July 13, 2015 Slow!!!

Hello everyone!  I hope everyone is doing well!
This week has been pretty slow still. Not a ton to report on in terms
of lessons and teaching and things like that. That has been pretty
rough. It's actually pretty frustrating and sad. But, we are trying,
and working to improve every day. And that's all you can do.
Our whole district is struggling with finding new people to teach.
It's hard. But, if missionary work was easy, we wouldn't learn
anything. And sometimes you learn the most when things are tough.
Like Saturday for example. Saturday was horrible. Lessons cancelled,
no one we tried to visit was home, and basically nothing productive
got accomplished, even though we were out and about all day. With
about 25 minutes left in the day, we sat down on a park bench for a
short break. It was super depressing. I really wanted to go in for the
night, and I could tell Elder Malauulu did too. Then I just got this
thought, "what gives you the right to give up?" The time to be most
obedient is when it is the hardest. If Christ had given up in the last
15 minutes, there would be no purpose life because we couldn't return
to live with Heavenly Father. So, we got up and we walked. And nothing
came from it in terms of numbers, but my attitude changed a ton.
President Samuelian once said if you truly understand the Saviors
sacrifice, then you will always want to serve Him, and doing the hard
things becomes easy. I'm not fully to that point, but I definitely
drew a little closer on Saturday. We don't have the right to give up.
Something good came out of Saturday.
I've been super tired this week. Don't know why. But, all is well. I'm
loving being a missionary, even when it's slow and frustrating. I'm
learning so much, that even the slow times are beneficial. Just not as
fun.
I love all of you so much! Hope you are all doing well and have a great week!!
Elder Baldridge

July 6, 2015 Week one of Transfer 4

Hello everyone!

Sounds like everyone had a pretty good week! I'm glad Jennica got to

go to EFY! That's awesome. I always loved EFY, and I hope you did too.

Also sounds like everyone had a pretty good 4th of July. Better than

my day, anyway.

The 4th was interesting. It's one of those holidays that isn't big

enough for missionaries to get the day off, but also very much big

enough so no one wants to talk to you. So, we went to a breakfast and

flag raising at the church in the morning. Tried to be productive, but

basically failed. Went to eat dinner with an awesome family, and then had to be

in by 7:00. Then at about 4:00 the next morning, I woke up and

realized I had food poisoning. Let's just leave it at that. So, we

stayed in all day yesterday and missed church. Lame. The first time

I've been sick on my mission. Great times. But, I'm good now, so all

is well.

This has been a pretty slow week. It just felt weird. Not a whole lot

of teaching, not much of anything really. We did do a little more

service than normal, which was good. But overall, this last week has

felt weird.

Elder Malauulu and I survived another transfer together. Every other

companionship in our district lost one missionary though. We got

destroyed. It will be so new, and so weird. Elder Young, who is

basically my favorite missionary and our district leader, goes home on

Wednesday. I am going to miss him SO much.

Also, some more fun news. President Samuelian called us on Saturday

and extended the call for me to be the next district leader. Which is

pretty scary. I am excited though. I have decided I love leadership

callings, not because of the responsibility or the title or anything

like that, but because you get to know and love all the people you

serve better. I love that side of it. So this will be an interesting

transfer. I'm praying that the Lord will help me know what He wants

for me and this district.

Spiritual thought this week. On Saturday night, when I woke up and was

in the beginning stages of the food poisoning goodness, but before I

came to the conclusion it was food poisoning, I really just wanted to

go back to sleep. So I'm sitting on the floor in the bathroom, and I

say a prayer asking for help to be able to sleep. So I finish the

prayer, and I sit there another minute or so. And then I very clearly

thought something along these lines: if you expect Heavenly Father to

answer your prayer, if you have any sort of faith at all that He can

help you sleep, why are you still sitting on the bathroom floor? So I

got up and got in bed. Sadly, it wasn't His will at that time that I

would sleep, because I was back in the bathroom puking in like 10

minutes, but that really hit me. If we expect Heavenly Father to

answer our prayers, we need to act like it. We need to pray, and then

do the work in order to make those answers possible. Just something

that really stuck out to me this week.

Thanks for all of your support! I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Baldridge

June 29, 2015

 Hello all! Seems like everyone is doing pretty well. I was especially
glad to hear about Jennica and Addisons experiences at camp,
especially the spiritual ones. Sounds totally awesome. Enjoy EFY!
Don't get too crazy.
This week has been better, in some ways. We found 3 new investigators,
which is very nice. Who knows how solid they will be, but at least
they invited us back. I'd say that's a good start! We still haven't
taught a whole lot this week though. Hopefully it ramps up and the new
people continue to let us come back.
Elder Malauulu and I are very different people. Very different. All is well.
We are learning to work things out. But definitely different people.

P-Day hike

We went on a sweet hike today with Elders Sims and Young, and a member
from their ward. We went to a place called the Valley of Giants,
because it has massive trees. Apparently very few people even know how
to get there. But, it was awesome.

 I love nature, and I totally want to go to like every national park when I get home. Cause nature is
cool. I'll try to send some pictures.

This week Elder Malauulu and I did have some cool experiences with the
guidance of the Spirit. There were some times where I felt prompted to
talk about something, but then he would start before I could, and he
would say the same thing. Stuff like that. It's super cool. We
honestly don't know anything, but the Spirit knows what these people
need. And if we listen to that, we will both be on the same page.
We had an exchange this week with the zone leaders. I went to their
area, which is randomly super hilly. And it was SUPER hot. Like, 100
degrees hot. And we walked up and down hills all day. I was dripping
sweat for a very long time. It was awesome. And then I remembered that
Brazil will only be worse. Can't wait!! We did have a good day though.
It was all good. I still love being a missionary!
I don't have much time today. So sorry. I love you all! Have a great
week! I miss all of you, and pray for you! Love you!
Elder Baldridge

June 22, 2015 - Happy Father's Day!!

June 22, 2015
Hello everyone!!
Happy Father's Day Dad!! Elder Malauulu and I gave talks in sacrament
yesterday on our fathers and some of the things we have learned from
them. I didn't have enough time to cover even a minor portion of all
those things. So, I focused on one of the big ones. I'm so grateful
you taught me how to serve, and to love it! You have been an amazing
father, and I am so grateful to be your son! I love you!!
Everyone else, you are kinda alright too :)
This week has been decent. Still slow. We had a lot of meetings and
such this week. Thursday we went up to the mission home and had a
meeting with President and Sister Samuelian and the Assistants and
stuff. Elder Malauulu got his iPad, and they talked about using them
properly and stuff. I love any time we get with President and the
Assistants. They are all awesome!
We did get one new investigator last night! First one in like over a
month! We set a goal before we left the apartment to talk with 5
people about the gospel. We prayed and told Heavenly Father our goal,
and asked Him to put 5 people in our path. And He did. It's almost
like He hears and answers our prayers or something. Crazy! But
honestly, when you set a worthy goal and then ask Him to help with the
things that you can't really control, I know that He is there to help.
It was a neat experience. I have no idea where things will go with
this new investigator. We have a lesson scheduled for next Wednesday,
not this week, so we will see.
I have a good feeling about this next week for some reason. I don't
know why, but I do. We are kinda mixing up the way we do things.
Trying to improve everyday. I don't know if it's worked yet, but we
are trying! Hopefully my good feeling is accurate. We will pray lots,
and we shall see.
This week we as just missionaries met with the bishop. He talked a lot
about prayer. We often talk about it like a phone conversation with
Heavenly Father. But we don't really change the way we pray based on
that. When we are repetitive in prayers, why would Heavenly Father
want to listen? I'm sure He still does, but it doesn't mean it means
anything anymore. We also need to give Him time to talk. Don't just
hang up the phone. If we close the prayer before Heavenly Father has
time to talk, then it was basically worthless. Give Him time in every
prayer. I never did that every time, but I can promise you that it
works! He will begin to speak to us more, if we give Him the time!
I love all of you so much!
Thanks again, Dad, for everything. Love you all!!
Elder Baldridge