October 27

Dear Mom,

This week was great! We had a fun Halloween activity this last

Friday, and had a great turn out! J and J took us, and had a

great time. They are doing well. I really love them. We also had

the primary program this week, and that was a ball. It is weird to

think that the only primary programs I have seen on my mission have

been here in the Alliance Ward. It is always a good time to hear some

of the kids having yelling matches as they sing, chasing each other

around the benches, and some of them chewing on their chairs and the

posts in front. All of that being said, the spirit was so strong, and

our attendance was almost a 1/4 greater than it usually is, which is a

great sign. There were many nonmembers there who were able to feel

that sweet tender spirit as the kids testified of our Eternal

Families. That is one of the best ways for anyone to feel the spirit,

to "come and see" for themselves.

I love being a missionary, and serving in this way. Every time I am

transferred I feel like I learn a little more about some of my

weaknesses and about my strengths and it really helps me to remember

how the Lord wants to help us grow (Ether 12:27, the scripture I chose

for the plaque).

I love you!

Love,

Sister Bakker

October 20

Dear Mom,

I have thought about it a little this week, and I realized how short

my time is getting. It is a little freaky to think about. Honestly,

as a missionary, you just feel like you are going to be a missionary

forever. It never feels like you are going to take off the tag.

This week has been great for me. I have not yet figured out my

specific purpose in coming back. I don't know that there is just one,

but I am definitely learning a lot more than I am probably helping.

Sister Byers has seen a lot of success in increasing all of our key

indicators, which means that we are teaching a lot more, and that our

focus is where the Lord needs it to be. That has been exciting. I

have also learned some pretty valuable lessons. Some unanticipated

things happened this week, that were unavoidable and considered to be

disobedient as missionaries (nothing big or anything). They were

things that we could have been better prepared for, but in all honesty

were mostly out of our control. I felt terrible! I was quick to take

blame, and pushed myself a lot harder than I should have been. Sister

Byers lovingly taught me that the Savior does not want me to beat

myself up for those things that happen. Yes, our repentance needs to

match our actions, but we also need to rely on His grace. I realized

that these lessons were needed for me to better understand what our

investigators, less actives, and members feel. Sometimes it is hard to

keep the commandments, and sometimes things are just out of our

control. Sometimes life is just hard, and all we can do is our best. I

thought I understood this principle, but I feel like it is all new to

me. I have felt a stronger sense of strength as I have come to rely

on Him, and know that I am enough.

I love my mission so much! I have been so blessed by our family's

sacrifices for so many of us to serve. Thank you!

Love,

Sister Bakker

Being dropped off for transfers 

October 13

Hi Mom,

Oh yeah, I am back in Alliance!!!!! Back to change Youngstown. I

don't know if I have ever explained really how a transfer works. So

for us, (it will be different for Rooster and Lys) we have to wait

until Monday night around 9:30 to get a phone call from our District

Leader, who had just received a call from the Zone Leaders, who were

just called by the Assistants. Only President, and the Assistants at

this point know what is going to happen. All the District and Zone

Leaders know is if we are staying, being moved somewhere in the stake

or being moved outside of the stake we serve in. So we all thought

that Sister Kunz would be transferred. She even said herself that she

felt like she would be, and I thought it was possible. We were pretty

surprised by the call when they said that I was being "out-staked."

There is only one stake that I can serve in that I haven't, which is

the Akron stake. That is where everyone was predicting since I have

already served in Youngstown and Toledo. Well, you pack your things

We went to the most appropriate restaurant for

me, Danny Boy's. It is pretty good!

on preparation day, and go to transfer meeting on Wednesday.

President speaks to us for a bit, and all of the new trainees

introduce themselves and their trainers, and finally the zone leaders

stand up and announce who will be serving in the zone. They always

start from the Toledo side and work over to the Youngstown zones.

They kept announcing areas, and my name wasn't called over and over,

and finally we passed the Akron stake, and I realized there was only

one other place I could go. I stood up, as they announced I would

serving in Alliance North, and gave a confused/excited look to

President Vellinga. He looked almost as surprised as I was, shrugged

and then laughed. There was a ton of gasps from the other

missionaries. It is super rare, almost unheard of to return back to

an area, especially after serving there for 6 months already. I was

so excited to hear about getting to go back.

My new companion is Sister Byers. She is really great, and very

humble. She is much different than any of my other companions, and I

am excited to work with her.  She and I have had a ton of fun surprising people with funny stories from the past and waiting for them to realize what has happened.

S Bakker and Byers doing a service project

Me coming back has been great for some of the families here.

There are some things that have changed since I left, and I am so

grateful that I get to come back and work hard to overcome some of the

challenges that have come in the last 9 or so months.

It is so weird to be back in my old apartment! I keep walking in

there waiting for it to be freezing just like what happened last year

with the furnace. Sister Byers thinks I am a nut... What else is

new, though?

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Bakker

October 7

Dear Mom,

I am being transferred somewhere outside of the Cleveland Stake. I have no idea where I am headed, but you will all find out next week probably.  Sister Kunz will be staying here waiting for someone else to come in and join her, and continue to build up this place of miracles.

We have had a really awesome week! I love General Conference because we always see miracles as missionaries. We saw exactly what you saw, with the voice over language thing. I loved the talk by Elder Jorg Klebingat. I don't know that it could have been said more plainly. I

would agree with dad's thought of it being about choices and

consequences. Another theme I saw was the need for our own personal

conversion. Everyone emphasized the need to continually strengthen

and fortify ourselves not just for what is to come in the future, but

what is happening all around us right now. Prayer, scripture study,

family home evening, and temple attendance are so crucial. I also

loved Elder Anderson's quote about how spiritual questions deserve

spiritual answers. If we really must know something, we have to ask

God directly, and seek His word for our answers.

I love serving in this ward. We have seen success in different ways

than what I saw in St. Marys or in Alliance. We have seen individuals

change in ways that no one has yet seen before. On Sunday, we received a surprise phone call from Bishop G to thank us for helping a

particular sister in our ward. We have also worked really hard to see

miracles in finding. It is really hard to find the way that Elder Teh

was talking about, but that is how Sister Kunz and I have been

primarily working for the last two transfers. We are finally starting

to see some of the fruits of our finding efforts. Just last night we

had one of the most incredible lessons with our new investigator,

C.  She has been taught by the missionaries before, and has a great relationship with many of the people in our ward already. She knows that she needs something that we have to offer

because she feels the presence of the Holy Ghost when she talks with

us or thinks about this. She is willing to work and pray about it.

Last night, Sister Kunz and I pretty much taught her all of the 5

lessons out of preach my gospel. Not because we had planned that, but

because her questions lead to everything we teach as missionaries. She

understood it all very well, and even seemed to answer her own

questions about some older practices in the church and was able to

accept it. She is willing to pray to come to know if Christ really is

the Messiah and Savior, which she has never had a testimony of before.

It was an incredible lesson!

There are so many wonderful things happening here, and I can't wait to

see where else I am called to be apart of different miracles. I know

the atonement is real, and that we have the power to change. I know

that there is such a thing as peace of conscious, and that we can have

confidence in our eternal salvation. I love this gospel, and I love

being a missionary!

I love you!

Love,

Sister Bakker