WE HAVE A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!

Beautiful souls,

So, AMAZING news this week that I can't help but share right away. After about 2 months, we finally have a new investigator. We are so excited!! We have been praying and did a fast for this to start happening and it has. The work is going to pick up, we know it!!!

This week we had some exciting things happen!!

Zone Conference was this week and that is ALWAYS an amazing experience. This was the first one I did not sing at. Currently I am at 2 for 3. It was Sister Wong's first one in America so that was really awesome too. A little miracle here. At zone conference we actually were committed to handing out a Book of Mormon that night and to invite the person we invited to be baptized. We were not able to do the second half, but we were able to accomplish the first half!! The miracle part? We had about 10 minutes to do it. The rest of our day was full and that was the only time we had for it. We prayed and started walking on a trail and found 2 girls we were able to give Book of Mormons too. It was incredible!!

We also had Sister Wong's 5 Week New Missionary Meeting this week!! That was fun. I always love seeing the other missionaries. Plus I got to see my MTC Companion so that is always a bonus too. My favorite part was definitely when all the trainee's got to bare their testimonies. The spirit was so strong! After that meeting is actually when we found out we had a new investigator. We were unable to go to the appointment we had set that day because of the meeting, so we actually had the Sister Training Leaders go for us. We had a member meet them there and it went well. He has read the Book of Mormon twice! They asked if he had ever prayed about it and he said no. Prayer is essential in gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. They committed him to do that and set up another appointment. Sister Wong and I are confident in his progress moving forward. We are excited. 

On top of all that we got to help take a bunch of old people to the zoo and walk them around :)

Besides that life is good!! We had a scavenger hunt as a zone activity today so if there is wild pictures attached to the blog that would be why.

I love you all and miss you!!

Happy Memorial Day!!!

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

There can be miracles, if you believe!!

Aloha,

There was a man who graduated from BYU Hawaii who spoke at the Stake's Seminary Graduation so I thought I'd go back to where a part of my heart will always be.

Anyway. Today's email isn't going to be crazy long, but I wanted to make sure I sent one.

A few random facts. Today Sister Wong had her first American Burger and she expected it to be bigger because of the restaurant in Twilight. She is still looking for a "family restaurant" to eat at because of that movie. Fun little tid bit. She thinks American high school is just like high school musical. If only my locker could have been pink. How amazing would that have been??  Sister Wong also does not like the sun. At all. Completely opposite of me - completely. I am my mother's daughter and adore the sun. We were driving home the other day and she, as usual says the sun is "chasing" or "following" her. This time she decided to say "Don't you fall in love with me, you won't even get the chance!". This was said to the sun. So I guess the sun doesn't get a chance at falling in love with Sister Wong haha. She's great.

Now for a miracle, or TWO.

So in one of the wards we cover, there hasn't been any work since Sister Wong got her. We ended up releasing everyone the week before she got her and have yet to have anyone since. We have been trying and nothing. This Sunday we decided we were going to specifically fast for this ward. They deserve people and we could not think of anything else left to do. We start our fast Saturday night and go into our regular running (really driving) around Sunday. When we get back to this ward to finally stay for the rest of church, they had just finished sacrament and we were going around talking to people, you know being good missionaries. ;) We then have a member waving us over to this couple we neither Sister Wong or I know. It turns out it is a member of the church who has been less active most of his life and his non-member wife. He woke up that morning and felt like he should come back to his roots. But wait, it gets better. They did not know which ward they were in or what time it started. They randomly showed up to the building where the wife immediately went up to a set of Elders that were in the lobby and asked when the next service was and if he knew what ward they were in . She told him where they lived and he told her what ward she was in and that the service started in about 5 minutes. I know the Lord's hand was in it. There is no such thing as coincidences.

That night we then found out that the Zone Leaders had contacted someone who lived in our area and got a return appointment with him for tomorrow!!

We had no idea the power fasting truly had, but we were incredibly grateful and still are to see all the blessings that have already come from it.

A returning part member family and a potential new investigator. Life is amazing.

I love this gospel more than anything. We have been faced with a lot of Anti (Anti-Mormons who are actively seeking was to put the church down in any way they can) this week and it has been such a huge blessing to see that regardless my testimony stands firm. I know what I have received a witness of and no one can take that away from me.

Much Love Always,

Hey Stephanie, welcome to Cali!

Pretty flowers that bloomed from my birthday

She saw a fancy car and wanted a picture.

She was a bit tired from service on Saturday. 

We have squirrels here. Squirrels are nice, chipmunks are evil. Sorry Alvin.

Sister Wong and Sister Baird at Charming Charlies!

How my companion likes to pray. Isn't it awesome?

Sister Wong enjoying her first good ole' fashion American burger!

I made her let me study in the sun :)

I made her let me study in the sun :)

I made her let me study in the sun :)

A scripture I love!

Sister MJ Baird

Firsts, Exchanges, Skype, Birthday, and 4/18th of the way

Well. I typed out this long, awesome email. And then magically I bumped some keys on the board and it deleted it all. Yep. It's great. So this version may not be so awesome or great.

First for the week!!

Madi was baptized and it was amazing!! The Spirit was so so strong and it was Sister Wong's first baptism in America!!

I got my first flat tire. How you ask?? Curbs are evil I tell you, evil! You know what else is the BEST? Rush hour traffic on the high way. SO FUN. Oh! Question, what is the difference between a high way and freeway? I have no clue. They seem the same to me.

I had my first Starbucks cup with my name on it! As my zone leader said "Congrats, you're officially a white girl". That, or I just really love my name being on a cup.

We also had exchanges this week, which were amazing. I got a killer sunburn on the bottom 1/4 of my arm. Yay for 3/4 sleeves while ridding a bike in the sun :) I also managed to forget all my stuff back in our area and didn't realize it until we got there. Sometimes I am a little forgetful. Ha..haha.

Then I got to Skype home for the first time!! It was so amazing. It also happened to be on the same day as when I turned the big 2-0. It was definitely an amazing day. Thank you to everyone who reached out in some way and made sure I heard from you. It meant so much.

Through this crazy week I also managed to hit my 4 month mark! Time really is going by fast!!

Sorry this email is kind of lame, I promise the first one was better. Darn keyboard, that I am actually really grateful for.

Shoutouts, because, well because I want to:

Lee and Tim HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND CONGRATS ON BEING ONE YEAR OLDER!!

Happy Mother's Day to all current moms, one day moms, and mother like role models out there :)

AND my beautiful Sister graduated high school!! Woot woot!!

It has been a crazy but awesome week.

I love you all!!

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Sister Wong's first recliner experience

Exchanges. Got to ride in a jeep with no top. It was fun!

Madi's Baptism
L to R - Sister Wong, Madi, Sister Baird

Happy Birthday to me!

Sister Baird and the Cup

Madi's Baptism
L to R: Sister Wong, Madi, Sister Baird

Exchanges. Got to ride in a jeep with no top. It was fun!


 

Companionship Selfie! Because we are so cute!

Flat Tire...nuff said.

Flat Tire

On exchanges!!

It's the final...

Sister Wong's first Chick-fil-A 

Happy Monday!!!

This week has been a good one and fast! It is weird to think that today is Monday. It feels like it was yesterday.

Sister Wong is still amazing. This week we hit a few more firsts for her. I forgot one last week so I'll start with that one. She pumped gas for the first time last week. This week she had her first Chick-fil-A, and she took her first Walmart trip. Apparently they don't have Walmart in Hong Kong. Who knew. Probably you. Haha ha, I know I am so funny... me and my rhythms. *sigh* anyway, back to what I was talking about. Yeah, Sister Wong! She is amazing. Learning new words that I realize are very strange, such as nerdy and quirky. I guess not normal words around the world.. It has been fun. I found out that when I first got her and said "You're a pro, so on top of it" she had no idea what that meant. Now she uses the phrase "on top of it" more. It's awesome.

Well in AMAZING news, Madi is getting baptized THIS Saturday and confirmed this Sunday! It is so amazing to see how far she and her Mom have come. I seriously love them and are so happy for them. We are working on getting everything figured out for it.  It's all coming together. There will definitely be pictures included next week!!

I also had my final interview with President Jardine. He is our mission President for those who didn't know. He is over all the missionaries in the California Sacramento Mission. He is amazing and truly inspired. He leaves in about a month in a half and then we will have President Hymas. It'll be different, but I know it is what the Lord needs to happen at this time.

Along with finals, I have to of course share with everyone that my most beautiful sister, Sidney graduates High School the same day that I have my baptism, THIS SATURDAY. *tear* she's all grown up!! She has officially done most of the lasts for high school. gah, I can't even believe it. You may or may not see my face in some of the pictures. It is fun :)

Well that is all I have for this week. This time next week, I'll be 20!! Woot woot! When did that happen??

Much Love Always,

MJ <3

Sunset and view from one of the neighborhoods we get to work in

Sunset and view from one of the neighborhoods we get to work in

A scripture I have come to LOVE. Jesus Christ will have to judge us, but He pleads for us first and foremost. He will do anything to help us reach our full potential. We just have to let Him in.  

Uh, Sister Wong time for companionship study, Sister wong?

First Wal-Mart trip for Sister Wong

A whole new world...

Beautiful people,

How was your week? I guess I always stick you with the lovely details of my week that I never ask about yours. So how was yours? How is life treating you? Excited for the summer season coming up? Any fun and exciting plans? I would love to hear what some of your answers are. :)

As for me, this week was finally one I could call happy. Not going to lie, my last few weeks of the last transfer were pretty difficult, but this week has definitely changed that around. Sister Wong is doing amazing and not afraid of anyone or anything. Well except spiders, don't go there. But you give her any person on the street or outside the car and she is there saying hello. Funny thing, I had to let her know that we probably shouldn't say hello to people on the street, from the car, when it is dark and 9 at night. She was a little disappointed. A few firsts for her this week included seeing a shirtless man that was not in her family, her first team up (we split with the Sister Training Leaders for 2 hours), and her first American "wings". (chicken wings, you know what I am talking about?) Anyway, it was awesome. She is still super funny and improving her English every day.

The work is pretty slow right now, but we are working hard. We are determined to get our numbers up this week. We are going to find those prepared souls. We know that the Lord has people waiting and we just need to find them.

Update on Madi! She is doing amazing!! We are getting closer and closer to her baptism and are working on getting all the details figured out for it. She is getting more excited every day we get closer to it.

Besides her, we really don't have anyone else, but that will change. We know it!!

Other exciting news, we are getting a new car!!!! Our car is at 49190 ish miles and they like to change them when they get close to 50000. yay! It'll be awesome!  

We had stake conference this week so that was cool and we got to go to Sister Wong's new missionary meeting. She "loved" it. Haha, we get to sit in a room for a few hours and get some training. They at least give us lunch. And this time I didn't fall asleep!! I may have the first time..

Well, not much this week, but I want you all to know how much I love and miss you. I know life isn't easy, but the Lord has a plan in store for all of us. We may not like the stage we are in now, but one day we will be able to look back and say, thank you for letting me go through that.

I want to invite each of you to find the Mormon Message, "The Will of God". It is truly an inspiring one and it always touches my heart.

Don't forget Mother's Day coming up. <3

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Sister Wong and Sister Baird

Sister Wong and Sister Baird

Sister Wong and Sister Baird
at Zone Conference playing Noodle and Crackers!?