a cool adventurer, like James Bond, Indiana Jones, Minesota Cuke, or Cliff Gordon.
But nope. It just means "It does hot." Or, as I choose to interpret it, "Please pass me the bucket, I'm melting into a puddle and I'd like to not lose any of me in the grass."
But other than straight melting (and it's not like I get a tan out of this, I'm just in the heat. It's, like, 110° in the Shade ;)

But on to weekly miracles.

> We had some really cool things happened this week! The less-active member we've been working with is no longer less-active as of yesterday! She was glowing in our last lesson, and was positively beaming at church. She radiated that light over the pulpit as she bore her testimony:) We're so proud!

> We met a cool guy named Heri, who said he had had some terrible experiences with other churches and so he didn't go. But at the end of our conversation, he invited us back on Wednesday morning. Wow! I kinda forgot that people want our message. "We aren't just shoving it down people's throats." That was rul cool!

> We went to see a less active, but he wasn't there. But! His son was, so the son calls the dad, and we basically reschedule through the poor kid. But then, our car fob thing that unlocks the car, broke. We sat in the rain and stared at it until the neighbor of our less active came out and saved the day. He pried open our fob and inserted a new battery. Wow. My hero. We'll baptize him next!!

Well, that's about It! Hope y all don't get stuck in the rain! Or the sun! ...Frankly, just don't get stuck.

With care!

Dinner with a member

Stuck in the rain

Ward party. I have no idea why we had that party. Or who thought of a bouncy house. But I love them.

Hooray

 Pretty sure that’s how the song goes... (Children's Songbook, 285)
Anywho, what a week!
Must've been a good one, cuz I can't seem to remember anything...

We made a trip down to the mission office/ mmmmmmmmDaves. They took Hna Robbins bike, then took a look at mine. They told me there are 2 sets of brakes on a bike for a reason APPARENTLY, you're supposed to use both, not just one. *Shrug* Ya learn new things every day.

ZTM happened and we learned about listening with charity. ... That's all I have to say about that.

I had a birthday. Now I'm old. I can't even drink legally, so... NO FUN!

Oh! We had a pretty cool experience this week that I would like to share! We were meeting our investigator at a Baskin Robbins but got there a little early and waited. While waiting, one of the workers comes up and says, "You're the missionaries! These drinks are on the house! I'm a Mormon from California!" And then leaves. We later get to talking with him, and we learned that he was the first in his family to be baptized, and he slowly helped much of his family to become members as well. But ever since his move here about 6 months ago, he's been less-active. He asked us to help him come back to church. We're super excited! It was another good reminder that the Lord really is behind this work, that if we do our best, the Lord will make things happen. (Now I just gotta work on patience so I'm alright in between these cool and rare sightings! ;)

Sorry there are no pictures from this week. We've got the before birthday pictures but no after ones. Mostly because my photographer was camped out in our bathroom while I squatted behind our desks. #Bestmom!! [Lauren requested little Nerf guns for her birthday.]

Well, y'all. It's been real. It's been fun. But,
I'll see y'all in many more moons. Remember to read your Scriptures EVERY DAY!!

I'd like to thank the Stinson boys, who made my birthday possible...

It's basically the worst picture of me I'VE never seen!

For Dad. 'Bout the moon. We're gonna be ok.

A Wafer-less Kit Kat

What a week. Points?

> Same Area! It's weird how even though you are still in the same geographical area and the same ward, you suddenly meet different people and are in different places. I swear I discovered a new member last transfer and again, another family this... I dunno

> Our dryer was kinda... superheating. The top had half-chipped, half-melted off. So maintenance came in and got us a new one. Which means we didn't do laundry for 2 weeks. Turns out, I ALMOST have enough clothes to make it 2 weeks. But it's alright, tub-time is fun!

 > We take Oscar "Off-Date" so he could meet with President Wood (1st counselor to President Clark) and then we put him back On-date. He didn't even know! But it was a little scary for us :D

> We had an hour of free time and knew one of our investigators lived on the first floor in an apartment complex, but we weren't quite sure which one. So we went looking with Faith. AND WE FOUND HER!! She invited us right in and we had a really cool lesson. In the end, Hna Robbins invited her to be baptized, but she said she already had been. (I don't like this question.) But in that moment, the spirit was like "Hey, check this out!" And then he used my mouth to say something really cool about authority and Christ being baptized. And then I knew that God really isn't going to leave me to destroy His work. Wow.

> I dug out my 2nd to last Kit Kat and took a big bite. And there was no wafer. I was shocked. Frankly it was a really good bar of chocolate, but... where was my wafer? If I hadn't been expecting something else, it would've been really good. But... Kit Kats go 'Crunch!'

Ok. Spiritual moment. I've discovered Paul H. Dunn. I love his talks!! I suggest all of them to everyone!! Also, I had a really cool spiritual "CLICK" moment during "Behold the Man." Please apply directly to your souls. And then read Jesus the Christ.
Thank you.

TUB TIME! (Laundry)

Oh yeah! Hna Robbins' bike pedal broke. We were a 2 bike, 3 pedal team. It was rough.

Dryers. I'm SOOOOOO grateful (see tub-time)

A mascot for the week. It was actually pretty good... It was..

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, for Tomorrow...

I ... will still be here. Yep. Hna Robbins and I will be staying for another 6 weeks in Semoran! What a party! Such a gift! [That's what lil Gideon says, right?]

This week, Hna Robbins had both 2 converts going to the temple to do baptisms for the first time as well as an investigator who got baptised! Needless to say, we had a great week and none of it was in OUR area! :D

Um... I don't know what to tell you about with those so... I'll just send some pictures!

Our investigator, Oscar, went to the doctor this week, and the doctor told him to not to. Smoke or drink coffee. I wanna hug that doctor, and then share the gospel with him. But hugging is Diso, so... I guess I'll just high-five him. But it was cool go see God taking good care of us! Even if I still have no idea what I'm doing all the time, the Lord is guiding my wreck of a self to victory! How neat is that?

We also had Hna Robbins' birthday this week! What with glow-in-the-dark balloons and candles that burned in color, we were partying hard! We got a little daring and made cake-in-the-mug 's too! I know! We're living on the edge these days! #lifeofamissionary

Um, but really, I did a much better job of taking pictures than of doing anything else. We did get caught practicing our musical number foe the baptism by the 2nd counselor in the bishopric and thus played/sang in Sacrament meeting this week. Yay! It was cool to see the Lord really come in and help with the whole "relearn a song in 2 days without a piano!" Thing.

Anywho. I gotta go. But! Read your Scriptures! Every day! And life gets easier! Well, maybe not easier, but you get stronger:)
Ok Ciao!!

Birthday festivities and carnage! (Can you guess which one I am in the dark picture with both our heads?)

Baptism! Hna Swan & Wade with Bianca getting baptised in the middle. Hna Andrus joined us por skype:)

I love to see the temple. I went inside that day.

Hector and Ricardo with Hermana land!

Lunch at Junior Columbian Burger after with a member de Valencia. Shout out to Hna Calderon!

Pride Levels are High

We met a lot of people who really struggled with the Word of Wisdom but do love our church. I never thought I would have to review the 12 steps of repentance on my mission, nor did I see myself ever holding a cigarette. The mission changes you. But seriously, we've had a lot of our good friends struggling with the Word of Wisdom. We welcome ANY advice on overcoming smoking addictions or the whole-hearted desire to drink coffee. Cuz... I don't even. Know.

But I found a good talk I wanted to share! Mostly, Paul H. Dunn just made me laugh, then while my mouth was open, he shoved some motivational quotes down it. It's called "Know Thyself, Control Thyself, Give Thyself." Favorite quote time!

> The lives of many great men will testify to you that ofttimes they have many failures, and there is no disgrace in falling down; the disgrace is lying there. To get up one more time than you fall is to be a winner. To stay down is to be a loser.

 > And I said, “Spirit, I won’t.” I said, “I am the president of this mission.” And the Spirit seemed to respond with the counsel, “Yes, but you will keep him in Cambridge.” ... Well, I kept him.
(Mostly I just love this one because all the time I feel the the Holy Ghost responds to me like that. "But I don't wanna, and it'll hurt!" Spirit: "Yes, you're right! You're going to do great! *a loving spiritual shove*")

> I just keep goin’ up there and keep swingin’. I know the old law of averages will hold good for me the same as it does for anybody else, if I keep havin’ my healthy swings.

We gotta just keep trying. There's a quote from Adjusting to Missionary Life that I both love and hate: "Realize that everything you do can’t be above average. You still want to work hard to improve, but no matter how good you become at something, you will perform below your personal average some of the time. This is not a cause for alarm." A previous companion (Hna Wade) would say "I hate thinking that 50% of what I do is below average!" True, it's not the most motivational of thoughts, but when you have a bad day, it's the slack you need so you don't feel like an utter failure. It's ok to not be Epic all the time. It's ok to have set-backs, falling-shorts, and flop moments/days. Collapsing is not a sin. Just make sure to get back up and dust yourself off. You'll be here all week:)

In bullet point news

- All of our less-active friends came to church on Sunday! I'm so pa-rood Imma cry.

- Florida got filled with Love bugs.

Eve Baer - Lauren's first niece

- OH YEAH AMERICA!! We sat out on our lawn and got eaten by bugs and watched Fireworks. The coolest ones were the ones Mother Nature provided for free. I love lighting! Also, some of our neighbors shot some off their dock. That was exciting😅

- OH YEAH EVE!!!! I will direct you to the other Hermana Baer's email from last week for photos of the newest member of the Baer family.

- Oscar our investigator went from an unknown number of cigarettes (As in, he wouldn't tell us) to ~ 3 fully-smoked cigarettes in 2 days. Pride levels are high.

That's about it. Thanks for coming. Please exit the ride to your left and have a nice day. Here. At Lagoon.

District: the gathering. (Elders Arnson, Porter, Coppin, Cruz, Haderlie, Firth, Hnas Swan, Wade, Robbins, y Oso)

Blurry photographic evidence of my companion enjoying fireworks, but not pictures.

When our neighbors shot fireworks off their dock. Exciting times.

The mind of Hna Robbins

This is Hna Robbins weekly:
Okay, like no time to write, so it is going to be short, but this is what I have for you!

We had an amazing miracle this past saturday. It was night and our plans and back up plans had fallen through. We were biking near a members house that had mentioned that she had a friend that might be interested in meeting with us. We stopped and talked to her, and she said that her other friend has family in town and wasn't showing interest right now, but that we could go talk to her other neighbor, who just happened to be outside.

We walked over there and talked with her, and a young man she had stopped on the street to help her use her cellphone. They both could feel the power of our message as we shared with them Joseph Smith's words of the First Vision. The spirit touched their hearts. We were able to set a up a return appointment for this wednesday, and we are so excited to see the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ enter into their lives!

Birds. Not even stinky.

We got stopped by a golf field. I took pictures And biked. Ask me why I fall so much:)