A Stick, Torn Up Pillow and a Dead Guy

Ola Familia!!!

Ok soooo this week we had a very average week. Like no joke it was like same old same old. UNTIL Thursday, We decided to go see our investigator that came to conference. We felt that we really needed to reteach the first lesson to her and invite her to be baptized. Well the first miracle was that she was in her house. The second was that she accepted the invite to be baptized on the 19! We were sooooo excited! Well long story short we went to go get her for church on Sunday and she went to Lisbon and just forgot to tell us. ya... it was really sad cause now she is no longer marked to be baptized. But if we can finish up teaching her this week we can still see her enter the waters of baptism if she comes to church next week. So we are really praying hard for her! So after she wasn't home on Sunday both Sister Steagall and I were really sad but neither of us wanted to say anything so we walked to church real quiet. I think that we both knew that in our hearts we were praying real hard to see a miracle that day. Well we went to church and for the first 2 hours no one showed up. Not a single investigator walked in. Then at the last minuet just as sacrament was starting we had the family that we are teaching walk in! Then not long after that we had a couple that we have only talked to like one time come as well! It was so amazing! We had an amazing testimony meeting and the spirit was so strong! In the end even though we did not have the one person we thought would come be there we had 5 other people come! It was so amazing! And the couple that came is planning on coming to an activity that we are having on Friday and then again to church on Sunday! MIRACLES PEOPLE MIRACLES!!! BUT WAIT THERES MORE! So later that day the Elders in Lagos had a baptism. They have to come to our chapel to have it and so we got all the stuff ready to go for them. Well they got there and we were told that 2 people would be getting baptized but only one got dressed and they told us that the other person backed out last second. So they did the baptism and it was amazing. Well we went to help her get dressed after and when we came back out Elder Seeley (one of the elders from Lagos) was crying and came up to us and told us that after the baptism when they started playing the piano and wait for her to be done changing the other person who was supposed to be baptized but in the last minute felt that he was not ready, looked at Elder Seeley and said "I cannot wait anymore. I need to be baptized now." So they baptized him as well. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my whole life! NEVER! It was so amazing!

God really does love all his children so much!! I love the mission so much! It is days like yesterday that make it all worth it! I am so happy to be here serving our Heavenly Father!

Oh I should probably explain the title of this email. So to tie our Sunday off in a big old bow, we were walking in the street and we saw a big group of people. Well we kept going and realized that they were all gathered around this guy that was laying on the side of the road with a torn up pillow and foam all around him and a stick. He looked super dead. Like Sister Steagall and I no joke were like "what the, that guy is DEAD!!" So we stayed a minute and then an ambulance came and we saw the dead guy move so, ya, he wasnt actally dead but we have no idea what happened. It was super weird. This little story is also my advise this week. Never play dead on the side of the road. You will freak out the missionarias if you do.

OK well love you all! As always thank you for your prayers! Sounds like you are all having a grand time in goold ol' utah! Glad spring break was a blast!

Fica Bem!
Sister Bakker!

I Hear Our Prophet!

Sister Bakker says never give 8 missionaries mustaches in a package they open on a train!

GENERAL CONFERENCE IS LIFE!!!!! Can I please just tell you how blessed we were this weekend. We got to watch the morning sessions live!!! that was so cool and we also got to watch the first part of the afternoon sessions live but had to finish them the next day due to having to be home by 10. We also got to see them in ENGLISH!!! WAHOO! It would have been great to see it in Portuguese and I think that I would have gotten most of what was said but it really is so much better to watch it in you own language! I love conference so much! We are so blessed to have a modern living prophet! I love his so much and I am so grateful for his and all the words spoken this weekend! And what a blessing it was to hear them over this beautiful Easter Sunday! What a great way to spend Easter this year! The cherry on top was that I also got to spend this Easter as a missionary! Wow God really does love all of us a whole lot!

This week was great! Nothing to crazy to report! You know the classic random dude that gives us oranges on the road and the oldy that cries when we offer to say a prayer to help bless her day. Classic! We are still working really hard here to see miracles and to see our investigators enter the waters of baptism! Man life is so good! And the usual homeless man that we have to avoid usually was not in his usual spot and the elders said that he has been spotted in their area so we are thinking that maybe he has moved! How can life get better? I am no joke on cloud nine! 

My advise this week is not really advise as much as it a request...Please all of you take a minute this week and remember your savior and all that he did for YOU personally. Then when you have thought about that think of someone that you know that needs that same knowledge of the Saviors love for them. It can be ANYONE! Just think of that one person and them and find a way to give them the gift of the gospel. It could be by having them over to eat dinner and meet with the missionaries (as a missionary I can tell you that this would be AWESOME) or you could give them a hug and tell them you love them or you can show them the new Easter video. There are so many ways to share the love of the Savior with the world and my challenge to you this week is to actually do it. STOP saying I will tomorrow or thinking that someone else can and you take action and DO IT!! God needs all of us to do our parts and He needs all of his children to return to him. How can you help him with the grand work? 

I love you all and I love my Savior! Thank you as always for all your prayers in my behalf! They do not go unnoticed! 

Sister Bakker...OUT (insert finger guns here)

Porque Ele Vive (Becuase He Lives)

This week we met some funny people and did some fun stuff. For instance to celebrate the birthday of the Relief Society we had a big party thing that our Relief Society president put on. Well, it was complete with skits, and being the sisters we had to be in the skits. So I played a pregnant lady. Who decided it was a good idea to have the sister missionary be a pregnant lady, I don't know, but that will be a joke in this branch for the next few hundred years I am pretty sure.

The mission is still pushing along great! I love it here and I am so happy to be serving the Lord in such a great place! I LOVE MY MISSION!! I hope that you are all stoked for general conference this week! It is going to be amazing! I am so excited!

My weekly advice this week comes from my comp... If you start to have hives, DONT ITCH!!! I LOVE SISTER STEAGALL!! She is great! We also had to go to the hospital this week because she broke out in hives all over her body and has been having a few allergy problems. Poor thing. She’s okay now.

Love you all! Thank you for all that you do for me and all your prayers!

Sister Bakker!

P.S. share this video if you have not already! Porque Ele Vive (becuase he lives). Remember our savior this Easter Sunday and all that he did for all of us. I love my Savior and I know that he did all that He did for every one of us. Let us all do something a little more this Easter to show how much we love Him.

My district p-day today (Elder Bethers, Jones, Sister Steagall and Bakker)

Labor Pains

The new missionaries and their trainers.  Sister Steagall and Sister Bakker are in the middle left both wearing white shirts.

My first week as a mother! After one whole week of anticipation I finally got to welcome my new beautiful baby girl into the world of missionary work! And let me tell you it has been crazy! Last week I had to go to Faro and stay with the sister training leaders for a few days. Then I went to CaixCaix and stayed for a night with the sisters there who happend to be my MTC comp so that was awesome!! love her!!! Then I finally got to pick up the beloved SISTER STEAGALL! She is from Bountiful, UT and she is a swimmer and she is great! I love her!! She also sings like an angel! So that is good she really makes up for my terrible singing voice! We are going to have a great transfer and I am so stoked to be here in Portimão still!! Sister Steagall is so stoked about the work and she is ready to go! This really is going to be great! President has put Portimão in the hands of me and Sister Steagall, and the elders, one of them came in with me and the other is in his 3rd transfer. so uhhh, ya, we are all super super new on the mission! It is awesome! It just means that President has a lot of faith in us and we are going to see some really, really amazing things happen in the next few weeks!

So we had this really amazing thing happen yesterday! We came home after church for lunch and our phone rings. It was a number that we did not know. Which is always exciting becuase we are always hopeful that it is someone calling to tell us that they want to hear more about the gospel (I have never had that be the case but whatever, I am still hopeful!). So I answer the phone and it is a girl with one of the heaviest Brazilian accents I have ever heard and she goes "is this the sisters? You guys stopped me on the road the other day and I got really mad at you and told you I did not want anything to do with your church. But I showed my dad your card and he said that he was a member of this church in Brazil and has been looking for the church since he moved here and wants to come to church next week. What time does it start?" WAHHHHHHH WHAT THE HECK!!! MIRACLES!! It really is moments like this that make you really realize how important it is to talk to everyone! I cannot wait until next Sunday to meet this guy and to find out his story! WOW the Lord really does work in amazing ways! So great!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and all that you all do for me! Love you all so much! Eu sei que esta igreja é verdadera e eu sei que temos um salvador que nos ama! My weekly advise comes from something that I have really learned this week... Be who you are and love it! God puts you where you are for a reason and He expects us to grow and change in the gospel but He does not want us to be someone we are not. TRUST HIM HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!

Fica bem!
com amor!
Sister Bakker!

What to Expect When You Are Expecting

IT IS A GIRL!!!!!! yes folks I am going to be a mom here on the mission! I am getting a brand new missionary this week and I will be training her in the ancient art of missionary work! I am so excited!! And I am finally staying in an area! yay!! I love Portimão so much and I am so excited to have a brand new missionary here with me! This transfer is going to bring SO many miracles I cannot wait. So right now I am in Faro with Sister Jumua from Mozambique. We are waiting to pick up her new comp from the bus and guess who her new comp is... SISTER CULLIMORE! My 2nd trainer! Wahoo! I am so stoked to talk to her and see how things were in Povóa when she left! So ya I will be here with them in a triple for 3 days then Thursday morning like mesmo morning I am going to Lisbon to pick up SISTER STEAGULL! I have no idea anything about her yet just her name so stay tuned next week to find out more!

This week though we had a great week! It was so cool! We are still teaching that family and they are really receiving the gospel well! I love there kids, Ariana and Eddie! They are so awesome Arianan always wants us to play with her and not talk about chruch stuff. She always says "just really quick lets play" haha I love that family! Also we found this way awesome lady named Elidia! She is from Argentina! She is so great and she loves having us over for tea and to talk about the church! She is super great and I think she has lots of potential! I love the people here so much! It like makes my heart hurt even thinking about ever leaving! Good thing I have at least 6 more weeks here and probably more! YAY!!!! I love seeing the miracles on the mission! This week we did a mission fast and prayed for lots of things very specifically. The next day we taught more lessons and had more plans work out then I have had on my mission so far! It was so amazing! I love it so much when we can see the Lords hand in our lives!

My advise from the week comes from the beloved Sister Baugh! Last night in her frantic packing night mare she looked at me, eyes spinning and hands in the air and goes, "WHY MUST I HORD THINGS?" So my dear sweet friends and family please do not keep things that should not be kept. It makes life much easier in the long run! I love Sister Baugh so much! She really did teach me so much about being a missionary. I will miss her and the funny things that she would say all the time!

Fica Bem Y'all!
Love you!
Sister Bakker!

Some awesome sisters serving in the Algarve Zone. Left to right they are sisters Jumua, Lybbert, Brundage, Hillam, Bakker, Baugh, and Sister Jeffers in front.

S Bakker and the Stucki's

Water Polo Balls and Stray Animals

Hey there fam!

I am only going to say this once so listen very close. If you see a water polo ball on the road. LEAVE IT ALONE! Yes, we were walking down my 3rd favorite road in our area, Rua de Capo Verde, when I saw a water polo ball in a car. Well me being me I stopped to look at it just for a minute. Well while stopped looking into this car a cat walked up to us. Meowed a big old meow and then we watched as it threw up who knows what. Ya that was nasty. If only we had not stopped to look at a stupid little water polo ball we would have never seen this sad little balding cat throw up.

This week on the mission was great! We did not have time to work for all of Monday or half of Tuesday cuase we had to go to Lisbon for residency but we decided to set our goals the same as last week and even had some that were higher and we were able to meet almost all of them and we got really close with the rest. It really is so cool to see that when you really put your shoulder to the wheel and give your all the Lord that he will bless you. Even with less time that normal we were able to see great miracles this week!

If there is anything that I have learned this transfer it is that sometimes things get really really hard but in the end it is all worth it. We have trials for a reason. Our Heavenly Father knows what we can handle and He knows what it is that we need to grow and to become better. These last 6 weeks have really taught me a lot! I am so grateful for the things that Sister Baugh has taught me and for this area! I love the mission and I love our Heavenly Father! We really are so blessed! I love you all! Thank you for all the love and support!


Stay away from stray animals please, Good things never come from them. Love always

Sister Bakker

The Aliens are Coming

Missionaries serving in the Algarve Zone

Preparation day at Ponto de Piedade

It's segunda-feira again!

Wow time really does fly when you are having fun! This week on the mission was great! We worked so hard and got a ton of new people to teach including a family!!! yay!!! They are so cool! They are from Capo Verde! After the first lesson we asked them if they would be baptized and the dad looked at us with what I am convinced were tears, the spirit booming through the room, and said, "what do I need to do to prepare?" Man it really is moments like that that make all the hard times and all the crazy moments worth it! That family is such a blessing and I love them so much!

This week I also taught my first gypsy! that was quit the experience. He was a little crazy but he came to church and listened to the first lesson very closely and told us that he would read the Book of Mormon, then today we were on the train coming back to our area from Ponto do Piedade and he called us. and goes "hello missionaries, I read the book and I want to be baptized." he is really funny and I don't think he really understands why he wants to be baptized but none the less we gave him to the elders and who knows maybe he will leave his life behind and really be baptized here in a year.

This week really was another great week on the mission! Everyday that I am here I love it even more and never want to leave. I am so so grateful for this opportunity to be on a mission serving my Heavenly Father. I know with all my heart that the really is the true church restored to the earth today and that Joseph Smith really did see God the Father and His son Jesus Cristo. I love this gospel and I love all of you!

My advise this week comes from a man that we met from Bulgaria, "one day all the aliens will leave the earth and the wars will stop. but until then we all need to be really good people so that they don't have any power over our heads." Well there may not be aliens here but it is true that we all need to be really really good people everyday and always doing what is right so that the devil has no power over us. Love you all!

Love
Sister Bakker!