Hot! Hot! Hot!

This week was a scorcher!!! Well at least for Southern California's standards Lucky for me... we have a car with Air Conditioning. Oh the life of a California Sister Missionary! :)

This week was full of exchanges, car washes, blitzes and helping other sister missionaries. It was good! but like I said... it was very hot.

Our area these days is doing good. We have a few investigators. One inparticular is Mike(Aly and AJ's Uncle). Mike has been investigating the church for about a year and refuses to get baptized. He's the sweetest guy and he comes to church every single week, but he just doesn't agree with what we believe on Authority. So.... basically I am asking for any advice on what we could do with him? Any missionaries/RMs/anyone else that has ideas at how to help him understand that authority has to come by the laying on of hands... not just that we believe and then we have it. 

I don't really know what else to say this week. It was that exciting. Maybe it was... but my "exciting missionary senses" are just dulling. haha I guess that is what happens when you have been on a mission for 16 months! :)

Well I love you all and I miss you! Have a great week!

Love Sister Bauer

Pic week!!

Hey Family and my friends! I love you all! I don't have a ton of time this week to email!!! But I thought I would send out some pics... because we all know that pictures are worth a thousand words!

This week is transfers... I am STAYING! but Sister Perry is leaving... :( She is going to the Los Alamitos ward with Sister Andelin and Sister T. Sister Andlin is leaving halfway through the transfer. I still get to be her STL so I am excited about that! MY new companion's name is Sister Oler. She is cool! I am excited!

So... cool story!! (Waaaaay shortened version...) So we have this investigator, her name is Ashley! And she has been kinda learning from Sister Perry since before I got here, but she hasn't really progressed much. Until recently we were able to reconnect with her and commit her to meet with us again. We showed up and her boyfriend Alex was there with her. Alex has had a really rough past and is really misunderstood. We started talking about what we do and he said, "So you know a lot about like faith right?" And then he proceeded to ask us about what we believe happens to people that commit suicide. Ashley had told us previously that Alex had watched his Gpa commit suicide when he was 16 or so and it really messed him up. He had always been told that his Gpa was in Hell and there was no hope for him. When we told him that that wasn't true... he started to BAWL! (This is a guy that is a personal trainer... he is SUPER manly!) We were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation and testify that He would be able to see his Gpa again oneday. They were both soooo excited and started asking what to do with the information they had! They were like, "Do we come to church? Do we pray? What do we need to do?" So we committed them to read and pray everyday and to come to church! They weren't able to make it to church because they had a baseball game, but hopefully they will come soon. It was one of the most powerful lessons I have ever been in on my mission!!! So cool! After that lesson, I remembered WHY I am here... so people can be with thier families forever. It was really cool and eye opening!

Also, Healani is getting BAPTIZED this week! Woo hoo!!! I love her She is so awesome!!! 

Well, I have to go! But I love you all so much! Stay Classy and I will talk to you all later!

Love, Sister Bauer

So these Pics:

1.) Healani (Our cute investigator who is getting baptized this Sunday!!), Sister Perry, Lena (Our Mini Mish), and Me)

Temple Tuesday! (Round 6)

Yes... It's true! It's temple Tuesday yet again! This is my 6th temple Tuesday!!! But this one was a little bit unique!

In our mission they have a program where youth that are 17 or older can be a "Mini-Missionary" for 1 or 2 weeks. They are assigned to a companionship in the mission and live the missionary life for that time. It's a cool experience and we have one with us this week and next. Well, because our sweet little 17 year old mini missionary is not endowed and has not been through the temple we decided to do baptisms instead and we brought one of our Recent Converts at the Newport Beach Temple! It was great! It's been a while since I have done baptisms! It was a good throwback to my good old BYUI days! :) Although... I don't miss the getting wet and having to get re-ready and having wet hair... haha. But it was fun!

Guess what everyone!! Healani is getting BAPTIZED! She is officially getting baptized August 3! :) She asked her parents and she is golden. Her brother Schane is over the moon happy!! So am I! Healani is so great! We looove her!

Well... I know this is short, but I don't know what else to say... Have a great week this week everyone! I love you all!!!

Love, Sister Bauer

What a Week!

Annnnnnnd........ another 4th of July is over! Crazy how fast time flies! (I think I literally say that in every email...)

 

This year was super fun! We actually had a lot of work to do! We taught 2 lessons, one was with our cute investigator Healani! (I need to take a picture with her...) We taught her about the priesthood and about why it is important to be baptized by the proper authority. She loved it and it totally made sense to her. She is seriously the coolest 14 year old ever. She came to church with us and she bore her testimony. She had it planned and everything! She loves testimonies and she even quoted the Book of Mormon in it! :) Haha! Right now we have a baptismal date of July 27 for her. So pray for her to be able to feel ready by that day!

 

My best friend Delci (Sister Brown) was also in town this weekend visiting the mission! Ugh! It was so good to see her. She really is my girl! I love her. We got to talk a little bit and catch up on life. She came out with us on the 4th and taught a couple of lessons. It was really fun to be able to teach with her again.

 

I am so grateful to be a missionary! I love it so much! I love Cypress and I am grateful to be serving with the missionaries, members, and leaders that I do! Guys... being a missionary is seriously the most rewarding thing ever. This morning when we were in the Laundromat doing our laundrey, we started talking to a lady who told us that she didn't feel like she was at the point that she wanted to be spiritually. We taught her about prophets and then set up a return appt. for the next monday at the Laundromat! Helping people come closer to Christ is the coolest feeling. I am soooooo glad that I decided to serve a mission. It's dang hard, and there are days when all I want to do is sleep... but it's so worth it. It's worth every drop of sweat, every sunburn, everytime someone has yelled at me, or called me crazy, or said I belong to a cult. It's worth the whole 18 months even when it feels like an eternity, it's worth the sacrifice of leaving my family and friends and comfort zone. Leaving my facebook account and phone. It's worth the rules that I don't understand (Like no hlding babies) and the waking up at 6:30 everyday (Even though I'm not perfect). It's just WORTH IT! It has literally changed my life and I do not know what or where I would be phyically and spiritually if I hadn't come. I love my mission! I love the people I have met and the lives that have touched mine. I love my mission presidents (both of them) President Bubert and President Tew. I love thier wives and thier families! I love God and Jesus Christ and I loooooove thier restored Gospel! It's a great day to be a missionary!

 

Love Sister Bauer

Happy Birthday America! (Round 2)

So, it is true! It seems to be that time of year again! The one where we break out the hot dogs and hamburgers and grill up some goodness light off some good old fashion fireworks! :) Except not here in Cypress... because fireworks are illegal here... And we follow the law. :)

I still remember last year during the 4th of July! ME and Sister Brown took a picture in front of the Goodman's house! :) I miss that girl. I'm sure this 4th will be just as good. Maybe.... ;)

#ThrowbackThursday (Just pretend it is Thursday... I can't email on Thursdays...)

Anyways. Healani is good! She got back from girls camp on Saturday and then came with us to a baptism that night. She is super cool and just really has a thirst and desire to follow Christ and do what God wants her to do. We talked to her about baptism on Saturday and she said that she wants to be baptized but that she is afraid of what her parents will think. Her older brother (Member/RM) assured her that they would work on that together with her parents. She is praying about a date right now and next time we will follow up with her. Hopefully we will be able to set one the next time we meet for some time in July. She is great!

Well, I know this is short... But I love all of you to pieces! Have wonderful 4th of July! Don't go too crazy! I miss you all and I will talk to you all later!

Love your favorite missionary girl,

Sister Bauer

 

The Key to a Happy Missionary: When our Investigator Comes to Church! :)

Oh my goodness! I have been so excited to write this email!!! 

This week was super cool. It was a testimony to me that numbers don't really matter. We got 0 member present lessons, and we didn't find any new investigators, but we had miracles happening alllll over the place!

So, I think I have talked about our new investigator Healani before. (Pronounced Huh-Lonni. It's Hawaiian.) She is 14 and was a referral from the Cerritos 1st Ward Elders. Their ward borders ours and they got a call one day from the APs to go and teach this girl, but they found out that she lives on the boundaries of our 2 wards and she is on our side. So they passed her to us. Well, her older brother Schane is a convert and he just returned from his mission in Northern CA. When he got back, his sister was asking him all sorts of questions so he called the missionaries in his ward, who happened to be the APs, and they called the missionaries they thought were supposed to teach her, then those missionaries called us. So ANYWAYS! She is suuuuuper cool. We have been teaching her for about a week. She just finished her freshman year of HS and is probably the coolest 14 year old I've ever met (Aside from Austin of course ;) She played football on the freshman team this last year, her position was left tackle... Yeah. She played on the boys team. It was her and another girl on the team full of boys. She played on the JV basketball team, she Polynesian dances, and she is super musical. She loves Jesus and wants to follow him more than anything, she keeps all her commitments and came to church with us on Sunday. AND She is going to girls camp with our ward this week! haha! Yesterday we went to a fireside with her for the youth for the close of their youth conference, and she got up and bore her testimony. After the fireside, the girls in the ward were talking about girls camp (Which is tomorrow) and we asked her if she would want to go. She said yes and we divinely had all the right people RIGHT THERE to talk to about it. The stake YW Pres, the Stake Pres, the Bishop, and the Ward YW Prez. It was really cool. So we got it organized in a matter of a day! It's such a testimony builder that with God anything is possible, and in God's timing! We are super excited for her to go!

While we were at the fireside, a bunch of youth all got up and bore their testimonies. While some of them were idiots, (what do you expect, they are literally teenagers... was I that obnoxious as a teenager?) they were so REAL with their testimonies. They were so simple, and some of them just talked about the things they liked about youth conference, but they were honest. It was really cool. It made me even more excited to be an EFY Counselor for summer 2015. (That's my hope at least.) The youth of the church are seriously incredible. I mean think about it. They are LITERALLY the chosen generation. God's army on the earth. They have so much power and influence over the world, and they are so fragile. It makes me want to work with them even more so that I can show them how amazing they are. Ugh! It gives me chills! :) 

Also, this week we had a lesson with a less active we have been working with. His name is Mel... He's actually completely not active at all. He doesn't know if he believes in God even. But he loves the missionaries and meets with them pretty regularly. We have been working with him to help him have the desire to believe in God. And this past week He finally agreed to read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. The sisters have been trying for 6 months to get him to that point. So it's a big deal. It's cool to see people's desires change and to see how much the gospel can change someones life. 

Well, I know this one was kinda long, but it was full of really good missionary stuff! :) haha That's what i REALLY like to talk to you guys about.... its just that sometimes I don't quite have time to send a quality email! :) I love you all!!! have a great week and rememver that God is good!

Love, Sister Bauer

Transfers Again!

Oh hello my friends!

 

What a great day to be a missionary! This past week was very busy and full of craziness!

 

So this past week Sister Perry and I got to go to the temple with a Less Active that she helped reactivate when she was in Fountain Valley. It was awesome! We got to go to the Newport Temple and it was the first time I had been to that one. It was great.

 

Transfers are on Tuesday! Me and Sister Perry are staying together another Transfer in Cypress! I am so happy! She is the best!!!!! :)

 

Well Sorry this email is short! I don't have a lot of time this week!

 

Talk to Ya'll next week!

 

Love, Sister Bauer

 

Pic:

At the Newport Temple with Sister Perry