May I say, I might actually like driving...?

Hello beautiful people of the planet Earth,

Don't judge, I'm weird. I know it and I love it.

Anyway :) I finally made a list of things I wanted to let you all know about so hopefully this is a better letter than past weeks have been.

A pond in the new Silva Valley Ward area that Sister Baird is serving in.

First off I wanted to let you know how AMAZING our new ward is. Silva Valley is so missionary minded and is willing to help us with anything. They are very well off so they live in a pretty nice neighborhood. All of them are gated. I don't mean Candlewick gated community, I mean really nice gated community! Maybe this won't be a surprise to some of you, but it was to me, but we are actually not allowed to proselyte (which means no knocking on doors allowed). This is why the ward has to be so missionary minded. Good thing they are so amazing! Hopefully that all made sense...

Another view of a pond in the new Silva Valley Ward area that Sister Baird is serving in.

A dead fish Sister Baird and Sister Anderson found at the above pond!

Some updates on the people we are teaching:

Luis is no longer ours, but I still wanted to keep you updated. He did not get baptized on the 25th, but he is now on date for April 8th. Due to his crazy work schedules he had to push his date back. He is so faithful and can't wait for his baptism. I will still be able to attend even though I am no longer teaching him. I can't wait!

Tony couldn't meet this week, but we are working on getting him to the church building so we can actually sit down and have a good lesson with him. Right now it has all been on his front porch. I'll keep you updated.

Laura, not sure if I have shared anything about her yet, but we finally had her not cancel an appointment with us. If you are curious, people cancel on missionaries ALL THE TIME. It is wonderful and that is why we always have backups. We had a member with us and the two of them hit if off really well, so we are hoping that helps her in her progressing.

And last, but certainly not least, Madi!! Oh my goodness she is amazing! She is in high school and wants to be baptized so badly. She has decided to meet with us twice a week and her mom will be going through the lessons with her. I am so excited for the both of them. The unique thing about the lesson we had with her, was that I was the lead and that I was with Sister Miko (the other trainee in our zone). So I have been out for about 8 weeks at that point and she'd been out 1 and a half. BUT, it went amazing and the spirit was so STRONG!!

Some small things, but this is getting long..

- I am actually starting to like driving..

- I was asked to sing a duet at zone conference again. Did I mention this is only my second zone conference? I will have sang at both. It's great :)

- COURTNEY DONNER (no longer Donner!) GOT MARRIED!! CONGRATS!!

- I got flowers at the bingo service this week!

and for the grand finale....

I finished Alma!! The single longest book in the Book of Mormon and after reading it for quite some time, reading over 20 chapters yesterday, and actually paying attention the whole time, I finished it! If you have not read the Book of Mormon cover to cover on your own, I challenge you to, it is truly an incredible book. It has changed my life and I promise it will change yours,

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

An old 'pass along card' that Sister Anderson shared when she first started in the area.

Sister Baird striking a pose!

A picture captured while walking around the California Sacramento Temple grounds after the Women's Conference.

A picture captured while walking around the California Sacramento Temple grounds after the Women's Conference.

Sister Baird - walking around the California Sacramento Temple grounds after the Women's Conference.

P.S. Blairs, Sister Ryan, Sister Evans, and Cody Hale I need your addresses :) Thanks!

Slow week....but I love you!

Sister Baird Selfie on St. Patrick's Day

ALOHAAAA,

I miss Hawaii a little, so I thought I'd throw in a little aloha this week.

This week I don't have too much, but I will keep you a little updated. You will first be receiving two group emails this week. I guess last week was evil and my email did not send out to anyone! 

Update on Luis....
As you will find out in the other email, I am no longer covering Luis as a result of transfers and no longer covering the Folsom 4th Ward, but I did find out that his baptism was postponed. Sadly, he has had some work conflicts that are not making it easy. Dang Satan getting in the way. However, he is still planning to get baptized - so that is good! 

We met this guy named Tony! He is Native American and actually speaks one of the native languages. He is super interesting, but we are hoping he is willing to take a chance with the gospel. I will let you all know how that goes!! 

Not a lot happened this week, but you will be graced with some pictures so that is good. I will make sure next week's email has more. This was a slow week.

I love you all, and all the emails I'm getting! (which is so so many...

New Zone

New Zone - having fun!

1st Zone

1st Zone - clowning around - having fun!

)

Haha, but for real I do love you all. 

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

2/18th of the way done!

Hey all!

Okay, so I had totally taken notes so I would have more to give you this week and was awesome and forgot those at home. It was great. Anyway, I will try to do my best to remember. 

Sister Baird and Sister Anderson

First, this Thursday the 17th is St. Patty's Day. Don't forget to wear green. That is very important! My mother has taught me this well. 

Next we had TRANSFERS this week!! I am now serving in the Silva Valley and Folsom 4th Ward, still with the AMAZING Sister Anderson. We are what we call "shotgunning" or "whitewashing". Basically two new missionaries take over the Ward instead of one trading in. We are super excited. We had our first dinner with them yesterday and I got to sing while the mom played piano and the daughter played violin. I loved it! I could not be more excited for this transfer. 

Sister Baird and Sister Anderson pictured with the Chinese family they have been teaching english to. 

In other news, a little bitter sweet, but with transfers that means we had to give up Folsom 2nd, which is where the Chinese were and Luis. Though, we will still be able to attend his baptism, but he will no longer be taught by us. This Sunday, we had to say goodbye to the Chinese and him so that was a little hard. I also had to say goodbye to the Steed family. They are amazing. And I just loved them. They always made me feel funny...so you know. 

With a new transfer that means that I am no longer the newest in the mission! We have a trainee in the zone so I am seriously pumped to meet her!!

I wanted to end on a good note, so I will share a little about Lenni. She is sadly in 2nd Ward, but I still have to share the little we did get to experience with her. We originally tried her house at least a month ago and when a car saw us walking they quickly sped off to avoid talking to us. The usual, you know. We found ourselves there about a week later and realized where we were. We confidently walked up to the door and knocked anyway. To our surprise this woman answered the door and was so very kind! We didn't have time to talk at that moment, so we set up a return appointment and left her with some information on the Restoration (how the church was brought back to the Earth in the latter days :)) and went on our way. We went back at the scheduled time and found a sticky note on her door. She had said she couldn't make it, however she did set a return appointment for us! It was for a Monday, which normally would not work because of P day, but it happened to be transfers when P day is on a Tuesday. Miracle, just saying. We then went back yesterday and talked with her and she said she read the pamphlet we gave her and believes it all. She knows Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, that there is a prophet on the Earth today and that the Book of Mormon is true. We committed her to reading it and she said yes and that she had been looking for something to read and would read a few pages a night. I had her open up to the book of Moroni and read 10:3-5. As she finished reading she told us that it gave her chills and I was able to share with her that she was feeling the spirit. She said when I told her that she got the chills again and loved it. She is amazing. 

Need addresses to mail these!!

The Lord is preparing people and I truly do love and am grateful that I get to help find them and teach them. I get to be the one to help them come unto Christ. I love it!

Last few things. Yeah I remembered some sorry...

- I hit my 2 months, hence the subject of this email/blog.. :)

- I am now designated driver of our companionship.

 Yes, laugh it up. I know. 

- If you see a card with your name on it in the picture, I need your address!! 

I love you all!

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Dumpster diving is fun, well the smashing part :)

Hey all,

Well this week I would have random thoughts of 'I am going to put that in my weekly email', and then I failed to write it down so I am going to do my best.

This is actually my last week of the transfer (6 weeks), so next preparation day will actually be on Tuesday. Thought that was kind of important to mention. 

So Luis is doing amazing! He is still on track to be baptized on the 25th of March, which is amazing! 

Front Row: Sister Baird
2nd Row:  Sister Anderson, Elder Stewart, Sister Kaufusi, Elder Escoton,  Elder  Forte
Back Row: Sister Sessions, Elder Wingard

I got to go mountain biking last preparation day and for those you who remember, yes my coordination is still awful. 

Front Row: Elder Wingard, Elder Escoton, Elder Young Yen, Elder Forte,
Back Row: Sister Baird, Elder Ross, Sister Anderson, Sister Sessions, Sister Kaufusi, Elder Stewart

Sister Baird - random pic while Mountain Biking

This week we had an awesome service opportunity to help an elderly, non member move and it was so fun! I ended up getting to see an old grandfather clock from the 1760s! .....and I got to climb in one of those large dumpsters and crush stuff! It was great!!

Another awesome experience this week was having a huge turning point with my companion. We are better than ever and can't wait to get to work this week. She's been sick for a  few days. Hopefully her illness fades soon. Keep her in your prayers. 

Lastly, I wanted to keep you all updated on some real life stuff! Friday evening I found out that Sidney and I were both accepted into BYU- Provo!!  YAY!
...and Sidney attended Prom! AHHHH! She's all grown up!!

and a final shout out...

Happy Birthday! 

MARRYANN PHILLIPS  I LOVE YOU

Much Love Always,

Folsom, CA Sunset

Sister MJ Baird

 

Left to Right - Peter, Lucy, Judy, Sister Hunt, Michael, John. We were teaching English and the word was 'picture'.
So we took a picture!

Left to Right: Sister Baird,  Sister Hyde, and Sister Davis (The STL's - Sister Training Leaders)

Open roads between Folsom and Eldorado Hills - headed to do service. 

Sister Baird driving! What!? If you know her, you know how much she loves driving!