CRAZY WEEK!!!

Hello Family! 

It has been a crazy week! Everything is flying by so fast! 

Monday: I had to go to Cambridge to take care of somethings. I went with one of my favorite Elders in the mission, Elder Campbell. Then the funny things happened. We were out working away when I ask Elder Blanch to call an investigator. He looked at me and said I don't have the phone do you? Well I did not and Elder Johnson did not. So we tore the car apart looking for it. Then Elder Johnson said he saw it on the couch. So we went back to the apartment and tore up the apartment and it was not there. Well we went to the church and I called a member I felt like I need to call. Found out that there was small power outage with some of the branch members. And it was like 15 degrees meaning no heat. So I started to call from the church to make sure everyone was okay. Luckily the all were. So then we called our phone from the church. There was an answer. It was Elder Campbell. He accidentally took our phone! So then we had to met him half way and grab the phone. That took the rest of the night. 

Tuesday: It was pretty cold Tuesday. But we did some tracting! Then I had to meet with a few people. We ran up to my new executive secretary's house so we could talk about some things. He lives with his in-laws who are members so we ate there for dinner which was nice. 

Wednesday: We had zone conference! I love zone conference! The most exciting thing was announced! We get to do 3 hours of family history a week! I am so excited!!!  Then I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. We had ministering visits with the stake. I was able to see a sweet kid and encouraged him to go on a mission. I also got to meet with President Birch. I love him! He is an amazing stake president!

Thursday: I was with the zone leaders all day doing missionary work! The hardest part was also some immediate attention branch business happened as well. So that was a little difficult coordinating all that 45 miles away. But it was a good day! 

Friday: Well I have been sick recently. So I woke up Friday morning. I did my exercises and  got ready and did personal study. Then I passed out. When I mean passed out I was dead! The elders tried to wake me up multiple times and I was dead. They said they were making all sort of noise and I would not budge. I guess the Lord had to make me sleep to get better cause he knew I would not willingly do it. But the good news is when I woke up at noon I felt so much better. Have not felt real sick since then.

Saturday: We had freezing rain in the morning so that was fun! Then we did some finding. We then visited some people. We had the opportunity to go to an inactive/part-member family. She said that she is planning on coming back to church. She has not said that to anyone in years! So we are super excited about that! 

Sunday: Sundays are always very busy, especially with tithing settlement. I am fitting in tithing settlement along with all my set appointments with people. So the past 2 Sundays we have not left the church till 5 or 6. But it is amazing to see the continued sustaining power of the Spirit! 

I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving! I love this time of year of cold and love in the air. Just so you know the church has just put out a new Christmas video. It is called He is the Gift. It is very similar to the Because of Him video at Easter. The url is: http://www.mormon.org/christmas.

Love,

Elder Baird 

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

My wonderful, supportive, beautiful family,

It has been a great week! The best part is as we were pulling into the house last night it was snowing then it stopped before we went to bed. It was beautiful! But even better was we woke up to a winter wonderland!! It was snowing!! My favorite part about living in the middle of nowhere is the beauty! It was so gorgeous! One can not look at the beauty of the earth without knowing there is a God in Heaven. You can not convince me that the beauty and the perfections of this world happened by chance. In the words of a non-denominational song that Natalie and Andrew taught me, "Our God is an awesome God!"

This week has been great...... I think. I really don't remember most of what happens during the week. I usually forget what I have been up to. But I hope this sums it up. 

We had a great lesson on Tuesday with a part member family. She is not a member and he is. We had to let her know that faith needs to proceed in all of this. She has been taught by multiple sets of missionaries. She struggles with her religious background as a 7th Day Adventist. Faith is the proceeding and first principle of the Gospel. Without faith, salvation is not possible. I am excited to see where she goes. 

This Sunday we started tithing settlement. It is very weird to be on the other side of the desk during tithing settlement. 

Thursday we had the opportunity to go do ministering visits with the branch council. Sadly it did not work out like I wanted it to. There is definitely a difference between having a calling and magnifying a calling. And the only way you will be successful in your calling is if you magnify it! You cannot stand idly by and go to your Sunday meetings then do nothing outside of church.That is almost as bad as the apostate Zoramites. They felt it was okay to only worship and keep some commandments on Sunday. Then they could do whatever they want the rest of the week. Our callings should not be Sunday only. Every calling can be magnified! But only 4 of the 10 from branch council showed up. Well we had a wonderful time. Elder Johnson was able to find a part member family that is willing to be taught. Elder Blanch and I were able to minister some single sisters. It was great to see the work of the Lord not only administered in a meeting but we were able to minister to those that we discuss in our meetings. The Savior was not a leader who sat in meetings telling others what to do. He went and did. 

Hope you all have a great week! The Lord is Hastening the work of Salvation. Make the decision to be apart of it. 

Love,

Elder Baird 

Balm of Gilead

Hello Family,

I hope this email is finding you well. It has been a pretty great week! Lots of branch business with missionary work thrown in between. The sad part is many of our investigators were out of town this week. That is never fun as a missionary when multiple of your investigators leave town. But it has been good. Winter is definitely on its way! We have had some snow flurries and it was super cold this morning.  I can not wait for Christmas!

We had the opportunity to go to transfers this week to pick up a new companion! His name is Elder Johnson and he's from Rexburg. He is a great kid! We are excited to have a trio for this transfer. I have the great opportunity to do Tithing Settlement for part of November and all of December. Luckily I can go on splits with my counselors and Elder Blanch and Elder Johnson can go do work. This month is going to be super fun! 

I just realized that as of this next Friday I will only have like 4 months left. I am trying my best not be trunky! But the thing that has already started is the trunky dreams. But the good news is  they usually don't end happy. They always end with me crying. At the end I always am ridiculously sad that I am no longer a missionary Ohio. I definitely looking forward to being home for certain reasons but for the most part going home scares me. I think I will be an emotional wreck for a week or so. 

The highlight of the week was definitely the branch chili cook off and trunk or treat. It was so much fun! My favorite part of being in a branch is how close you are. You feel part of a family! 

I have the interesting and privileged opportunity to a representative of Christ and assist people in their struggles. These struggles have ranged from financial stress, martial issues, feelings of rejection, family members in terrible health, and many other issues. Yesterdays fast and testimony meeting was focused on overcoming trails. The words of a favorite hymn came to my mind. "When sore trials came upon you, did you think to pray? When your soul was full of sorrow, Balm of Gilead did you borrow at the gates of day?" Balm was a spice or gum used in the Old Testament to heal wounds. Gilead was the place where there was an abundance of a bush. This bush's resin was used for the balm. I sat and pondered this phrase for a long time. We no longer use balm of Gilead. But we have a spiritual balm for the wounds and desires of our hearts. "Oh, how praying rest the weary! Pray can change the night to day. So, when life gets dark and dreary, Don't forget to pray." The balm of Gilead of our day is the balm of Gethsemane. The balm of Gethsemane is the Atonement of Christ. We can not forget to pray! It is through pray that we gain access to the balm of Gethsemane and hope is found. Our wounds and pains of this life can be healed through the Atonement. It is the enabling power of the Atonement where we will find peace and hope for this life! 

I hope you all had a great week! I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Baird