Spanish Life

Hola! 

I figured since I was in Spanish work for half the week it was a great way to start off this wonderful email. 

Not a crazy amount of things happened this week, so this is going to be pretty short, but I will still give you a bit. 

So after our emailing time last week we got a call from our Mission President letting us know that I would be going with one of the Hermana's in our apartment until her new companion arrived Monday (today). So, starting Thursday morning through about 10:20 this morning I had the privilege of being an Hermana! If you are wondering, yes, I still have zero Spanish skills. I have learned a few random words, but English and ASL are still my thing. I will let the other do the Spanish life. Heavenly Father definitely knew better than sending me Spanish speaking. A few funnies from my adventures in the Spanish life. 

First, the Hermanas are teaching this man from Bolivia and for some reason my brain kept pairing that with Europe not South America. Well, we were in the car and talking about how she one day wants to have something to do with Hispanics and of course, the so intelligent me says, well Bolivian could do! She dies laughing and then lets me know Bolivian is Hispanic.. at least I know now!

Then, every door we would go up to I would just stand, smile and nod along with whatever was being said and as we were saying good-bye the people at the door would look at her and say good bye in Spanish and look at me and say good-bye in English. They totally knew. It was great.

And my final story. Last night we had dinner with a woman who only spoke Spanish. She gave us these plates of food and it was really yummy. Only problem, I am the biggest wimp you'll meet in your entire life. Well I ate the whole thing while downing an entire water bottle. By the end I was most definitely rationing out what water I had left in order to make it last the rest of my plate. We get in the car and Hermana Barrera starts telling me that the woman asked if we thought it was spicy and that she had said no. The woman replied by saying 'wow, you are Mexican!' Hahaha, I just died because I told her, nope I was dying the entire meal. Like I said I'm a wimp. 

Well, I am sure you thought my stories were hilarious, just kidding. I am an awful story teller but hopefully it at least gave you one of those half smirky smiles on your face!

I love and miss you all, oh and yes I am back in my most loved trio! I missed those sisters!!!

Sis Tenney, Sis Baird and Sis Kearl

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

On Wednesday, January 17, we had the opportunity to be apart of the 'activity days' girls activity. It was so fun!

2/3 of the way done, orrrrr 1 year!!

Hey oh you beautiful people!!

Well, I hit 1 year this week and that was exciting!! 

Part of me thought to end the email right then and there, but then I imagined my Mother's face and thought to do otherwise. 

Oh what a week!!

Honestly, it has been a bit crazy, but so good!! 

Far left - Sister Koller, then Sister Brown, then Sister Baird
Those three were in the MTC together!

The week started by having to attend some meetings and that was amazing!  I got to see both Sisters Brown and Sister Koller, the two other sisters who I was in the MTC district with. Shout out to Krista who is out there living life and being amazing. 

We then stopped in Folsom to plan and use the wifi and I got to see my wonderful old comp Sister Rowley. It was so good seeing her. She is doing amazing if you were wondering. They won't brag, so I will for her. When I saw them, in a week and a half they had gotten 12 new investigators. Wow!!

We then had some fun service and more meetings on Wednesday! wait service was Thursday opps... 

Well Thursday we had an amazing district meeting. We are focusing on the Christlike attributes this next several months and currently we are focused on Charity. I love it!!

Friday I got to go on exchanges with Sister Lund and Sister Tenney stayed with us. It was so much fun and we definitely saw miracles. 

Saturday we did a seeking Saturday bike blitz. It was fun to just get on our bikes as a trio of us. 

Sunday was stake conference and we got to sing with the youth choir, oh the spirit was so so very strong! Sister Kearl ended up being pretty sick Sunday and through Monday so that was how the past two days went. 

Now it is Tuesday and last week we were able to find 3 new investigators. We love being in a trio and love working hard. This is the Lord's work and I love being a part of it. 

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Meetings!

If you were wondering if I was still weird, yes. No, I did not actually lick the shoe.

Clearly, I have a pretty biking face!

My most beautiful companions.

Taking our miracle video and Sister Kearl put a snail on my umbrella.

District Picture

Rancho Cordova Zone

Rancho Cordova Zone

Rancho Cordova Zone

Laughing for Days!

Hello and good day!!!

Can you believe it has already been a week?

This week has felt both long and short but it has been amazing. Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need and Sisters Kearl and Tenney were exactly what I needed, and I did not even know it! Though, now I do!! We are seriously laughing all the time and it is the best. Laughing is something we should do all the time.

L to R: Sister Tenney, Sister Baird and Sister Kearl

L to R: Sister Baird, Sister Kearl and Sister Tenney

Life in Rancho has been a blast! We had quite a few meetings this week, but all has been going well! Even with all the meetings, we still managed to find a new investigator and have several appointments - almost every day! With new time changes, the Sisters are having to get used to 6 hours of church every Sunday, but thanks to the good ole' Folsom area, I was already kind of used to it since I did that for 6 months in Folsom :)

Some of the exciting news!!! Garry Bailey was baptized this week and it was probably the most spirit filled baptism I have been to on my mission. There was not a dry eye in the room. You could tell how much he loved what he was doing and knew that this is where God led him. We so grateful for his example. He now has Sister Simpson and Sister Wong to help him along the rest of his journey! 

We started Seeking Saturday here in Rancho (Rancho Cordova) so I am excited to see how that goes this transfer!! 

Not a crazy amount of new information, but it was definitely an amazing week! 

Update on preparation day next week. Due to the holiday and better finding times, our preparation day will be on Tuesday, January 16. Also, I will be hitting my 1 year this week!!  What, what!!

I love and miss you all. 

Before I go, I also just want to bear my testimony that I know Thomas S. Monson was a prophet of God and although his passing is sad, I know that this is Christ's church on the Earth and that it will continue to be led by a prophet of God. I know that God will never leave us behind. I know that He loves us. 

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Last Day with Sister Simpson as my companion!

Rancho Cordova Zone P-Day

Rancho Cordova Zone P-Day

Rancho Cordova Zone P-Day

Adopting Daughter #4

Hey all!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hard to believe we have already hit 2018!! Time to make this year better than ever!

So, I am out of time, but I wanted to make you aware of two major things for the week. Transfers and Garry Bailey!

First Garry Bailey!! He came to church this Sunday and he will be getting baptized this Saturday!! I am so excited for him and it has been such an incredible experience getting to work with him and getting him to this point. He was completely prepared!!

And transfers. I will be leaving the dear Elk Grove and heading down to the Mather and Anatolia Wards in Rancho Cordova!! I will be serving in a trio with the lovely Sister Kearl and Sister Tenney! Sister Tenney has only been out 6 weeks, so, I will assist in finishing up her training. Sister Kearl is in her last 6 weeks, so it will be quite the transfer!!

I am so excited for this new adventure ahead of me. 

I want you all to know how much I love and miss you. 

Missions are the best and I am honored I get to serve one. 

I love my Heavenly Father and He loves you!!

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Merry Christmas!

**NO EMAIL FROM SISTER BAIRD THIS WEEK**

As a family, we had a chance to Skype with her and truly see how much she has grown. It is simply amazing! 

Here are some pictures from our Skype time with her. ENJOY!

Baird Family picture with Sister Baird and the whole family!
(Look closely as we even had Tim on FaceTime on a phone!)

Sister Baird was so happy watching Arabella, her niece!

**BONUS**
This past week, the California Sacramento Mission got together and had a Mission Christmas party. Patrick Twomey, our resident SUPER STAR photographer extraordinaire was in attendance, therefore, we were provided some amazing shots. Enjoy!
 

Elk Grove Zone

Some of the Elk Grove Zone

Elk Grove Zone - showing off the Elk Grove Shirts!

Elk Grove Zone

Sister Baird - being Sister Baird

Sister Baird and Sister Simpson - paying attention intently! 

Sister Baird - conducting a musical number at the Mission Christmas party!

Sister Baird - conducting a musical number at the Mission Christmas party!

Elk Grove Zone - performing a skit

Talk in Church, Christmas Party and a Christmas miracle!

Hey all!! 

I am not sure I will be able to email next week so I will say it now...

MERRY CHRISTMAS ADAM! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE! 

AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 

If you don't get it, one day I will explain it to you.:) Christmas is the best!! 

For this week, I am just going to go through some of the highlights that happened. So yes! We had Church yesterday AND Sister Simpson and I got to speak! It was great. I actually love speaking in church. Ask me why? I have no idea. We got to speak on Christmas and how the Atonement relates to it. I  loved it. We also got to sing with the Ward choir! We also had a little miracle on Sunday (not the Christmas one yet..) but we had this lady come to church who we found out was a member, but has been struggling for quite some time. She came all on her own! It was amazing and such an example to me. 

Then we had the Ward Christmas party on Saturday! Oh so fun! Some how we got the job to chase all the little kids around the gym for 20 minutes - so that's fine. I am not complaining ahah. Don't worry, I did not hold any children! It was tough, but I pushed through! 

And time for the Christmas miracle!! 

So to start, this transfer I have been studying a lot on Faith. Our Mission has had a focus on the idea that each companionship has the opportunity to baptize every transfer. At the beginning of this transfer, we had hope, but with the Thao's falling off date, I was definitely struggling to have the Faith. Well, earlier this week, I made the decision to trust God and have Faith. So, I turned to Sister Simpson and said "we are going to have a baptism this transfer". Heavenly Father said we could, so we are. She said okay and just went with it. Well, we got to meet with our investigator Gary and he is NOW ON DATE FOR JANUARY 6!! That is the last Saturday of the transfer!! Heavenly Father truly does provide when you have the Faith!!

I love you all and encourage you to remember the true meaning of the season. Merry Christmas you beautiful people!!

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Sister Baird and Sister Simpson
*Photo Credit to Patrick Twomey

Sister Baird and Sister Simpson
*Photo Credit to Patrick Twomey

Sister Baird and Sister Simpson
*Photo Credit to Patrick Twomey

11/18th of the way there!

Good Morning Baltimore!!!!!! 

I have zero reason as to why I chose that opener besides that fact that I just sang it and it is a good song. Smiles. 

Okay so I am going to try and keep this one a little shorter because I want to try and get a few more individual emails out. 

Exciting news is that we have a new investigator named Gary. He is awesome!! He was a referral from Elders in Rancho and now he is our investigator and accepted conditional baptism. We have high hopes for him and we hope to be giving you great news in the near future. 

In other news, we got to go to the Live Nativity in Folsom and I got to see a whole bunch of my former members and it was amazing. On top of that, I got to see Sister Rowley and Sister Wong. So, I got to have all three of my "daughters" in one place and I got to meet my "granddaughter".

I have a request to let everyone know that Elder Schwenson says 'hello'! He is pretty great. He broke his foot and loves Christmas music. You basically are his best friend now. :)

We had exchanges this week and I got to be with Hermana Quizon.

Sister Baird and Hermana Quizon

It was different being in Spanish work, but it was a fun experience and we were able to get the Hermanas a new investigator!

Sorry this week is not super exciting, but I want you all to know how much I love being on a mission. I hit 11 months and it is definitely surreal, but I am grateful for the chance to serve. Best decision. Especially since I never thought it was a decision I would make. 

Sister Baird and Hermana Barrera - 11 month mark!

I love going along with the Light the World and want each of you to go along with it as well. I promise it will bless your life. 

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Smoreos at Vampire Penguin!

Vampire Penguin together with Hermana Quizon and her companion!
(and Sister Baird and Sister Simpson!) 

P-Day with Hermana Berrara and Hermana Singer