January 26

I hope that you are enjoying the winter weather as much as we are! I don't mind how cold it is especially when it is snowing real good like it is right now. I am loving it!

So yesterday was Stake Conference. I don't remember if I told you all, but Elder D. Todd Christofferson came. His purpose in coming was to release President Kirk. I must admit, it was really sad for me, but also really good for his family. I am happy for him! I love that family so much. We had a lot of people come out for stake conference. D even helped everyone get parked and such with the other brethren from the ward. G loved it, and shook Elder Christofferson's hand. We had a whole slew of less-active members come out for it, who all loved it too. So many miracles came from that event, and we hope to be able to keep those who came coming to church in the future.

I know that this is the true church. I have been working recently to strengthen my testimony in Joseph Smith, as a prophet. As I have done so, my mind continually goes back to how I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and the first time I prayed to know it for myself. I know that Joseph Smith was called as the Prophet of the Restoration. I know it because the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that "no wicked man could write such a book as this. And no good man would write it unless it were true, and he were commanded by God to do so."

I love you all!

Love,
Sister Bakker

January 20

Dear Mom,

All is well here.  We have been making good progress with D.  We actually only really get to see G once a month, and pray that she gets to come to church more than once a month.  That is her rules for right now.  We are expecting both of them for church this week, though.  We actually have Stake Conference, which not only means that we only have to drive 20 minutes this week, but also that Elder D. Todd Christofferson is coming!!  It was supposed to be a different member of the 70 coming, but last minute it changed and now he is coming with someone else from the 70, I think it might be Elder Gerard.  We are so excited!  Everyone is speculating that some big change is coming, but I will let you know for sure what happens next week.  

I have gotten some good news this week.  Sister Hemenway, who is still in Strongsville, sent me a letter.  I guess they randomly got a call on their phone from someone who was asking for me and Sister Kunz.  It was T!  She had changed phones, and lost our number, and decided to come back to church and re-investigate!!!  It is so good to get news like that.  

I know that this church is true.  I know that the atonement is real, and that because of it we can each change and become better and stronger.  I also know that we can know where we stand with Heavenly Father at all times.  We don't have to guess to know if He is pleased or not.  It is the best thing ever to get so serve Him in this capacity.  

I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Bakker

January 12

 Dear Mom,

 We have had a cold week! Thank goodness for my  big purple coat! Through thick and thin, that thing has been the  best! I am so grateful for the boots Grandma sent last year, those have also been great! I have been loving the snow, though. Everyone has pity for Sister Takeuchi because of the cold. I can't imagine why...

David and Gia are doing good. It has been hard to meet with anyone this week for the most part. The rumor is out here that the flu shot didn't work, and everyone is getting the flu. Tons of people are super sick out here, and so we are just trying to avoid getting it. Hopefully we have better updates for you after the bug dies down.  We had a great week at church. There was a bunch of people who came, who don't normally make it. So that was great! We have been working really hard to bring more people back into activity.

 I am loving working! We are just plugging alone, despite the cold and snow. There is no better time to work hard than right now. I LOVE IT!
 Love you all!

Love,
Sister Bakker
P.S. Talk to you probably next tuesday because of MLK day.

January 6

Hi Mom,

D is doing great! He came to church this week, and he really stood out. He seemed to really like fast and testimony meeting. He liked it so much that before we knew it, he waltzed right up there to the podium and bore his own testimony. He showed the congregation that he had been reading the Book of Mormon, and that he was determined to find out if it is all true. It was actually pretty cool. He sounds like a baptist minister when he speaks, and there was a lot of power in what he said. I think that the ward was pretty excited to have him there. Then better yet, one of the members who remembers his father from 20 years ago, also got up and bore her testimony and over the pulpit welcomed D. We think he will be coming back to church. It was a warm welcome.

G is doing great too! She is trying to come to church every Sunday, as much as her parents will permit, at least. She has grown a lot since I taught her a year ago. She is so much more willing to accept things on faith, and live all the commandments. I love her!

I love being able to be here and be apart of the work I did a year ago. It is pretty special to continue with these same families. I love being a missionary!

Well, I love you all!

Love,

Sister Bakker

Dec 28 & Dec 22

Hi Mom,

We had a great Christmas day full of lots of fun and being with families in the ward. We are so well taken care of here! This is a good ward to get to come back to. I loved talking with all of you,
too. We had a lot of really great lessons this week. D is doing well and progressing. He is starting to get more into the Book of Mormon, is seeing the blessings it brings into his life. It is fun
to see him changing a little here and there. The ward is pretty excited to hear about his progress since many of them remember his father from 20 years ago.

The big news of the week is Miss G. G is doing so great! She has such a strong desire to be baptized, and is absorbing everything up like a sponge. I love it! We taught her to keep the Sabbath day
holy, and she said at the end, "why did you wait so long to teach me this? I am so glad I finally know, now!" We also had a surprise trip up to Kirtland with her this Sunday all thanks to the S's. I will
send you a picture. When Elder Ballard came to talk to the Kirtland Stake last year, he told the mission president that we need to get more people to Kirtland. There is definitely a reason why. They
spirit is so strong there, and it is easy for investigators to work through doubts, fears, and concerns that they may have as they listen to all that the people went through here. It is so incredible to have
that place so close. G is not allowed to be baptized until she turns 18, so she set a goal to be baptized the week after her birthday in 2017! We are so excited for her. I can see her serving a mission
one day. She would change lives!

I love this work so much! I love being a missionary, and being able to stay so focused on one purpose. It was sad to hear how soon it will end, but I know that I have enough time to still make a dent here. I love you all! Do missionary work! Seek opportunities to share the gospel every day. I promise you will never regret it.

Love,

Sister Bakker


December 22

Dear Family,

Christmas is going to be great this week. We have a lot of appointments to go caroling, and many families to visit. Sister Takeuchi and I had a great idea to go caroling at the mall, so we are getting together a bunch of missionaries in the stake to go over there tomorrow, and the mall has it all set up for us to come. Hopefully we see some success. This ward still loves having sister missionaries, and we are so spoiled. We came home with many gifts from everyone in the ward yesterday.

D is doing well, and we will be seeing him again this week. One day I will tell you so many stories about Youngstown. It is such a great place! D is a pretty good example of someone who was born and raised here. Sister S was also able to come to church! It was so exciting to see here there. Sister Kirk went with us to see her this last week, and they both found each other and buddied up while President Kirk sat on the stand.

Yesterday was our Christmas program, too. The bishop had the missionaries narrate the program in between each of the musical numbers. One of which we sang in as part of the choir. I am still definitely not a singer, but they still want me to participate... I think it did go pretty well. I just love Christmas time! There is a special spirit and everyone can feel it.

I love you all! I will see you on Christmas!
Love,
Sister Bakker

December 15

Dear Mom,

All is well with us. The smoke smell is still present, but seems to be subsiding. We are recovering okay. Sister Takeuchi wasn't freaked out or anything by it. She is pretty resilient. I can honestly say that I have had some weird experiences and some scary ones out here that are not normal. We were talking with Sister M, and she said that neither of her boys ever reported anything like that back from their missions. Maybe boys just don't tell their families about it.

This week has been good. Everyone here has been getting sick, so a lot of our appointments keep getting canceled, but that is okay. It just gives us more opportunities to follow the spirit and bless others. This week we decided to make a big batch of pumpkin cookies, and go and deliver them to who ever we felt inspired to give them too. There is something about a plate of cookies that just softens people's hearts. Plus everyone in Ohio has their own cookie traditions, and have these big parties all about cookie exchanges, and weddings with a cookie table, and so on. So everyone here loves cookies. One of the ladies we visited this week even had a box of Little Dutch Boy Cookies from Family Dollar! People out here love them.

D, our investigator in Youngstown, is doing good. We taught him the restoration this last week, and he was very sincere. He really wants it all to be true. He is praying about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and baptism this week. It is exciting!

Last but not least, our mission prep class is expanding!!! The class started with me and Sister Frampton last year with only 5 kids. This

Sunday there was 17 there, all representing the New Castle Ward,

Youngstown Ward, Alliance Ward, and the Lisbon Ward. Better yet, it is still growing. It is a pretty big turn out over all. We are pretty excited about that success, and the kids are growing so fast! Last week we had a mock investigator come, and most of the kids didn't know her so they thought it was real. They all taught the restoration, and invited her to be baptized. So cool!

Well, I love you all! I know that this work is so important. I don't want to leave here, but I can't wait to be able to do more than I am doing now when I get home. There is so much more than I ever realized to missionary work. I know you all get the ensign, which means you got the sheet with the "He is the Gift" cards. There are nine of them. I challenge you to have them all out by Christmas. It is a pretty big initiative that is happening. The first presidency is having us, as missionaries, report to them every single week directly. I know that when you do pass them out, that Heavenly Father will help you to know who, when and how to do so. You will feel the spirit, and it will make you want to hand out more. That is just how missionary work goes!

Love,

Sister Bakker

December 8

Dear Mom,

I am glad you had a calm week.  We did get to watch the Christmas Devotional.  We loved it!  My week was kind of calm for a little bit until this morning...

So Grandma Peterson wrote me, and said that she was hoping that my furnace would be working properly this time around.  I am sure everyone remembers the fiery furnace incident of 2013 with Sister
Olson in Canfield.  Well, my furnace is working great to put all of your minds and hearts at ease.

This morning we woke up to really loud pounding coming from the windows and doors around our main level (we sleep on the second level).  It was about 4 in the morning, and the pounding wasn't a
soft, quiet pounding.  It was a loud, ferocious, terrifying pounding. I am still surprised by how quickly I was able to respond.  I jumped right up, woke up my companion, and grabbed the phone in a few
seconds.  As I was running down the stairs I thought it smelt like smores and camping.  I thought that was weird, in my 4:00 am state of mind. I put two and two together when I pulled the blinds aside and
saw the red flashing lights and a big fireman outside trying to shout orders at us.  We didn't have time to grab anything but our keys. There was a lot of smoke, and it was billowing up through the basement.  They asked us a bunch of questions about what we could have been burning that would have caught on fire.  They were surprised that I knew how long it had been since I had lit a match as we aren't supposed to handle fire as missionaries.  So there were no candles, or anything to be found.  They came back a second time, and asked if there was an incense burning, and quick to tell us we wouldn't get in trouble.  I think they thought we were lying or trying to hide something.  We sat in our car for an hour as we watched the firemen and police try to find the origin.  They walked in and out and up and down and all the way through our apartment several times.  They were shining big spot lights everywhere and waking people up.  It was a big ruckus!  Finally, they came over to us and explained that our neighbor had been smoking outside, and wasn't careful with his cigarette.  It set the mulch outside on fire, and was burning all the way through and creating a ridiculous amount of smoke.  The whole time they thought we had done something careless, they seemed a bit apologetic.  Turns out our smoke detector upstairs doesn't do much if there is smoke downstairs.  Weird how that works, right?  So the fireman said he would call our apartment people, and get it all straightened out.

So just a few hours later, a couple of hours of sleep less, and reeking of smoke everywhere we go, here we are.  This has got to be God's work, because why else would Satan try so hard to make it more
difficult for us to work?

I love you all!  Thank you for all you do for me and Lyssa.  We really appreciate it!

Love,

Sister Bakker