5 months complete!


Before coming out here, I cut off my little brothers Jedi braid. He told me I needed to take it and use it as a book mark. I told him no, ha ha. Well he sneaked it into one of my bags and I finally decided to use it. So shout out to Brendon, one of the funniest kids I know. :)

This weekly email will be telling about a pretty interesting experience I had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Monday night I woke up with a fever of 102 and was shaking uncontrollably and this was about at 1:00 A.M. I tried to sleep but couldn't for about 3 more hours, and by this time I just couldn't stand it anymore. We were staying in Dzodze that night so I went to the Zone Leaders room and asked them to give me a priesthood blessing at 4:00 A.M. ha ha. They were a little bugged but they gave me the blessing and went straight back to sleep. I went and laid back down and almost immediately I felt super sick to my stomach. I then started vomiting for the next 2 hours. In that time I had thrown up 12 times and by this time everyone in the apartment was awake for the day. We called the mission doctor and she told me to go to the hospital. Now, I didn't want to go, ha ha. I am out in a village so it was a village hospital, but I knew that I needed to go because they could provide some decent care for me. 

This is a picture of the hospital that I found online - Kristina ;)

While walking inside the hospital, we ran into 2 members of the Dzodze branch, Brother Victor and Brother Rueban. These two are angels sent to me by God. I am not even joking. When we walked in there were at least 150 people in a waiting line to get registered and to see a doctor. Well my fever kept going up and I was starting to go in and out of consciousness so they took me to one of the nurses and argued with them until they would accept me as an emergency patient. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been able to see a doctor who decided that I needed to be admitted into the hospital immediately. 

I just thought I would take these pictures to help show what it's like out here, ha ha. 
I honestly love it so much. 


They took me to a ward that was completely full, But miraculously, one of the beds opened up right as I walked in. SO they laid me down, hooked me up to an IV to give me fluids because I pretty much had nothing in me from throwing up so much, ha ha. The nurses there were honestly so surprised to have a white guy there so they treated me with the best care I have ever seen. They were checking on me very frequently, always asking if I needed anything and so on. During all of this Brother Victor and Brother Rueban were running around with Elder Bidi to get all of the medications they prescribed to me. 

My mom sent me the greatest package ever. :) 


Since we were staying the night, and had nothing to eat, the branch president called one of his cooks that works in his compound and had them make us dinner, breakfast for the next morning and lunch when we were leaving. SO many members of the branch came and visited me and wanted to check and see if I was okay. Honestly I felt so much care and love from so many different angles. When  I woke up on Wednesday I was completely fine. I was just tired from not sleeping much but everything had gone away. All the nurses were shocked at how fast I recovered. 

We were visiting with a man named Victor, he makes brooms and sells them at the market 
so this is just a small part of what his business looks like.

During all of this, we had to pay with the cash we had on hand for the medications and treatment. At the end of it all, we had 14 cedis left. Which, by the way, is exactly how much we needed to travel back to our area. The miracles that happened those few days were just too many to count. The Lord is watching his missionaries, so anyone that has a missionary out right now please know this. The Lord is protecting them. Yes, I got sick, but he provided all of the necessary things for me to be treated quickly and well. The hospital was pretty bad to be completely honest. It was very poorly run, very crowded, dirty, and a lot of other things. But I can put all of that aside and see how the Lord  has protected me. I am so grateful for all the people who helped me and made sure I was okay. 

A man we are teaching who's name is Godwin made me a special kentai just for me. :) 

My small take away for everyone is to just have faith. Have the faith that the Lord is always on your side. I used this example when teaching someone recently. Imagine Jesus Christ is standing on the other side of a door, and the only thing you have to do to see him is to knock. He is just waiting for you to knock. Once you do that door will open with so much speed that it will shock you. The Lord is waiting to help us, the only thing we have to do is "knock, and it shall be opened unto us". I love you all and hope you have a great week. :)

Sincerely, 
Elder Baird

Mom's notes:

1. He had an infection of the GI tract that caused a high fever and vomiting. He says that he is good now and not to worry.

2. Speaking about his mission president, Brother Keyes, he said, "He is really good! :) He is a big family man and understands that it's not easy being out here. I mean Sister Keyes called me when I was in the hospital and said that she immediately let you guys know when she heard. They really care about the relationship between the missionaries and their families.

3. He is grateful for the soccer balls and he is looking for some special owners for them. He wanted to thank the Archibald's and Paul.




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