A hard but remarkable week.

A lady just moved into the other ward that shares the same building with us. She is from California. Her husband is from Nigeria, but they are now living in Ghana because of work. So she had us over on Tuesday night and made us Sheppard's pie, and brownies and ice cream. I was in 

food heaven, ha ha!

Well, I just want to say thank you to all of you for the love and support given to my family at this time of difficulty. I have felt your prayers this past week. I truly have. I was so lost for a few days trying to get my head around the loss of my Grandmother who I was so close with. I struggled to get myself to stay focused on the work. Until one night, I knelt down to say my usual prayers but instead, I just poured out my heart. I asked for help, I asked for strength. I asked to be able to feel the love of my Grandmother and also to feel of the strength people have been sending me through their prayers. And I have. I felt that strength. I felt that encouragement. I have felt like someone was pushing me from behind to help me keep going. I can't even tell you what a relief it was to feel all that love and support. Thank you to all. Truly, thank you. 

This past week we had something pretty interesting happen. There is a family we are teaching, specifically Quinstar and Ritalord. When we were leaving, their mother stopped us and asked if she could talk with us about something. I won't go into details about it, but basically she just poured her heart to us. She was pleading for us to help her because of all the challenges they are facing. In that moment, I just had such a feeling of compassion wash over me. I felt true love for this women. I cared for her well being and I wanted to help her as much as I can. 

I was sick and tired of getting flat tires. I had eight flats in two weeks. So I decided to replace 

both tubes and tires (he says that it has worked). :)

There is only so much we can advise her about, as missionaries we can't get too involved with family affairs, but we were able to use it as an opportunity to encourage her to come to church and to seek guidance from our leaders. I could tell that she felt so relieved to hear that we have leaders in our church who would be willing to help and to advise her. This is why I love this church. We have leaders who are called of God, who are there to help strengthen and encourage those who need help. So don't be afraid to seek guidance from your leaders. That is why they are here. :)

Another cool thing that happened, was during this past week. We met a woman named Gifty. After talking for a bit we learned that she was actually taught by missionaries two years ago but she traveled and just recently came back to her home here. After talking to her, she told us that she has missed the church and she has missed learning with the missionaries. She introduced us to her daughter Vanessa and we were able to teach her Saturday night. Well to our surprise, Vanessa came to church the next day! Honestly that doesn't happen often  or like ever! To get people to come to church we have to beg and plead, ha ha. But this girl just came.  She told us that she wants to keep attending because she really likes how the church teaches and what it teaches. Blessing come from hard work guys! Having no success for weeks is extremely tiring. But, if you keep with it, the Lord will reward you in ways you can't fully understand. 

I love you guys and hope you have a wonderful week. Stay strong and thank you for all your help. :)

Sincerely,

Elder Baird

I found these two photos on Facebook from Elder Baird's zone conference. Sister Keye's posted them. In the back of the first picture is a cameo from Elder Baird. The second picture is of 

his companion, Elder Alumande.

Mom's notes:

1. His companion was sick so he emailed on Tuesday this week.

2. He is feeling pretty good this week.

3. He has 3 weeks left in this transfer. He hopes to be transferred but he will be okay if he isn't.

4. He will have one baptism before the transfer.

5. He has lessons every hour from 4:00 to 8:00. :)

6. I asked him if he is transferred to the bush again if he will miss his American food again. He said, "Nahhh."

7. He said that he has only learned to cook a little bit of Ghanaian food. I told him to learn more so he could cook when he gets home.