Colton meets Johnny Depp

So.... I have been bad about keeping Colton's letters updated on here..... sorry I will be better. He actually didnt send us one for about two weeks but we got one yesterday! AND he met Johnny Depp, he actually gave him a little pass a long card about the church haha. Oh Colton we love and miss you!



Hello Everyone!

Wow i am sorry that it has been so long since i have sent anything out! Last wednesday we had the coolest thing ever!!! SUPER P-DAY!!!! It was so sick! It was a whole mission activity where all the missionaries in puerto rico and president and sister dewsnup went to caguas and had a BBQ and played sports all day!! It was so awesome! So that is why i couldnt email last week because i had to help set up and clean up so i was running the entire day lifting tables and chairs and playing sports. Needless to say i was tired the next day. But that was probably the biggest highlight of this past week. The highlight of this week is that today we went to old san juan for p-day. They happen to be filming a movie there called The Rum Diary and guess who the main actor is... Johnny Depp! I have a pcture of him and we gave him a pass a long card!!!! We have a picture of him with the card in hand its so cool!!!!! So that was awesome, pictures of that will be coming for sure!
As far as people we are working with, we have one lady who is really cool named Milagros. We havent had a sit down lesson with her yet, that is coming on saturday, but her sister is a member in the Dominican Republic and she has been to church before! SO that is really what is going down in me and elder dye's world here. I dont have a lot to say... Actually i do, but it just doesnt work as far as typing it all.. Dont worry i get to call home again on mothers day which is coming SUPER fast so you can all get the low down from my family when i talk their ears off! But i guess my spiritual thought for this email is kind of stolen from a previous quote that is quite famous. It goes a little something like this.. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I thought it needed a little more to it so i added to it to say "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but oh how much more is the beauty, when the beholder's eye is eternal." We are living in some very difficult times. Trials are coming from every front and as was the tone of conference, we have to be faithful and persevere. Although however difficult the world may become, what it contains and what lies within it doesn't have to become ugly. God has given us this life to have Joy. Everything that He has given us is so that we can "find joy in the journey" and the beauty that lies before our very eyes. We have the true and RESTORED church of Jesus Christ on the earth today, which only adds to our joy as it guides us through the journey. How many more families would not be broken apart, lives shattered and the cycle repeated, if within the family we understood the importance of the relationships we create with those we love? If we had an eternal perspective, how much harder would we work to resolve concerns before they become conflicts, knowing that it is NOT "til death do us part"? The thing i find amazing is that we have been given the things to help us gain this understanding all we have to do is be willing to receive them. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints truly is THE church of Jesus Christ. He guides us through a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. There is no denying that He truly is the prophet of God on the earth today. I hope that we can all BEGIN to understand these simple concepts so we can come to an understanding of the beauty of the things that we have been given, in this life and forever. Thank you for all of your support i love you all i got letters from the markham family, elder langston, and grandpa baines, packages from home, emails from mom, dad, victoria, and grandpa gogarty. Thanks you so much for your words of encouragement, support and prayers. I pray that the Lord will continue to bless all of you and that everything will continue to go well.

Love
Elder Baines

New pictures!

Here are some pictures Colton sent from the past month or so and his first baptism!

http://coltonbaines.shutterfly.com

He is doing great, should be a letter tomorrow! Enjoy!

New letter.. sorry this has not been updated in a few weeks!

Sorry for the lack of updates, I need to be better about it! I have just been so busy!


Hola!

Well i am moving onto my third transfer already! HOly cow! I am staying here in Rio Piedras which i am very excited about because we have three baptisms for this next month, two of which are for the 14 and 15th of february so they are coming up soon, i cant wait!! This past week was a really good one, we got a lot of work done and finished off the last transfer well. I forgot to say in last week;s email that i got a little taste of puerto rico last week. One of our investigators fed and us a certain "delicacy" from the island... PIG FOOT! It was interesting, not gonna lie, i almost threw up. The rest of the food was good, but that was pretty hard to choke down. Apparently some people here really like it. Others dont so i dont feel too bad for not enjoying it. But as far as that, we didnt have to much happen this week. Just chuggin along, bien rapido-- very fast! This transfer i swear felt like a week or so, i cant believe i am already starting another one, and becuase im not moving i think its going to go even faster since i am already all settled in and know the area and people and everything! Ahh!
Since i dont have a lot to talk about, here is my fun little thought of the week. THis was actually from a talk from someone at church and i dont know where it came from but i really like this saying. In spanish it is "dolor es inevitable, sufrimiento es opcional"-- and in english this means, "pain is inevitable, suffering is optional." There is no doubt that we are going to encounter some kind of pain daily for all of our time here on earth. Whether it be physical or spiritual, it is going to happen and we cant really do anything about it. What we do have a choice over is whether we suffer from the pains we experience. Simply put, we can either look at the scenario as an opportunity to grow or we can wallow in our sorrows. Wallowing is not very fun for ourselves and those around us. There is naturally an "opposition in all things" and were it not so we would never be able to taste of the sweet, if we havent ever experienced the bitter. HOw can we know what is good if we dont know what is bad? We cant because without the knowledge of both, we would be forever governed by one and never have an understanding of what we can acheive through the talents we have been given. But we cant "polish our talents" if we dont put them into use. You never know what talents you possess that may turn somebody's day, week or even life around. "When ye are in the service of your fellow being, ye are only in the service of your God." If you are serving our Father in Heaven by helping another of His children carry on through their struggles, why would He not carry us through our struggles? Turhn your frown upside down, give thanks for the things that teach us how to better ourselves, and then go help someone acheive their best.
Thanks for all of your support, you can all for sure write real letters if you want to at this address, ill be here for another 6 weeks at least..

Elder Baines
Extensión Villa Capri
Calle Turin #H-4
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00924

Hope to hear from you!

Elder Baines

Sorry for the Delay in Posting!

I apologize for my lack of posting recently, I was in Colorado for the holidays and school just started back up. Also we actually didn't hear from Colton last week because of the holiday, however we did get a letter this week.....AND.............. PICTURES!!!!! I have created a shutterfly account for everyone to view his pictures on, its much easier then posting them on here because there are so many. He is doing great! We talked to him for about 2 hours on the phone on Christmas day which was awesome! He has a funny accent thing going on because he has been speaking Spanish since he left, he informed us that sometimes he forgets how to say words in English. Sort of funny :) Goes to show the power which the lord has in guiding these missionaries... pretty impressive that he is fluent enough in a language after four months that he is forgetting how to speak English. Enjoy the letter, we will update when we have a new address but for now it sounds like everyone should stick to emails....Oh and below is his link to see pictures!

http://coltonbaines.shutterfly.com/


Happy NEw Year a Week late!

Well to start off i apologize for not writing last week. In my new area (Rio Piedras) we have to do email at the university and it was closed due to the holidays. I am actually lucky that i can email today because yesterday was yet another holiday here in Puerto Rico. THree Kings DAy. And for the next 8 days it is some other holiday and then another one right after that. They like to have holidays here. I believe they celebrate every holiday from the U.S., Brasil, Argentina, Venezuela and there own. (I may be wrong but thats what a member said.) So needless to say, they are always having holidays.
My new area is pretty awesome. It is a little less urban in areas compared to Guaynabo. It also has a lot of hills which is no fun considering i am on a bike now. Elder Markham i feel your pain. Also there are a lot of "Casa Rios" around my area. Generally speaking they are pretty much ghettos. Its a little bit sketchy because the fences and walls of the buildings have bullet holes all over and my companion has a fired bullet that he found on the ground near one. The weather has been quite cool here for the past couple weeks which has been great. The ward here is awesome, it has very strong members and it is easy to get members to help us which is a huge benefit. My spanish is improving imensely as my companion cannot speak or understand very well at all. He has only been out for two more transfers than me. It is wierd to think that i am already halfway through my third week of this transfer. The first week i was in my new area was very slow but it is flying by now and the next transfer is on February 4th. I honestly only feel like i have only been here for a few days. We have an investigator right now that has a baptismal date for the 25 of this month. Its a very wierd situation but basically she is waiting for divorce papers from the Dominican Republic so she can marry a member who she has a kid with. Kind of wierd but they are awesome. Other than that we are teaching a lot of lessons and talking to a lot of people but really dont have solid investigators right now.
Sorry i still dont have a house address to give you for letters so dont mail anything for a while until you hear from me because they will just keep going to my old area. I think we are moving soo so that is why i dont have an address. Our owner is a little crazy, for too many reasons than i can put and are worth writing about.
This email isnt the best i know i am racking my brain trying to think of something of spirtual value that i have read or studied in the past week or so but im not getting anything. It sounds like all of you are doing fantastic and im glad that you had a good holiday season. I got word that the colombian kid, Alvaro, that Elder Contreras and i were teaching went to church last week which is awesome!! I have been kinda really up and down these past couple weeks i think just adjusting to the new environment, but i have truly come to know the effect the mission is going to have on my life and how much the Savior guides us in every thing we do. I have concluded that no matter what the outcome of my mission is, whether i have one baptism or none, the "joy of saving but one soul" will come from saving my own. It is amaing the changes we will make in our lives when we truly have come to the knowledge and outlook of an eternal perspective. The changes we make might bring us outstanding grief and sorrow before we can experience the fullness of joy that truly comes from coming unto Christ. "Our disappointments are the straight and narrow path back to our Heavenly Father." I would rather pass through grief or shame in the short time we have here than have to bear the burden of grief or shame in the eternities to come, wouldn't you?
I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He lives and He as the power to carry us back to Him if we are willing to let him drive our lives. We all know that nobaody likes a backseat driver and i cant imagine He does either. He knows what is next in our lives and He will guide us through it. Nothing we experience here is too much to bear when we accept His outstretched hand.
Thank you for all of your love, prayers, and support. I pray that the Lord may continue to enrich all of our lives.

Love
Elder Baines

first week in field

Sorry for the delay in getting this letter up. I thought that I had posted it and must have forgot. Happy Holidays everyone!

Hola Todos (all)!
Okay this is going to be crazy i have so much to say and not enough time(as usual). I apologize for taking so long to write but i didnt get a p day last week when i arrived because of travel. I am in the mission office right now typing this and the first thing sister archuletta said when i walked through the door was "elder baines you need to write your mom because she called last night." Mom i am okay, just doing the Lord's work, it is a little time consuming. Puerto Rico is gorgeous! I love it here. It is hot and i have never sweat so much in my life but it is great. My companion and i are in Guaynabo and we have to walk everywhere. My feet and knees and just about everything has never been so tired and never hurt so much. But i love being here doing this work, so i dont really care. My first night here i was given a brand new bike by a missionary who was leaving which was way awesome. I live in a house with my companion and Elder Black and Elder Kelly who are the president's assistants.
Anyway i arrived in Puerto Rico last tuesday and went to the mission office with all the other Puerto Rico East Missionaries. We met the mission president and had interviews. He plays the guitar and is way awesome. Dad he wants to meet you, i told him you were an artist and thats what he said haha After we were all done with that we met our trainers. Mine is elder Contreras. He is from Colombia and does not really speak english, so my spanish is becoming very good very fast. I still cant understand the people here very well but i can talk very good and the understanding is coming along very well. We have 5 investigators right now. One of which we just set a baptismal date with yesterday!!! We have the date set for Nov. 30 which is awesome!!! Probably one of the coolest things that couldve ever happened, aside from baptising, happened on Sunday. WE got to take one of our investigators to a fire side at which Elder David A. Bednar of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke at. There were also 4 of the Quorum of the seventy there as well!! It was so cool, he didnt really give a talk. It was kind of just like a discussion with him because he just had us ask questions and he answered them. All the questions were great and he gave us amazing answers. I wish i could share the whole thing with all of you but here is my favorite thing that came up.
One guy had just recently returned from a mission and asked what he could do to avoid temptation because now that he is off his mission he feels like it is coming from every which way. Elder Bednar said this.."First i am gald that you recognize that it is possible for you to fall into temptation. The members of the church that scare me the most are those that say 'i will never deny my testimony.'' He then wnet on to talk about truly what temptation is, and this is my favorite part. He opened up to Matthew when Jesus is being tempted by Satan after 40 days of fasting. He read each of the three temptations. Then proceeded to teach.. "These three temptations are not actually different temptations. They are all the same temptation that is presented in three different FORMS. The temptation is, that Satan is trying to get Jesus to DENY WHO HE IS." He told us that the same is true in all of our lives. Any time we are faced with temptation, it is the same temptation just in a different form. Being that Satan is trying to get us to deny who we are. We are sons and daughters of God. If we understand who we are being children of God then we will not give into that temptation of DENYING who we are as children of our Heavenly Father. He showed us that the same temptation arose in Jesus' life at the end of His ministry as well/ When he was on the cross one of the people there said "IF thou art the son of God" come down off the cross. The same temptation but in a different from. In all the cases that Satan tempted Jesus he said "IF thou art the son of God". It is so important that we understand that we are sons and daughters of God and that He loves us and He wants to bless us and if we do not DENY who we are as His children by following His commandments and fulfilling His will, He will bless us greatly.
This truly was an amazing experience, i wish i could share more of what he said but i am running shy on time. I am so happy right now, to be doing the Lord's work and bringing people unto that same understanding of who they are as children of our Heavenly Father and what we need to do to return to Him. I will be sending pictures home soon (hopefully today) and it was great to hear from all of you!! I am only allowed to email family members so all of my friends, please write me and family i would actually prefer letters over email! My address is
Elder Colton BainesCalle Crisalida #61Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 00971
Mail here is the same as in the U.S. which totally rocks so please send stuff it would be much apprecated!!
Thanks you all for your support, you are all in my prayers!
LoveElder Baines

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