First Transfer

 Saying goodbye to Norkplim and the others in the compound.

Man transfers are interesting, especially when it is your first one! 

My new area is Batsonaa 1. It is right in the middle of the city, ha ha. The city is a completely different atmosphere! Everything is fast paced. It's loud. Everyone is always busy. It is just a zoo out here, ha ha! There are two bonuses for being here though. 

 My new apartment.

1. The ward is amazing. The ward is absolutely amazing. The bishop is just such a wonderful man and he genuinely cares for all of the members there. It seems as if all of the members bring their friends to church so we have so many referrals that it's hard to meet all of them, ha ha! 

2. There are American stores with American food! :) The food is just super nice because I am able to make things from home which is something I really missed. The only issue is that it's all so expensive, ha ha. So I am learning how to budget my money really well. :)

Oh american food. :) I found my popcorn!

So kind of on the funny story side of things, the first day that I was here I wanted to go and meet a few of the people that my new companion, Elder Blanchard, has been teaching. I also wanted to meet some of the members. So I decided to look nice by pulling out a pair of pants I haven't worn yet, I made my shoes look really nice as well. Well right as we went out it started to pour rain, and man, the streets here are dirt so it was just a river of mud everywhere we went. So my shoes got caked in mud, my new pants got extremely muddy, and a bunch of people we wanted to see were too busy. So the first day was kind of a bust, ha ha. But at the same time, is was good because now I know where not to go when it is raining, ha ha. 

A really cool story was what happened on Sunday. There is this lady that has apparently come to church every week for months. Her older sister makes her come. The missionaries used to teach her but she told them she didn't want to be baptized and that she doesn't really care about the church so they stopped teaching her. Well on Sunday, she asked us to teach her a lesson. So we did. Than afterwords, her older sister pulled us aside and said, "You need to be teaching her now because she wants to be baptized and she is ready." So apparently, she had a complete change of heart and is ready to be baptized. It was a pretty cool experience, because the last time this happened, was in November. It was honestly so cool to be able to witness the change and now I will get to be a part of her baptism  and I can't wait to start working with this lady. Her name is Asumta and she is from Nigeria,

 Photos taken by Sister Keyes. :)

Now, the coolest thing happened this last Monday. Elder Soares of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles came and spoke to the missionaries of the Accra and Accra West missions. Let me just tell you all, he truly is an apostle of the Lord. We got to shake his hand and when I did I just felt a confirming feeling in my heart that told me that he is truly an Apostle. When he was speaking, he was talking a lot about how we need to be obedient to the commandments and especially to the mission rules. As missionaries, there are times, when the missionaries feel that they need to break some rules to survive on their mission. He talked to us about how we need to keep all of the rules and if we do we will be blessed more than we will ever know. He talked about how, we as missionaries, actually have the same calling as he does. We are set apart as ministers of Jesus Christ. The only difference is that he is set apart for the rest of his life. He has different responsibilities but our jobs, in the end, are the same. We are to spread the everlasting gospel to the whole world. To hear him say that was just so cool. I have the same calling as an apostle of the Lord. To spread the gospel. 

 Just his hair behind Elder Seeley.

He also told us a really cool quote. "Serving a mission isn't a sacrifice, it's a privilege!" It is so true. I am so blessed to have this opportunity. I honestly don't know what I would be doing right now if I wasn't here. I know this is where I am meant to be and there is no where else I would rather be other than in Ghana at this time in my life.

I love you all!

Elder Baird

Mom's notes:

1. P-day was on Wednesday this week because in Elder Baird's words, "The conference made everything go out of whack, ha ha. So we moved our p day to today!"

2. His new apartment has, "an insane amount of mosquitoes so its a nightmare trying to sleep." He will be, "put on the bug spray, replace my net, and then there are these coils you can buy and you set them on fire and the fumes kill the mosquito's while you are sleeping" to battle them.

3. He has two Samoan Elders with him in his new apartment along with his new companion who is from Pocatello, he said, "The Samoans are super cool and I love them. My comps name is Elder Blanchard and he has been on mission for almost 1 year, and he has been in this area for 3 transfers, so like 4 and a half months." The Samoans are, "Elder Hafoka from Australia and Elder Amosa from Compton originally, but he is now living in West Jordan."

4. I asked him why it is called Batsonaa 1. He said, "The proselyting area is called Batsonaa 1 because that is the name of the ward. There are 2 in this area and it is pronounced Ba-cho-na." He is in the city of Batsonaa. It is very close to Tema. I asked for the coordinates to his apartment. :) They are: 5.639663, -0.091544 is the location for the apartment for longitude and latitude. 

5. Popcorn cost 2.8 cedis. A cedi is about 20 cents in US dollars. They receive 480 cedis a month.

6. Pizza is a lot better there than in Aflao.

 Going to a pizza place in our area. :)

7. I asked him the name of the Internet cafe' that he is in. He said, "I don't think this place has a name. It's in a shipping container,  ha ha!"

8. I asked him what he has going on this week. He said, "Saturday the ward is going to the temple so we get to go since my companion has some recent converts going for the first time."