Well some weeks are better than others, ha ha!

These are some pictures of an area called Kiosk estates. A kiosk is just a thin wooden house

that people just build in random areas. 

This past week was a bit rough...

It started out that I got a pretty nasty cold so I had a constant headache that was making it hard to focus, my nose was running so bad that it felt like water was just draining out my nose all day long... and then my companion got some pretty bad stomach issues that made it difficult for him to work as well. Honestly, we had a really hard time staying motivated this week, ha ha.

This is Rachel and Julius, we are teaching their family right now. When I pulled out 

my camera they wanted to pose for a picture.

Through all of this we still were working as best as we could. We had planned to have a bunch of appointments every day, but as the days went by, most of our appointments fell through. We have been trying to get in contact with people we used to teach, but for some reason it seems that they are avoiding us now. So we decided this week to go contacting and knock on a bunch of gates to different compounds. We were trying to find anyone to teach. Only one person let us in. Well, that didn't go over so well either, ha ha. The person we started to teach was a 17 year old boy named Gabel. We were sitting outside of his house and we were having a wonderful lesson. We were able to finish about half of it when suddenly his father came storming out of the house and stared right and me and pointed to me and said, "Leave this place immediately." Then he started shouting "Leave! Now!" So Gabel just got up and went inside and my companion and I just left. I was so shocked. I have never had that happen so far on my mission. It hurt quite a bit.

 Just took a bunch of pictures of kids, ha ha.

As you can all probably see, this past week was rough, ha ha. I was super down and didn't feel like we were going to have any success. But, then on Thursday night, the other Elders we live with were having a ward activity.  They were going to talk about missionary work and then watch, "The Other Side of Heaven." Now for those of you who have seen this movie you know how powerful it is. But for those who haven't, I encourage you to watch it this week. After watching it, I felt super inspired to just keep going. I had a new fire inside of me that pushed me to keep going. Now things didn't change, we still had our lessons fall through, no one opened their gates for us. The only difference was that my mentality was much more positive.

I was waiting for a lesson and they decided to start burning the weeds by their house 

so I decided to take some photos, ha ha.

This work was never meant to be easy and we will be tested at times. We will want to give up and just not try anymore. But as the Book of Mormon clearly states, "You will not receive a witness until after the trial of your faith." The Lord is testing us. He was testing me this week. Our numbers were low and I was afraid of the Mission President calling and asking what was wrong. But at the end of it, I felt at peace. I know I was working hard and that I was  trying my best. If we all strive to do our best, our rewards will come. Never give up. 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.

Sincerely,

Elder Baird 

Mom's notes:

1. Today was a much better day. :)

2. He is going to call his Grandma this Wednesday to say goodbye. She is getting pretty close to passing away.

3. Training his companion is going better. He is doing well and is becoming more open.

4. There is a lot of pollution and garbage where he is. It is WAY dirtier than in Akatsi.

5. They are having the All Africa Service Project this Saturday so they are going to help with that.

6. Tonight they are going to KFC for dinner. :)

7. He said, "I have come to know deeply that this is the true church. Like I can't even explain how deeply I know it."