Man! This was a week of hard work!

We finally got our white board yesterday so here is a good idea of what our teaching pool looks like!

SO this week was one hard working week! We had our zone conference on Tuesday and we weren't able to do any proselytizing because of the traveling for it and it was just the way things worked out. On Wednesday, I did an exchange with Elder Seeley, and with exchanges it just throws off our teaching schedule, so we only got to see like two people. Then on Thursday morning, Elder Bidi and I decided that we were going to work as hard as we could for the rest of the week. During our zone conference, our Mission President challenged us to find six new investigators a week. Well our week was already half over so we had to pick up the slack. We worked like crazy and by Sunday we were able to find 8 New Investigators and they are all very solid! They are very interested and want to keep learning as much as they can!

I got a nice African shirt and I absolutely love it! :)

One of the greatest things that happened this week was when we went to see sister Mabel. We haven't been able to see her for over a month because she has been traveling and what not. Well the first thing I asked her was if she had been reading the Book of Mormon. She then just started going off about how much she loves the book! She pretty much recited to me the first 15 chapters of 1 Nephi. She doesn't read very fast but she understands it very well! I was so shocked because we haven't had any contact with her in over a month and then she comes back and tells us she has been reading a ton and she is loving it! To see that just made me so happy. :)

We went to the Akatsi market today! These pictures don't even show like 1/20th 

of the size of the market! It's huge!!

Another cool thing was when we had a lesson fall through so we were just riding around and we passed by a family's house that we have been teaching for a bit. Then they yelled, "Elder Baird! We have missed you so much!! Come sit for a bit!" So we did and then they made us a super good dinner and we just had such a great time. By the end of it, it was dark and the moon was super bright and there were very few clouds in the sky. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The breeze was blowing slightly and it was just silent. It didn't feel like I was in Africa anymore. It just felt like I was home. But, I didn't feel homesick. I felt peace come over me and it was in that moment that it really hit me that what I am doing is a very special work and I am in the place that the Lord wants me to be. It was just such a great moment to have and I am so thankful for it.

We had a huge storm last night, man it was so cool!

So something really funny happened, ha ha. We were waiting to meet with this guy named Elle. While waiting a little kid came over and was just so excited to see a white man. He was grabbing my hand and just being super funny. I think he was probably about 6 years old. Well I looked away for a second and then felt something really weird on the top of my hand, so I looked back and found the kid was biting the back of my hand...  Right as I looked the pain set in and holy cow it hurt! When I looked at him he stopped, smiled at me, then just ran off! So that was pretty strange, ha ha ha!

I was bored at Dzodze Tuesday night so I made a fire, ha ha.

My take away message today is on the priesthood. While meeting with this pastor named Alvin he wanted to prove to us that everyone who accepts Christ as his personal Savior will have all the powers of God. ALL of them if you just say, "I accept Christ as my personal Savior," out loud to someone. That's the thing they do here. They just believe if you accept Christ then you are saved. SO we kept trying to explain to him that the priesthood isn't something that you just have and that you must be given it. We used so many scriptures to back it up but he didn't want to listen. So Elder Bidi just shared a very strong and straightforward testimony that the Priesthood is only in this church and no other church can claim the right to have it. HE was just silent. After about 2 minutes, he tried to come back with some other response and we just told him that we will end there because we had to go. The priesthood is truly in this church and only in this church. I know that it was restored through Joseph Smith and I know that with it we can perform all the ordinances necessary to enter into the Celestial Kingdom. I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week. :)  I would love to hear from all of you! SO Email me! Like for real! My mom tells me about a bunch of you who tell her how much you love hearing from me so email me! I would love to hear how your life is going!! :)

This is the money we receive every 4 weeks. In total it is 480 Cedis, which is the equivalent of 120 U.S. Dollars. Here it's a lot of money, ha ha. But to live on that at home for a month, yeah that wouldn't go so well, ha ha.

Sincerely,

Elder Baird

Mom's notes:

1. He said, "I just wanted to let you know that there is a fever that was just discovered in Nigeria. It's very similar to Ebola and can be extremely contagious. 90 people in Nigeria have died and 1 person in Ghana died and they are actually in my mission boundaries. I am not telling you this to scare you I just felt I should let you know ahead of time in case something serious happens. SO  I love you. :)" Uhhh... yikes! I'm glad that the Lord takes care of his missionaries and that my family reminds me of that. :)

2. He really hopes that Devin and Ally come to Ghana and that he will get to see them. He said, "Oh my heck, if they come I have to see them. That would honestly be the coolest thing ever!

3. I told him that I feel like he is on a Safari looking for Saints and he said, "OH my heck that is the greatest thing that you just said. I am on a Safari looking for Saints. Mom that was the most perfect way to explain what it's like out here! 😅"

4. I asked him to tell me about one of his investigators and this was his reply, "Ok so I will tell you about Sena really quick. We met him on Thursday and we started to teach him on Saturday. While teaching him, I asked him if God is a spirit or a man. Of course he said a spirit, because in the schools here they teach all the children, from the age they can walk, that He is a spirit and that Jesus and God are the same. I explained to him why God is a man like us and then he sat there quietly, looked at me and said, "what you say isn't that far fetched." So he was pretty accepting and he wants to keep learning! Then today, while I was working out, he walked into our compound (our compound has like ten houses in it and it is owned by our land lord) I went out and was like. "Sena! What are you doing here??" Apparently he was looking for a new house to rent and felt impressed to look in this compound. There weren't any houses available, but I think that God sent him there for a reason, just to see me again.