Oct 14

Mom,

I have to tell you, Ohio beats Utah ten fold when it comes to fall!  I love it here this time of year!  Sister Frampton and I are going to go and take pictures today to just try and prove it to you.  So amazing!

S Frampton, Dani and Mike's kids

So I forgot to tell you a story from last week.... So we tracted into this guy named Mike.  He is really nice, and has a nice family.  It turns out that his family was just in Hawaii.  His son is a cancer survivor, and an organization similar to Make a Wish sent Mike and his son to Hawaii for a hunting trip.  Their tour guide was.... MORMON!  Ha!  So they attended a church service while they were there and loved it.  So of course the Lord would send us only three weeks after they got home to knock on their door.  Mike isn't sure he is looking to convert, but he invited us to dinner.  We had a great time!  So we get this call later on and we hear... "A-L-O-H-A!" His tour guide, Sister Cummings, called us all the way from Hawaii to hear about our experience!  So cool!  We are hoping to go back and have dinner again with Mike and his family soon. 

Berlin Lake while tracting in the rain

This week we set up a date for our investigator, Karen, for December 7.  She is doing awesome.  I feel like our lessons with her go so perfectly because she has such a genuine desire to find out if Joseph Smith is a prophet.  I love teaching her.  We will be seeing her again tomorrow.  Also this week, we went on exchanges.  It was my first time taking over this area, and I took Sister Bell to the C’s.  I am not sure if I mentioned the C’s before.  Sister C breeds Dachshunds, and so they have a lot of dogs.  We have been preparing Sister C to receive her patriarchal blessing.  Since going over there we met John, who is Sister C's brother-in-law.  Everyone in the home is a member, except for him.  He used to avoid us like the plague, but recently has been sitting in on lessons.  Naturally we have been catering our lessons to him, and last week he accepted the baptismal invitation!  I am so excited!!!!  Things are going really well with those two investigators. 

Finally, I received some great advice from Andrew that I put to use this week.  He gave me some ideas on how to help members feel more enthusiasm for hastening the work of salvation.  So after our cool experience with Shanique, I invited the K’s, who invited her to listen, to share their testimony and experience in testimony meeting yesterday.  After that testimony was born, it was referred to many times, and started a chain reaction for the rest of the church service!  It was a theme, and we could see others catching the bug a little bit at a time.  We know that the work we do will be far more effective with when we are working with the members. 

The church is true.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I know that this work is the most important thing we can be doing!  I love being a missionary!  I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Bakker

The Zone

Oct 7

Hi mom!

I have a huge testimony of members opening their mouths.  Sometimes we never know what the Lord has in store for us.  In the last week we have found 2 new investigators from members who opened their mouth at one point or another in the past.  Neither of these girls expressed the interest to take discussions at the time, but are now doing so because of their experience and talks with members from 5 or more years ago!  How cool is that!!!!!!!  They were planting the seed!!  They were also apart of hastening the work of salvation, which they talked a ton on in conference!  They even compared it to the first vision!   

So the work here...  It's definitely moving and rolling.  So our area is very diverse.  We have a lot of country folk, as well as a lot of ghetto areas.  This week we met Karen.  She is an older black lady, who went in for a general procedure, and the doctor accidentally hit a nerve in her back.  She is paralyzed from the waste down.  She talks a ton, and has a beautiful shrine to Africa in her kitchen and a couple pictures of Malcom X framed around the house.  She found one of our cards just laying somewhere, and called us.  It has taken us a while to finally get over to seeing her as she has been in the hospital.  When we finally got over there, she gave us each a hug that was so warm and loving.  She loved having us there.  Not exactly sure if she understood the message, but she was so funny to talk to.  She has a lot of crazy stories, and just wants to be closer to God.  I wish I could describe the scene to you better, but to put it simply, Youngstown is nothing like Utah. 

We did have a very solid investigator that we tracted into last week.  She had a good experience from one of the members just being an example/missionary a few years ago.  Her name is also Karen.  We had a lesson with her, and she said that she believed everything we shared with her.  She texted us just last night and told us that she was excited to learn more.  I am so excited to teach her more about our church!  We never know who the Lord is preparing, and how they are doing it.  We are all just instruments in the work of salvation. 

Of course I have to mention how awesome conference was!  How cool is it to have a living prophet to guide us through life?!  I want to take President Uchtdorf's talk with me everywhere and just share it with everyone we meet.  We need ipads! 

The Church is true!  We are all so lucky to be apart of the Work of Salvation! 

I love you all and am praying for you daily!

Love,

Sister Bakker

Sept 30

Hey!

S Frampton and Dani went to the White House Fruit Farm with a member

Burrr!  Snow!  Ha!  We have been getting frost over night here now.  The weather just can't seem to make up it's mind.  The cool thing about Ohio though is the fog in the morning.  Every morning when we go running, we run through thick fog.  When I say thick, I mean that Sister Frampton and I have to stay within 10 ft of each other to be able to see the other's outline.  It is so thick, you can barely see the trees, which is saying something for out here.  So far I love the fall here!  Everyone is super into fall activities, and the weather varies between just a bit too cold to just a bit too hot, and usually lands somewhere inbetween where it is just perfect.  Makes tracting a lot easier. 

Speaking of tracting, we have been doing a lot of that recently.  The nice thing is that we have been finding while doing it.  It is all about having faith that God will put those who need to be taught in your path.  One of the people we found is named Terri and Bob.  They seem super friendly and nice, and Terri loves the idea of being sealed in the temple!  I love them already!

Cool experience of the week K & J are both less-active members.  I can't remember if I have talked a whole lot about either of them, but they are really awesome!  I love them so much!  We have been working a lot to help them come to church.  Last Sunday was the first time that J had taken the sacrament in probably 30 years!  So cool to be there with them and see that.  K, J's daughter, really has shown a desire to learn and change to be better. 

So last Tuesday we had a lesson on the Restoration with them.  We watched the video, and then talked about how cool it is to be apart of the church.  We felt inspired to ask if they had ever prayed to know if it is true.  K told us that we were an answer to her prayers, and that she knew because we came.  J said that she never had prayed to know if it was true.  So we asked her to kneel with us right then and there and ask.  Let me tell you, the spirit was so strong in that room!  J asked so sincerely to know if it was true, and made promises to Heavenly Father that she would be willing to change.  After she closed, we sat in silence for just a moment.  J then said, "I knew it wouldn't take long for him to answer my prayer.  (pause) I am not afraid anymore."  That is why I am here!  To help people grow closer to the Savior!  I love them so much! 

After such a powerful lesson, we knew that both were ready to continue making commitments.  So on Sunday we had a big lesson on the power of the atonement, and what that means for them.  We tied it into the Word of Wisdom, which they both struggle heavily with.  J & K promised to keep that commandment.  So after we finished our lesson, S. Frampton and I headed over to the sink and started dumping out all of the alcohol in the fridge with K!  It was kind of fun!  I am so proud of both of them, and the strides they are taking to know our Savior better. 

We had another short lesson last night with Sister D.  She is so cute, and is a convert from the Catholic church.  We asked if she would come to one of our other lessons, and she was really excited to get to go.  She said the prayer before we went into our lesson and said: "please help him to know that the church is true... If he doesn't, don't worry, I will tell him it is!"  Her boldness and conviction to the church is such an example for me!  I love seeing the members get excited to help us work.  It makes such a big difference when they come teaching with us because they love the gospel and their testimonies are powerful.  The church is seriously the best thing ever!  I love being a member of the only true church on the Earth! 

I love you all!  Thank you for all of your support!

Love,

Sister Bakker

Sept 23

Hey mom!

All is well here!  We have been working hard, and working with practically no miles this week.  Yay for tracting!  Ha!  We had a great meeting last nigth with the S family.  Sister Frampton said that she has been waiting for the opportunity to teach a whole family like this her whole mission, so we are way pumped!  It is definitely hard to stay in control of the lesson always, but the family has promised to diligently find truth through praying and reading.  Good things are going to happen there, I just know it! 

Dani, Jennifer A, S Frampton

S Frampton's B-day at the park w/some of the elders

Our ward has been putting a huge push on members going teaching with us.  So this last week we have had a lot of our lessons with the members here.  It makes a huge difference for the investigators as well as for us.  It is one of those things that if you do it you walk away feeling so good, and knowing that it is something that we should be doing (John 7:16-17).  I wish I had been more active in the work back home.  This week we had Brother K invite a girl named Shanique to his home for a lesson.  We shared the restoration with her, and she loved it!  Brother K had such a powerful testimony, and I knew that him being so involved was key to her feeling the spirit.  Unfortunately she will be returning back to Oakland, CA for pediatry school next week.  I think she is definitely going to be baptized when she gets there though.  We never know whom God is preparing, or who needs to hear the message. 

S Frampton's B-day at the park

Believe it or not, it is already time for boots here.  It has been pretty cold already, but not consistently yet.  I may need to go get new walking shoes though that are more waterproof.  We will have to see how it goes.  Sister Frampton wears a pair of croc brand shoes (not the clunky ones with holes), and they seem to get the job done with all of the rain.  I will give it some more time, and see if it is worth it.  They look just as bad as the other shoes I have to wear so what could be worse, right?  

I love you all, and pray for you daily.  Talk to you soon:) 

Love,

Dani

Sept 16

Hey!

I don't know if the emails will shorten.  I am sure they will, but I love telling you all of the things that happen here.  Being a missionary you see miracles every single day!  It is incredible how much our Heavenly Father's hand is in the work. 

It is cold here now.  Amazingly enough we had the hottest day ever on Tuesday (90), and these last few days have been ranging between 50-60.  Definitely time to bring out the raincoats and umbrellas too!  We have had a bunch of rain, which makes tracting even more interesting! 

This week Elder Bowen from the 70 came and spoke to us.  It was incredible experience!  Sister Frampton and I walked away feeling like we needed to do better about talking to everyone and teaching pure doctrine, rather than finding common ground in Jesus Christ.  Everyone here is Catholic, Protestant, or Lutheran, and we all have Him in common.  Our difference lies in the Restoration and the unique truths that have been restored because of it.  So we have been having more success. 

Our mission wide goal is for every companionship to have at least 3 new investigators weekly.  Sister Frampton and I were very inspired after Elder Bowen to achieve this goal.  We did it by Friday and were so proud of it!  So Sunday rolled around, and we had about an hour and half to work that night with no appointments.  So we went tracting!  We had a lot of rejection all over that street.  We finally came to a home, right before we had to go in because of the dark, with the lights on.  Their door is glass, and inside a woman was sitting at her kitchen table canning tomatoes and pumpkin butter.  She just waved us on in.  We walked on in, and she thought we were her son's friends.  Ha!  Surprise!  You just let the Mormon missionaries in!  So funny!  After talking for a bit, we found out her brother is a convert to the church, but that her family is still Catholic.  We talked with Mary and her kids, Charles and Marcella, who are about 18.  Her brother was sealed in the SL Temple, and they had tons of questions.  Some of their questions were way weird, and we didn't know where they got those ideas, or how to answer.  We turned the conversation back to the Restoration and taught very simply.  Mary kept asking strange questions, and insisted that there is no need for just one faith.  Her kids were seemingly in awe though.  At the end of the lesson I felt prompted to bear testimony to Marcella specifically.  I just told her I knew it was true and that she could too.  They asked about the Book of Mormon for a bit, and I handed it specifically to Marcella.  She is excited to read it.  We have an appointment with all of them on Sunday again.  So to total up our investigators for the week: 6 new investigators!  We doubled our goal!  Don't tell anyone, but sometimes I think tracting is fun! 

I know The Lord's hand is in everything we do, especially when it comes to gathering the House of Israel.  We just have to have faith.  Faith leads to miracles.  I love being a missionary!  I love seeing the way people's eyes light up when they recognize the truth we share.  The church is true!  I love you all! Thank you for your support!  

Love,

Dani 

P.S. the pictures is of Sister Frampton and I in front of Handel's Ice Cream.  My understanding is it started here in Ohio, and it is still centered here.  It is incredible ice cream and everyone here is obsessed!  Also the other picture is of me and Sister Wygant, a Sister Training Leader, who I went on exchanges with about two weeks ago.