Lexingtoooooonnn!!!

It has been a blur these past few weeks. So, starting off I got transferred!! We were working hard the week of September 11, trying to hopefully progress our friends to baptism. But, transfers were hanging over our heads and we didn't know what would happen. We joined on the mission wide call, and I didn't expect to be transferred because it was just transfer 1 with Elder Tolley and we were having a lot of fun and working hard. But it happened, I got news that I was going to East Lexington. Honestly it was a bit of a shock but the first thing I did was drive over to Tangente's house at 9:00 to say goodbye and tell him to be baptized. We spent all of Thursday packing and visiting all the members and friends to say goodbye. We visited Justin and he made us some Okra (it was tasty but super slimy and that made it less enjoyable), I said goodbye but he was like "no we'll see each other again one day" and that made me really wish he would just come to church and be baptized ha-ha, but I truly to believe that he will one day! 

We also went and visited our young members that we've done a lot with. Rossi and Gothie are the brothers that got baptized right before I arrived in Kentucky. We saw them and taught a good lesson about enduring to the end. I'll miss them and their younger brothers quite a bit. We also saw another set of brothers named Felix and Hannel, they've been members for a while and are actually going to an English branch on the west side of the city. But we have met with them a few times and they're really great, they're still young but they're doing their best to continue to learn and grow their faith.

I'm going to miss Louisville but I put in a lot of hard work, and I do think that in the end it was my time to go. Now I'm here in Lexington. The first week was crazy as always it seems, ha-ha. I'm here with Elder Felix, he also just finished training like Elder Tolley when he came with me, so I'm senior companion again ha-ha. My Swahili is still very small and I really need to be better at learning it. But, for the first week we were combined as a trio with another area again while we waited for a trainee to arrive. Honestly I don't really remember a lot of what happened. I pretty much followed around and helped in lessons where I could. But we met some cool members and taught some good lessons. 

After the trainee got here we went back to normal and I'm doing the same as I was last transfer. Focusing on the people who speak French and putting a pause on those who only speak Swahili until we can teach them or until someone else transfers here. In Lexington they have a French/Swahili branch which means we are doing a lot of member work. We have like 3 new member families who we meet with weekly and they're all great. 

I'm still having a bit of a hard time adjusting but I know I'll get there and it'll be a great transfer. 

That's pretty much all for this week, sorry for the lack of specifics but honestly I don't really know anyone very well yet, ha-ha. But I know the Lord is guiding me and preparing these friends to learn from us and grow their faith in Jesus Christ. 

Have a great week! Love you all,

Elder Baird

Kinyarwanda Wedding!

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is having a great September, we're nearing up on fall and you can see it here in Kentucky. The mornings are getting chilly but the afternoons are still summer haha. We've had some really nice weather lately so I'm not complaining. But let's get into it. 

First of all on Sunday we got a message from our district leader saying that there was a wedding that evening and we were invited, because a guy in Elder Tolley's old area was getting married and invited them. It was super fun and we met some cool people! The whole thing was in Kinyarwanda though, so I didn't understand anything but it was still fun to use my French with the lady next to me. Also I keep finding random people who know who we are because they lived in Salt Lake. I didn't know there was such a big population of refugees there too but I am wanting to go maybe work with them when I get home, what better way to keep in touch with my languages??

We've been working really hard with Tangente. He's finally opened up with his big stumbling block. It's been second baptism this whole time!! So we're working to teach him authority and how there's more to baptism than just washing sins away. It's about making promises with God and him promising us help. But I'm excited to keep going!

We also met with Daniel a couple times. He is seeming to be less interested lately and more just curious and wanting to learn the differences between our churches. We've shared with him a lot and have kind of invited him to be baptized but we didn't want to push it too far. He's a great guy though and I love talking with him. 

We have also met with Justin, but it was about the ten commandments, which he said was just a review. He also stated that he really wants to come visit our church but he is getting more and more responsibilities in his current one which makes it almost impossible for him to just come visit. He will have to commit if he's truly interested. But general conference is coming up! It's a great opportunity to get people to see our church in a new way. Also he's going to teach us to cook this week again!

Also transfers are coming up this week, I'm pretty nervous that I might be going. I feel like there's so much more I want to do here. But I'm willing to do whatever is next. 

And I had an exchange with Elder Ransom, we saw marine which was awesome. We had a good lesson with her and the Adams (they're a younger, new couple to the ward). Then we talked a lot about gratitude and had an interesting idea about how it takes humility to be grateful, because pride wants to keep everything for themselves because we deserve it. 

And finally we had zone conference two Thursdays ago. It was great to see so many missionaries, I'm starting to get to know more people so I'm enjoying being able to recognize more faces. We talked a lot about the importance of the book of Mormon. That everything in this restored gospel started with this book. It was the key to our religion from the beginning. We were also challenged to read the whole thing before Christmas! That's about 5 pages per day. I'm so far on track but we'll see. 

That's pretty much all for me though. I hope you've all had a good couple weeks. And remember to always be searching for ways to increase your personal relationship with the Savior. Our covenants bind us to him and if we hold up our end they will bring us closer to him. 

Love you all!

Elder Baird!