WING DON'T!

Soos Creek is thriving with investigators!  The only problem we are having is getting people out to church. 

Today I'm going to tell you about Wing Dome.  It's a restaurant that has one of those food challenges like you see on Man vs. Food, right?  All you have to do is eat seven spicy wings in seven minutes and lick your fingers clean with no beverages.  Sounds easy enough.

WRONG. 

There were several warnings when my companion and I walked in.  First of all, the place was empty.  Next, when we ordered the challenge, we had to sign a waiver and on the waiver it said that if I touch any other part of my body after handling this food product, I am aware that burning WILL occur.  Our third and final warning---when they brought the food out, the wings were engrossed in what looked like black mud and there was a dry rub sauce on top of that. 

On my first bite, I realized there was no way I was going to eat seven of these wings.  The chicken was nasty--it was like eating cardboard.  UGH!  And the spice!  Oh my gosh!  Just pour gas into my mouth and light it on fire.  That is what it felt like and I had only eaten two wings.  The worst part about these wings is that they were just as hot going out as they were going in, if you know what I mean.

We decided on a new name for the restaurant.  The new name is Wing Don't.  We were in capacitated for the rest of the day and I had to take a cold shower the spices were that hot.  DO NOT EAT THERE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!

Soos Creek, Redmond Washington

Hello Family;

This week has been a little slow.  I'm the designated driver for a 2009 silver Toyota Corolla.  The car isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be and I really enjoy driving around instead of walking or biking.

My new apartment really isn't an apartment--it's a GARAGE.  We live in a member's home and their garage is separate from the house so we get to sleep in there.  It's pretty nice but the bathroom is about the size of a cruise ship bathroom.  Pretty tight.  And now that I'm living in a garage, I am burning through my allergy medications. 

My new companion is Elder Ouasill, (wah-sill) from Alabama.  We had a powerful but simple lesson in diligence yesterday.  We decided to go tracting and were driving around trying to listen to the Spirit as to where we should tract.  We weren't having much success and finally picked a cul-de-sac to tract.  About halfway through no one had even yet opened their doors and one guy opened his door and without saying a word, shut the door. 

Elder Ouasill said it was pointless and that we should go back to the car and plan for a lesson we had later that evening.  As we were heading back to the car, a man and his son were riding their bikes towards us.  We waved them down and began talking with this man.  We actually presented a lesson to this man on the spot and even though we weren't able to set up a return appointment, we felt we left a strong impression with him and his son for future missionaries to build off of. 

If we had not continued to tract, we would have missed this man.  This was a great lesson for me.  For a few weeks I have been praying for ways to strengthen my faith, and just by finishing tracting that cul-de-sac, THAT was an example of faith to me.  It showed me that when I trust in the Lord, He will bless me for continuing  to work (even when the situation was bleak). 

I realize that what I need to do to be a better missionary is to cast doubt out of my mind and just do the will of the Lord.

CARE PACKAGE RECEIVED-thank you very much

THANKS FOR THE CARE PACKAGES!

YOU GUYS ROCK!

WATERMELON

A few weeks ago, we did service for an elderly lady in our ward and she gave us a watermelon in gratitude.  Well, we forgot about the watermelon and we found it this morning growing mold.  Mold is everywhere here.  It grows on BBQ grills!  It's insane.  So, we obviously had to throw the watermelon out, but, of course, we were going to have some fun with it.  So we took it out to the dumpster and I said to Elder Larson, "I'll hold open the lid, and you chuck it in." 

Well, he chucked it alright.  He chucked it so hard it exploded on impact and got all over my white shirt and nametag. 

The whole way back to the apartment, Elder Larson was laughing so hard.  I was half laughing, half whimpering about the moldy watermelon all over me.  I had already packed up all my stuff because I'm getting transferred (AGAIN).  So I don't have an extra white shirt to wear.  (I'm wearing Elder Larson's shirt as I write this). 

I sort of crashed my bike.  I went down some stairs on it but the stairs were steeper than I thought.  I didn't get hurt but I did leave a HUGE tire mark on the side of the apartment building (whooops).

Anyways, I goot run and get to transfers!  LOVE YA'LL

AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE

Yesterday my companion and I walked in to Sacrament meeting fasting for more committed investigators.  I was just about to stand up and bear my testimony when one of our recent converts caught my eye from the foyer.  He had tears in his eyes and we went to a vacant room and talked about what was happening.  Turns out he had some pretty serious rent problems so I went back into the chapel and found Brother Brinkeroff, our Ward Mission Leader.  As soon as Brother Brinkeroff heard about his situation, he said, "Curt, you can stay at my house."  Curt protested, but Brother Brinkeroff insisted.  He said, "Curt, I won't accept your money.  You're my friend and that's what friends do."

This conversation brought tears to my eyes as I watched Brother Brinkeroff say what he had to say with the brightest smile on his face.  He had charity and he was willing to take Curt in on a moment's notice. 

I am going to work on being charitable in all things...in my thoughts, in my voice and in my actions.  Brother Brinkeroff didn't know it and neither did my companion, but that experience was an answer to my prayers.  It was a further witness to me of God's infinite wisdom and how everything we encounter and experience is for our benefit.  God knows us so well--better than we know ourselves.  How else would HE be able to comfort us in our ailments and illnesses?  He has to know us inside and out to know EXACTLY how to comfort us. 

This experience was amazing for me.

GREENIE FIRE...

If there's one thing hotter than blue fire, that would be Greenie Fire!  My new companion is Elder Larson and he is awesome!  We have not even been together a week yet and we already have three new investigators and we have put someone on date for baptism! 

Elder Larson is a cross between Ryan and Blake rolled into one.  It's so funny, and we are always laughing at each other and making fun of each other and pulling out scripture quotes and white handbook quotes on each other.  Elder Larson has been out only a month longer than I have and he's the District Leader. He's an awesome District Leader. 

I have an odometer on my bike as well as a pedometer and I'm going to add up the total miles I do whether I'm riding or walking. 

I went and got my eye checked and it turns out I have a FRECKLE on my eye!  Ha Ha!

My companion and I are working on talking to everyone we meet.  We got majorly rained on a few days ago.  It was so bad I actually had to change my shirt.  We rode up 8th Street, whoa....that was NOT fun.  The whole time I was telling Elder Larson I was fat and he was yelling at me to shut up and pedal harder.  Hahahaha!

I bought a package of Oreos and Elder Larson ate alllllll of them!!!  I didn't get any.  He's buying me Oreos today.  :)

I really love your letters and emails.  Thanks!

May 18, 2010

I can't believe my fourth month is starting up soon.  I will be in the Bellevue 2nd Ward for the next six weeks and I get to ride my bike!  Elder Torres taught me how to do Hindu push ups and Hindu squats and handstand push ups!  Elder Torres does those for a work out every morning and his arms are HUGE!!!!

I need short sleeve shirts--it feels like Florida here.  WOOOOW is it humid.  And I think I'm getting a little bit of a tan, too.  I'm all alone up here because all the companions I've served with went home.  I saw Elder Cook one last time before he left for home.  He had on a NEW TIE!  I mean the guy has three racks of ties already!  Did he really need a new one?

MY THIRD TRANSFER!!

May 18, 2010
Transfers begin...oh, man it's crazy stuff!  Everything is whizzing by so don't blink!!  I got hit in the eyeball with a basketball and the mission president and my mama :) want me to get it looked at. 

I've had an awesome week--learning new things every day.  Right now I'm focusing my learning on listening to the promptings of the Spirit.  I had an experience where I felt prompted (but thought it was my own crazy answer) but it turns out it really WAS the right answer.  I kicked myself to sleep for a few days, but I'm learning!

MOTHER's DAY PHONE CALL

Well, I got to call home yesterday  and that was really nice.  It wasn't nearly as emotional as I thought it would be which was a double bonus!  It was really cool to hear from my family and I can't wait to call again at Christmas!

We've been teaching Pauline about the Apostasy and how the authority was taken from the earth.  I explained to her how the Apostles were like the foundation to a building and how if you take away that foundation, everything else collapses.  After I explained that, I said, "After the apostasy, or the foundation of the gospel was removed, people tried to put the principles back up on their own without the Apostles, they tried to reform the gospel.  This is where all those great men came together and did the best they could with the doctrines they had; but because there wasn't a foundation to work with or the proper authority from God.  The best they could do was not the fulness of the Gospel.  This is where Joseph Smith comes in.  Not only was he called of God to be a prophet, he RESTORED that foundation that was ripped away when the apostles were killed."

Then I bore probably the strongest testimony about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith since I've been out of the MTC.  What a great experience.

UPDATE FOR THIS WEEK - April 19, 2010

Boy, this area is tough.  This lady wanted me to read some anti-Mormon material about the choices the early apostles made.  She just knew the book would convert me.  I told her it's not the leaders I'm converted to, but rather to God and Jesus Christ.  She didn't have much to say after that.

Elder Ball and I are trying to commit a 13 year old girl to come to Church.  We spoke with her about keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  We made sundaes and we put chocolate syrup and whipped cream on it and gave it to her mom.  Then we made another sundae and put salad dressing and bar-b-que sauce on it and gave it to the 13 year old girl.  She was so disappointed and asked why we would do that.  We told he all of those things are good, but they don't belong on sundaes.  We then taught her that buying something on Sunday, ruined the "sundae" she gave to the Lord.

I was studying the Book of Mormon and studying from the chapters in Moroni about infant baptism.  It lead to this HUGE trail of personal revelation  that took me through the Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, the New Testament, and back to the Book of Mormon.  IT WAS AWESOME!  One question lead to thousands of ideas and answers.  In the end I came away with one answer:  "Baptism, is used without authority, and if used to just go through the motions, without the right intent, can lead to condemnation."  Moroni was talking about how infant baptism was an abomination to God because everyone has to have the agency to follow Christ and infants don't have a clue what is happening when you baptise them.

I have had a lot of people ask me why I'm out here on my mission.  I tell them 1) it's what the Lord wants me to do, and 2) I would not want to be anywhere else no matter how much I miss the things back home.  I miss you guys tons.  Thanks for everything you've done to help me get here, whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual.

FIRST TRANSFER!!

Transferred over to Bellevue.  My new companion is Elder Ball from Utah.  We WERE on bikes until Elder Ball got his bike stolen.  Yesterday we walked 8.5 miles and my legs were dead by the time we got home.  Tons of cool experiences out here, lots of friendly people where I'm serving.  No one has called me a Satan worshipper yet, though I hear Tyler Perkins is getting the brunt of it....sorry, buddy.

Everything is going great.  It's been pretty warm the past few days, but it's raining today.  When it rains, it's either sprinkles or it rains so hard that the rain bounces 4 feet off the ground so even if you have an umbrella you're going to get wet.  I just need to walk around with a blue tarp over my head.  (ha!ha!)

I have to give a talk in Church this Sunday.  The ward has already picked on me for helping with the Sacrament and saying the closing prayer at Church.  I better get out of here before they call me as the new Bishop!

RAINY DAYS IN SEATTLE

It's been raining so much lately I busted my umbrella--so I was stuck with this polka dot one that a member loaned us.  Elder Cook forgot his umbrella so I let him have the umbrella because I have that awesome trench coat.  But even THAT got soaked it was raining so much.  Anyway, we knocked on this door and the house didn't have a porch so we were getting rained on.  The lady opens the door and she feels terrible because we were soaking wet so she lets us in.  We were able to dry off and give her a soggy copy of the Book of Mormon.  (Ha! Ha!)  She seemed really interested, but we'll see. 

We recently went and checked out a media referral.  It seemed a little shady at first because it was at a Motel room, and the room was on the backside of the Inn away from the traffic and public eye.  I was thinking "this could be very, very, very bad."  But we knocked on the door and Robert answered the door.  He is in his 50's or so and he was here in Seattle out of a job and had nowhere to turn so his doctor referred him to the church.  What is interesting is that he was living in Alaska and he was married and had three kids and an awesome job.  One night he had a drink of alcohol and he came home late at night and got in a fight with his wife.  The neighbors called the police and Alaska law states that if cops are called someone goes to jail--end of story.  So Robert was taken to jail because he had alcohol on his breath.  Because he was taken to jail, he violated his job contract and was fired.  Also, to make it worse, because he was living on company property and they pretty much deported him from the state and sent him to Seattle on his own money.  

So after all that, we set up appointments to teach him and he's pretty much the most humble man I've ever met.  Ever since his fight with his wife, he's been sober.  It's been a really cool experience to see him make such an awesome turn around in his life.  So he's getting baptized April 17th.  That will be my first official baptism. 

A day spent in Sea Tac, Washington

March 8, 2010

This past Thursday, On March 4th, we had a companion exchange.  This is where we trade companions for a day.  I got to leave my area and serve in a different part of the town of Sea Tac.

The ward I served in that day was the Samoan Ward and they thought I was the skinniest guy on the planet.  Everybody fed me.  It was INSANE!  If you poked me with a needle, I might have popped like a balloon--I was so full of fish and chicken and hot dogs and spaghetti and this root thing that they coat fruit in.  That's how they get their calicum because I guess they don't have milk or cows on the islands.

On Friday I went back to my original companion, Elder Cook, and we went tracting that morning.  We asked this lady if she had heard the message of Christ, and she said, "Yes, I have...and here's your message." Then she slams the door.  Not nearly as demoralizing as I thought it would be.

Sunday was great.  What made it FANTASMIC is that I was able to lead into a lesson finally and be able to feel like I was teaching something worthwhile.

I gotta go--today we're going to buy more ties.  Love you all!

FIRST P-DAY IN SEATTLE

Monday, March 1, 2010

My first P-day in Seattle...we have a car and it's a Mazda. Too fun.
My companion's name is Elder Cook (with me, Elder Baker) everyone here thinks that's the funniest thing.  The ward that I am serving in is really small, but it's way cool.  I'm having so much fun.

We are teaching a couple named Kati and Leo and they are getting baptized on the 20th of this month.  I was able to teach them a little bit about the Plan of Salvation and just about passed out--I was so nervous.  It's so great serving the Lord.  I can't stop smiling.

 

Our entire MTC District:  From left to right:  Elder Hurdlick, Elder Saunders, Elder Deines, Elder Jardine, Elder Allen, Elder Dixon, Elder Cook and me!

                    Here's a photo of me with my MTC companion Elder Jardin

NOT A LOT OF TIME HERE IN THE MTC...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Hello, everyone-

Yesterday we had the first missionary lesson taught to us in Danish.  That was really cool.  Today, we are all going to the Provo temple together.  Everyone here in our room are all going to the Washington Seattle mission.

The Valentine package mom sent was awesome...everyone in the building was aware that I had received pink duct tape.  The cushie ball thingies were awesome as well.  I throw them at random people as they walk by our dorm room and they act like they haven't seen a ball in three weeks.  LOL-it's pretty funny.  I'm having so much fun.

I am leaving for Seattle early Monday, February 22nd around 5am.  I'm allowed to make a phone call home from the airport, so be ready! 

I love you guys so much and I miss you tons.  P.S.  Happy Birthday, Amberdean!

THE MTC IS AWESOME!

Hi guys--the MTC (Missionary Training Center) here in Provo is awesome!  My companion's name is Elder Jardin and we get along great.  We have a lot of fun together and things are really spiritual. 

I am having an amazing experience here.  Everyone around me is so happy and everyone respects everyone else.  It's so great.  The district is already like a second family to me.

I did laundry today (Wednesday, February 10) and I forgot to put the detergent in.  Ooops!  So that was kind of a bummer.  Your letters and care packages make the days seem like Christmas.  When the mail comes, no one can focus.  Everybody gets giddy.

Send me lots of junk food....I am dying of healthy food overdose!  :)  I love you guys.
Elder Baker

Here I am leaving the Salt Lake airport on my way to the MTC!!  Thanks Bro Deters for taking my picture.

CALLED TO SERVE

Got the call on November 12, 2009, but I had to wait for my mom to get home from a seminar.  AHG!  Everyone was real excited about my serving in Seattle Washington.  I'm stoked.

Had a great Sacrament meeting on January 24, 2010--lots of friends and family showed up--thanks guys for your support. 

Set apart by President Polson on Tuesday, February 2, 2010.  Wow--that was awesome.

Out the door early morning on Wednesday, February 3, 2010.  We stopped for doughnuts and orange juice on the way to the airport.  I was careful NOT to spill my orange juice!  Whew...flew over on Delta with Brother Rick Deters on the same plane.  That was cool.  Took shuttle down to Provo. 

Checked in to the MTC--ready to go...more later

BACK HOME

Our cat O'Simon Bin Laden--he's got attitude.