Hey Dad!

That's great that went well, the opining of the DI! I am sure that all that back to back work was tiring but well worth it. At least you got to hear from a general authority!

This week has been good and have been running as usual! we went to the capital and i took advantage to go to doctors office to get rid of  a few bugs and have them yank my toenail off again. I Don't have many things. Most of my clothes have reached their last stand so I'm not really planning on bringing much home! So I have a ton of room in my bags!

This week we have planned a marriage and a baptismal service for Saturday! we are praying for Isabel and Muaricio! Amy,Kimberly and their husbands are also doing well! The Husband of Kimberly (david) is excited to prepare to receive the higher priesthood and we are excited for him and his desire! all is going well and we are working harder than ever! I love you and i hope that your back feels better! have a great week!

Elder Baldwin

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Hey Family!

This week has been great! On Tuesday we got up bright and early at 3 AM and took off in a bus to go a Multi zone Conference in the capital. We learned about conversion and becoming more like Christ. My favorite part was learning more about our divine responsibility to change! True conversion is to change our nature, and not only change our behavior. 

in our area we have also been very blessed this week! We are teaching so many people that have shown a true desire to change! our investigators Isabel and Mauricio attended church yesterday and we felt the strong impression to visit them after church although it was not part of our daily plans. We visited them and had an awesome lesson that was guided completely by the spirit. We challenged them to be married and Baptized this weekend and they agreed! We are Praying for them and their progression and we are very excited for their desire!

We also starting having weekly activities this week in our branch this week called noche de mandamiento. Our branch is getting excited about missionary work and we love getting to spend time with the members in our area learn from them! I truly love my mission!

 

I hope that you are all doing well and that you have a great week!

Love Elder Baldwin 

streets Of guate!

Last Monday Erin and I went to Zion, we hiked the Canyon observation trail. It was easy, short ,and had awesome views. I have been taking advantage of Zion being so close and it has been amazing to hike and see.

I went to the temple this week with Jordan and Camilla. I was able to do family names and gave some from us for them to do also. It has been a year and half now that I have been accomplishing the goal of going to the temple at least once a week and to have family names that I have researched. So far, so good. There are a ton of male names for you to do if you want--you will never run out;) 

Also in April's visiting teaching message, Sister Burton has a challenge to memorize the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood: Doctrine and Covenants 84: 33-44. I have accepted the challenge, I want to take a verse a day. I will report next week on my progress. Sister Burton promised that if we memorized the verses. "the Holy Ghost will expand your understanding of the priesthood and inspire and uplift us in wonderful ways."

How are Amy and Kimberly coming along?

I found the song I sang with the Fellers in sacrament meeting it was Janell, me, Claude West, Steve Jennings, and Russ Feller. 

Hey Family! 

This week has been great! In guatemala they celebrate this last week as the Semana Santa (the holy week). All week long people go on vacation to the beach or to rivers to swim and to visit family. The local catholic churches also do processions in the street which is when they carry big floats with scenes from the Crucifixión of Christ down the street. There is music and Also huge¨carpets¨ of sand and colored wood chips in the street.

Many of our investigators and members were not in town this week so we took advantage to search for new investigators! We had and Activity with all the members on wednesday and watched a movie about the ressurrection of Jesus Christ

During the Activity we got to know 2 new investigators named Amy and Kimberly. They are the wives of less Active members. We were able to visit them Later during the week and Both were able to come to church with us yesterday!Yesterday in the evening we visited Amy and she told us that she felt peace and calmness in church that she had been searching for the past few months as their family has been passing through very significant trials. She loves the hymns of the church and told us she wants to learn piano to be able to play it in sacrament meeting (it is very rare to have somebody who can play the keyboard during sacrament meeting in our branch.) As we finished the lesson with her yesterday we invited here to say the prayer. She hesitated and after a moment of silence her inactive husband whispered to her and encouraged her and she was able to say a sincere and beautiful prayer.The spirit was burning in the room and  Afterwards her husband told us that he will be coming to church next week! 

This week we also traveled to the capital twice for councils and trainings. We will be leaving again tomorrow morning at 4 oclock for another. We are doing great and have been greatly blessed! I hope that You all have a great week!

Love Elder Baldwin

------------------- 4/17/2017

It was wonderful to hear your voice!!! I especially loved hearing about the Mango tree incident when you were talking about signs to to your investigator, so perfect!

I hope you had a especially great Easter Sunday. We did; I am sending you a clip of the closing remarks from dad from 3 Nephi. I was able to sing in a quintet, how this came about was that only 4 people showed up to choir practice last week, so they made us into a quartette: Claude West, Janel and Russ Feller. They added Steve Jennings in for another bass. I recorded it for you but then somehow I deleted it. We sang "I needed thee every hour." I love that song, I have a testimony of Jesus Christ, that he is our Savior and Redeemer. I love Heavenly Father and I am grateful for the Christ's Atonement and Resurrection.

Later today we went to Duana's for a potluck. It was good to see some family: Aysha and her boyfriend, Ayllssa and Max, Patrick and his girl friend Kaysha and we invited Camilla and Jordan, and Christian. Patty and Kurt were at Lake Powell. 

Love MOM

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Val, Lucy and I went to Zion Saturday. Val gave me a late birthday present-staying a new Hotel in Hurricane Saturday night. She drove down Friday night with Lucy, slept over at our house and then we 3 got up early, headed for Zion. We dropped my car off at the hotel on the way so we would only need to take 1 car, we have a pass remember? So, the first hike we went on was a 6 hour, 8 mile hike to Observation point, it was a "3"  advanced on the map. The grade was similar to Angels, so most of the way up I was sweating and my heart rate was up. It is comparable to Zions but better. There were periods of flat the the scenery changed more than Angels, and it was less crowded.There is  a slot canyon section that is so fun! At the top you can look down and overlook Angel's. I highly recommend this hike, the best hike I have been on yet in Zion. It was so grateful and healed that Valerie planned this trip. Our relationship is now healed I feel. 

How are the marriage plans coming for your investigators? Sounds like you have quite a pool coming. 

Today I had a temple recommend interview with President Wilding, and it felt good to say "yes" to all of the questions.

President Ivy, who was made Bishop of the Veyo ward last October died Saturday morning in a truck accident, he was driving south near the Volcano bend by the church and swerved into the other lane into an oncoming semi. The semi truck driver said that it looked like Pres. Ivy had slumped over because the semi driver could not  see a driver when the semi driver was slammed into Pres. Ivy. The funeral is next Saturday, the 15th. So grateful that we have the plan of salvation!

Love, Mom 

Hey Dad! 

This week we have had an great week! I am glad to hear that you were able to attend the general conference! With each conference that passes I am more and More thankful for the Blessing of living profetas each time I hear them. I feel as though they spoke directly to me. I am especially grateful for the priesthood session that we listened to. I listened to it with my companion and Three other men (one an elderly investigator) in a small Chapel here in my new area. Our area is called Asuncion Mita. We Close to the border of El Salvador. It is Beautiful! the people are simple and Accept us often. I Feel a great love towards them and sometimes It is hard to express. We are working hard in our area to lift and strengthen our Branch. The family is under Attack here. We have taught more that 13 new families and none are married.One of the families attended the conference with us ayer and they are are preparing to be married and baptized at the end of the month! 

I am doing well! I hope that you have a great week!

Elder Baldwin

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Dear Grant,

"Faith is a strong conviction about something we believe--a conviction so strong that it moves us to do things that we otherwise might not do. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” This is from Elder Uchdorf's Oct 2016 talk, 4th floor, last door. The subject of faith is the first topic in this month's Ensign, also given by Elder Uchdorf. I have faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am moving; I going to the 6:00am session to do some baptisms tomorrow. It is my way of commemorating and giving thanks to Heavenly Father for sending Elijah to bring the hearts of the children together. When Elder Erying reiterated that April 3, was when Elijah gave the sealing keys to Joseph Smith I thought, "I want to go to the temple on that day." Since the temple is closed after 11:00 am on Mondays, I am going before school, now this is something that "I would not otherwise do", but I want to sacrifice and go early before school starts.

I met Jordan and Camilla Schiffman at the temple on Wednesday and we performed some sealings for some people some of our ancestors and Camilla had some of hers. Erin was also there doing baptisms with her friend Emily. Erin has been an influence for good with her friends, she posts uplifting pictures, encourages them and invites them to attend Gospel centered events, and is an example of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for opening a new area and training! You are an example of the pure love of Christ, I love you, words can't express the feelings I have for you.

As you can see with the pictures this weekend has been great! Dad and I came up to Grandma's to attend conference, so dad, J.J and I went to the Saturday afternoon session and felt. I felt the peace and direction while listening to conference. It was a beautiful perfect day. We also went to Planet fitness before conference, that was fun being all together. Later that night we all played games around the table at Grandma's. We have the funnest game Tessellations to play it makes you laugh so hard. Dad was also able to attend a mission reunion. He was able to FaceTime his mission president and really had a great time catching up and reminiscing.

Love you, XOXOXOXO

Mom