Baker, Justin

Dear Brother and Sister Baker,  Your son, Elder Baker, has arrived safely here in the Philippines Cauayan Mission. It  was a wonderful experience getting to know him better. He is amazing and will be an  incredible missionary. As he serves faithfully and diligently, we know he will experience  joy and bless the lives of those he serves.  Elder Baker will be trained by one of our finest missionaries, Elder Merencillo. For his first assignment, Elder Baker has been called to serve in Baluarte B area under Santiago  North Zone.   May the Lord bless you as you support Elder Baker in his missionary labors. As you  support him in bringing souls unto Christ, we know that you will see the hand of the Lord  in the life of your family. We are so excited to see Elder Baker develop into the person God wants him to be.  Warmest regards,  President Ricardo Cobing Sister Manolita Cobing 

    Whats up ya'll! We made it to the Philippines!!! The travel was super longgggg. Our flight went from salt lake to LA to Souel Korea to Manila! Our longest one being 14 hours to Korea. I slept for like 8 hours though so it wasn't too bad. The minute we stepped out of the airport it just felt sticky from the humidity, its so wild. Its definitely going to take me a while to get used to it. Over all I'm so happy to finally be here. I know that the Lord wants me to be here and help in the work.      My favourite part about being here is talking with and spending time with the Filipinos! They are truly the the most humble people I've ever met. Even though my tagolog is terrible, they'll listen and if I make mistakes they'll tell me how to improve but always tell me I'm doing a great job! Even though I'm definitely not. Also the food here is so good! We get waffles every morning. It makes me grateful I didn't come here for 6 weeks or else I would've...

Kamusta sa lahat!?!       What's up ya'll!? It's officially my final few days here in Provo! What a ride it has been! It's been an exhausting month here but I've really loved every second of it. Learning this language has really helped me turn to the Lord daily. I have seen when I include him in every part of my day, the effort I put in is exponentially increased. Unfortunately it's not every day I take advantage of the help the Savior offers me. As I look back on the days where I may have fallen short of my goals or maybe didn't put full effort into some of my classes, that's when I remember President Nelson's plea for us to " find joy in daily repentance. ". I truly have found that joy in being able to change everyday as I strive to be the disciple my savior needs me to be.       This past week in our classes, our teachers give us " Cultural Moments " where they show us pictures and videos from their missions in the Philippines!...

Kamusta po kayo!!        This last week has felt pretty long but it's been full of amazing experiences. Every Tuesday evening we get to have a devotional from either a member of the area seventy or a member of the twelve apostles! Last week was Elder Stevenson of the Twelve and it was so cool. The spirit so strong as he spoke to us about gaining a personal testimony of Preach My Gospel in our studies. One thing I wrote down while he was talking was " We have Preach My Gospel so we can preach His (Jesus's) Gospel ". It was cool to go over my notes from after the devo and see all of the little things I was prompted to write down. Last Tuesday was a testimony to me that the spirit does guide and prompt us.     As for the rest of the week, it was more of just learning the language and studying the scriptures. I've learned to appreciate more the time I can spend in the Book of Mormon every day. My personal study has gotten more intentional and meaningful as...

Kamusta ka everyone! This past week has been awesome. I have started to understand the language a lot better and the grammar is starting to make more sense which is huge. It's crazy to think I'll be in the Philippines by the end of this month! I feel like I need so much more time to learn here but I know if I trust in the lord he'll always provide a way for me to do what he needs me to do.     I had a really cool experience last Friday too! One of the other Tagolog districts left last Saturday and the night before, one of the Elders who we had grown really close with came to our room and asked me if I could give him a priesthood blessing for peace and comfort. I was really nervous cause this was the first blessing I'd ever given. But it went amazing the spirit that was there was unreal. It was definitely a huge testimony builder of the power of the priesthood.      This morning we went to the temple and went through an endowment session which was super powe...