Hello everyone! Sounds like everyone enjoyed conference and
had a great week. If you didn't enjoy conference, you are crazy, because it was
amazing.
So, conference. Wow. AMAZING. I went into conference with
about 6 or 7 questions. I prayed to be able to find the answers through
conference. And sure enough, I got at least some sort of an answer to all of my
questions. It's almost like Heavenly Father hears our prayers and loves us
enough to answer them. Crazy, huh? Nope, not at all. I knew that as long as I
asked and was sincerely seeking the answers, they were there. And that applies
to a lot more than just conference. So keep that in mind.
This week has been pretty good. D…. had her baptismal
interview on Friday, and she is set for this Saturday. So excited. L….. has her
interview on Tuesday. She has missed a couple Sundays because of work (they are
in the process of hiring new people so she can get all sundays off though!) and
she had to cancel a few lessons for emergencies. So, she will definitely be
baptized, we just don't know if she will be ready for this week, or wait until
next week. But, it will happen. And she is awesome. I love L….. a lot.
Both of them were able to watch at least one session of
conference, but not all of them. We got to watch one session at a member's home
with L…., which was super cool. The other sessions we just watched at the
church. It was the 6 missionaries in Dallas and like 4 other people. Everyone
just stays home to watch conference haha. But conference was really good. I loved it, and seemed to
get so much more out of it this year. It was awesome.
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| Elders Baldridge and Watson |
Funny story of the week. We went to try to talk to this kid
who we had given a Book of Mormon before. He came to the door and was like
"I'll be back out in just a sec." So, we waited. And he never came
back. Ha we waited like 20 minutes, and nothing. It was actually really funny,
and strange. That was a first for me. Good times as missionaries.
On Friday we gave a blessing to a guy who is really cool and we have a good relationship with. He was really sick. He
could barely just sit up in bed for us to give him the blessing. He said he has
some kind of problem where he gets sick a lot. And then he asked me to give the
blessing, which really surprised me because everyone around here has a better
relationship with Elder Watson since he's been here longer. But, it was a cool experience for me, so I'm
glad he asked. And the next day he was at the Priesthood Session of conference
joking around and looking fine and everything. So, that was neat. Little miracles
are awesome.
On Wednesday a ward member asked us to visit her
mother-in-law, who is a former member of the church, but now goes to another
church. So, we drove by, and she
was outside sweeping her sidewalk. We stopped and asked if we could do it for
her. She said yes because she has a bad back. As a former member, she knew who
we were, and probably didn't want to see us, but needed the help. We then asked
if we could do anything else for her. She asked us to come back later and
vacuum her house (we had an appointment right then, so we had to leave). We of
course did, and she made us some awesome dinner that she said she had been
saving for company the next day, but made for us instead. I think she liked us.
We never once brought up the gospel (we did leave her a card with our numbers
with the Easter video on it, but we just left it with her), we just served her
and let her know that we care. She may never want to hear about our church
again, but she appreciated the service a lot. Service can open so many more
doors than pass-along cards or anything else. Show them that you love them and
that Heavenly Father loves them, through you, and people's hearts will be
softened.
Easter was great. Mainly because of General Conference. In
the morning while Elder Watson was in the shower I opened the box from you and
arranged all his stuff in a nice way where he normally studies. He was very excited, mainly because he lives to eat
unhealthy haha. But thank you for the package, and for remembering him too. I
knew you would!
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| Easter treats Elder Baldridge set out for his companion, Elder Watson |
So, we watched conference, weekly planned (a solid 2 hour
planning session for the whole week, which I kinda enjoy but most people
despise), and then went to a member's house for dinner. Dinner was really good,
so that was awesome. But, it was a couple with no kids at home, so we didn't do
anything kiddish like I knew you would be doing with the Elders there haha. But that's
okay. It was a good time.
So, spiritual thought. During conference, I realized that I
have always believed a lot of things about the gospel, but there were lots of
things I didn't really know. I had a testimony, and that testimony has been
strengthened and deepened throughout the years. But there I was a lot I didn't
know for sure. So, this morning during personal study, I set out to fix that. I
got on my knees and asked sincerely for the knowledge I need to not only help
my own testimony, but to help others strengthen theirs as well. As I said
before, Heavenly Father definitely hears and answers our prayers. It was a very
personal experience which I won't share all of, but now I know a whole lot
more. I don't just hope and believe that God loves me, I know it. I know that Christ
suffered for our sins out of love for us, and I am grateful for that sacrifice.
I don't know everything about how the Atonement works, but I know that it is
real. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and an older brother who
was willing to suffer and die for me. I hope during this Easter season, all of
you remember that too.
I love you all, more than you know. I hope everyone has a
wonderful week full of awesome, fun things. Keep being cool and keep sharing
gospel stuff even though Easter has passed.
Love, Elder Baldridge
P.S. We may have bought some Easter candy on clearance when
we went shopping this morning.... I'm getting so out of shape. Oops.
