8 months down! Officially 1/3rd of the way done!

 This is what happens when you let the youth take your camera, ha ha.

Well today marks the day I hit the one-third mark of my mission! Honestly I cannot believe how fast it has gone! The time is going by too fast, ha ha!

This past week was very interesting! We had a zone conference where Elder Nash (he is the Africa West Area president) came and instructed us on many things. One of the main topics was repentance. He really emphasized the importance of repentance in our lives and how we must always be repenting of our transgressions. He also talked about how obedience to mission rules will truly bless our lives and it can do so in so many ways. We need to not doubt the reasons that we have  been given the rules, but to follow them with faith and to know that they have been given to us for a good reason. 

During lunch I had the chance to have a conversation with Elder and Sister Nash. Apparently they live in Centerville not far from my house! It's like a 10 minute drive away, ha ha. So that was really cool. We had a fun conversation about track because he used to run in high school like I did. So that was pretty fun. When the Conference was over, I went to him to say thank you and before I said anything he grabbed my hand, looked me straight in the eyes, and said, "Elder Baird, I love you and I hope you know that." Then he just gave me a huge hug. Man I cannot express my feelings of appreciation for that man. He knew that I was in need of a little pick me up and that really touched my heart. 

A very kind Muslim bought us this box of cookies just because he liked the way we compose ourselves and serve others! So that was pretty cool!

A cool thing that happened,, was on Sunday after church. We went to go visit our Investigator named Linda. She didn't come to church so we wanted to know why. When we got there, she was so excited to see us, but she was nervous because it was about to rain, I told her, "Don't worry about it, we will be just fine." We started a lesson on the BOM. When we were talking, she told us why she didn't come to church. It was because she was talking to her friend, and her friend, doesn't like the church. She was telling her all these nonsense things, like how we take a bunch of money from you before you can even enter the church and that we drink blood and what not. We told her the truth and how none of that was true and we could tell she felt really bad. She told us she felt super bad for not coming and that she won't listen to her friends again. We finished the lesson and explained to her that  if she wants to know if the church is true, she must read and pray about it for herself. She told us she truly wants to know. She said that when we are teaching her, her heart pounds and that if that happens then she knows that something we are saying is good. I guess that is how the spirit speaks to her. So I hope she continues to listen to the spirit to find the answers for herself. 

Last night was very interesting. We had finished for the day and we were going to go to a dinner provided by a member. We were just about to walk into their house when they called and said they had to cancel. Well we were pretty upset, ha ha. Oh well, things happen sometimes. We went back to the apartment and not long after it that it started to rain pretty hard. After about an hour, it started to come down super, super hard and I was honestly kind of nervous. Elder Hafoka looked out the window and yelled, "Guys! You have to come see this!" We looked out the window and there was a flowing river of water outside our apartment. So being teenage boys, ha ha we went out and were playing in the rain. While we were out there, we heard some yelling on the other side of a wall by our compound. We went out of the gate and found a massive river flowing down a back road. The water here was about a foot and a half deep. 

The flooded road.

One of the ladies who owns a shop that we buy from a lot was in distress. Her shop had flooded extremely bad and so we went right away to help her. We emptied the shop so her merchandise wouldn't get ruined. Then after that, we went out to the main road to make sure everything was okay. The main road was also super flooded and it was dark. The gutters here were filled with water so cars didn't know where the edge of the road was. The gutters here are like 3 feet deep so if a car falls in it it's super bad. We were wading out in the water directing the traffic and making sure cars didn't get stuck in the gutters. Then a man's car stalled, and we had to push it through the water to a spot where he could park out of the way. That way cars wouldn't get caught behind him. 

We did that for quite a bit until the water died down a little and cars could see the gutters. Then we went back to the back road where we helped the shop lady and we found out that a taxi had gotten stuck on a sloped part of a hill. The ground underneath the front tires had completely washed away so it was resting on the side rails of the car and not the tires. We were out there helping lift the front end of the car sideways so that we could get traction to move the car back. After about 30 minutes of lifting and moving the car, we were able to get it out. Man it was a long night, ha ha but it was so worth it to help those people! 

Today we stopped by the shop to check and see if everything was okay and the shop owner was so grateful for our help and she couldn't stop expressing her thanks. It feels good just to serve people.

Mission is an interesting experience for me. You get to teach the gospel but also get to serve people just as the Lord did. I love it here! I don't know if I can explain how much I love it here. As much as I miss you all and I miss home, this is where I am supposed to be, serving these amazing people. I love this place and will never forget the time I have spent serving the Lord's children in Ghana. I love you all so much and hope you can find ways to serve others. It doesn't have to be anything big! Just something small that will put a smile on their face:)

Sincerely,

Elder Baird