Right now we are watching home videos- when you learned how to ride your bike, your 3rd birthday---you are so cute!!!! I want to pull you out of the video and just give you loves!!!!

I have a question: anyone can repent and be forgiven but in order to be cleansed from sin- one needs to have the gift of the Holy Ghost correct? The Bible dictionary has this reference :
The gift of the Holy Ghost is the right to have, whenever one is worthy, the companionship of the Holy Ghost. For those who receive this gift, the Holy Ghost acts as a cleansing agent to purify them and sanctify them from all sin. Thus it is often spoken of as “fire”.

It specifically says those who receive the gift the Holy Ghostt acts as a cleansing agent to purify and sanctify. So being forgiven and sanctification are two different things.

What are your thoughts?

Yes, I loved the talk from President Ukdorf "Four floors up , last door" What faith is and what it is not.

So you are getting a new companion from Chile and staying in the same area as a Zone leader?

Jaden Roberts gave his report today, he came home from the California Fresno mission Spanish speaking. So he had a year in Peru, came home and fixed his knee, went out again for another year to finish. He did a great job! so humble and strong in the gospel.

Here is the audio in a different format, let me know if it works.

xoxxoxox , Love mom.

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Hey mom! I wish i had a bike right now! time is the enemy and a peddle bike would help us cruise:)

We can start our repentance process before receiving the holy ghost (before baptism) but true and complete repentance can only come through baptism by immersion( for the remission of our sins). True baptism includes baptism by fire or receiving the holy ghost by the laying on of hands, so we can only truly repent if we receive the holy ghost. I feel like being forgiven and sanctified are different things but when we are talking about repentance the are eternally connected. One cannot be sanctified without being forgiven and one cannot be forgiven without being sanctified. It is a choice. If we use our agency to accept the atonement in its fullness we effectively choose to act and receive the promised blessings of forgiveness and sanctification.

Wow great job jayden for serving the full two years. He is a solid guy and I'm sure that his report was great! 

So this week i did receive elder belmar. we are the zone leaders in Jutiapa! this is elder belmars first time as a zone leader and we get along great! this month we are so excited for our ward!

this week has been awesome! we have been working hard and burning up our shoes! We had a stake conference Sunday and it was a great experience to take a bus out to Jalapa to attend. We Brought Miguel, Yuli, Miriam and Julio to the conference. They are great examples and are sacrificing to know the gospel. They all are preparing to be baptized this month and we are working hard with them so that they may know the gospel in its fullness( or at least start) and live it. I hope that you all have a great week this week. Know that I Love you and that I am doing great!

This week has been Great! We have been so blessed as we have been on the Lords Errand in Jutiapa this past week. To start off the week we had been working hard with Adelina to help her stay strong and keep progressing. She is awesome and has kept all of here Commitments! On Friday we got up early in the morning to go to a mission council and we were on the bus for a very long five hours each way due to heavy end of the month traffic. Please count your many blessings that you don't have to have that kind of traffic:) the meeting was inspired although the way was hectic. We Left as soon as we could when the meeting ended forgoing fotos and lunch and ran back to our area. We arrived at5:15 at the church and just in time to meet Adelina arriving with many ward members for the baptism! the baptism was awesome, I am amazed and honored to see the hand of the lord work in the details of our lives. The atonement is so real and yes, so essential for our peace, happiness and growth. This weekend We were also blessed to listen to living prophets and living apostles and leaders of our living (and loving) heavenly Father. The messages were inspired and I hope that you feel as i Did, that each word was directed specifically at you. One of the thought shared by Elder Stevenson really impacted me. In essence he said " As you bear witness, Witness is born to you." I know that this promise is true. The great commission to share the Gospel is so important! The way that we see people is how we treat them, and the way that we treat them can be a determining factor on who they will become. I feel that each of us as servants of God can see his children with his type of perspective if we so desire and strive to be able to do so. To see them worthy of divine rescue. I love this work and I testify the blessings that come through sharing the Gospel. Joseph Smith was a Profeta, Jesus Christ lives, and the Book of Mormon is the work of God. Have a great week!

                                                                    ADELINA'S BAPTISM 9/30/2016


Dear Elder Grant,

Thank you for the Scripture: Mosiah 2:9--I read it and it is so good to be prepared. Conference has been wonderful!  Really every talk is so sacred and special. Some in particular: The sweet Elder from Japan:Kazuhiko Yamashita of the 70: Are we Ambitious for Christ: to be on the covenant path we: 1) Serve faithfully 2) accept humbly 3) endure nobly 4) pray fervently 5) partake worthily. The elder reminded me of you and your diligence-the elder who had one leg and a prosthetic leg; so humble and willing to serve. Another talk-by elder Cornish on: you are good enough if you really try, repent, don't rationalize and don't rebel.

The temple opened up on the 26th, I was able to to some sealings and put your name in---particularly for your health, sorry to hear you have been sick, I could tell a couple of voice mails ago that you sounded congested. 

It is probably a good thing to be sleeping in a hammock--- at teacher I teach with served her mission in your mission; she said the fleas were out of control-especially in the beds; have you found that to be true? So If it were me I would sleep in the hammock if it is conducive to your back. I loved the message of Elder Ochoa-to have the doctrine of Christ written on our hearts and to have faith unto repentance- the fruits of repentance--what are the fruits of repentance?

Erin had her first Homecoming Dance, she went with a great group of kids. If fact on the way up to the day date, they listened to conference. The guys wanted to break up the dance and go to the priesthood session Saturday night, but the moms convinced them otherwise. 

​This was after Women's conference on Saturday. It was a great meeting!! Cara, Erin and I went to the stake Center, they had flowers after in arrangements and we could take the flowers home after. I really enjoyed the conference, it was great for Cara to hear also. Elder Ukdorff spoke on Faith and how sometimes we feel that our prayers are not being answered. He spoke what faith was and what it was not: that our heavenly father cannot do certain things. 1) Compel us to do things and  violate another's agency. 2) Force our will on God. To trust in God and that he sees what we do not. 

Also the young women's general president spoke on not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What was amazing about her talk, to me, was that I was pondering about what would be discussed when I was working in the yard earlier, and the thought came to me what Paul said, "Not to be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ". And so when she started speaking about that and actually quoted Paul. I was so touched that Heavenly Father answered my prayer in such a personal way. Also I had specific impressions about what to do to help students in my class which I wrote down earlier Saturday morning. I am so grateful for the whisperings of the spirit.

Hola Como Esta?

We loved your voice mail.....such great things happening, so excited that Victor was baptized. Your 30 converts that you are working with and the Rescue plan involving their "Amulek's" is inspiring.

We need to make sure that Cara has her Amulek's. 

How did your meeting go on Wednesday?

And your baptism Saturday the 24th?

We need to make sure that Cara has her Amulek's. 

Love you XOXOXOXO

 Jerky making 9/24/2016---Steve proud Father

                                            Erin                9/24/2016                                               Cara

MOM

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Dear Baldwin Family and Friends!

 This week has been awesome! We have see so many miracles! To start off the week we visited an Investigator named Adelina That had a Baptismal Fecha for the past Saturday. She is very shy and was passing through some tough situations. She told us during the lesson that she wasn't sure if the she could change her life and that she had decided that she couldn't be baptized this last week. Satan loaded up her plate with many trials and the world seemed to close in around her. On Wednesday we had an amazing conference with Elder Ochoa from the 70 and he taught us about the doctrine of Baptism and faith unto repentance. It was lifting and inspiring. We left the conference determined to help Adelina Receive the divine help that she needed through her faith and the blessings promised in the covenant of Baptism. We invited her to the church and had a lesson in front of the baptismal font with members and other missionaries. The spirit was so strong during the entire lesson as we taught what we had learned in the conference. When the lesson ended she Excited accepted the challenge to be baptized this coming Friday! 

 I am thankful for the doctrine of Jesus Christ. I know that if we live it we will experience the power of God in our lives and Be Lifted and inspired by His Grace. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Elder Baldwin.

ps Read mosiah CH 2 vs 9 and Prepare for General Conference!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Dear mom,

 This week has been really great! We have been so blessed as missionaries in our area. To start off the week we Had an awesome experience Monday with Victor. During the day on Monday we weren't able to solidify plans with him to meet at night because we couldn't get a hold of him. We made other plans for the evening that were more realistic. Victor lives far away in an Aldea where there are not buses after 7:00pm. Our worry was that we weren't going to be able to make it back to Jutiapa in the night time. I was studying before we left the house and I felt the impression that we should visit Victor. So we called and nobody answered. So we continued with our plans thinking that all was done. When we left we knelt at the door of our Upstairs apartment and Prayed that we would be able to contact Victor and that we would be led by the spirit to fulfill with our responsibility as missionaries. As we left and were walking down one of the cobble streets here in Jutiapa, I had the prompting to call Victor one more time. I obeyed and the call rang until His voicemail answered. Confused I put the phone down and then the thought came to me to call his member Girlfriend who's name is Ana. She called and excitedly told us that Victor was at his house and that we could visit and that they would give us a ride back to Jutiapa after the lesson. We literally ran to a Sardine-like packed bus and flew out to San Antonio. We arrived without breath and they welcomed us in! Our lesson was spiritual and Guided by the spirit. The Lord had prepared the heart of Victor and he accepted the challenge to be baptized Saturday! His baptism was spiritual and he was confirmed Sunday in our ward conference. 

In doctrine and covenants is says:​​  

 10 And now come, saith the Lord, by the Spirit, unto the elders of his church, and let us reason together, that ye may understand;

 11 Let us reason even as a man reasoneth one with another face to face.

 12 Now, when a man reasoneth he is understood of man, because he reasoneth as a man; even so will I, the Lord, reason with you that you may understand.

We are constantly invited to Pray and to speak honestly and openly with our Heavenly Father. I know that as we turn to him in fervent prayer he can "reason with us so that we can understand". He answered our prayer for victor and Guided us to know what we needed to do. I know that this church is true! Want to invite each of you to remember how great of an honor and privilege it is to speak with God, and that you may do it more this week. 

Love Elder Baldwin

                                                                              Victor- Baptized 9/17/16

Dear Grant,

I love hearing you and your voice, it is the next best thing to skyping:)thanks for your pictures!!!!

Great to hear about Aleena and her son. Looking forward to hearing her progress; still on the 24th?

Victor sounds good, was he baptized? _______ baptism for Sept. 30th.? Julie, Ronanda, and Jennifer? 

Did you buy a Sombria? 

How was your singing and talking at the Zone Conference.?

I am reviewing the 3 steps you sent:

1=do I believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ? that he is the living son of the living God?

2= Do i believe that Joseph smith is a prophet of God?

3= Do I believe that the book of mormon is the word of God?- trying to incorporate them every day. We sang "praise to the Man" and I had a witness that Joseph Smith is a prophet. After I was one of the speakers, I had excerpts of your mission of your testimony, inviting people etc. Thank you so much for providing most of my talk. Afterwards people came up to me and thanked me for your words--see today you influenced so many people from near and far today:)

The missionaries taught Cara today- the 5th lesson instead of the -(her baptism is set for October 4th- so Erin can be there. It is a Tuesday night."commandments/chastity, they spoke on missionary work. I love having them in our home. I do not want it to end- this is the first time we have had missionaries regularly. I wish we could have had them over regularly when we were living in Preston.

Dad, Erin and I went to the Rodeo- the St. George Round up. It was pale compared to the Preston Rodeo. 

Love, 

We loved hearing from you! email and your voice, it helps so much to keep you close to our hearts to actually hear your voice! We are so blessed to have the technology where we can do  this so easily:).

Yesterday I went hiking at Karanaville Falls with a teacher at school and her two boys. 

It was a great hike, very crowded though. The last part of the hike there was a ladder you could had to climb up to access more hiking. The problem was that people were coming up and coming down and both groups had to access this ladder in doing so. So I noticed that people were coming up were not letting people come down, so I thought, "this will not do, we are going to be here for hours if someone doesn't direct these people to a more equitable day. So I yelled to the people at the bottom of the waterfall to stop, that 5 people were coming down and then 5 would go up. The people coming down who where waiting in a long line let out of big cheer for me. So then I was the director for about 20 minutes until it was my groups turn to go down. There needs to be 2 ladders-one for the group going up, and one for the group going down. That would be a great Eagle scout project.

I loved the story of the guy who helped you and give you a ride home, what a selfless man he is, I am so thankful to him. Your experiences strengthen us and help us remember the eternal perspective.XXXOOO MOM

This week has been awesome! we have been very blessed. The hand of the Lord truly is in every detail of our lives. We have been teaching a young woman named Adelina. She is a young single mom that we have been visiting and that has been taking leaps and bounds of progression! She's PILAS. She has sincerely been working hard to create a better life for her and her son that is one month old. She is Very shy and It is amazing to see the change that the atonement brings to our lives exemplified in her life. We have marveled to see the enabling power of Gods Grace lift Her above the trials in her life! She is living with a part member family and..pues... loves the Gospel! She is preparing to be baptized next week on the 24th of September! Will keep you posted on her.

We have started a rescue effort in our ward here in Jutiapa as missionaries with the goal Strengthen the recent converts and less active members. I have have come to know and love many broken families in my mission and as a result My testimony of the importance of families has grown. The family is the central to Gods Plan for each of Us and I know that a Family established the in way that the Lord has revealed is Essential to help us Obtain Happiness in this life. All of His work and His Purpose Is that we can be together in families for Eternity in His presence. He has prepared the way for each of us and If we do OUR part as individuals we will be blessed  I am thankful for my family. Take a minute this week and do something as a family! (family H. Evening?).I am doing great! I Love the Gospel and I know that this Church is True! I hope that you have a Great Week!

Elder Baldwin

       We were so happy to hear your voice again! You sound terrific and terrifically hot:)

      It is still hot here, 100 degrees in St. George, but it is cooler in the mornings and no humidity:)

     Today we had the 2nd lesson on the plan of salvation with Cara today and our home. Grandma and Grandpa         are here so they say in on the lesson and Grandma was able to add her testimony. She related the       experience Kye had with Faith. Faith came to Kye in a dream and rocked him and told him everything was going to be all right. 

Erin was asked to the Homecoming Dance....she is going to tell you about it.

Dad and I celebrated our 26th anniversary early. The actual date is on September 5th, we went to Bryce Canyon: spent the night at Bryce Canyon resort and and went horseback riding the next day, it was really fun and it was a beautiful ride. Funny too because the horse was trotting at first and I could not look like a smooth rider, I was laughing so hard, Steve kept saying"stand up, stand Up" I did, but my butt kept hitting the saddle. I was in my element when the horse was walking behind the other horse. Later, after looking at a picture of me on the horse, I decided to purchase some real cowgirl boots and look authentic. When we go to the Preston Rodeo and others I want to have boots and if  I ride a horse again.

__________________

Hey !

This week has been Great. I sent a voice recording to explain what we have been up to due to lack of time. but we are doing great! we have been super blessed! This past week we traveled a lot because of surprise changes that we had in our zone and also because of a mission council that we attended this past Friday! Elder Ochoa of the 70 was there and he taught of the importance of testimony. He asked us 3 questions that we can ask to help make important decisions in our life.

1=do I believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ? that he is the living son of the living God?

2= Do i believe that Joseph smith is a prophet of God?

3= Do I believe that the book of mormon is the word of God?

if we have a testimony of these three things our actions should be based on them (which is conversion) and through the enabling power of the atonement we can be empowered to do the will of the Father. Every decision we make builds or destroys this testimony I am Grateful for This church. I know it is true! I know that God lives and that he loves us.

Love elder baldwin

Ps I love your letters thank you so much!

Elder Baldwin

We loved listening to your voicemails....were you able to listen to ours?  You sound wonderful, love to hear your voice! We sent one to you....It wished you happy birthday in our unique family way. Were you able to listen?  We didn't type happy birthday last Monday, we sang it to you:) So now you are 20!!!!!! so big.  

You sound busy and that is good. Kevin is still on track and your sweet hermana no?

We have yet to have a second discussion with Cara, communication broke down last week, but the missionaries dropped by today, they did not have Cara's number, I gave it to them and they were able to contact her today and hopefully we will have a discussion this week.

Also Elder Nemrow spoke of how he struggled with serving when he returned from his mission. On his mission He was primarily used to thinking about others, praying for others, serving others, companions, members, nonmembers. When he came home he was praying for himself: to get good grades, to pass this test, etc. He was struggling with this and the spirit asked him why do you pray? to get good grades- to graduate from college, why do you want to graduate from college? To be able to provide for my family. So these things are good---He was serving in a different way his focus was  on himself so he could serve his family. Your focus is primarily on others right now, but it will change--time and season for everything.

We will take your advice and go to the temple as a family every month. We are able to take names from our tree:)

Dad and I are going once a week:)

This week I am at school only 2 days. Wednesday and Thursday I am at the district learning how to be a peer coach. It is where teachers learn observe and critique each other's teaching in order to improve their teaching. Friday dad and I are going to Bryce Canyon to celebrate our anniversary, on the 5th is our 26th. It is weird to think that we have been together longer than we were single. I love him now more than ever though.

Hopefully you received your birthday package from us. Angie is happy that you liked theirs.:)

Let us know if you need anything else----Christmas is coming up. I will be sending a package 1st of November. But if you need something before that let me know.

Love, 

mom   xxoxoxoxox

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Greetings Elder! Mom and I are sitting in stale conference with Elder Norman Nemrow. Josh France was announced as an elder who recently received the priesthood. A recent convert who moved his family to Utah in December 2013 was baptized in June. They moved to Brookside and were invited to "a barbecue" which turned out to be the high priest social in pine valley. They took the tour of the pine valley chapel.
The sister missionaries approached them and got to know them. They were able to show the plan of salvation. For him, who had not been religious, this was really the thing that impacted him.
Then they hit some difficult challenges in his life for 4-5 months and kind of stopped going. He questioned his faith. Then the elders came by and invited them to start coming to church again.
But he still struggled with the idea of baptism. He had based his life on logic all along, and had not had faith. Things got really bad with his job and he couldn't continue to work due to physical issues.  He finally just prayed and laid out things to Heavenly Father. Lots of good things began to happen after he applied his faith. He then decided to be baptized. One year from the day of the high priest social, he was baptized.
Now his family has been baptized.

Yesterday I played in a stake golf tournament. It was fun. First time in 6 years! I then spent most of the day clearing weeds in the back yard. Mom and I attended the adult session of conference last night.

We were not sure if you received our voice recording last week? How's it going in your new area? Chad Shepherd was telling me about Colt and he is doing well in his mission. He always asks about you.

Bret and I went up Hamblin Valley on Tuesday night and then drove his Rhino over to Indian peaks all day Wednesday. Not sure if I told you, but they are building a show nuff house size log cabin 2 story up there on his property. It's gonna be nice.

Well, I want you to know we pray for you daily. We talk about you often and think about you all the time. We look forward to your safe return when you have completed your service to the Guats. I know you have and will continue to learn a lot. You will return having come to know yourself, what you want in life, and what you are capable of. That is the beauty of the mission. Not only are you teaching, but you are learning.
Have a great week. I look forward to your email and hopefully hearing more about your new area. Love, Yo daddy.

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Hey! this week has been awesome! this week I arrived in my new area in Jutiapa! It is a beast.Its a little warmer here...Although I'm pretty sure it doesn't touch the heat of st George. We have a big area and a large ward as well. We get to visit a ton of Aldeas that A little ways out from town! our area is beautiful and relatively calm in comparison to life inside of the capital.The gangs from the cap are here but their influence is much less. Here there are a lot of family feuds. Basically it is just like the wild west. there are many mud and tin houses and the people outside of the capital are generally more accepting and kindly! My new companion is from Peru! he is 27 years old and we get along great! We have a lot of investigators and are optimistic for September! Its about time that Brett puts a mansion up in that haunted valley! I love my mission. It is that hardest thing that i have ever done but i am learning so much. I love the Savior and his sacred work!

Elder Baldwin