So this has been quite a busy week. We have done all kinds of stuff starting on Tuesday with the 4th of July parade. We drove to another city, not too far away, but maybe a bit further than we should have been allowed to go, called Georgetown. We joined in with the church there. The ward there in Georgetown is part of this parade and they do it every year. It was super cool because there were like 10 missionaries and the whole ward was out on the 4th of July, which is not like anything that you see in Utah so that was pretty awesome!
Then afterwards we went to Sister Conner's house, which is always a unique experience. (Elder Baird calls this sister “The Prophetess” because she has a lot of divine information to give them. - Mom) Elder Shumate was told that his wife is going to be “chunky” but by that we are pretty sure that she means very muscular. I will not be asking about my future wife, because I want to leave that up to fate, I think. Haha (she told him to tell me to have more faith - so yeah, working on that - Mom)
Sister Connor, I had told her that my birthday was going to be in two days, so she celebrated that day. She had me wear the green lei that is in my pictures. She had me wear green, because it is my favorite color, so she said that is more important than red, white and blue. Which is fun. She is always fun.
Then after that, on the 4th, we went and visited Baelomona. Who is just super cool. We went and met him twice last week. He is this eighteen-year-old that has been taught in the past. He was always really cool back then, but we met with him two weeks ago and he said that he has read a bunch of the Book of Mormon. He loves everything that we teach him. He has his own great insights and I honestly believe that if we could get him to church then he could continue all the way to baptism. Which is incredible, because he has never been baptized before. The issue is that he doesn’t have a car or a license and his brother is very into his job at Krispy Cream, but if we can make something work I really believe that he can be baptized. Which is super exciting.
We met with the awesome member from Haiti, Ogino. He is super awesome. He made us some great food. It was fried plantains, he smashed them and fried them and then fried pork and what is known as peak leaves which is like spicy coleslaw. It’s delicious. I like Haitian food. I like that Haitian food, what his Mom made for us on Sunday, that wasn’t quite so tasty.
Anyway, we have been doing a lot of meeting people, well trying to meet with everybody. It is going super well, because people are busy and we have a lot of people to talk to. Which means a lot of driving, but our goal is to try and meet with everybody. We are having some success with that, we have some really awesome people.
I have mentioned Justin and Masan in the past. I love these two. They taught us today, how to make pat. In Ghana they call it banku. They make it out of corn flour and water, it is literally oublick, and they throw it in the microwave and it becomes kind of fufu-like. Then they made this really delicious sauce that has a lot of different things in it. It has tomatoes, spinach and chicken drumsticks. They use, actually, shrimp powder and Justin was a chef back in Togo. We brought the two English elders and the two bike elders with us that we used to live with and they loved it. Justin makes this powder out of shrimp. It’s wild.
Justin and Masan are super cool. They are this couple that live here. Masan lived here for five years while they were engaged and she told us that, “It was just her and Jesus.” Which is incredible. They are super interested. The only hiccup is that Justin is very interested in the church, but he is very busy in his other church, so I think that he is feeling a little bit caught between the two. So, he hasn’t been able to make it to church yet. To come try ours out.
On my birthday, which was the 6th, we had a member meal with the Sterners. They are super cool. They are a younger couple, pretty newlywed, that has moved out here from Utah for the summer to live in Louisville around some of their family. Brother Sterner is great. He is eccentric and energized. He always has something to say and is very fun. Sister Sterner is so sweet and patient. It made me very happy to see those two. They seemed to be enjoying their time together and married life, which was great, because they are just the best.
We have met with Baelomona twice this week and we also met with Vakiri. He is really interesting. He loves to talk with us, but we aren’t really sure that he wants to change up his lifestyle, because he just kind of accepts everything that we say at face value instead of really applying it and so it’s hard to judge where he is at.
Our week has been a lot of just trying to meet with people and we haven't really had much success. Sunday night we called like everyone and hardly anyone answered. We got a few things set up, but because of the 4th of July, most people weren’t around. Even the Africans seem to be doing something, just because it’s the summer.
So yeah, I had a really awesome birthday. My Mom sent me just loads of stuff and I am really excited for this coming week. We should meet with a lot of people.
My thoughts this week come from a member that we met with on Friday. Brother Finney is awesome. He served in Russia right after the Berlin wall fell. He had taught one of the very best hit men in Russia at the time. He read a book and there he was with a picture of him. Which was wild! He had some crazy stories. He told us that even if something happens in the church and you want to leave, never leave Jesus, and I agree. Jesus is the source of all happiness and through him all things are possible. Life may change, you may not feel like you fit in or you belong in places that you used to, but you will always belong with Jesus. I can promise you that and through Him all things are possible. I know that in my own life. I love you all!
Elder Baird
