On the move again!

Hoppy afternoon everyone!! 

Hehe, enjoy the pun :D 

Anyway, I have almost no time this week, so I am going to have to keep this quite short and powerful. I have a ton of pictures, so hopefully that makes up for it. 

I'll start with the fun news. I received my transfer call this past Saturday and I will be leaving my loved companion and area and heading to the Carmicheal Stake. I will be serving in the Fair Oaks Park North Ward and the River City YSA Carmichael area. Serving YSA should be interesting!! My new companion is Sister Van Vaulkenburg. I am so excited! I have never seen this girl frown or stop laughing, so I am pretty pumped!

Kelley is still moving forward and we are hoping to get her to the Temple soon, like this week soon!! 

We have been working with members a lot more lately, and I am so excited to see where the work starts to go here. I know the Lord inspires the work to go the way He wants it to and I think we finally figured out what that is!!

I love and miss you all!!! 

Much Love Always, 

Sister MJ Baird

Ashley and Sis Baird

L to R - Wilcox family, Sis Baird and the Lenehan family

Tovar family

Long family

Sis Devey and Sis Baird

Last District photo

Bishop and Sister Suafoa and Sis Baird

Taylor family

Sis Taylor and Sis Baird happened to match - crazy and unplanned!

Sis Zufelt and Sis Baird

Kristi and Cody and Sis Baird

Kelley, their recent convert working on Family History.

Combined p-day with East Sacramento District

Combined p-day with East Sacramento District

Sis Baird and the Nelson family

Sis Baird and Sis Nelson

Turkey walking around...had to snap a pic!

Sis Baird and Sis Richins with the Lewis family.

The Living Dead

Hey oh!

Sister Baird here, reporting from the California Sacramento Mission!

This week has followed suit of nothing normal, which seems to be the theme of this transfer.

We started off the week with me going and getting my eyes dilated.

All good, no worries!! Short little blip about that. The eye doctor I went to see, said he had just had a young lady with my same prescription come in because she started to see "fireworks". In other words, her retina tore. He said I was fine though. Gave me lots of comfort.. anyway!!

Then on Wednesday we had zone conference and I loved it! Zone conference is truly one of my favorite things in the world. I got to see 3 of my 4 'daughters' at this Zone Conference as well! I was seriously thrilled when I got out of the car and saw Sister Simpson, Sister Wong and Sister Rowley. Oh my goodness it was amazing. Some day I will get all 4 together. #bigfamilyproblems

L to R - Sis Richins, Sis Baird, Sis Wong, and Sis Simpson - 3 of her companions she's served with.

Sis Baird and Sis Wong (throwback pic)

We were able to receive training that was exactly what we needed to hear. I got to give a training to the zone with the zone leaders, that was fun. I love when the spirit guides the conversation. I am also super grateful that I am serving with some bomb Elders. I don't have to worry about being not part of anything or them just ignoring me. Not sure if that makes sense, but I just have an awesome zone. I'll leave it at that. The rest of the mission also got smart phones at zone conference so that was exciting!

Zone at Zone Conference with President and Sister Hymas

I was then able to have exchanges with Hermana Barrera, and that was wonderful. She is super sweet and such a hard worker. 

Then Saturday we had Kelley's baptism! Oh my goodness, the spirit was strong and it was an amazing baptism. I loved being able to see Kelley just glow because of the choice she had made. She is an incredible example to everyone around her. 

Kelley at her baptism with Sis Baird and Sis Richins

Oh and the best part of this, Sister Richins has literally been sick for a solid week. Last Saturday and Sunday she laid on the couch for 48 hours straight, and just slept and for the rest of the week she was down. It was nuts, but she is alive and going again. The title is all based around her. Glad she is back. 

Sorry if this email is all over the place. Life is great. I love the mission. We find out transfer calls this Saturday, so be waiting for news next Pday!

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Zone 'blitz'

14/18th of the way done!

Howdy all!!

I guess Sister Richins is rubbing off on me. Just kidding, I just thought it would be fun to say. :) Fun little tid bit though, this morning I was asked if I had an accent. I haven't gotten that my whole mission. 

This week has been an adventure yet again. I started it off by having a mission meeting with some of the other missionaries in the mission. We ended up leaving the meeting with our old "dinosaur" phones being replaced with smart phones!

 

We now have a Smartphone!

This coming week, the rest of the mission will be getting them. It has been a neat experience seeing the added blessings of having yet again, just another tool in our tool belt! 

Wednesday I had an eye appointment, which was awesome. Don't wait 14 months to get yours eyes checked! We also found out that we were going to have our apartment sprayed for cockroaches again just to be safe, and that means rearranging the apartment.. again. 

Thursday we had service and that was fun. We also got to go on a Temple tour with Kelley and I got to see Sister Tenney, my 4th daughter <3 It was a great day!

Friday we had district meeting and it was amazing. The Zone Leaders and I got to give a training to start, then to regular meetings, and finished by coming back together, having a member of the High Council come and talk to us about member work. It was inspiring!

Saturday, we started the day off by having Kelley's baptismal interview. All went well and she is ready to go for this coming Saturday!! However, when we got home Sister Richins was not feeling well. She told me she just needed a 20 minute nap and she would be good. Well, Heavenly Father made sure she forgot to put the sound on for the alarm she set, and ended up sleeping from 9:45 is in the morning until 3:45 ish in the evening. And when she woke up, she had a fever and went straight back to sleeping. She ended up being sick all Saturday, and all Sunday. Allowing me to attend 3 sacrament meetings, because the Hermanas did splits so I could go. And today she is finally on the uphill, but still recovering. 

It seems Sister Richins and I just can't get a normal week. that is okay though, what fun would that be? :) 

I want you all to know I love you and miss you and hey, I guess I have 99 days left! Who knew.
 

Stay close to the Lord, He is the best.

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Sis Baird is honing her 'cooking skills'. That was supposed to be 'Pita Bread'. 

Got to see Sis Koller (MTC companion) at a mission meeting this week!

Temple, Interviews, and Exchanges

 Hey all!!

With a crazy afternoon, time for emailing is cut short a bit so this one is going to be quick!
Three main things this week!

First interviews with President and Sister Hymas!! They are seriously the best and so inspired. I always walking away feeling wonderful and stronger. Highlight would have to be when President said he should write a talk about repentance using an analogy about cockroaches. If you deal with the day to day problems, you won't have such a huge problem in the end. Love them both!!

Then we had the temple. Oh my goodness. Favorite place in the world. I felt so much peace being there.I never wanted to leave, never! I can't wait to be able to go as often as I want!! Even though the rain and wind was crazy, most definitely worth it. 

And final fun thing for the week was that I got to go on exchanges with Hermana Najera. She is so fun and it was a blast getting to spend the day with her. I have so much to learn from all the sisters I get to serve around I love it!!

We also found two new investigators and Kelly is now on date for March 17th and super solid!! 

I know this church is true. I know Jesus is the Christ. I love being a missionary!!

Much Love Always, 

Sister MJ Baird

The amazing Beehives of the Ironwood Crossing 1st Ward sent me a package. Amazingly, not a single item fell out. Not sure how that happened! (Sis. Baird's parents Ward)

The amazing Beehives of the Ironwood Crossing 1st Ward (Sis. Baird's parents Ward)

Who doesn't like a picture of a beautiful rainbow?

Sis Richins checking the depth of the water to ensure we could 'get through'!

Selfie with the Seymour kids!