Happy autumn everyone!

I have never in my life seen a fall season as magnificently beautiful as this one. Honestly, the colors and designs that Heavenly Father has given me to appreciate here are absolutely more breathtaking than my lungs can handle. I'll send you some pictures...

This week has been filled with miracles. Like space jam packed into a pickle jar of peppers that's how awesome it has been. And guess what? It is all because Heavenly Father cares about His children enough to inspire us. So first of all it was late at night and we were driving down the road right? Just cruisin. Then as we are driving, I see this girl walking down the road, and im like... nothing actually I don't even think about it... But then the Holy Ghost starts nagging me and telling me to go back and talk to her, so then I tell Sister Roundy and she thinks I am crazy but she says to turn around anyways. So we turn around and park and then start running after this girl. At night. On the side of a road that isn't even lit. Luckily we ran quietly so she didn't know until we were closer and then we called out to her. We caught up to her and started talking. She said her name was Jasmine and she was just coming home from work. She was like "Now what do you want since you went through all the trouble to park and run after me in the dark? You obviously after somethin probably for some Chruch" And so we said that we had a message for her that would make her happier than she had ever been before in her life. She automatically said "Alright, so your Mormon." WHAT? hahaha it was awesome. We kept talking and gave her a Book of Mormon, and she said she would read it just because we went through the trouble of talking to her!

So right after we got back in our car we went to visit a family we hadn't seen in a while, and the Mom, Fannie, let us in right away! We talked for a long time and she told us that she had been having a really hard time with her family, and especially her son. She said that she felt like Satan was trying to destroy her family through her son, and that the house had a feeling of darkness in it, and especially in his room. Fannie said that even other people commented about it when they would walk into her home. We told her that Christ's power can overcome any darkness, and testified of the principles of the Gospel to her. We said a prayer with her, and then had a crazy experience that I will never forget. While I was praying there was a point in the prayer that I felt something in the room change. I didn't really notice it at first, but after we ended, Fannie started crying, and said that at the beginning of the prayer she felt like this weight or something heavy weighing her shoulders down, but that towards the end she felt it lift off of her and her shoulders literally got lighter. She was still really troubled about it though, and started grabbing her arms and clenching her fists in agitation and crying harder and said "What is happening?! This is so weird, I don't know what is happening!" Then she said that she felt it coming back and she was getting heavier again, and she started crying even more and we could tell she was really scared. So we decided to sing a hymn with her before we left to calm her down and give her peace. We all sang 'Be Still, My Soul' and after that she was herself again. When Sister Roundy and I left, we said a prayer at the edge of her yard. It was the craziest experience I have ever had!!!

Well, we went out a couple days later to go visit some people, and we were driving home, and then I felt the nagging again!! The spirit told me to go back to the street we were just on, so we looped around and went back to the street, and got out of the car. We had no idea what to do so we started walking, but then I looked around, and there was this man standing in his doorway, and I went up to him, but he didn't speak English... I have never wanted to speak Spanish so badly in my life. So we called up the Spanish Sisters!!! We handed him the phone and they set up an appointment. It was weird, but it worked! Then Sis Roundy felt like we should knock on this one house and we practically had a lesson on his porch! His name is Luis and we gave him a Book of Mormon, an invitation to the Primary Program coming up soon, our contact info, and then sang 'I Am a Child of God' with him and his little daughter before we left. It was awesome. Then we met this crazy man who when we asked his name hesitated for like 18 seconds and then said it was "John." He told us that he was Israelite, that the Jews and Jesus were black, and that everyone except them were going to be burned when He comes again. It was one of the weirdest contacts I have ever had haha, also because he thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses at first and started going off about the 144thousand deal... I love Jersey.

ALEXIS IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON WEDNESDAYYYY!!!!!!! She had her interview yesterday and we are all so excited!!! She is literally just an angel. She spent all Saturday night practicing the baptismal questions, and then bought herself a white dress for her baptism! haha she is adorable, and we are so excited. In fact, the mission president's wife, Sister Taggart invited her and us over for lunch yesterday after church. It was awesome, but I was almost scared out of my mind.... but it was good. :)

We went to the Trunk or Treat for a few minutes on Saturday night, and HOLY GOODNESS!!!!! This ward goes all out!!! everyone was dressed up and the trunks were ALL SORTS of decked out!!!! It was the coolest trunk or treat I have ever seen with my eyeballs! Honestly, you have all got to step it up this year with your Halloween parties, because my ward here in NJ has definitely got you all beat!!! I mean our Bishop brought a tow truck!! One of the trunks basically had a pool of water with alligators swimming in it. It was amazing. I wish I could have taken pictures of everything and everyone there, but that would have been weird...

Also, we did a Family History booth at a little street fair thing they do here called Bottle Hill Day. It was really fun and we had a ton of success! We were able to get about 37 packets to deliver to people who want to know more about their Family History! Even though we weren't allowed to proselyte at the booth, we are praying that it will bring just as much talk about Jesus Christ when we deliver them! I am so excited!

I have this theory here on my mission that since I am here on the Lord's time, and since He is the Master Planner, that He has every lesson of every day of every week of my mission planned out perfectly the way that He wants it to go. The way I know if I am doing what He wants me to do is if I see miracles happening, and things working out and the Spirit guiding me where to go, what to do, what to say, and who to talk to. Those things don't necessarily result in success number wise, but they result in a successful missionary. If I am obedient to the promptings of the Spirit, I will find success.  I have even felt this in lessons when I open my mouth and let Him work through me. And I am SO SO SO thankful for that, because there is no protein whey in history that I could find that kind of success by my own power and plans and works. That's why we have a loving Heavenly Father! :)

Anyways, I am sorry I took up like half of your life telling you about all this stuff haha, but thank you so much for all of your prayers and support and attractiveness. Know that I am praying for you too! Love you a TON!!!!

Sister Baine

Hellooooo errybodyyyy!!!!

So I really don't have very long this week at all.... But I do have a
few mins left to email, and I want to tell you of a miracle Alexis had
this week. You know how she was really worried about her family not
supporting her decision to be baptized? Well she met with Bishop last
week, and he counseled her to tell her family. She was really nervous
and prayed super hard, but she did and GUESS WHAT!? Her mom was so
happy for her! She was so glad her daughter was finally finding a
religion and that she would be following Jesus Christ!!!! It was so
amazing!!! Heavenly Father answers prayers!

Chris is having a hard time right now though.... He has had two
scheduled baptismal dates, but hasn't been prepared for it yet, so we
have decided to teach him at a simpler pace instead of cramming it all
at him.... Here is such wisdom in the counsel to teach people, not
lessons...

So a couple of weeks ago we received a referral from someone who went
online and requested a copy of the BOM, so we called him and he said
he had already received a copy, but would be happy to have the
missionaries go by. Well, it turns out that he wanted to meet on a day
when we couldn't do it, so we sent the Spanish sisters to meet with
him instead (partly because his name was Juan Pablo) and GUESS WHAT!?
Two and a half weeks later he is baptized!!! WHAT?! So even though he
got taught by the Spanish sisters and baptized into the Spanish
branch, we are considering him our investigator child that we gave up
for adoption..... There is a pic of him...

Also, it's kind of really lame, but I finally know how to be still.
You know that song "be still my soul?" Well until lately I've never
realized that I have always had is constant noise in my head. Even
when it is quiet I always have loud thoughts or songs or noises going
on in my ears... But I've realized that when I actually control my
thoughts and quiet them down, I can hear the spirit a WHOLE lot
better!

 Anyways, I love you all, and I thought it might be fun if I showed
you my apartment! Stay stellar!!!! 😘

Sorrrrryyy....

PLEASE forgive me for not writing a weekly email last week!!! I said I had an excuse because the library was closed, but honestly, I was just lazy... and that was one of the worst decisions I have ever made. I AM SO SORRYYY!! Please forgive me... I promise it won't ever happen again!!!

So I HAVE to tell you about Alexis! I can't remember if I have ever mentioned her before, but she is just SO awesome! So last week we talked to her and everything, but then one night she texted us saying that she had had a cool experience to tell us about. So we called her and she said that she had really been thinking and praying about our invitation to find a date and be baptized, and that one of the biggest things that she was concerned about was that her family would be really against it and give her a hard time for it. So as she was thinking, a thought "randomly" popped into her head that what if on the way to the appointment we had scheduled with her, she got hit by a car and died? She hoped that if that happened, that we would have enough information about her to do her baptism in the temple afterwards. But then she thought that well if it was important enough for us to do her baptism after she died, then what was the point of waiting, and why didn't she just get baptized now? So she told us that she had prayed about a date, and wants to get baptized on the 28th of this month, because that day has in the past been really hard for her and since baptism is like a rebirth, she wants to give it new meaning. WHAT?! And THEN she got a text from her mom about her going to church and everything that really gave Alexis hope that her mom would be open to the idea of her getting baptized into the LDS church! And THEN we had another lesson with her in which we talked about the Word of Wisdom, and she had some questions about it, and later we found out that she sometimes drinks wine, so we had planned to call her and ask her to pray about the WoW to gain a testimony that it is  a true principle. Well, when we called her, she immediately said that she had already gotten an answer. She said that she had been praying about it and stuff, and that she was packing up her things (because she is moving), and that she saw a picture of Jesus Christ and right next to it was an envelope full of money that she had forgotten about! She had walked past it probably a million times in the last month that it had been sitting there, and was just now noticing it! She immediately took that as her answer, and committed to follow the Wow. WHAT?!

And THEN she texted us the other night and told us that she had to "end a friendship, and tried to be as kind about it as possible, but it was not a pleasant discussion. Afterwards I prayed on my knees and told Heavenly Father that I truly don't know how Christ  would have handled that, but I'd ask in Church and learn so if there's a next time, or even another strong disagreement, I could try to act more like Him." Then she talked to another one of her friends about her decision to get baptized, and he was very supportive. She is just SO BRAVE!!! I'm sorry haha, I have to brag about her because she is the best investigator in the whole wide world. I love her so much! I could go on and on, but I want to share another miracle with you.

So our teaching pool has been getting progressively smaller as we have been weeding people out, and others are on the brink of getting baptized, so we have been working on building it back up and doing more contacting. So one night we were walking back to our car right before we were going home, and we met this young man named Danny. We talked to him for a couple minutes and asked Him what his favorite thing was about Jesus Christ. Usually when we ask that question, people say something like "I dont know," or "He's just the best." But when we asked him, he said that it was because Jesus Christ doesn't judge, and that he loves us all for who we are. It was super powerful some of the things he said, but since we were in a hurry, we didn't spend a long time with him. But we gave him a Book of Mormon, and a card with our number and the address to the chapel on it, and invited him to read, pray, and come to church. Well guess what?! Right in the middle of the Sacrament on Sunday, he walks in! He sits down all by himself and listened to all of the testimonies! After Sacrament meeting a ton of members went up to him and introduced themselves and helped him to feel welcome! He literally had a crowd around him! We talked to him again and he said that he had been reading a little bit of the Book of Mormon! He then stayed for the next two hours of church, and said he would come back again next week, and later we found out that he had WALKED there!! He had probably walked nearly an hour to get to church! It has been such a strong testimony to me that even though some days may be discouraging, Heavenly Father knows where the prepared and elect are in New Jersey. He WILL lead them to us and us to them. We will gravitate towards each other if that is what we are seeking!

Amazing things are happening here, and I am so so so incredibly grateful to be a part of it. Our investigators have SO much faith, and they have to work so hard for it!!! I was thinking that Heavenly Father is so merciful for blessing me to have been born into the Gospel of Jesus Christ and an eternal family, because I don't know if I would have enough faith and strength to have these kinds of miracles I am seeing our beloved sincere inquirers having. I definitely wouldn't be here, physically or spiritually, if I hadn't been taught the Gospel my entire life. My heart is SO filled with gratitude for that blessing of always having Christ as a guide in my life. I am definitely working on my faith though! I like to think that my prayers actually make a difference in helping them and also all of you come closer to Christ. So if they aren't then just don't tell me haha. I am actually super proud that I am getting callouses on my knees from praying so much here!

So you want to hear something funny? We have been doing this thing every morning where we say "I fear no man" in funny voices and in different poses.... Well this morning I was going to say it while I did a dance, but my skirt wasn't stretchy and I was wearing socks on our hardwood floor, so when I kicked one foot out my other foot slipped out from under me and I fell flat on my nalgas! Sis Roundy had a good laugh about that...I guess that is one way to get out of your comfort zone...

Also, my OCD is going CRAZY with all of these crunchy leaves here!! It takes all my willpower not to dance all over the sidewalk stepping on every crunchy leaf in New Jersey.... 

Anyways... I hope that makes up for me not writing you last week... I do love you all and sincerely pray for all of you! Thank you also for your prayers, because God knows I need them!! And always remember that starting off your day right begins on your knees the night before!

Love you!!!

Sis Baine!

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL, HANDSOME, 13 YEAR-OLD, CAPTAIN MORONI, BROTHER ETHAN!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU!!

This is how I feel exercising in the morning.....

Oh, btw, in Kim B Clark who spoke in conference was my president at
BYU-I when I was there... So I'm pretty much famous now....
 

Not in the mood to write!

Soooo here's my weekly email....

That is SO CUTE HOW JOHNNY IS DOING FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!! He is such a
tough-looking handsome boy!!!!
 
Give Ethan a big birthday hug for me!!!!!

I miss you all so much it hurts. I know I
can't think about that though.... But I keep you in my prayers.

And I'm doing the ponderize challenge too! Mine is 1 Nephi 11:1.
I love it because I am working on making my prayers more meaningful so
that I can have spiritual experiences and revelation like I've never
had before.

I'm not really in the mood to write a weekly email... I love you so
much!!!!! 😘