The Temple is Great! October 27

Hello family!

I has been another great week! Full of all sorts of adventures! 

I think for sure the highlight of the week (as you can probably can tell in the subject line) was the temple! We had the opportunity to go with the stake on Saturday. It was spectacular to be in the temple with the members of the stake. There is some great sacrifice from the members here that no one from Utah could comprehend unless they have lived somewhere else. It was a nice 2 hour drive to the temple on Saturday night. It was an amazing experience though. I was able to see some friends from other wards I have served and been around in. My favorite part was I was able to do work for my own ancestor! I love the temple! 

Other then that it was a pretty normal week! We had some great lessons we had some more lessons cancel. That is the most frustrating part about being a missionary. The thought that you have a solid appointment set and then they cancel on you. But it is all good! The Lord has and will continue to bless us with miracles. 

The one thing that has been heavily on my mind is the right of revelation in the stewardship you have. The more I study and ponder I realize that exaltation is not possible without personal revelation. Revelation is so important to go through this life. But the thing that has astounded me is the concept of revelation as a missionary and revelation as a branch president. I can think of many times before, during, and after lessons where I have been able to be like Ammon and utilized the Spirit to understand those I am teaching. The one that has been more wonderful and enlightening for me is the revelation I have received and receiving for those under my stewardship. I think many times people think that we will always or that we should receive answers either right after our prayers or during our prayers. What I have found is that the answer comes in many ways. But the way that we see in the scriptures and from my experience is it comes when we ponder. Just this week I have been praying and pondering about how to help a certain member I have been meeting with for sometime. They have been struggling with anything and everything Well while driving one random afternoon this week. I was pondering on what the member need. Then it hit me as if I was having a conversation face to face with someone. The thought came as clear as day. She needs her patriarchal blessing. I was not quite sure if the member had one or if they even knew what it was. So I called the member and they told they did not have one nor knew much about them. We met yesterday to prepare them to receive their patriarchal blessing. It was amazing to me how the answer did not come in the prayer but during the pondering. 

Well I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Baird 

Family History... Do It! October 20

Hey family,

It has been a great week! It is has been full of gospel insight to me personally. It has all come from reading 10 pages of the Book of Mormon every day! It has been the greatest blessing in my life! I have now read the Book of Mormon more than I can count but each time I read a new insight is found. Reading the scriptures daily is so important!

We have had some great interesting lessons this past week. One with a man that walked into church last Sunday. It a weird scenario that I quite don't understand but the good new is we are going down there tonight!

The thing that has been on my mind more than anything is family history. I finally understand why my grandparents do it so much. It is a necessary doctrine of salvation. Family history is the way we personally fulfill prophecy and become saviors on mount Zion.  In Malachi 4: 5-6 we read  

"¶Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

The similar thing is said in Doctrine and Covenants 2. Moroni tells Joseph Smith,

 "1 Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 2 And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. 3 If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming."

We see in verse 1 he mentions the priesthood. We know that before receiving the higher priesthood and all the keys associated with that (the Priesthood that Elijah had) one must first have the lesser priesthood or the Aaronic Priesthood. The Aaronic priesthood was restored on May 15, 1829 by John the Baptist to Joseph Smith. It is found in D&C 13. An important part in the prayer is this, "until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness." What is that offering?

Well we know that Elijah did come. (Sad for the Jews that keep an empty chair for him at the Passover.) We find the fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi in D&C 110:13-16. It says, "13 After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said: 14 Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—15 To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—16 Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors." I know that Elijah did come and restore the keys of the work for our dead to Joseph Smith.

Now back to the offering in D&C 13. The Lord reveals to Joseph Smith what the offering is in D&C 128:24, "he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation."

Therefore the offering that will be given is a book of the temple work that has been done. If that book is not finished or at least close to the words of Malachi and Moroni will ring in our ears, "lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." or " If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming". If we do not do the temple work for our ancestors then we will be prepared for the Messiah's second coming as much as the people were not prepared for his first coming. Do you want to take part in the offering that will be given to the Lord? Those on the other side of the veil need us! In the words of the Apostle Paul, "that they without us should not be made perfect." Might I add that us without them will not be exalted. The Lord is hastening his work more than ever! We as members of the Church have free access to the tope websites and records for ancestry. Have you even taken the time to sign up? Part of family history work is taking those names to the temple. It is really not that hard to find a name. Last month President Birch challenged us to take a family name to the temple. I thought that would be impossible. My grandmas are family history champs! If they have not done the work then they cannot exist. Well luckily grandma Roberts missed one on her side. Between the meetings I grabbed a members tablet, logged into Family search and within 15 minutes found a name that I will be taking to the temple on Saturday. It is my great-great-great grandmothers brother Henry J. Vivian. We need to do family history. I invite you to take a family name to the temple before the end of the year. Even if you think it has all been done it probably has not. You can be a saviours on mount Zion for those who have gone before. You can bring the blessings of the Atonement into the life of another who has passed on. How great will be your joy!

Love,

President Baird

Elder Decker is gone! Sad day!

Hello Family,

The subject line tells the major event of the week. On Thursday we got a call from President Daines letting us know that Elder Decker was needed in an area down in Columbus. Some missionaries were struggling with getting them and the ward on the same picture of missionary work. But luckily I knew it was what needed to happen. Last Tuesday during interviews right before we were done I felt impressed to tell President that if he ever felt inspired that Elder Decker should leave that he should do it and I will take care of the stake calling end of it. Well he took it like I definitely will if I do so but I probably wont since he will only have around 9 weeks at transfers. Well problems occurred and we were able to get Elder Decker down to help some other missionaries. I know that is where the Lord would have him be. 

A highlight form the week was I got to go to Mission Leadership Council!! I love MLC! I was invite to sing a special musical number with Elder Pike. I also was invited so I could participate in some of the councils and discussions we had. I realized how much I missed being a part of the mission. Most the time out here in the middle of no where we are not a huge part of the mission. We only see other missionaries at zone conference and zone training meetings. We just see the other Coshocton Elders since we are a district, smallest district in the mission. 

We had a sweet lesson on Wednesday! We were able to see our investigator Sonja. And her friend Sara was there! It was an amazing lesson! We taught them the restoration. When we got to the part of the Book of Mormon we gave one to Sara. You would have thought we handed her a million dollars! She was so excited! It was so great to see someone care for something I treasure. 

The Branch is still doing good! We started planning for the Christmas party which I am super excited for! 

That is basically my week in a nutshell of what I can remember! I don't remember things as well as I use to. But I think that is because I have never been doing so much all in a row. But I am loving it every day more and more. Of course there are days when I want to go home and see my mom, enjoy her cooking and be with friends I have not seen in almost 2 years or more. But the joy it is to be a disciple of Christ is far better then the things I miss. (How much I miss my mom and her cooking almost is at the joy I have as a missionary.) But the best part is this joy is not just for missionaries. It is for everyone that participates in the work of salvation! 

Love,

Elder Baird 

The Importance of a Prophet

Hello Family! 

What a wonderful week! It was filled with the Spirit and great things to come. Here are some highlights and a gospel discourse for you. 

On Tuesday we had specialized training and boy was it fun! We got to watch the movie Meet the Mormons before it came out. I cried most the movie. I know I am such a girl when it comes to church movies! But I am a sucker for good spiritual movies. It is incredible and I invite everyone to watch it if they have the chance! 

Friday we had a well.... interesting day. So we went out to a small town called Nellie. We had a return appointment for the lady that asked for the Book of Mormon last week.  We got there and she was sick! She was so sad that she could not talk with us cause she did not want to get us sick! But we invited her to conference she said she would love to come! She is very interested. Well since she cancelled and another one of out lessons in the middle of no where cancelled we decided to drink our sorrows away with amish, fresh pressed, non-pastureized apple cider! It is the best for feeling happy again! 

Well Conference was amazing! The missionary miracle for conference was again Sonja (the media referral that was sick on Friday). We called and texted her on Saturday to see if she was still planning coming to conference on Sunday. Well we did not hear back from her. Well in the middle of the 1st session I felt impressed to texted her again and invite her to the second session. She text back and said she was till sick and she was so sad she could not watch it. Then she asked if it was on tape. Well I left the conference and called her and got her set up to watch it online! She started to watch the sunday morning session live. Then at about 3:30 I sent her a text inviting her to watch the next session. Her reply was thank you I am watching the first session right now. We were so happy! 

Again conference was amazing! I hoped everyone found something they can do a little bit better. I sure did find a lot! Many times as members we try to seek out and label a theme or themes for each conference. Well the theme I got from this conference was prophets! Prophets have been the way God has spoken to his people in all dispensations. Prophets all began with Adam as the first prophet. Then the role of a prophet continued for the ages with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others throughout the Bible. We can easily see that "surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). We also see within the Bible times of Apostasy or when revealed truths are taken away from people because they reject the Lord and his servants the prophets. When this happens the Lord calls another prophet to restore those revealed truths that were lost. Well after Christ, the greatest prophet, was crucified, the apostles went about preaching the gospel. Within the Bible we see some of their travels and the doctrines they taught. All the doctrines they taught were doctrines of Christ's one true chruch that was on the Earth at that time. Sadly the apostles too were killed and the truths began to be lost and ignored (for my deeper understanding of the apostasy read the past email on it). But most people do not realize that this is the pattern that has happened in the world. A prophet, then the people reject him and the word of God, then there is an apostasy, then there is a restoration. Well the Apostasy that happened after Christ's ministry was the great apostasy, so a great apostasy need a great restoration. This is where the Prophet Joseph Smith comes into play as he restores the lost truths. Some of these truths are: setting apart for callings (Acts 6:6), gift of the Holy Ghost given by laying on of hands (Acts 8:17-18), baptism by immersion  (Acts 8: 37-39), revelation to church leaders (Acts 10:9-19), counsel of apostles to decide doctrinal matters (Acts 15:6), spiritual divine heritage as offspring of God (Acts 17:28-29), symbolism of baptism (Romans 6:3-4), and many more! There was a need for a restoration! There was need for a prophet! Now today we have a prophet. What does that mean to us? It means that God speaks today! Not that God spake but that He speaks and will continue to speak to us. We learn in Ephesians that Christ church is, "built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" Paul tells us that Christ church has prophets and apostles! Oh how we need them! This life is hard and the world is in so much turmoil that having a prophet on the earth is not just a luxury it is a necessity to get through this life. I know that the Lord has called prophets in the past and called a prophet restore the holy priesthood office of apostleship to this earth. That today there is a man called of God to speak on his behalf. Why would He not do this? He loves us so he gave us prophets. Listen and follow their council and it will be for your benefit in the eternities. 

Love,

Elder Baird