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

New letter!

Hey everyone!

Sorry it has taken a few days to put this letter up, I have had my mom and sister at our house so we were a bit busy this weekend!



Hola Again!

This letter may be brief, today snuck up on me and this past week is a total blur.. I will try to recount some of the events that stick out.

Last thursday we did end up going to the Museum. It was pretty interesting to learn about the culture and history of the people here. They had some really neat artifacts, but the building was swealtering hot and stuffy and i think they dont believe in lights because none of the rooms had any on... Saturday we went to the university to teach again. It was an incredible experience and went way better than the first time. We were lucky that we were able to go though. A day before we went, last friday, someone was shot and killed near the university because of riots pertaining to an election here. Fortunately when we went, the riots had stopped and there wasnt any contention. Again the people were very nice and listened to us. We talked to about 6 people this time i think. On tuesday of this week the HAitian Missionaries left go into the field in Haiti. It was an emotional day for we had all become quite close to them. I think it was because we could not communicate very well with words, so we had to communicate the best we could with actions and feelings. This made me think of how important it is that we keep our actions and emotions in check as we go throughout our days. The power with which we can communicate without the use of words is incredible and the connection is more than that of just flapping lips and listening to sounds. The effect our actions and emotions have towards those we interact with truly can penetrate to the very core of our soul.
The past two days have been relatively quiet without the Haitians here, but today we got a new group of missionaries, brand new to the mtc. They are all Latino which will be great because it will help our spanish immensely since we all speak the same language. I was sick again this week, not as bad as last time, but i have had a really bad cough and stuffy nose. I am getting better though and yes mom i have been taking all of my vitamins every day. Thanks for all of the emails i received it was great to see and read about all of you. Keep the news about your lives coming, its all the reading material i have other than my scriptures and teaching manual. Keep an eye out for my next email, i only have to more that i will send from the mtc!

Love Elder Baines

Mission Update!

Another week, another letter! I cant believe that he has already been out for so long! Time is flying by and I absolutely love hearing from him. Before we know it, he will be in Puerto Rico!


Hola!

As i predicted in my last update, this week has been outstanding! I couldnt have asked for better and there is still more to come! Today we very well might be going to the museum! Just to go and learn more about the culture here in the Carribean. Our mission president's wife feels it very important that we learn more about the people we will be teaching very soon. And when i say very soon, i mean it. I have already been here for two weeks and only have roughly three more to go! I cant believe it i am really really excited but super nervous at the same time because i do not fell ready at all. Last saturday we went to the University and talked to students there. It was so cool! But extremely taxing. The people here speak ridiculously fast spanish and tend to not speak very clearly. ITs really hard to follow what they are saying. But it was such a cool experience to get out and actually teach people the Gospel. We witnessed a little bit of a tropical storm while we were there. It ripeped some banners off the builing and rained like CRAZY. Also any umbrella didnt stand a chance. It was funny though because it made finding people to talk to a lot easier for us. Everyone was huddled under the overhang in front of the main building. Teh people here are extremely nice and helpful and are very patient and even help us with our spanish as we are talking. My spanish just keeps getting better and better. I can teach the entire first lesson in Spanish now and have done so a few times already.
AS far as my companion, we are doing much much better this week. We had a companionship inventory on friday night. Basically you just talk about strengths, goals, obedience, and conflicts of the companionship and set goals to try to accomplish what you want in the companionship. It went very well and are teaching has improved ten fold. He still bugs me at times but my patience continues to increase (fortunately).
The Haitian missionaries leave on tuesday and on wednesday or thursday we group of Latino missionaries come which is going to help us even more since we can talk with them and practice speaking. I will miss the Haitians though they have been great to be around. This week one of the American Elders decided to show them a magic trick. Something that i dont think any of them have really witnessed before. It was the stuff the hanckerchief in the hand and make it dissapear one, Dad. It was hilarious because whenever he did it they would scream and laugh. Eventually they figured it out becuase he did it so many times, but it made me think about how we tend to take the little things for granted so often in our lives. This was a simple little magic trick, but the fun and joy they felt when witnessing it was extremely large. It made me think how great it is to really be doing what it is i am here for and that i get to witness the immense joy that people will feel as i share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Something that i have had my entire life and taken for granted many times. I think we should all take some time to contemplate and ponder just how much we have been blessed with in our lives. It truly will humble you when you realize all that you have been given and rarely ever acknowledge.
I am no longer sick, it was a quick thing which i am extremely grateful for because it was awful. I am doing extremely well and everything keeps getting better. I leave on November 11 to Puerto Rico for those that did not know. Mom and Josh, i know its late but Happy Birthday!! The weeks are a blur, i have already been here for more than half the time i was in Provo, i cant even fathom how fast it is going and i am not very happy about that because it will be over way to quickly. I hope you all are doing well and i will keep you in my prayers. Thanks for all the support that i have received!!!

Love
Elder Baines

First letter from Dominican Republic!

Hi everyone! We got Colton's first letter from the MTC in the Dominican Republic today. His P-day or preparation day (basically when he has time to write emails) is now on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Mail to and from the Dominican Republic is kind of slow so email for right now is probably best. Either send it to his email which is cgbaines@myldsmail.net or you can sign in to dear elder and write him through that ( I included instructions in a previous post, email me at victoriaharrisphotography@gmail.com if you need help!) Just make sure you check that your sending it to his email as well as in the mail, there will be a checkbox on there that asks if you want to send your letter to the missionary's email account. Anyways great to hear from him like always! He is doing great!


Hola!

Well somehow i wrote the entire email i was going to send and it deleted, so i am trying this again...

Well this week has been extremely hard. I was sick the past two days, wednesday and tuesday. Im better now but those were extremely exhausting days and i am just happy that today is preparation day. I got a new companion which i was pretty bummed about because elder Crawford and i are now really good friends and we taught very well together. My new companion i am not too fond of. He acts like he is the "coolest kid in school" and says some really dumb things that should just not be said. ON a mission or as a human being in general. He is really hard to teach with because he has no confidence in his speaking ability. I have been praying alot to say the least.. I am hopefull that tafter today everything will get moving again because i will be back in the swing of things.
It is amazing that i am finishing week 5 of the MTC and i have been out on my mission for a month!! I cant believe how fast it all goes. Matt you only have two more weeks!! I cant give you much more advice other than work on being patient. There are a lot of elders that are going to drive you crazy. Count on it.
AS far as writing me, go ahead and email me whenever and make it as long as you want. The MTC president lets us print them out in the morning and then write later in the day. Or you can use Dear Elder. Go onto my blog (elderbaines.blogspot.com) for instructions. (Victoria please put instructions on how to use it on my blog, thanks) When i get to Puerto Rico mail will be just like in the US so that will be a lot nicer.
It is good to hear from you and what has been going on. I hope that those that havent yet writtne me will do so i want to hear from you please!!
Stu and Matt Frank thats aweomse that you made it to state, congratulations and good luck!! Lance i hope that your face gets better. Dont worry the girls only stay bigger than you until 8th grade. Unfortunately i havent climbed a coconut tree yet, but i do remebemer how to make fish out of the leaves still! Rachel, it sounds like you are doing really well, the whole cadaver thing is just plain gross though. Keep working hard and dont let anything get you down! Give Lauren my best, i have been keeping her in my prayers. Victoria i will send pictures when i get to Puerto Rico, it is way to expensive here and i still have a lot to take. But all of you can send me pictures that would be great!! I especially want to see what dad has been working on :) Good luck in all your shows!! Give the Dogs some love for me.
The MTC here is tiny its all on one floor of an apartment buliding kind of thing . The other floors are used for people traveling to go to the temple, which is like 50 feet away. The temple here is gorgeous i went today and it is my favorite one, it is absolutely amazing. The food is really really good. We dont get much at dinner and at breakfast but lunch is ridiculous how much we get. It is always rice and beans with some kind of meat, usually chicken, and we get fresh fruit, pineapple and papaya. IT rocks i love it. It has rained a couple times and i can legitamately say that you have not seen rain untill you have been somewhere down here. Its nuts. I gotta go but i hope you all have a great week i know i will! Keep in touch i really enjoy reading from all of you and i apologize i cant write more personally to each of you at this point. I also apologize for how short this one is, like i said before i tried sending a REALLY long one before and it deleted it so i had to write this one quick, sorry. When i get to Puerto Rico in a few weeks, write me and i will be sure to send you a handwritten letter back! Ill give you my address dont worry..

Adios!

Love Elder Baines

Week Three! I love getting letters!

Letter from Colton! He sounds like he is doing so well! I am so proud of him and all that he is doing and I am very excited for him to head out to the next part of his mission.


Hola!

First off i would like to say, WOW i cannot believe that in like 14 hours i will be off to the Dominican Republic!!! The next email or news you get from me will be from there! Which brings me to an important aspect of this email... My new mailing address! As i understand it there are actually two addresses..

To send letters send them to...

Elder Colton Gogarty Baines
Dominican Republic MTC
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

Apparently letters have to be sent to Salt Lake and then forwarded onto me down in the DR. I know its goig to take FOREVER to get letters but that shouldnt discourage any of you for writing me.

The other address is for packages or anything other than just plain letters...

Elder Colton Gogarty Baines
Dominican Republic MTC
Av, Bolivar #825
Los Robles
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Dont worry about sending packages though, i have already said in a few previous letters that as much as i do enjoy the packages, it takes a really long time to eat everything and i have to share a ton because i cant eat it all. All i do is sit around and study and eat all day, food is not really an issue. If that changes i wil let you all know, so really just send me lots of letters.

Mom i am sending a package home with some things that i dont want to carry on to the next stage. It has all of my letters that i have received thus far in it. Its not that i dont love all the letters that you have all sent me, but i have gotten quite a few and they are taking up a lot of space. It will be a pain to carry them everywhere so if you would please just file them or whatever that would be great. I will probably do this a couple times depending on how much love everyone feels they need to send me. Thanks for the cookies and fifth avenue bars they were awesome!! I still have a whole box of cookies though... Like i said, food is not an issue in the MTC.

Which reminds me that the Gogarty family sent me some as well!! Thanks Kelly, Mike, Kaitlyn, Kiara, Meagan and Deven for the treats and the letters!! I really enjoyed reading about what is transpiring in the current chapter of all of your lives! Deven i took your advice about companionships to heart. It really helped haha

Victoria and Jordan i am glad you feel so loved that you hear from me so often. You can post anything i write to you on the blog, i really dont mind. If anyone is interested enough to actually go to my blog and find out what i am doing, then they are going to find out WHAT IT IS I AM DOING. There is no secret in the experiences that i will have and i hope everyone can read and feel of the joy and love i experience as i fulfill my service to the Lord and bring others unto Him. You can be my fellow missionary in spreading the gospel by sharing my news and experience. Then you dont have to feel like you are waiting forever to go on a mission with Jordan :) By the Way, Jordan i wouldnt mind seein a little of your writing in my letters from you guys either! OH and crazy story!! I cant share the whole thing but ling story short, i met a sister here who is from LITTLETON and was best friends with KAli!!!!! Her name was Camille Ocurin (O'kurin?) I believe...

Mrs. Frank i hope you received the thing i sent back to you, thanks for making it so easy to get done and i apologize for not getting it done before i left, i was having trouble getting anything done before i left.

Matt, there is no question that the advesary is trying his hardest to discourage you. You are in a prime position, alone, nervous, and unaware of what lies ahead. I experienced the exact same feelings before i left and i cant tell you how many times i questioned whether or not i should really be leaving on a mission. I promise that once you get set aprat, all that will falt out disappear and you will feel a peace like you never thought possible. being a servant of the Lord is one of the most spectacular things to experience. Keep in mind that once you are in the MTC, it doesnt mean that you are no longer subject to temptation. You will still feel feelings of nervousness and inadequacy at times, but when this happens just follow in the ways of the Lord and say "get thee behind me Satan. I know who you are and you know who i am" You are a servant of the Lord, and he will give you the strentgh necessary to accomplish any task that is set before you, if you put your whole trust and faith in Him. As far as what you should bring to the MTC.. Sweat pants to sleep in, the rooms are freezing and the blankets are awful haha Also when you get here go to the bookstore and buy the highlighters that kind of look like candy canes with verticle stripes. They are on the top left in the plastic bins where all the pens are. They ROCK!!! haha also dont bring temple clothes, you get them for free as a missionary.

Brother and Sister Hodson, thank you so much for your note and the extra "mission funds" i truly appreciate it and it is already going to use for supplies i have needed and such. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

I am out of time and i wish i could go on. Quickly i talked to a guy at the RC last week for 40 mins!! I got him to commit to go to church and watch conference this week.

Lov eelder baines

Photography Project.....

So I have this project in one of my classes that we are working on. It is a photo montage and had to include at least four images in it and have a "Theme" or reason why we were putting the images into it that we were. I was having a really hard time trying to figure out what I was going to do for it, and then I felt like I have been thinking a lot about Colton and what he is doing so I decided to do something related to him. Here is what I came up with, there will most likely be some adjustments done after my first critique, let me know what you think! We look forward to his next letter, he sounds like he's doing great and leaves on Thursday for the Dominican Republic.

New Letter from Colton!!!!

Here is a new email that we got from Colton today! He sounds like hes doing very well! If anyone is writing him letters there is a way for you to do it for free while hes in the MTC (both in Provo and the Dominican Republic). Go to www.dearelder.com and make a new account and then you write your letter on there and then they go and print it out and send it to him. While he is in the MTC its free and once he gets to the mission in Puerto Rico it is like $0.42 or something. Just a thought for those of you (students especially) that don't have stamps laying around all of the time.


Hey Everyone!

Thanks for the letters that i have received thus far it is great to hear what is going on back home. First off i will apolagize for the terrible punctuation in my last email and in all the emails to come. 30 mins is not enough time and i want to make sure i get everything down that i want to...

To start i would like to say that i cannot believe how fast my mission is going! I am already midway through my third week in the mtc and a week from today i will be leaving to go to the Dominican Republic to complete my MTC training!!! I cant wait! Last friday was the first time me and my companion taught the first lesson in the TRC (Training Resource Center) and it was to a person acting like an investigator. It went incredibly well!! My companion and i have great unity in our teaching and are always on the same page when we are going through all the principles. The first part was difficult, we had to "meet people in the park" and start teaching them. This part was all in spanish and we had to get to knoe them a little bit and then talk to them about our message and that we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and then set an appointment with them to teach them the lesson. We did this three times for about 5 minutes each. The last person we "met" was the one we taught. We had 30 minutes to teach the lesson. At first i thought that it would be really hard to fill that much time with how general the first lesson is, but once we were closing in on the final aspects of it we were pressed to finish within that time. The most amazing part was teaching about the first vision. We have both memorized the account and even though it was a "fake investigator" when i recited that account i could feel the spirit so strongly it was ridiculous. I cant imagine what it is goig to be like when i teach that lesson to a real investigator. This week we teach the frist lesson again in the TRC but it is a different scenario and we have to adapt the lesson to what the investigator is needing.
The language is coming along incredibly well. I have kind of hit a lull this week but i still cant believe how well i have learned to speak it. With how well i can speak it, i am still worried about how the MTC in the Dominican Republic is going to go. Apparently they do not speak much english at all and if they can it is very poor. Although i am worried, i consider it a great blessing to have the opporunity to be immersed in that kind of an environment, i feel that i will be able to learn much better when i am not constantly switching back and forth between english and spanish. Also i hear that in that MTC we are going to get to go to a near by university and market place and actually teach people for real!!!
Grandpa thank you for the extra inserts for my shoes, they have been helping a TON. I also really enjoyed hearing about Deven's baptism and how mature of spirit he is. It seems like he has a sound understanding of he gospel and it will be great to watch him learn more and grow.
Matt thank you for the heroes update, unfortunately and amazingly im not very excited about it lol right now my mind doesnt function very well when trying to think about anything but the gospel. Also i just sent you a letter i dont know is you have it yet, but one thing i forgot to put on there is just try to prepare yourself mentally as good as you possibly can. All i do is study for twelve hours a day and eat and i have never been so exhausted in my entire life. Even in all the tournaments we have played or skiing or anything. This is the hardest thing you will EVER experience. But it is also the most amazing, i have never been so happy and excited to be doing something until i arrived here. Lose yourself in the work and you can be nothing but happy.
I am not sure what is going to happen as far as my mailing address for when i leave Provo next week, but i assume i will find out before i leave and i will drop an email letting all of you know. Again please write and mail me letters, or use dearelder.com I only get to check my email once a week and it takes too much time to read through any of them. I would love to hear from you all and i will keep everyone updated the best i can.

Love
Elder Baines

p.s. any sort of package is appreciated :)