Monday, January 27, 2014

Just Another Week of Being a Missionary – January 27


Hello family!

Linda's baptism that was planned did not happen this Saturday. She backed out on Tuesday night. We meet with her on Wednesday night though so I am really excited for that!

Other than that it has been a great week! The weather has been nice to me but the worse to Elder Hayes. It has been filled with snow and cold. It was so snow filled and cold that every ward besides ours in the stake had church cancelled or just had sacrament meeting. But suprisingly we had 4 at church so that was a wonderful miracle.

Another amazing thing is we had a chapel tour with my presbeterian pastor. Pastor Deb is the bomb! She calls me her boy and says she has adopted me. We had an awesome chapel tour with her and a member named Sister Bowman. The Spirit was so strong there. She accepted reading the Book of Mormon which we are very excited for!

The work is definitley progressing. I was telling the grandmas in a letter I wrote to both of them this morning, the amazing increase in the work. In my zone we have 31 missionaries (the biggest within the mission). Half of the 31 are sister missionaries. Also half of the missionaries have not been out longer then 2 months. It is amazing to me the hastening of His work. Lately I have been contemplating Jacob 5. The thought that keeps coming to mind is this is the last call of the servants of the Lord of the vineyard!

So I need y'all's help. This past week my good friend out here, Elder Campbell (He has been the missionary I have been around the longest since I have moved so much), got news that his mother has 2 tumors in her brain. They were able to operate and take out half of it but they will have to chemo the rest. So pleast make sure to but Elder Campbell's mom and his family in your prayers!

Well I love you all! Hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,
Elder Baird

Another Crazy Week – January 21


Hello family! 

Sorry you did not get an email from me yesterday! The library was closed because of MLK day! Therefore we are emailing today! So this past week has been super busy. But what week do I have in the mission that is not busy. 

So Tuesday we had leadership council! I love leadership council! We all got together and discussed the goals we want for the up and coming year. Last leadership council we made a Title of Liberty for our mission. On Tuesday we discussed it and made some changes. We set the goal of 600 baptisms for the year 2014! 

Wednesday we had zone meeting! I love zone meeting so much! I love being able to teach people (missionaries, members, investigators) the doctrines and principles of the gospel! Teaching has become one of my favorite thing to do! 

Thursday we did surprise exchanges on a area in our zone. We went down there and told one to pack up he is going up to Delaware for the day and then told the other one that I was staying with him. It is quite funny to see their faces! But it was a good exchange. 

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were just normal busy days full of teaching, testifying, and talking. But yesterday was pretty awesome! So there is an investigator here in Delaware that has been coming to church for a few years and teaches primary. Her husband is a member and all his family is in the ward. I have only been able to meet with them like 3 times because of their crazy schedules. Well set up and appointment for last night about a week ago. The impression that I would always get when we would talk about her was that president needs to come to the lesson and meet with her. After we set up the lesson I called Sister Nielsen and invited them to the lesson. She said I got a better idea how about all of you come over for dinner and a lesson. So that is what we did. We had an amazing dinner. Then President talked to her about 2 Nephi 31 and she accepted baptism for this Saturday! So we get to plan for a baptism this Saturday! 

Well that is the week in a nut shell! Hope all is well with you! Love you all!

Love,
Elder Baird 

Monday, January 13, 2014

Don’t Give Up on Anyone: January 12


Hello Family,

Not much has changed from Wednesday but just enough has to write you an email. So Thursday I got a new companion named Elder Mallory. He is from Washington. So Thursday we went to a member’s home with her boyfriend that has been coming to church recently. He made a wonderful seafood dinner! Well afterwards we just started talking about how powerful prayer is. And he told us how pray had blessed his life and then told us he wants us to meet with us. Which was really cool to hear! He even told us that he did not want to have dinner with us because he did not know what we were going to do. During dinner he said that it was Satan trying to stop him. It is amazing when people we teach realize the tools that the adversary is using to stop them from progressing in the gospel. So we are teaching him this week!

Another cool thing that happened is lately we have been visiting a less active named Mike Thomas. He has been less active physically but not in Spirit. He has had a few bad encounters with missionaries and with ward members. But he is an amazing guy! You would not believe me if I told you some of his stories. Just a few things he has told us has been about meeting queens, kings, presidents, and speaking at the MTC and many other crazy things (he only has 9 fingers) He has read the Book of Mormon over 30 times for over 100 different topics. Well yesterday he finally came to church! Then last night we had dinner with him and he said ,"Elder Baird and Elder Hayes, I need to thank you. You have changed me life and have given me the motivation I needed" I was honestly taken back cause all we did was show him love and helped him get back to church. 

Because of him and Chelsea I have been thinking a lot about going to the rescue and not giving up on anyone. One of my favorite quotes by President Monson is, "Amid the storms of life, danger lurks. Men and women, boys and girls, find themselves stranded, facing destruction. Who will guide the life boats, leaving behind the comforts of home and family, and go to the rescue? Our task is not insurmountable. We are on the Lord's errand; we are entitled to his help." We have to find the one that is lost but not give up! 

Also Mike got a wolf puppy and I am getting on after the mission! He is the coolest dog ever! 

Hope you all had a great week! 

Love,
Elder Baird

- 40 Degrees But I Didn’t Get Frostbite: January 8


Well hello family!

So I forgot to tell you that transfers are this week therefore we had p-day today! So I am staying in Delaware! I am so excited! If I don't get emergency transferred for any reason I will be in Delaware for 6 months by the end of the transfer! But the exciting thing is elder Hayes and I are staying together but we are picking up a new companion! So still I have not missed a transfer meeting, and I will have had a new companion every transfer. This will make companion number 11. 

Well this week was awesome! It was very, very cold the past Monday and Tuesday! Let us just say with the wind chill it was about -20 to -40 degrees during the day! It was awesome! President asked us to go out and find people that day. Now first I thought President is crazy! Someone is going to die, or at least get frost bite. But what I have learned on your mission is when you are asked to jump you ask how high. President told us that there would be many people home (that is because schools were out and many business were closed). So we went out to hit the doors and what do you know it was the most successful two days we have had for finding and just missionary work in general for a LONG time! We found a new investigator each day! It was so much fun tracting at -30 degrees! What I decided with that is I definitely know the church is true! If the church was not true there is no way I would be knocking on doors in -35 degrees! The sad thing was many missionaries complained and some did not do what president ask. It is very sad actually. Many of them thought it was okay to just go from member to member doing basically nothing concerning moving the work forward. Many others had frankly pathetic and ridiculous excuse for not following what we had been asked to do. And interestingly enough the one that did not go out had very unsuccessful boring days. 

Now here is an update on Chelsea! So as most of you know we were blessed with Chelsea's baptism it was an absolute miracle! Well she is doing absolutely amazing! She is more happy then she has ever been! Cody asked us, "What is wrong with my sister? She is actually happy!" It is amazing the physical, spiritual and emotional change the gospel brings into our life. The gospel truly does change lives! 

Lately I have been thinking a lot about goals. For new years I have set some goals. All of them which I have 100% faithful in and then yesterday I failed miserably but today I am back to 100%. I am done with soda (yes that means no more dr. pepper), I am reading 10 pages of the Book of Mormon every day (I read 5 in the morning and 5 at night before I go to bed. The goal is to read  the Book of Mormon 7 times this year), and lastly is to write in my journal everyday! 

Sorry there is not much concerning investigators. Many of our investigators are either baptized or just not progressing. So right now we are working on increasing our teaching pool. 

Well I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the global warming that is taken place across the country!

Love,
Elder Baird