Member Meal Mengi

Short email this week because not a whole lot happened. Our regulars like Tangent and Justin both canceled on us 😔. 

But that's alright because we met with the one guy that Elder Shumate didn't want us to let go of. His name is Modest and he's super cool! He's this younger guy and he has very good English. His kids are crazy though haha. They're always in the lessons messing with him haha. He had some great questions, the foremost was if Mormon had the Bible when he was writing. He asked because we read Alma 32 and he noticed a lot of similarities about faith between the two. Can't wait to continue foreword with him!

We also met with Daniel again. He's really picking up steam! Since He came to church he had a lot of questions regarding the differences between our churches. The last one being if we pay the offerings. We said yes and left him with a tithing pamphlet to read. He still has questions about patriarchal blessings but we were out of time. Can't wait to continue! 

And finally Sunday we met with Mtambala. He's Tangente's dad and so cool! We talked about how the book of Mormon came to be and discussed Mormon, Moroni, and Joseph Smith. He made the connection that the prophet Joseph is different from other modern "prophets" in Africa, because they claim to be intermediary between us and God. But in the first vision God presents Jesus to Joseph, making Christ the intermediary how it's supposed to be. He is so great! 

Now with the member stuff haha, we had a bunch of meals this week and it was great to see the members where they are as they present their "offering before the lord" by feeding us. Some were in their nice homes and put a lot of effort into the preparation, others place a large concern of receiving the spirit and lessons that we bring, and others do the best that they can with what little they have to share. It's amazing to see all of them do their best that they can to receive us just as we do our best to serve them and bring the spirit.

Oh and we visited Patrick Pilipili. He's a member that is going through a lot with his family. His wife passed a while back and he really misses her and is struggling to run the home himself and work as well. We brought the two group leaders with us to talk with him. He really opened up to them and we had a great discussion together. And then he came to our ward! He's so great and I loved to see him there. 

We had quite a few lessons fall through this week, we knocked a lot of doors with little success. But for what we did have go through, and what we have planned I am very happy about. I love all these people and I thank God for this experience, no matter the days where I may be feeling down. 

I encourage you to go back and read Alma 32 and do what it says. Experiment on the word by planting it in your heart and nourishing it with the faith, even the desire to have the faith. Watch what begins to sprout and bring fruit, you'll be amazed. 

God loves you and so do I! Wiki njema!

Cleaning Week

 Jambo Jambo! 

How is everyone doing this fine p-day? It's been a good week on this end. We've been "cleaning our area books", which is us just basically making sure everything is recorded in our app how it should be and making sure that people who we're actually talking with show up as people currently being taught. It takes some work and a lot of knocking on doors to make sure people are actually too busy/not very interested. It's hard not to feel like I'm letting these people down, but I know that the Lord is in control of this work and that if he wants us over at a specific home he will tell us. It's been quite freeing though, because our app is much more specific on who we know are interested and progressing. 

We stopped by Tangente again of course, this time we discussed church callings and responsibilities. He loved the idea of having a personal obligation to the progression and supporting of the church, more than just showing up and donating the offerings. I asked if he wants one of these callings in the future and he said "my answer is a big yes". I love this man so much, he is an amazing father and is super faithful.

We also met with Feza (the one we made Mandazi with) this week, she's a girl who had actually been on baptismal date in the past. But with being too busy with school and unable to get herself to church, it just wasn't the right time for her to be baptized. But we are starting to get more regular lessons with her again and she was surprised when we talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon again that she learned something new. 

And lastly we met with Daniel again, we discussed Patriarchal Blessings. Quite unorthodox for a lesson with a friend who doesn't even have a testimony about the church, but i felt inspired so here we are haha. This isn't even close to the first time I've heard him have amazing questions, but it was a unique lesson with him. He seemed so hungry to learn more about what we taught, it was amazing. 

Also Rossi and Gothie's little brother named Obed came to church yesterday. He is a very energetic 11 year old kid and loves when we come over. He's asked before when he will get baptized and our answer was when he comes to church more. So here he is haha! Hopefully all keeps moving forward.

Oh and we went to a state fair today! It was very fun, lots of animals and fried food. I got a fried Snickers, it was very fattening and tasty haha!

Love you all! Also go read President Nelson's Conference address titled "Peacemakers Needed" again. It's amazing and exactly what the world needs at this time!

Elder Baird

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Tangente is a Nickname Because of Math

Ya know? This is kind of becoming a bi-weekly thing huh? Sorry about that everyone haha. It has been a crazy couple of weeks

So two weeks ago was basically one big goodbye. Elder Shumate was getting quite ready to go home, so we went around and visited a bunch of friends and members that he wanted to talk with. Not a huge amount of missionary work took place because of it, but that was alright because it was great to see all these people. We met with a really fun family in the Louisville 2nd ward named the Nelsons. Elder Shumate said they were his favorite family, and I could see why. They were a very fun family with 4 daughters and they reminded me heavily of a friend's family I had in Jr High/High School. 

We also met with Justin again which was great as always! We had an always nervous lesson, the Word of Wisdom, but he was accepting and could see the benefits right away. We also met with him last week and followed up. He says he read the pamphlet and understands the promised blessings that come with following this commandment. Prayers for him that he can start building these new habits. 

Now transfer news and such. I'm staying in North + West with Elder Tolley. But for a week we were combined with Elder Ransom in the East area while he waited for his new trainee. We had so many lessons in their area while also trying to fulfill all of our lessons at the same time. But it was really fun and we had a good time trying to get everything done. Elder Ransom is great and the new District leader. His trainee came on Friday and also seems really cool. 

Elder Tolley and I are working hard to see everyone in our area and clean out or app that has the people we're teaching. We have far too many people in there that we haven't even seen in months (oops), but that'll be done soon. 

We also met with Tangente again! We stopped by on Wednesday and he was sleeping, but his wife got him up and we started talked just about his life and trying to get to know him better since it had been so long. One of the things that we learned is that his nickname is Tangent because he was good at trigonometry in High School and his friends started calling him tangent (as in sine, cosine, and tangent). We came over again on Friday and told him that now that he knows the truth and has a testimony he needs to share it like we do. He got really excited about that and he also said there was a lot of things that he wants to learn that the church uniquely has for him. That was so exciting because I thought he had already learned everything! But now he wants to keep learning more!

That's pretty much my week, we also had a member meal with brother Sterner again. He's great and had a ton of amazing things to say. But basically the biggest one was that God will ask us to sacrifice all our material possessions and things we hold dear, that he will ask us to give up whatever it takes for us to fully love him. It was a big eye opener to me because I now have a greater meaning to the sacrifice that Christ made to us. We no longer have to sacrifice animals because Heavenly Father provided the Lamb for the last time, but we still might have to sacrifice whatever he deems fit so long as it brings us to him. So when you seem to be loosing everything in this life, remember why we are here, to learn to become like our Heavenly Father. 

Love you all! Have a great week.

Elder Baird

OHHH and we went to the temple with Ogino and Marine and I baptized in French and Swahili!! It was amazing and they both really could feel the spirit. That was an amazing experience for all of us 😁.

I Don't Have a Stomach of Steel

 

Sorry everyone for skipping last week but it's alright because it's mostly the same people that we are teaching. 

 

So starting off on like the 18th we learned how to make Mandazi with an girl named Feza. Mandazi is basically an African (Congolese/Tanzanian) beignet, which is basically a French donut haha. Mandazi isn't very sweet but it's fluffy and tasty. Feza is awesome too and her little brother, nicknamed by himself "Nonsense", is so funny and honestly super cool. He is the one in a lot of these videos haha. He has read the old testament and D&C picture books in the last 2 weeks and now has book of Mormon. He's like 11 and does all this on his own! 

 

Then I had 2 exchanges in one week. Those were great and I got to have a taste of the east louisville area. It's so busy! The east elders have also recorded a song with an African member which I'm very excited to see. 

 

We also have met with Daniel both weeks. He's honestly still progressing and he told us on Wednesday that "j'ai soif pour aller à votre eglise" (he's thirsty to come to church 🤣). He has so many questions as always and is one of my favorite to talk to. 

 

Two Saturdays ago we had an absolute huge soccer night. We needed to split into 4 teams to make sure nobody got hurt because the church is a small. It was so fun!! Last week's was good too but there wasn't quite as many people.

 

Tangente is back in contact!!! He came to church two Sundays ago (sadly not last) and we met with him 2 weeks ago but he canceled last Wednesday. Hopefully we see him this week 🙏. 

 

Ogino has been teaching us Haitian Creole these 2 Sundays haha. He gets so excited and we can't help but say yes. He's so great and has been taking temple classes. He's honestly ready to go but needs to take the classes first. 

 

We've met again with Akili! He is still pretty new to what we have to teach but likes having us come over. His kids are awesome too, but I don't like his friend very much. I think I've come in contact with him at least 10+ times and he was sober once. It's alright of course, everyone has their difficulties. 

 

Oh and for the title. I was sick on Sunday. Pretty upset stomach, nausea, and a fever. Sound like food poisoning to anyone else? I'm sure it was having dinner in less than FDA approved living conditions. But hey c'est la vie. It's worth it to spend time and bond with these wonderful people. 

 

Some great things happened on Sunday too. We got a new Elders Quorum Presidency, it's Brother Green (he's who drives Rossi and Gothie around everywhere). He said he's been praying to have more opportunities to meet people in the ward. What a answer to that prayer he received 😂. He'll be great though. And we also sat down with new President Green, Rossi, and Gothie to discuss their new ordination to the Aaronic priesthood. They seem nervous but willing to work to fulfill their new responsibilities. 

 

And finally transfers are this Friday. I won't know until Wednesday night what happens but I should be staying here because Elder Shumate is heading home. Can't wait to see what new adventures are in store for me!

 

Have a wonderful week everyone! God loves you and sees you. The power of the Holy Ghost is real, he purifies, strengthens, and testifies at every chance he can, as long as we allow him to. My invitation: let him in, and let him speak to you. Love you! 

 Elder Baird