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!?

When the Trainee Becomes Trainer

Hey all,

So as you can probably tell from the subject line, this week was quite the week. We had transfers and I learned of mine on Thursday instead of Saturday. I received a phone call from President asking me if I would in fact TRAIN. I accepted and had very mixed feelings. Terrified and excited all at the same time. I'll continue this little story in a moment.

The infamous snake while on the Temple grounds

The last week as a trio was not the easiest of my mission, but I have learned a lot. We got to do Temple tours for activity day girls (girls between the ages of 8-12) and we got to go on a Temple tour with Madi and her mom. It was such an incredible experience. Blessings of having the Temple so close by! The night before the Temple tours we actually took a walk around as just us three and saw a snake! Yeah, Crazy. Picture included. This is when I learned the tablets don't have flash -_-. Boo.

California Sacramento Temple at night!

With that, we have continued meeting with Madi and her mom and we are super excited to be moving forward with them.

Other than that we don't have any investigators but I am confident that the work will move forward. All in the Lord's timing.

Sister Baird and Sister Wong - her new companion and trainee!

So I guess I should let everyone know who this new companion is!! Well, that would be the most wonderful... Sister Wong!! She is from Hong Kong and has no idea where Illinois is. I am driving because, well she can't Haha!And on top of that I have terrible direction skills and she can barely read a map so it has been fun you could say :) She is super sweet and I am looking forward to being able to  be her companion for the next 12 weeks.




Interesting fact, she has actually been on her mission longer than me. She was in the Hong Kong mission for 4 transfers before her visa finally came through! So she is older than her trainer haha, it is great. I love it.

Lots of meetings this coming week and a lot of patience this past week, but I still love being able to go out and serve the Lord with everything I have.

I wanted to give some special shout outs this week:

Happy Birthday to the most beautiful sister-in-law, Samantha Baird!!!

AND

Happy Birthday to the single most greatest little sister on the planet earth ever to have ever existed Sidney Baird. Holy molies you are almost a "legal idiot"!!!

Sister Baird and Sister Wong created this and had a member send this picture to us for
Sidney's birthday on April 26th!
Sister Baird is so thoughtful and sweet to ensure her Sisters' birthday was made special!

I hope you all have an amazing week. Don't forget, mother's day is coming up, so be preparing!

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Sister Baird's mission car was 'gummed'.
Someone was very kind and shared their gum. So sweet huh?!

Sister Baird and Sister Wong taught Seminary and this was from their lesson!
Yes, she taught seminary! Crazy huh!?

L to R - Sister Baird, Sister Koller (MTC Companion), and Sister Hanekamp
These are the 3 Sisters asked to train the 3 new incoming Sister missionaries
that have joined the California Sacramento Mission.

L to R - Sister Baird, Sister Koller and Sister Hanekamp - trainers in waiting!

Sister Baird and Sister Wong in front of the California Sacramento Temple.

Sister Baird and Sister Wong

Trio Life and 3/18th of the way there!

Hey beautiful people,

Sorry for the not so positive intro last week. Hopefully this week will be better. I don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to make sure I at least got something out to you.

A couple updates:

L to R- Sister Baird, Sister Sessions, and Sister Anderson

So as the subject line states, I am officially in a trio. We had the beautiful Sister Sessions join us last Monday (April 10) and will be with us until the end of the transfer, which is really just this week left.

Oh! Before I forget, P-day is Tuesday next week!

Anyway, trio life has definitely taken some getting used to, but Sister Sessions has been amazing so it has been alright. Learning new things every day. With the addition of her, we originally took on two other wards which meant, for a few days, we were covering 4 wards. Yes, 4. For some missions that is normal. (ahem utah), but here, it is definitely not the normal thing to have. We ended up giving one of the wards to the zone leaders so we are down to only 3! It helped a bit when they took that on.

Sister Sessions and Sister Baird chilling!

In good news Madi is on date for baptism!! She was really hesitate up to this point, but during this last lesson the spirit was so incredibly strong, the whole time. We talked about faith in Christ and repentance and Sister Anderson felt prompted to bring it up. It had been a touchy subject to put her on date (for baptism), but we brought it up and we both had the same exact date come to mind. We told her and prayed right then and there about it. When the prayer was finished, her mom said she no longer had any doubts about it for her daughter! How amazing! It was such an incredible experience. So the date is May 13th! Which is amazing because the next day is Mothers Day AND my birthday which is when she would receive the Holy Ghost. Anyway, I am just a little (and by little I mean lot) excited for her!

The other thing is that we had zone conference this week! I love zone conference! The whole thing was centered around Jesus Christ. One of the parts I loved the most, well there is two.

First is when they asked us all the question,

"Who is Jesus Christ to you?" So, I wanted to challenge you all to ask yourselves that question. "Who is Jesus Christ to me?" Let me know your answers. I would love to hear.

The other part I loved was when our Mission President asked us all to open to our favorite scripture about Christ. Most of the time I fumble around looking for a scripture, but for the first time in my life I was able to open straight to one that has touched my heart. The scripture I opened to was 2 Nephi 1:15.

2 Nephi 1:15 But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

Besides that, I have just been chugging along.

I miss and love you all.

I hope you each had an amazing Easter. I know that Christ lived, died, and lived again, specifically for YOU.

Much Love to you always,

Sister MJ Baird

L to R - Sister Baird, Sister Sessions, and Sister Anderson
at a members home (Brother and Sister Pierce's) for dinner.

Sister Baird and Sister Anderson - picture provided by Sister Pierce, a member.

Sister Baird and Sister Pierce
- the member that is taking amazing care of Sister Baird

Snow?....I thought I went to California!

Those who are still paying attention,

Thanks if you are still reading these, makes me feel loved, so does getting emails by the way ;)

Attention Cody Hale, Blair family and Sister Ryan, still need those addresses. <3

Now onto to those updates and incredible thoughts I give every week.

Exciting news! Luis was officially baptized this week and it was amazing! You could tell he was so happy. He cried quite a bit. Sister Anderson and I actually did the missionary moment for the baptism so that was cool. The missionary moment is when we show everyone what was taught during the first lesson with Luis. It was super cool. For those who understand the words I am about to say: we taught the restoration in about 10 minutes. that was basically it. Anyway, he is awesome and I will attach a picture of that.

L to R: Elder Galvez, Elder Perry, Elder Forte, Luis, Bro. McVey, Sister Anderson, Sister Baird

Madi and Cassandra! I don't know if I have mentioned them yet, I think I did, but they are amazing! Madi honestly could and would be baptized tomorrow if she could, but she wants to make sure that her mom is completely comfortable with it first. But she knows she will be baptized. Our goal is to get them on a temple tour this week. #perksofbeingclosetoatemple I will let you know how things go with them!

Other than that we are considering releasing Laura and Tony.I hope not, but we will see. It is whatever Heavenly Father wants to happen for them.

In other news not related to people, we have zone conference coming up this week and I am pumped! Singing with Elder Lee in my zone so that will be fun. I also might be in a trio for the rest of the transfer. We will see! Craziness. We also have 12.5 hours of service this week. Thank you Easter city thing! I love service, did you know that? Because I do! Well, update on my Book of Mormon reading, I am on Mormon 4!!! Finished 3rd Nephi and 4th Nephi (only 1 chapter..) and am so pumped. I am getting so close tofinsihing it!

Sister Baird and Sister Moffett playing in the snow!

Oh! I was in snow this week and had exchanges!! Gave out a Book of Mormon within an hour of starting exchanges!! And shared the Prince of Peace video twice. It was amazing. Yes, snow is still cold.

Sister Baird attempting to enjoy the snow!

Sister Baird enjoying the snow!

Well, that is all for this week. One shout out because I am me and I must do so!

Arabella, my most beautiful niece is turning one this Sunday, April 16th!! AND....She is officially walking and is the cutest one year old on the planet. I will fight you if you disagree. Kidding, kind of :D.

I love you all!! And Happy Easter. I know that my Savior loves me and loves each and everyone of you. He lived, died and lived again, so that you could live again. I know that with everything in me.

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Sister Baird and Sister Anderson enjoying milkshakes at a members home!

 

Sister Baird and Sister Anderson at the Jorgensen's home!
(Side note: The Jorgensen's son is currently serving in the Nashville Tennessee Mission,
which happens to be the mission that my parents live in! Small world...maybe my parents
 will be able to return the favor and feed Elder Jergensen and his companion!)

Gettin' donuts!
L to R: Sister Baird, Sister Brown, Sister Sessions, Sister Miko, Sister Moffett

Sister Baird and Sister Miko

This picture is pointing where you can actually
see the entire California Sacramento Mission.

Sister Anderson and Sister Baird showing you
 the California Sacramento Mission behind them!

Sister Anderson and Sister Baird striking a pose
with the California Sacramento Mission as a backdrop!

Sister Baird saying "Waalaa" - Here is the California Sacramento Mission!

Sister Baird and Sister Anderson posing in front of
the California Sacramento Mission.
A viewpoint where you can see entire mission.

General Conference was amazing!

Aloha to anyone who is still reading these after about 2 and a half months!

This week was pretty normal you could say, but we got to watch General Conference and the new Easter Video came out!

First General Conference: For those of you who don't know, this is a twice a year thing, where the entire church comes together and watches (via phone, computer, live, really a lot of different ways), the general authorities over our church speak to us on different topics. This session I loved so very much!! As a missionary I found myself seeing it, and looking for certain things in a whole new light! The prophet, Thomas S. Monson spoke for a little over three minutes and it made me think. If I only spoke for three minutes, it would definitely be what need to be heard the most. And He spoke about the importance of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is amazing and He said that if we do not have a testimony of it, to read it and get one. I am not saying that every one should stop what they are doing right now and read it, but I want to give my invitation to each of you to take the challenge of reading it. It has changed my life and I promise it will change yours too.

That was probably the biggest take away I had from conference this time. Gah, so good!

Anyway, a real quick thing about that new Easter video! It is called "Prince of Peace Easter Video" and is AMAZING! Whether you are Mormon or not I would encourage you to watch it. It brought me so close to tears, but not bad tears, good tears. Jesus Christ brings peace to our lives and He can bring it to your life as well. Oh and then if you love me, share it!!! You can even tag me in it if you want, when you share it. :D

Sorry for so much "churchy" stuff this week, but hey I am on a mission, guess you should have expected it <3

Update on Luis! He is getting baptized THIS Saturday, April 8th!! I am so excited for him!! He is amazing and I know he is excited to finally be baptized! Won't be my first official one anymore, but I still get to go, so it is all good!

Three weeks left of the transfer so I took more pictures with Sister Anderson.

Sister Baird and Sister Anderson Selfie 1

Sister Baird and Sister Anderson Selfie 2

Sister Baird and Sister Anderson Selfie 3

One quick funny story for you all this week. So I am designated driver right? Well Sister Anderson is a little (by a little - I mean major (probably bordering on phobia) fear of spiders. There was one in the the crack on her door while I was starting to drive away from our dinner one night and she gets so freaked out that before I can park the car she is ROLLING into the BACKSEAT of the car to get away from it. By the time I was out of the car she was in the backseat looking absolutely terrified! Haha, who knew I'd be the one killing a tiny spider. Normally I'd be the one in the backseat. Anyway!! Hopefully you got a kick out of it, I sure did.

Well this is getting long so I am signing off!

Until next time, Much love always!!

Jesus Selfie!

Sister MJ Baird

P.S. Accidentally took a picture of Jesus while trying to take our selfie haha, enjoy!