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  

Elder Baird's Arrives in Ohio

Hey Family!

How is everyone? How is Bailey liking BYU I? Are the kids done with school? Life is good here in Ohio. I am in an area south of Columbus called the Canal Winchester area. It is lots of fun for sure! Did the Windsors live in Ohio?? I swore I saw someone that looked like Sister Windsors on Saturday. This weekend we had Stake Conference. So the adult session was about temples and then the Sunday session was a broadcast from Salt Lake City. We got to hear from Elder Gay, Sister Something (Don't remember her name), Elder Hales, and President Utchdorf. 

Well clearly I got to Ohio safe and sound. There was 24 missionaries coming in to the mission (That is visa waiters and non visa waiters). Well we met our Mission President, President Nilsen. He is a pretty cool guy. Pookie this is just for you! Guess what he does for a job? He is the president of Cafe Rio! The very first time I heard that I thought of you :). Well we got to the mission home and unloaded our stuff then everyone helped cook dinner. I was pretty good! Then we had some instruction from president. Then president went to begin interviews and we had more instruction from Sister Nilsen and the assistants. After more instruction from them we had dessert and president was still interviewing. Well I was the last one to be interviewed and I got interviewed at around midnight so that was fun. Well we got up at 630am got ready loaded everything and everyone up in cars and went to the church to meet our trainers. We got there had some more training! Then finally we got our trainers! My trainers name is Elder Francom. He is pretty legit! He is from Honeyville Utah (North of Brigham City). He comes from a family of 11. He was at BYU I before the mission. So I met him and then the president talked to all the trainers and us greenies. Then we all went into a big transfer meeting where to our surprise we received another companion named Elder Miles. He is from American Fork and lived in Uncle Mike and Aunt Sarah's ward!! He saw them on my calendar and said, "who is this? how do you know them?" So the transfer meeting was fun! Our mission has a sweet mission song that I love! Then we got a ride from a member in our ward Brother Winfield who  apparently we have been stalking. He has lived in Orem Utah, Wickenburg Arizona, and Owasso Oklahoma! Talk about crazy!! 

Well the from Thursday afternoon to now I have just been working. The mission field is 100% different from the MTC. We have done lots of tracking and finding! Curse my father for being a dentist cause it is the first thing I notice on people! And man let me tell you there are some horrible teeth here. We met a lot of potential investigators while tracking. We also have met many members, less actives, and part member families. Its fun to serve and learn and work! Sadly no investigators are willing to answer their phones, call us back, or answer their doors. We are really hoping to meet with some this week. We did talk to 2 guys that are new investigators name Jaron and Dennis. They were both really cool guys! Luckily no one is been mean to us they just don't answer or say they are not interested! 

Happy Birthday Cameron!! Hope you have a good birthday! It is crazy you are already 12!!! 

Questions:

Greenie Pride?

I did remember what Rob said about greenie pride. And I don't think I have it.

Mother's Day?

I will be able to call on mothers day but no skype. So look for a number area code of 614. I am not sure the time yet but I am an hour a head and have church from 1 to 4. So I will find a time though. It will most likely be that night sometime. 

Send stuff?

I can't think of anything for you to send except maybe some home baked treats and honey! Especially honey! I think I should be fine with one suite. 

My new address is 6284 Equine Crossing Canal Winchester, OH 43110. Send me mail and stuff!! 

I am doing awesome and I am loving it here in the great Ohio!! The gospel is true!

Love,

Elder Baird