I'll be home for Christmas... #jokes (12/5/16)

Heyyyy so this has been a crazy pday because we helped a member move
and then stuffed our faces at the Walmart deli haha soooooo this might
be a little rushed.

So I don't know why this keeps happening, but we got rained out
again...  at first it was just kind of sprinkling, and we went to go
contact a referral and got to talking with her for a while on her
doorstep. As we were talking though, we noticed that it was raining
harder and harder.... we kept trying to prolong the conversation as
long as we could, but eventually she said goodbye and shut the door,
and we had to face the pouring rain.... we walked (swam) probably 3/4
of a mile to the nearest Dunkin' Donuts where we could use the wifi
before going home for the night... by the time we got there it was
like we had just gotten off the titanic.... I bought myself a donut
for it...

Oh and you may have seen it on Facebook, but Sister Phil and the
Hermanas and I did this cool service booth thing and it was a blast!

Oh and something else cool happened... we have this returning less
active family that we have been working with, and we had a super
powerful lesson on Saturday with them, and then they came to church
the next day and the mom bore such a powerful testimony!! Then
afterwards she said that it was all because of us, and that ever since
we came she had felt the spirit in the home so strongly!! Of course we
know that it isn't us haha but it is so cool to see people
progressing!

Speaking of progressing, we had a couple really cool lessons with our
Chinese guy, Shawn this week!! The first one we talked about baptism,
and then we all knelt down to pray about it, and we were kneeling
there for like 25 minutes!!! He still wasn't sure about it though, so
the next lesson we skyped in a Chinese member from the YSA branch, and
they had like a 30 minute conversation in Mandarin. Afterwards Shawn
felt so much better about baptism, and said that he understood the
gospel more, and that she had said how important it was to read the
Book of Mormon every day and to do the best we can and repent. It was
so cool!

Yolanda also went to the temple this week!!! She had such a great
time, even though she is SUPER frustrating sometimes.... but we still
love her to death ❤️😄

Ok I love you all to Kolob and back!!!! 😘😘❤️️❤️️😁😁😁😁

Miracles happen once in a while.... (11/28/16)

Guess what????? BIG FISH NEWS!!!!!! MELVIN (MELV-DAWG) GOT BAPTIZED
YESTERDAY!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
Yesterday was like one of the best days of my life! It was so funny!
Melvin finally decided that he was going to get baptized, and so we
set it all up, and it was SO spiritual! President Taggart came and we
had a couple less actives and a couple investigators and a LOT of
family there to support Melvin! Everyone was crying and it was the
longest baptism I have ever been to because like 2/3 of the room
(which was packed) went up and bore their testimony and they were all
blubbering about what a long 16 years it has been, but how it was the
Lords timing, and how happy they are that Melvin finally got baptized.
It really was beautiful though, because Melvins son, Spencer, got to
baptize him, and he was just bawling when he bore his testimony! It
was SO AWESOME!!!! :D ohmigoodness it was so happy! :) then afterwards
we all had tamales and homemade hot chocolate! #ilovehispanicparties
#blessingsofbaptizing #finallygetfed

Guess what else? Sister Phillips and I are staying together for
another transfer!!! HUZZAH! I am so glad, because we are on a roll
here in this area! And we will get to spend Christmas together!
....Sister Phil already bought us stockings -_- She is so crazy.

Thanksgiving was good! We had the Turkey Bowl with the missionaries
Thursday morning and my team was losing... until President Taggart got
there and helped us out hahaha he is so funny. He like had us run
these plays and everything! But we still lost haha. Oh well. Its
prolly because they didnt play me more ;) jk.

Anyways. After that we got ready and our recent convert Yolanda picked us up because she was
going to spend the day with us since she didnt really have any family.
So we went to the Espada house and helped them cook a little bit. Then
we went over to the Peck/Artiga/Hernandez family house (thats Melvin's
wife's family). Then we went back over to the Espadas to eat the food
that we had made earlier. Then we went to crazy Brother Phelps' house
for our last stop of the day haha. It was quite an adventure. ...lots
of pie :)

We also had exchanges... but that wasnt very exciting... then we went
to Ellis Island to volunteer again. And that was fun... sorry we
didn't take any pictures though haha.

I love you so mucho!!!! :) Hope you all weigh as much as I do after
Thanksgiving! BYEEE!

Love, Sister Baine :)

Top Chef 🍴 (11/21/16)

Ok lets see... what even happened this week? Everything is such a
blur... This week has been awesome and hard and crazy and fun...

Melvin almost didnt get baptized this week.. but now he is still
getting baptized on Sunday!! So that is AWESOME!!! :D No one but his
extended family knows yet, and they are going to announce it to
everyone on Thanksgiving :) Oh yeah! Thanksgiving!!! YUM!!! Everyone
eat a ton of Turkey for me!

So we had a Thanksgiving dinner yesterday for the branch, so we
planned on Friday and Saturday a bunch of appointments with the
members, less actives, and non member women that we have been working
with lately, and it was so fun, and SO crazy!!!! We helped to make
stuffing, cupcakes, two pies, brownies, cookies, cake, and cinnamon
bread! Then we also kind of helped to make lasagna.. and by kind of
helped I mean that we bought the stuff but scheduling didn't work out
with us and the other lady to make it together, so she just made it
herself haha... But it was so fun! And SO many people came to our
linger longer!!! This less active family came that hasnt been to
church in so long! And we also had another guy named Brother Beltre
who came to church yesterday that hasnt been to church in like 25
years haha... He is pretty much an investigator, but it's ok :)

We also had another miracle this week! We like a month ago we went to
see a less active, and he told us to get in touch with his friend who
was going through a hard time. So we friended him on facebook, and
ttexted him, but he never responded. So we kind of forgot about him,
but we added him to our bug group message that we do with everyone.
Well we were in the library earlier this week, and this guy sat across
from us, and he asked me something about my ipad.. and then he
mentioned that some missionaries were messaging him, and he showed us
a picture of Sister Phillips!! So we had an AWESOME lesson with him,
and then he came to church, and it has been great! :)

So there was a SUPER annoying dog at this one house we were walking
by, and it was barking at us really loudly... So I decided to bark
back, but then Sister Phillips tactfully pointed out that the owner of
the dog was standing in the doorway watching me bark at his dog..
awkward... but its ok.

Ok, well love you all!!! :) Have a Fabulous Turkey day!!! !

Hello Real World! (11/14/16)

So on Tuesday this week, we were just sitting down at our desks studying... like normal, good missionaries do... when SUDDENLY we heard this loud CRASH!!!! I almost wet myself. So we went over to our bathroom to see what the loud noise was, and our bathroom ceiling had fallen down. Yup! So last week our ceiling was peeing, and this week it finally just decided it had had enough, and fell down onto our toilet. The bad part was that after that I really had to go to the bathroom, so I had to brush off the toilet seat and then while I was going a little bit more of the ceiling fell on me... 

We actually got fed a lot this week! I think the people in this branch are actually starting to like us haha. Just kidding, I ADORE this place! I love all the people here so much.. I dont know why, but sometimes I like working in the struggling areas more... I just feel more needed and better about the work I do... and BOY this branch is struggling haha. Yesterday during church, they asked one of the brothers to give the opening prayer in Sacrament meeting, and he started off by saying "Dear Lord Father God..." and didnt even end in the name of Jesus Christ, so they had him redo it... and he still didnt end in the name of Jesus Christ haha. 

During our last coordination, we realized that with 3 sets of missionaries in one branch, there is SO much work to be done, but not enough members to do it. So our AWESOME branch mission leader asked us all to start praying for someone new to move into the branch that could help with the work... preferably a sister RM, so that she could come on team ups with us. He pointed out that in the scriptures it says that the harvest is great and the laborers are few, so we need to pray and fast for more laborers. And since Jesus is referred to as "The Lord of Hosts" we can know that He has hosts of people at His disposal to help with the great harvest. So we have been praying all week... and guess what... This week a beautiful Sister walked into Sacrament meeting and said that she was moving into the branch. WHAT?!?! She isnt an RM, but that is OK! At least she is super cool and willing to participate! We are still going to keep praying and fasting though.. but HEAVENLY FATHER ANSWERS PRAYERS! 

Hmm... what else happened this week? Melvin is still awesome. As always. We are starting a Book of Mormon Challenge today! We are going to read the entire Book of Mormon by February 14 as a Valentine's Day present to the Lord and a thank you for the Book of Mormon! You are all welcome to join! :) 

We also went to the temple this week as a zone, and it was great! Haha zone bonding is so much fun.. we went through the cool World Trade Center building, and saw the 9/11 memorial too.... super fun. And the temple is always so wonderful... I love it there! I love doing work for my ancestors! All the more angels around me! ;) After the temple we also got Gyros.. I got a lamb gyro and it was SOOO good... only it was a little bit spicy haha I wouldnt normally say that, but that Egyptian hot sauce is REALLY hot... 

Speaking of food... we had a special missionary mutual this Wednesday with the youth, and it was so much fun! We made brownies too that we got for only one dollar at Walmart! huzzah! so we made them, and then they came with a frosting to put on top, so we started putting the frosting on top... but then realized that it smelled like a Dunkin Donuts... the frosting was mocha flavored... we checked and we dont think that there was any actual coffee in it... but they smelled and tasted like coffee SO strongly! So we served coffee flavored brownies to all of the youth and the friends that they had brought to the church for the first time... great first impression. 

God is all around us, all the time. He truly is in the details, and He works by small and simple means. Even if they are mysterious. :) 

Love you all a boatload!!!! :) MUAH! 

🎤 I can see your halo halo halo.... 👼 (10/10/16)

Well this week wasn't as fabulous as last week, but it was still
pretty fabulous. Heavenly Father has really been blessing us bough,
because no joke, literally like 5 times this week we have been walking
by and said hi to someone, and they stopped us and asked us to tell
them about the church.... MIRACLES! We also went on an exchange this
week with our Spanish STLs and it was so fun! And also weird haha....
It is super weird being on he other end of an exchange again... It
almost feels like I was never even an STL, and there is just a giant
hole in the middle of my mission haha. But here are some fun pics!! :)

 

 

 

It's marshmallow world in the winter.... (10/3/16)

First lets get the weather talk out of the way... This week it
actually started to get really cold. Which is weird because today it
is super warm out, but that is Jersey for you. It has also been super
rainy, which was OH SO FUN to walk around in haha... The blessings of
being in a walking area... My husband gets 1000x hotter.

But this week has been great!! We had a bunch of great appointments,
and not that many juked haha! Our Chinese students are progressing
nicely, and watched a session of conference! Conference was SO great
btw! I can't wait to listen to them all again. But now we are
officially teaching 7 Chinese people! Haha I totally want to go to
China. It is so weird, but i have never been as crazy as my Sis Emily
and wanted to travel the world and experience strange things... But
now that I am being aquatinted with so many different cultures, it
makes me so curious!! I wish I had a million dollars to travel the
world... But it will probably have to wait for a while... But I do
want to go to Italy for the dedication of the temple there... 😉

I absolutely love this branch and these people so much... Even thought
they are such frumpy fros sometimes, I feel like we are actually doing
work here... It is so good to actually be busy and we have NEEDS TO
FILL!!!! It is so fun working here.

So we have this crazy guy named Pete (that is probably not his real
name) who keeps following us around everywhere and talking to us in
different languages haha. He probably smokes like 3 packs a day and
drinks a gallon of coffee... But he is so funny!! He is so gone that
he literally can't even carry on a conversation with us, and we don't
actually know he if he comprehends what we say to him half the
time.... we have no idea what's wrong with him, but it is hilarious.
No joke, every time we go on Main Street he ALWAYS finds us! He will
follow us into stores, and a couple times he has even been following
us to appointments hahahaha we don't know what to do with him. I will
send you some video of Pete though... And if you can't understand what
he is saying it is probably Portuguese or Spanish or German...

This Gospel is more true than my brother is blond and Sister Phillips
is hot. I love teaching and working out here... Sorry but I don't ever
think I am going to come home... See ya never. But I still love you
all!!!! MUAH!

Sister Baine :)




This is Pete...

You can be my señorita.... (9/26/16)

Heavenly Father has been blessing us up the wazoo!!! With Chinese
people!!!! We now have 6 people in our English class from China, and
are officially teaching 3 of them the Gospel! They are so awesome, and
I love them so much!

We have also set a family on date to get sealed in the temple!! And
had an amazing experience teaching them the gospel!!! I LOVE BEING A
MISSIONARY!!!! THIS IS TH BEST LIFE EEVVVEEERRR!!!!!
😄😄😁😁😁❤️❤️❤️❤️

We also did a booth outside of a train station which was super fun...

We have also being blessed by getting SO MANY REFERRALS!!!!
Ohmigoodness God has been so good to us!