Update!

Colton leaves for Puerto Rico on Tuesday! He is super excited and has been doing very well! He told me that he is sending me his memory card to his camera soon, so hopefully in the next few weeks it will be an even greater post because there will be pictures! Below is his letter, as well as an excerpt from a talk that was given in 1979 by an apostle of our church. I find it very amazing because it addresses a lot of the issues that are currently going on in our world, just thought that it would be nice to share with everyone! Hope your all doing very well and are looking forward to a little break with the upcoming holidays.

Hola!!

As excited as i am to be writing this final email from the MTC, i really do not have a lot of things to say. This week went by faster than the laws of physics should allow. But im not complaining because i will be in the field in 4 and a half days! I actually started this email about 20 minutes ago, but had to go get my haircut. There is a barber that comes every thursday and cuts all the elders' hair (or those that want it cut) its pretty awesome. Anyway, like i said this week was pretty uneventful. That will change very quickly here and this should be the last email that i ever say the words "this week was pretty uneventful." I am very grateful for that, because my entries in my journal are becoming awful. Believe me i am putting some serious effort into my letters to you all so that you may be somewhat interested in what is happening here.
Last saturday we had another great experience teaching at the university. We talked to two guys that were very, very interested in learning about the church and the gospel and we talked to them nearly the entire time. We set an appointment with them to meet again this saturday and talk more. I am definitely looking forward to that. Also one of the elders in my district will be serving in the mission here that the two guys live in, so we gave that elder their contact info and he will be teaching them soon hopefully. It was pretty cool. Other than that, this week i have been working very hard to try to get everything done that i can before i leave. I am pretty comfortable with my spanish and when i am teaching i can say mostly what i want to. I am still having trouble understanding though, the people here talk so fast it is absolutely ridiculous. But i have heard that it is a little easier to understand in Puerto Rico because the annunciate better. But Puerto Ricans also cut of endings to there words so that they can speak even faster. So its a little bit of a double edged sword. Here they mumble and slur things together, there they just talk super fast. I heard about the election, it ruined my day yesterday but was glad to hear that the preposition 8 passed in california.
I am running out of things to say and i apologize for this week not being a very good letter. It was great to hear from all of you and there will be pictures coming soon. Keep an eye out for updates on my blog. Thanks for all of your support and i hope that you will all continue to write. You are all in my prayers.

Love Elder Baines


" Sugar on top" (we got two emails :) )

The general email was a pretty quick overview of the uneventfulness of this week. But here are some pretty cool details none the less...

As i said concerning the two my companion and i taught last week, they were very interested in learning about the gospel. We had just finished talking to a guy that was very nice and listened to us and acutally had a book of mormon and had attended church. Our conversation was cut short because he had to go to class, but right after we finished talking to him, two guys came up to us and said in english "we want to learn the things of God." They told us that they were studying english and would like if we taught them in english. I was both excited and not so exctied about teaching in english. The thing about teaching in spanish is that i can only say things in which i have learned and i cant get off track because i only know so much. In english, i have the tendency to get too in depth about things to the point were it is hard to understand. Anyway, we started to teach them and the had a TON of questions. So many in fact that the conversation really did not flow very well and we were switching principles left and right. It was a great experience though because both of them were religious and one of them, Franklin, had been praying daily for strength and help in learning english. The other, Henry, had known members of the church for a while and had some qustions that we were able to clear up. It was very cool talking about Joseph Smith and personal revelation because it related directly to Franklin and his prayers. I asked him if he felt that he had received answers to his prayers and he said that he felt like he had been. He was able to understand the fact that the heavens are not close in these last days and that God will answer those who ask. From this he was able to understand that we have a living prophet today who receives revelation directly from God and guides and directs the member of the church. We talked to them for about 40 mins and it was probaly the best experience thus far. We have an appointment with them this saturday which i am very excited for.
After this conversation we talked with one more person, an older lady who had been a member of the church for about 15 years but was no longer active. Aparently there was contention among some of the members of the ward and she didnt feel comfortable. It was sad to hear her story and as hard as we tried she did not want the missionaries to visit her.
I am running out of time and still have one more emial to send so i will have to cut this one short, but again tahnks for all the support from everyone and your prayers. I hope that things dont get too crazy beacause of the election. That kind of ruined my day yesterday hearing about it but Dad i also have faith in God's promise of conserving this country as long as there are righteous people with in it. I pray that the Lord will bless you all as you strive to live lives worthy of being able to return to Him.

Love Elder Baines


"A more Determined Decipleship" 1979

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.' "This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.


"Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as un-trendy and unenlightened.... Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."

Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
"A More Determined Discipleship", Ensign, Feb. 1979