Elder Baird and His Companions :)

Best Week in the mission EVER! (6/24)

Hello wonderful family and Friends!!

So if you did not watch the churches broadcast GO WATCH IT NOW!!! It was absolutely amazing!! And it brought forth miracles for us! 

So this week was awesome as you can tell by the subject line. So we have this amazing investigator named Angela. Well Angela has 5 daughters and we taught her daughter last week when she came to the baptism. Well this Saturday there was another baptism and Angela was able to go to this one. I actually played a special musical number for this one. It was fun to see the Lord's help when composing a song for an investigator about to be baptized. Well she loved the baptism then she came to church. So in sacrament meeting  I was sitting by her and they announced the meeting going on Sunday night. She turned to me and asked what is that tonight cause I want to go. So I explained it to her and she went. Well we walked out after the meeting and she told us, "I loved that! I was praying the whole time about getting baptized. Well I can't imagine myself anywhere else. So I want to be baptized as soon as possible" WHAT?! I was so excited had to refrain myself from hugging her! But that is not all. So a little back track, Friday night she called us up and said I want you to give my daughter a blessing so of course we went over. Now we had only met one of Angela's daughters the rest were not to interested. But after the blessing we had an amazing lesson with all the daughters. We just addressed questions and concerns and Angela was helping us teach them! So fast forward back to last night have she told us that she wanted to be baptized asap. She then said, "And I want you all to teach my girls and I want them to go on missions just like all the other girls I saw tonight!" We could not believe it!! We feel so blessed and loved by our father in Heaven for the opportunity to have such an amazing investigator and an awesome miracle!  All this came by faith and prayer as we discussed last night. I too was praying the whole thing like Angela and my prayer was definitely answered!

I got a package from Grandma and Grandpa Roberts!!! It was awesome cause animal circus cookies were in there!!! Thanks grandma and grandpa!

Also this week we had Zone conference which was actually more like a mission conference cause it was all the Zones that will be in the new mission in a week! It was so awesome! President Nilsen is a boss!! I learned so much at Zone conference and got to see Elder Hogan which was awesome! So I am sending you a picture of the best Lemonade drinks ever! It is a mission thing. President ordered one for every missionary at Zone Conference! 

Visa news this week!! So I got a package that said they need me to get finger prints from the police department here and send them back to finalize my visa. So to me it sounds like they are at least looking at my visa. But the sad news is we just went to the place you get the fingerprints here in Xenia and there printing machine is broken and we hopefully be back up next week. So we are going to try Beaver Creek tomorrow. So I take this as good news right now. 

So something I have been thinking about lately before the broadcast last night was this thought I had on Tuesday morning. "Missionary work is one of the best ways to fulfill your baptismal covenants." And the talks from last night definitely let us know that last night. If you read Mosiah 18:8-10 and the Sacrament prayers you will see how all of those are fulfilled when you are lost in the work of the Lord. I don't think members of the church really understand how important they are in the work! We need your help in a desperate way! This meeting last night should be the driving power influence that last October's conference was for all missionaries that were effected. The work is now in the hands of the members truly. They will set the pace. Tracking well at least here in Ohio is dead. Honestly it is not successful. It has been found that 60% to 70% of member referrals will end up in a conversion. Tracking is not near that statistic! So I hope the members of the church catch the wave and realize the work is truly in their hands. 

Well I love all of you and pray for all of you! I am so excited to see what happens in the up and coming months and years in missionary work. The Lord is ever hastening his work in so many ways! But no longer can missionary work be thought of something that only missionaries that have been called do, but it is something EVERYONE in the church needs to do! If I have an investigator that is talking to people on the bus about the church, helping us teach her kids, and helping us reactivate a less active. Then why can't you. 

Love,

Elder Baird 

An Amazing Week of Miracles all through Prayer! (6/17)

Hello Family!! 

Lots of miracles this week. So to start off I got two amazing companions I am in a tripanionship again!! And one of my companions was a Elder I was hoping and praying would be my companion. His name is Elder Prettyman! He was my Zone Leader and now he is my district leader and companion. He is amazing!! He only has a transfer and a half left. I am learning a lot from him. My other companion is fresh from the MTC. His name is Elder Beutler. He is pretty awesome too. So here is a break down of the week from last time I emailed you:

Wednesday:

We went to a Zone Fun Day. We went to a member's ward in Piqua. This house was so cool it had a lake to go fishing, volleyball, tire swings, a bunch of grass for frisbee, football, and soccer, and wait for it..... they had a........ LLAMA!!! It was the coolest llama ever! Then after Zone Fun Day we went to the great city of Columbus for Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We had two investigators at the concert and they loved it. I loved it so much!!! They did a wonderful job!

Thursday:

Well this was transfer meeting. I did get to see my mission dad Elder Francom, but sadly he is going to a Cincinnati Zone meaning he will be in the Cincinnati mission come July 1st. So I got my new companions and we also got a new car!! Then we got to work as usual.

Friday:

We did weekly planning. Friday's are such long days and we have to do weekly planning which is great to do but it takes a long time!! A long time that we could be tracking!! So then we went back to work. That night and during weekly planning we decided we were going to change this area and zone. We wanted and desired to make the work sky rocket here in Xenia. So we prayed and planned for Saturday. We planned about a 3 hour chunck of time for just tracking.  We also set a goal of 3 new investigators. Since I have been out the most I have gotten in a week is 2. So we planned to get more investigators in one day then I had done in a week. Well we went out and right before we tracked a street we prayed for 2 investigators from this street. So we went tracking and found a husband and wife. We were so excited. We continued to try to find our 3rd investigator. Well that night the Sister missionaries in Beaver Creek had a baptism planned and we were planning on taking one of our investigators. So the time came we had to go meet our investigator and we still had not found that 3rd new investigator. So we went to the investigators house at 645 because the baptism was at 7. Well we talked to the investigators daughter and we found out that she had to leave and take one of her friends to the hospital. So we felt like we should go to the hospital. And then the daughter said that she had her mom and the phone and that she wanted to talk to us. Well come to find out our investigator took a less active member to the hospital and we decided to for sure go to the hospital. Well our investigator's daughter also wanted to go to the hospital to see her mom. We went to hospital and gave the less active member a blessing. Then our investigator was so sad that she missed and asked her daughter to go to see and tell her how the baptism is. So we took her daughter to the baptism. Well when we left the hospital it was probably 720 and the baptism started at 7 and we would not get to the church till 730. We knew the baptism was going to be over or almost done by the time we got there. So we planned on taking her anyway and giving her a chapel  tour and a lesson. When we got to the church we heard a prayer being given and then we knew it was over. But to much of our disbelief it was just starting!! The sisters forgot to fill the font so they had to wait an extra 30 minutes to fill!! We were so excited!! So our investigators daughter went to the baptism AND  we had a chapel tour AND gave the first lesson!! So we got our third investigator right when we thought we would not!!

Sunday:

So we decided to try for 4 new investigators yesterday. One reason was because we knew that we had a family referral from another pair of elders that set up a return appointment for us. So we thought that we could find 2 and the family would be at least 2 new investigators. So we went tracking for 2 ish hours. Before we started tracking we prayed and we felt to ask for 1 new investigator from the street we about to track on. Well right before we had to go to dinner the last house we knocked we met this awesome catholic guy. We taught him the first lesson and he said he felt the Spirit and told us to call him this week to set him up with another appointment. So we got 1 new investigator. Well we went to our referral appointment at 730 and we still only had one new investigator. We went to the appointment and taught this awesome guy named Hui. But he did not want his family to hear the message until he did. He is looking to believe and have faith in Christ. It was an amazing lesson and we got one more new investigators! Well yesterday we got 2 amazing new investigators,and I know what you are saying you did not get 4 you only got two. Well also throughout yesterday we got 5 member referrals! And we met a kid that wants our help to stop smoking. I believe that we got our 4 new investigators we just have not met them yet and they don't know that they are interested yet! 

Well it has been a great week!! I am so excited for this transfer!! I love you all!! Don't forget to read and PRAY! All these miracles came from the many prayers we gave. But make sure you a praying with realism and the spirit. We could have prayed for 4 investigators or 30 investigators from one street but we only prayed for one on the street we tracked on Sunday cause that what we felt was the will of God and it was! Have a great week! And congrats to Daniel and Chandler also to Kyle and Sarah! 

Love,

Elder Baird 

Elder Baird is not in Canal Winchester anymore but not in Brazil either

Hey Family,

So the subject line is the crazy news for the week. So I am no longer in Canal Winchester with Elder Francom and Elder Miles but I am also not Brazil!! So on Thursday we (Elder Francom, Elder Miles and I) were doing a 24 hour exchange with our zone leaders. Elder Miles and I were with Elder Loosli one of our zone leaders and we were eating at a members home. While we were there we got a call from Preside Nilsen. So he left a message cause we were in the middle of a lesson with the members. Well when we got out of the lesson I listened to the message and it said Elder Baird will you call me as soon as you can. My first thought was, "MY VISA IS HERE!!" But I did not let my hopes get to up there. So I called him back, and he said that he needed my help and I said I could help him. Then he proceeds to tell me that he needs me to go to Xenia (My new area east of Dayton Ohio) tomorrow morning. And I respond of course I will president. I need to go because one of the missionaries that was here went home because he was very homesick and did not have the desire to work. So we went home early from 24 hour exchanges so I could pack and we met the assistants at the church building Friday morning. So in a nut shell I was emergency transferred out of Canal Winchester and was sent to Xenia. Now I was really sad about this at first. I loved Elder Francom and Elder Miles!! Elder Francom was the best dad ever!! (Dad is mission talk for trainer) Elder Miles saw me when I was talking to president and he said my voice said happy but my face said sadness. He thought that I was being told that my visa had been denied. But I love Xenia! The members here are AMAZING!! Coming to Xenia has been an answer to prayers and fasting that I did not expect. I have been praying and fasting for a Brazilian Investigator with the main desire and purpose to not loose my Portuguese. Well the Lord took that desire to not learn Portuguese and answered my prayers. I have met 5 people in the ward that speak Portuguese and all of them are willing to help me! Xenia is not the greatest, pretty place. But I place called Beaver Creek in our area is!! You would love it here mom and dad! It is so beautiful. Dad I did see an Aspen dental in Ohio. Maybe you could move here.

Well the work here in Xenia is the same as Canal Winchester and the work in Canal Winchester and Xenia is the same all over the world. We are inviting people to come unto Christ. I have been able to meet one investigator. She is absolutely amazing!! She has great faith and a spectacular testimony. On Saturday she said she would be baptized which was so exciting. But there is a catch to this. She has to tell her father who is a preacher. She is almost positive he will tell here to get out of the house. But she knows it is true so she is making that sacrifice.

Oh my companions name is Elder Hogan. He is from Bountiful Utah. He is pretty awesome! We get along great!

My new address is 1790 Deer Creek Drive Suite #5 Xenia, Ohio 45385.

It is insane to hear and see pictures from the Tornadoes in Moore! It is awesome though that you guys got to go down and help! To answer some of your questions: Visa: Nothing! Pictures: I was going to send you some today cause the computers in can had a way to do it. But the computer here I am using does not so maybe next Monday or I might just send my memory card. Package: I want home baked goods, temple bag, and anything you think I would need.

By the way I am sending you all some stuff. We went to a cool hippy town today so I am sending gifts from a asian hippy shop in Ohio.

Well I love you all!! Hope you guys don't get hit by a tornado!!

Love, Elder Baird

Elder Baird's Latest Week in Great Ohio

Hello Family,

Como vai? Tudo Bem? Tudo bem! Sounds like all is well! Except for Moore Oklahoma which is sad. I heard about the tornado but I had no clue where it was so I texted Sister Nielsen to let me know where it was at. She let me know it was in OKC which put my mind at rest a little. I knew my family was safe but I was worried about all the other missionaries especially Elder Gleave and Izzy. But Kayla put that worry to rest. I found out about the Tornado on Sunday I think and the next day Brother Perez called me to make sure my family was alright. Brother Perez is one of the kindest men I have ever met. Well here is a break down of my week:

  Monday: It was pday so that was fun!

  Tuesday: We did some service! You better teach Cameron how to mow. We mow at least one lawn a week sometimes more. On Tuesday we mowed a potential investigators lawn in our church clothes. That was weird but fun! 

   Wednesday: We had a district meeting! We also did some more missionary work. We have been teaching this awesome lady named Mary. One thing that is awesome about being in a triple is that we can teach single ladies. 

   Thursday: We did a long split on Thursday. There is a kid in the ward that leaves for his mission in August. So we used him. Him and elder Miles went down to Circleville while elder Francom and I stayed up in Canal. We met an awesome potential investigator named Natasha. 

   Friday: Like usual we did some tracking and visiting less actives! We got to eat at the Chans which was awesome! The first thing they asked me was to make sure you guys were all okay in Oklahoma. I love the Chans. 

    Saturday and Sunday: Saturday we did some service for a Less active/ part member family. Since I have been here I have painted, mudded, sanded, and helpedwith other small construction jobs. After my mission I might be able to build a house. After service we tracked and visited members, and investigators. So here is the hard part of the week. Missionary work is awesome and I love bringing people closer to Christ. But there are also hard days where everything falls through. Well Saturday night we had 4 investigators planning on coming to church. All of them were so excited. We were so excited because we have not had an investigator to church yet! Well Sunday morning came and all within one hour of each other all 4 investigators said they were not coming. Needless to say it was kind of a hard Sunday morning. 

   Monday: Well the Lord always tries to take the sadness and make us happy and that is what he did Monday... even at the expense of others. So at around 4:30 Monday morning I heard this loud boom! I shot up and looked around the room to see what it was. I looked over where we have the make shift nightstand(Which looks like it is the head of a bed frame) It is pretty big and we have a lamp, our journals, and many other things. Well I looked where it is suppose to be and it is not there. Then I look down where Elder Francom is sleeping (He sleeps on the floor on a mattress) and he is sprawled on the bed with the night stand crushing him. My first thought is oh crap elder francom is dead. Well I lift the night stand off of him and ask him if he was alright. He was. Then he proceeds to shove everything that fell on him onto the floor and then we all went back to sleep. We did not even bother to turn the lights on. We were just so tired. It literally was one of the funniest things! I was explaining this to the other elders and was crying cause it was so funny!  Well Monday was Memorial Day so that is why you did not get an email from me cause the library was closed. But we had a ward pancake breakfast and I got to play ultimate frisbee in the rain which was so fun! 

That is my week in a nutshell. I miss and love you all!! I definitely will be praying for  Aunt Kenya. Tell dad to soften his heart and get the dog! I am going to send my memory card next Monday so you can have some pictures. Hope all is well with everyone, family and friends. Let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you while I am out here in the great Ohio!

Love,

Elder Baird

Elder Baird in Ohio

Oi Familia!

So the subject line Ohio...Rainy? Is how I have been feeling about Ohio lately! I am so glad the Lord sent me to Ohio because man will it prepare me for Brazil when I get down there! I think it has rained at least 3/4 of the days I have been here. I honestly was not expecting because I did not know anything about Ohio before coming. But I do love the rain so that is good! 

The work here is awesome! I think it is so beautiful here! Part of my area is farms, all the farmers are starting or already have planted corn for the seasons. It so cool to see!! It is also very green here which I love also! So here is some highlights from the week (Spiritual and not totally spiritual)

On Thursday we did splits with the High Priest Group leader, the Ward Mission Leader and the Ward Mission Leaders son. We were going to 3 different areas in out area and the on that I chose was Circleville/Ashville (Both are small town, farm land type place). And who I went with was the Ward Mission Leader Brother Codling. We visited a member named Renee that just shattered her foot. As a missionary I truly do feel at points that we are acting as Christ. We visit many of the sick and give blessings to some, just as Christ did. I love the opportunity of service as a missionary and as a priesthood holder. The next person we saw was an investigator named Jessica. Jessica is an amazing lady!  She also has health issues. How she explains them is that her spine is falling out her butt. She has arthritis and disease all at once within her spine. And this week she found out there is not cure or decent treatment. With this comes MUCH pain. It pains me to just see her walk! Yet she has so much faith!!! She does not blame God at all and looks to Him for help and guidance. Well we went and Brother Codling talked about people that went through difficult things but got past them with faith in Christ. The Spirit was definitely there. Jessica also has a hard time with the Word of Wisdom and that is what we have been working on with her. Well Brother Codling promised her by the priesthood that if she would 100% obey the Word of Wisdom her pain would be diminished. She was kinda grasping that promise.  After he said that the Spirit impressed me to be that second witness. So I promised her through the priesthood and as a servant of the Lord that exact promise. She then truly grasped the grandeur of that promise. I hope saw the love that both Brother Codling and I have for her and how much the Word of Wisdom will bless her life if she obeys it!

So we have some awesome members in our area. Especially concerning taking care of missionaries' physical needs. Are really the only physical need a missionary is concerned about is food! There are two particular amazing members that bless our lives weekly. First is the Chans. The Chans are from China and boy are they amazing. Brother Chan escaped communist China when he was a boy and swam 8 hours to get to Hong Kong. Well he met sister Chan in Hong Kong and then came here. The Chans feed us every Friday. And what they feed us is legit Chinese food! No joke it is the best Chinese food I have had! They used to own a restaurant but the retired. But what we have heard from ward members is people miss the restaurant! The Chans also cook a massive amount of food so when we leave we have to waddle our way out the door. There is always left overs. Then send us with all the left overs and more! Every time they give us fried rice as well. They are the most generous people I have met. The second member is Sister Lindquist. Sister Lindquist is a widow in our ward that lives alone. She is absolutely amazing! She herself is a returned missionary. Sister Lindquist loves to cook but as she told us she has no one to cook for anymore so she cooks for us. The only condition is we have to return her bins that the food comes in. And her food is so delicious! She is so kind! The interesting thing about both people is that when I have talked to them they have told me the reason why they do this. They want to make us missionaries feel at home. The Chans and Sister Lindquist both have said they want us to feel as close to home as possible. It touches my heart that these members care so much for me as a missionary.

Well I am doing good! I am loving the work and enjoying Ohio!! The gospel is so true! Don't focus on the things that don't make sense to yet. Just come to the knowledge that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet. Those are the most important parts. The Book of Mormon is our keystone and the Doctrine and Covenants (I consider this Joseph Smith since almost all the revelations came to him as a prophet) is the capstone. Don't to forget to have faith in Christ and charity. For we know that with charity we are nothing. What I recently learned is that we serve without charity. Have charity when you serve! Love everyone! Every single person on this Earth is someone Christ atoned for and he invites every single person to come unto him. Everyone has potential to be followers of Christ, but potential is only a good word if you fulfill it!

Love you all so much!! 

Love,

Elder Baird

Elder Baird's First Full Week in Ohio

Dear Family,

Well it is crazy that is has been already more than a week here in Ohio. It is lots of fun and I am really enjoying my area. The members here are pretty awesome! We get fed everyday at least for dinner and there have been times that we have also been fed lunch. I love it out here! 

So the work in my area is a little bit slow when it comes to previous investigators. Lots of the investigators won't call or text us back. Therefore we have done lots of tracking and finding which is fun. You learn to be immune to mean people. My favorite ridiculous tracking experience is we knocked at this lady's door. I was standing by the window. She looked out the window and read my name tag, then she looked at us and shook her head. We just laughed because she read my name tag which is in Portuguese! Yesterday we finally had a lesson because of tracking. Every time we have set up an appointment after tracking they never are they when we set up the appointment and never want to reschedule. So you can imagine how happy I was when the investigator let us in to teach. Her name is Darianna. We taught her the first lesson. When I was reciting the First Vision we all felt the Spirit very strong. We helped her identify what the Spirit was and she said that it made her want to cry. We reassured her that it was completely normal. It is weird to explain it though, but so cool at the same time. Another miracle of this week was a non member came to the potluck. Her name is Kathy and we ran into her while trying to visit some investigators. We invited her to church and then later that week we remember about the ward potluck that Friday. So we decided to give her a call and invite her to the ward potluck. Well Friday came and we knew she knew when and where is was at so all we could do was wait. We went about our schedule and nothing was working out. All appointments canceled or just did not feel like being there when they said they would be there. Only one planned appointment sort of worked out. So needless to say we were a little discouraged. But I was hoping and praying that she would come to the ward potluck. Well we waited and waited and she came! We were so excited that something worked out for us in the end. The ward potluck was really cool. They had a member named Brother Perez sing Spanish songs since he is from the Canary Islands. Another cool member we met this week is sister Maynard. We talked with her and her non member husband and we found out she has a cool talent. She makes all sorts of things out of gourds! It was really cool!! One thing that caught me off guard about being a missionary. Everyone stares at you!!! Everywhere we go people stare at us! Its pretty cool being the center of attention. 

We hope to meet with more investigators this week. Another thing that surprised me a little was how much as missionaries we also focus on the needs of ward members. We visit many less actives, part member families, and the sick. At first I was confused by this. I was wondering why am I wasting my time with people that already know and have the truth. Then it dawned on me that we as missionaries are their to invite all to come unto Christ. We just don't invite non members but we invite active members, less actives, and all people we come in contact with.

I have heard nothing on the visa. Oh well? Did you check online at the visa website?

Other stuff I needed after talking to you mom is my temple bag cause we get to go quarterly and I don't know how long I will be here. I think that is it for right now besides home baked goods. 

Well I am doing awesome! I am loving the mission life! I love all of you as well! The church is true, the book is blue, and you can pray to know it is true!

Love, 

Elder Baird