Jacob - August 21, 2017

Hey family, first things first because I'll probably forget to mention
it if I don't write it now. But I won't be writing this upcoming
Monday because P-day will be on Friday. It'll be a Temple day so
that's the reason why, I'm pretty excited. But this week for us went
by pretty well. We dropped a bunch of people and in turn we met a lot
of new people this week. Some have already began reading in the Book
of Mormon. We have a lot of good expectations, especially one because
she is friends with a less active and the less active is helping her
read and learn, hopefully she'll become active in the process. Also
this past week we had a zone conference. We spoke about Diligence, the
new mission standards of excellence, dignity, & how to more
effectively plan. It was a good conference, I especially liked the
comments about diligence, it's probably my most favorite attribute of
Christ. Also this week we had an exchanges with the district leader, I
was with elder Wilkinson up in his area. We had a good time together
and it was a pretty quick day. We taught a good amount. I'm not sure
if I can say I learned anything new, not sure if that's a bad thing, I
wanted to use the Book of Mormon more on street contacts, but the
areas we went to didn't really present opportunities to do so, so I'll
have to do it here in my are throughout the week. I've been studying a
lot of agency scriptures to share, trying to motivate people to choose
to follow God and not be passive about it while at the same time
warning people of the consequences of sin. Some scriptures I liked
were: Hel. 14:30, 2 Nephi 2:27 & Alma 42:27. Some of them are a bit
fuego(y), but there all super true. 2 Nephi 2:27 is probably the best
one for street contacts. Anyways as I've said, things are going well
in the area. We have a LOT of people to follow up with. This past week
we took some time to go through our area book to look for people we
had met before and found like 20 or so names that we need to go follow
up with. So we are going to be trying to find the balance between
finding and teaching the investigators that we already have. We are
looking forward to the challenge and we already have some lessons with
our ward mission leader and bishop set up. This past Sunday we got a
new ward mission leader, Hermano Cuevas, he is super cool and pumped
for missionary work. We can tell he doesn't quite know what it
entails, but he is ready to go to work. Also this week I finished
reading the B.O.M. in Spanish so that's I think number 5 for times
I've read it on the mission. It's a super good book, inspired by God
and every time I read it, something new sticks out at me. For the
remainder of my time I'm going to try reading the new testament. I'm
looking forward to this week and the one that is coming. We also
received news that Elder Christofferson is coming to our mission, well
actually to the stake conference coming up. It'll be interesting
though because this past transfer, one of the ward's was moved from
the Anaheim mission to the Irvine Mission and the stake center falls
on the Irvine side, so we are going to need permission from a Seventy
to go to that, but it's decently far still so I'lll worry about that
later. Lot's of cool things are going on in the mission though. But
this is it for this letter. I love you all and I'll talk to you soon.
Take care!

Jacob - August 14, 2017

Hey everybody, this week went by well and pretty quick. I have a new
companion named Elder Mckellar. He's been around a few different
places, but lived the majority of his life in Iowa. He's really nice
and kind and has a fire to do the work. All the missionaries here do.
We had a good week together. We contacted tons of people, it reminded
me a lot about the first week i had with elder cooper. We've also been
able to visit several members and encourage them to share the gospel
through social media. Sometimes that was successful. I think the
members around here don't really have fears about posting stuff, but
could do better at following up with the people that comment and like
the posts. So we are going to try and help them on that aspect. We
weren't able to teach a ton of people this week, people are stubborn
to let us teach them even though we are persistent. So hopefully as we
follow up with people this week that we will find some more prepared
people. Also this week I had my "my Plan" Meeting, that was good, just
a meeting to help me think about what I'm going to be doing with my
life. Nothing I guess to crazy. But everything is going well here.
Still finding joy in the work despite the challenges that come. I love
being here in SoCal, the people here are the best!

Elder Baer

Jacob - August 7, 2017

Hey everybody, today has been a crazy day with moving and what not,
I'm not sure what else more we have in plan for the day. Fortunately
all the stressful stuff is taken care of. We got all my stuff in a new
apartment, it'll be my last one. My companions goes home tomorrow back
to Texas so we'll spend this last night together and then tomorrow
I'll be with my new companion. But this week was good. Lots of the
normal finding and teaching. We haven't been able to find many solid
people so we are still working at that. But with a new companion, I'm
sure it will bring a lot of good to the area. We've slowly been able
to try new areas to proselyte where there are Hispanics, it'll just be
the challenge of finding those that are prepared. It always is that
way. But I'm confident that we will find success together. We do have
a lot of good things happening, we've been helping a lot of members in
our area and some are doing very well. So we'll keep up on that. I
finished the Book of Mormon this past week (in English) that was good.
I'm not too far behind on my Spanish study either, right now I am in 3
Nephi 20, so I'll finish that in the next few weeks or so. But all is
well for me. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Baer

Jacob - July 31, 2017

Hey everyone, this week was sort of a tough one. It was one of those
weeks where we got out to work, but not much happened. Sort of a
patience tester I guess, but we're keeping at it. I think that's the
one thing that i've noticed in this mission how areas seem to just go
through phases where things are going super good and then they sort of
decline until more people are found to be taught. As of now we have a
decent amount of people that we are trying to follow up with and work
with. But the tough thing is that most of them are hard to find, we
see them once and teach them a lesson and then they fall off the face
of the earth. But we are staying diligent. This week will be an
interesting one, it'll be my comp's last week and he's got a bunch of
different events for the week. But it'll be a good one. Hopefully
we'll be able to flip things around and meet some new people. This
past week we had a zone conference about understanding the role of the
Holy Ghost and doing the small things to be worthy of his
companionship. We listened to a talk by Elder Holland called "TheDivine Companionship," that was super good. He certainly know how to
teach using stories. The story he shared was about how a 18-20 year
old ran from his house in idaho and joined a biker gang and got caught
up in the evils of the world. He lived in New York for a time and then
moved to Southern California. One day as he was on his porch, two
missionaries stopped by and at first His dogs were super aggressive,
but then stopped and went back to the owner. The missionaries went in
and talked with the man. Turns out that the man, in the biker gang,
was the older brother of one of the missionaries. That was the first
time they met, the older brother didn't even know that he had a
younger brother because he burned all bridges back to his family. But
turns out the older brother cleaned up, repented and ended up getting
sealed at some point in time. Super inspiring story about the miracles
we can experience on the mission. I can't recall of experiencing a
miracle of that magnitud, but I know the Lord gives us miracles. I
remember reading a talk a little bit ago about the Tender Mercies ofthe Lord by Elder Bednar (General Conference April 2005), It helped me
understand how all the miracles we see in our lives are just tender
mercies that the lord sees fit to bestow us. He bases his talk off of
the scripture in 1 nephi 1:20 "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto
you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he
hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the
power of deliverance." I really like how Nephi chose to word this
scripture, that the tender mercies are for those that the lord "hath
chosen, because of their faith" in Elder Bednar's talk, he essentially
explains that it is up to us whether we decide to be chosen of the
Lord, or not. It is dependent on our faithfulness which is dependent
on our Obedience. (James 2:17) I'm not sure why i'm going on this sort
of rant, but I know this principle is true. I love you all and
encourage you to be faithful so that you may receive the tender
mercies that the lord has in store for you. I love you all! Se Cuidan!

Elder Baer

Jacob - July 24, 2017

Hey everybody, this week went well for me. Lots of finding and
teaching. Nothing too crazy. I can't really think about too much
things to write about. We did end up having an activity this past
friday that was a lot of fun. We had a bunch of small "minute to win
it" sort of games. There was a bean bag toss, the game where there are
golf balls held together by a string and tossed to spin around 1 of 3
bars (i forget what its called), a basketball free throw competition,
a tenis ball toss to knock down a pyramid of cups, hoolahoop contest,
bounce a penny into a cup, we got empty tissue boxes and tied them to
people and put ping pong balls inside and the people would have to
dance to get them out, a game where we got pantyhoses and put a tenis
ball through one of the legs and put the waist part on the heads of
the people and they would have to swing the tenis ball to knock down
water bottles. Lots of fun and there was a pretty good turn out. It
took all of the night to get things set up and put down, but we know
the ward had a good time and also the investigators that came,
afterwards there was some pizza and a bunch of deserts as well. Also
this past Monday we had the opportunity to take out a Joven with us to
do finding. We walked in a neighborhood that was pretty close to where
she lived. It was her first time doing something like that, but she
enjoyed it. We could tell she was pretty nervous, but she was able to
talk to a few people and share some stories so that was cool. She is
almost 17, but thinking about serving a mission so we are trying to
motivate here as well as the other jóvenes in the ward. This Sunday we
had a Less Active come to church, that was pretty cool considering
that we were the first missionaries he has seen in at least 3 years.
We met him about 2 weeks ago and he lives in a complex where 4 other
member families are. We hope he becomes active once again. Other than
that I can't recall much more about what to write about. It was just a
bunch of working this week. We don't have a ton of people with
potential, but we are talking with lots of people and inviting
everyone to learn more, people just seem to say no more than yes, but
we don't let it get to us. We just have the hope that the next person
will say yes. We've met a few cool people this week thanks to just
keeping up on talking with everyone on the streets and in the
complexes. But that's my week for this week. I love you all and hope
you each have a great week!

Elder Baer

Jacob - July 17, 2017

Hey Family, so for this week, i'm not too sure what to write about. It
was a good week, we definitely are working hard, but we aren't seeing
a ton of results from the labors we are putting in. Not sure if we are
just using the wrong tools or maybe not using our tools right. We
don't have a ton of people we are teaching. The people we are trying
to work with are pretty mas o menos too. Doesn't seem like many people
are willing to put in the work, to commit. So we will see what happens
with them as we try to follow up with them. I'm going to be reading in
chapter 9 to think of some more ideas to find the people that are
willing to listen to us. We have an activity coming up this Friday (if
all goes well), we are going to have food at the church and lots of
small "minute to win it" sort of games. I'm sort of skeptical on it,
because there has been zero announcements for it. I think chances are
it'll be moved to another day in these following weeks. Something good
that is going on is that we are developing more relationships with the
members in our area. We have been able to visit a few of them and so
that's going well. We are also working with the young men and women
too. We have plans to take one of them out tonight and to do some
follow up/finding in a neighborhood close to them. hopefully that goes
well. Something, sort of random, but I figure you all like it when i
write more, regardless of what I have to say. Anyways i've been
teaching about faith in the "how to begin teaching" with the people
that we meet with. Such a big difference. I feel like the sooner we
understand that Faith is a principle of action and power, the more
quicker we are to understand the need for obedience and commitment. It
is through our actions and obedience that our faith increases. Faith
in the bible dictionary says that it is a trust in something or
someone. Faith can be in many things, but Faith in Christ is the only
Absolute Assurance, nothing else can bring greater peace, joy and hope
that He can provide. I feel like the sooner we understand faith, the
clearer our purpose becomes. After all, faith is the first principle
of the gospel. I like to think of it as the "motivator," the reason
why we act. That was kind of a rant, but i've noticed a difference of
understanding between us and missionaries and the people we teach as
I've mentioned this precious principle. People have come to understand
out purpose far greater than I have noticed at any other time in my
mission. I guess some lessons are learned later than sooner, but
nonetheless, I'm grateful for them. But just want you to all know that
I love you. Hope all is well in all that you do. You are always in my
prayers.

Elder Baer

Jacob - July 3, 2017

Hey everyone, so this week was littered with miracles. Elder cooper
and I did so much work that I'm still trying to wrap my head around
all that we were able to do. It was pretty tough in the aspect that we
didn't have AreaBook or a members list. Our goals leading into the
week were to try and have a meeting with the bishop, get to know the
members of our area, and also follow up with current investigators.
But due to our situation with a lack of resources, we weren't able to
really accomplish those goals. We also didn't have a phone for a few
days and Bishop is out of town. But despite that aspect of the work,
we met so many people and fortunately we had some members that signed
up for dinner for us, so we got to know them pretty well. There are
some great people here in Buena Park. Something else I've noticed is
that the people here are overall more friendly, people here just seem
to be open to talk. So we've been enjoying that. I will say though
that one struggle we have is that we live 20 minutes outside of our
area, so that kills us time wise, we usually come home every night at
9:30 just because we are so busy and talk with so many people that
time just seems to fly.

Also the reason for the title, I think it's something I've sort of
neglected to mention, but our mission President, president Taggart
ended his mission this past week. And so our new President and his
wife are the Golden's. They are super kind and we are excited for him.
He is a super smart man. He was quoting scriptures left and right when
he presented himself at a meeting a few days ago. Him and his wife
spoke mostly about faith, obedience, and obtaining a testimony of the
atonement of Jesus Christ. I look forward to working with them, they
are great people.

A few miracles about the week:

1.) We had a service opportunity this Tuesday where we went to this
second hand clothing store that sells "professional" styled clothing.
We just did a bunch of miscellaneous stuff there, cleaning and
sorting, but I noticed that they had a pair of really nice, almost
new, shoes that were size 15. I then remembered my companion, elder
Bean (the super tall companion I had a few months ago) anyways his
shoe size is 15 and he says it's super hard for him to find shoes, so
I bought them for him. They were only $8, closer to $6 with the
discount. But later that day when we were walking to dinner with our
member, I saw a wad of cash on the ground that turned out to be $16
dollars so that was pretty cool. Case in point we are blessed when we
have charity, in some cases it turns out to be physical blessings.

2.) This week we met a girl from El Salvador, she's been in the states
for about 2 years. But she was super excited to see us and recognized
us right away when we knocked. Turns out she had a friend back in her
home country that invited her to church and to the activities and they
were really good friends. We had a really good conversation with her
and set a return appointment. When we came back, we introduced some
members that live in her same complex and offered her a ride to
church. She said yes and sure enough she came yesterday and now had
plans on coming back. We are super excited for her and she mentioned
how her mom wants to come too, but got caught working. We are going to
keep working with her and hopefully everything will go well. It was
pretty cool to see fruits from the efforts we had given, especially to
have an investigator at church after only 1 week and also white
washing.

I'm trying to remember other stuff to write, but I think this is it
for now. I love you all and hope you have a great 4th of July! Take
care!

Elder Baer