Exchange with Elder Lundgreen

We started out this week going strong. We started out with an exchange with Elder Lundgreen. He was one of my roommates from previously on my mission. He came and joined me in my area. We had some fun. We did some good work as we were trying to find some people to teach. We were able to go by a member's house, she was recently baptized, in the last year. Her name is Tosha. She is going through a pretty rough time. She is having some troubles in her family and she is having a really, really hard time coming to church. She has some outside discouragement and it is making it really hard for her to come. She is trying very hard to do her best and to know what God’s will is for her. When she first walked in, she said, “I don’t know if you guys can keep coming anymore, I just feel, I have a family member who doesn’t believe in God and they don’t want to see any religion in their home. Even to the point of discouraging her from praying. So, we read with her about Alma the Elder, when his people escaped from the land of Lehi. They were chased down by some Lamanites and some other wicked people and they had task maskers put over them. They gave them burdens that were grievous to be born and it says in those scriptures a few different things, but one being that they, “prayed in silence, they prayed in their hearts.” That really resonated with Tosha. She really liked this idea and she hadn’t really ever thought of that before, that she could pray in her heart. She was like, “How do you do that?” So I told her, “You just think of the words. You just have them in you mind” 

That was interesting to me to think about how different cultures see prayer. In her mind it had to be something out loud. It had to be something very outward. Which I think is really awesome., but sometimes it is important to keep a prayer in your heart always.

Not a whole lot happened in the middle part of the week. We had a hard time getting in doors, but on Friday, we went by Rossi and Gothie again. It was great to see them! I always love going by that house and try to go by as often as I can. They really need the help and they always love seeing us. They have a younger brother named Obed and he wants to be baptized. In the past, we have had some trouble working with their parents. They feel that he needs to be older before he can be baptized. He is indeed twelve now, so we are hoping that his parents will be more inclined to agree with us. The parents are not interested in the church, but the kids all are. They understand the truthfulness of it and the importance of it. They are really awesome! We talked with them about holding up their light and sharing the gospel with others and sharing what you know. It was great to hear because they were all talking with their friends about religion and I can really see how the gospel has affected them.

Also on Friday, we got a few referrals from the English sisters in our area. They said that they had met a few African homes. We tried to find them and boy, was it a hassle, but we met a really cool guy. He is an American who is pretty interested. It turns out that the sisters in that area have been recently trying to get in contact with him. So, we were able to act as a miracle for someone else. That was really awesome!

We were having a hard time finding these Africans that we had been told about, so we just started knocking around to see if there were people around. We eventually found them and it was really, really awesome. I loved it. We knocked on this one door and this kid answered it. We asked if his parents were home and he said, “ya.” He came back and said, “ My Mom is getting ready to go to work. So she will see you when she leaves for work. The kid closed the door so we just stood there for quite awhile. At least five minutes, waiting for his Mom. His mom never showed up, but as we were waiting there, a car pulled up and two guys got out. They said that they were just getting back from choir practice. We asked them if it was gospel and we said, “That’s great!” We hope to go there again soon, because they were really cool. That was kind of fun. It was just another moment of just waiting to see what God has in store. It seems to be kind of a theme for us.

On Saturday morning, we went by a man's house whose name is Karambi. He is a funny old guy who lives in a home with a big family. They are all kind of working, but Karambi is always around. Last week we were driving around and we saw him sitting outside. The spirit told me that it’s my job to talk to everyone. So I went up and talked to this guy, and shared with him a little bit and then we planned to come back. So when we went back on Saturday, we talked about the Book of Mormon. He is awesome. He loved talking about it. He and his daughter were super excited to learn more. They speak Kinyarwanda and Swahili and they are super cool. Honestly, when I first looked at them I was like, “I don’t know, they look like they don’t speak very much Swahili and I don’t know if it’s really worth it.” But, it turns out that they are just super cool!  

Also, because we were over there, we met another guy who apparently was an old member. He told us, “I know your church. Look me up in the church records, you’ll find me. I used to live in Utah.” Turns out that he was baptized! Which was pretty crazy. We are hoping to go by and get him back to church. We will see what happens, if you know what I mean.

We went on Saturday to our new member's house named Marine. We talked about studying the gospel personally. That was really fun. We invited some members to come and join in and they were really awesome. They are a married couple and they might both be returned missionaries. They are super cool so we discussed personal study and the importance of having good habits. That was really awesome.

On Sunday, we were walking around on Dena drive. That’s our big complex that everyone lives in. It has all the Africans. We went to Zura’s house. These two little boys who usually come to church with her said, “ Hakuna batu, Hakuna batu?” They were telling us that there was no one home, no person home. They were super cute. Little kids speaking Swahili are adorable. 

Yeah, this week I really enjoyed our exchange that we went on. I am grateful to be district leader here. I  just love edifying those people who are around me and exchanges are really the perfect time for that. I encourage you all to go and do the same. Go find someone like President Nelson asked us to for his birthday. Go find the one. Go minister to the one and try to find someone who is in need of you. I know that if you do, you will find peace.

Have a great week. I love you all!

Elder Baird

So, hello!

On Tuesday, we went to Zura’s again. She came to church that Sunday, which was really awesome. We talked with her about the allegory of the olive tree. We didn’t really know what we were wanting to go with, but we decided to discuss that a little bit and we also talked about sharing the gospel and how the Lord works with us. So we watched the video with her and discussed how the servants at the end were sent out to labor among the Lord of the vineyard. It was really cool. Zura loves the church, she loves God and she loves the Book of Mormon. We are hoping to try and get her baptized, but she has had some hiccups in the past, but we are hoping to see where we can go from here.

On Wednesday, we went by to see Alenge again. We talked about the power of prayer, because the time before he mentioned kind of in passing that he didn’t really know how to pray so we were like, “Let's discuss that.” So we talked about prayer and the importance of that. Then we went to Alice again. We taught their family about the Book of Mormon. We are really trying to help them understand what it is and where it comes from. That was a really good conversation. We read from the introduction and really helped them to understand. Which was really awesome!

On Friday, we went to see Alenge again, because we are trying to meet him more often. Unfortunately, he was not home. As we were waiting around to see what might happen, we saw three women coming toward us and we knew all three of them. One of them was Alenge’s wife, Pelishika, the wife of Mtambala and the wife of another man who is getting ready to be baptized. Apparently, they are all friends and they do laundry together. So they were coming back with a big load of laundry and we taught them. They said that Alenge was at a funeral. There have been a lot of funerals recently. We keep seeing them. We decided to talk about the spirit world. So, we had a good conversation about the spirit world and how there is really a place prepared for those people who have passed on and are wanting to know more about the gospel who didn’t get the opportunity in their life. 

After that, we heard from a little girl that was running around and she was like, “Come visit my family and tell them about the gospel.” We were like, “Okay!” So we ran up there and there was a man named, Christian who was the only person in the house that wanted to sit down with us. Everyone else was like, “Nah!” and left, but Christian was was like, “yeah, we’ll talk.” So we sat down with Christian and he was really cool. We were talking about the Book of Mormon and he seemed really excited. He wanted to read it and come to church. Sadly, he didn’t make it this week, but we are really hoping he will come another time.

On Saturday, we got a referral for a man named Shelove. He is from Haiti and apparently he is interested in hearing the gospel. So we gave him an introduction to the gospel. We talked about God and the importance of talking with him and we gave him a pamphlet. Hopefully, he is interested. He seemed a bit iffy about it, we are hoping that he can take it far.

On Sunday, we went back to Pelishika’s house and finally met her husband, Mtambala. Mtambala is the only guy we have on baptismal date yet.  He is really awesome, but he is super busy. It is really hard to even sit down with him and even harder to get him to church. He hasn’t ever made it to church yet and so he is not able to be baptized, but we have high hopes for him! He was just loving everything that we were telling him. We were talking about service in Mosiah 2. He is just really awesome and I really enjoyed talking with him. I am really, really hoping that he is able to get baptized. 

In this ward they want to do one big baptismal day each month, on the second Sunday of the month. He probably won't be ready by August, but we are hoping that he will be ready by September. We are really trying to work for that. We are excited to see it happen.

I really liked how on Friday, we didn’t know what to do. So we just watched and waited and the women showed up. Sometimes, God just says, “Wait, I have something prepared for you.” We really saw that on that day. It was a testimony to me of God’s timing. He has miracles in store and he has things prepared for us.

I hope that everyone has a great week! I love you all! Sometimes we have to wait for the Lord’s timing. His timing is perfect!

Elder Baird

Serving with Elder Lowe

I love serving with Elder Lowe. He loves bugs and flowers, and he takes pictures of all of them. He is super fun. He is a little older, he is 23. He was originally born in Haiti but has lived in America for the majority of his life. He is awesome! For those who are wondering, he does not speak Creole. He gets that question a lot. He has forgotten it, but he may at some point learn it, because we have some Creole speaking missionaries.

To start off, on Tuesday, we went by a woman's place named Peleshika. She is the wife of a man who we are trying to get baptized. She is awesome! We taught her about the importance of sharing the gospel and the need to share with others what you know. She is really great. She has some kids and she loves the church. She loves the Book of Mormon. She is friends with a lot of women in that area. She is a really great friend of ours.

After visiting with her, we went to visit a woman named Zura. She comes to church like every week and it’s awesome! She was there the first Sunday that I got there and she was there with Marine, the younger member that I was involved in Baptizing when I first got to this area, a long time ago. Marine, will usually bring her to church and she is awesome! We also taught Zoda about sharing the gospel, we kind of had a theme for that day. We read with her from Mosiah 4 about how when we share the gospel, we share the love of Christ with others. Which is awesome.

On Thursday, we went by a man named Alenge's house. We saw a referral that had come in from some elders in Lexington. Apparently, before one of the Elders had been transferred, this guy Alenge, really wanted to learn the gospel. Especially because he is from the family of some members in Lexington. They are pretty new members, but they are awesome! This guy, when we walk in his house, he says, “ I want to learn about baptism!” He hasn’t been baptized before and his family in Lexington has been telling him a lot about the importance of being baptized so we are hoping that he goes really far! He is really awesome. We talked a little bit about baptism and then we invited him to read a pamphlet.

On Friday, we went to Rossi and Gothi's. The family of boys from my training. Oh, I had missed them so much. They are so fun to be around all the time! They are really just bundles of light. Honestly, they have grown quite a bit since I left this area. It is great to see. They have learned and grown and are really awesome. We brought a member whose name is Gabe Cease. He is the son of the Bishop. He has been bringing them to seminary pretty regularly last year. So it was awesome to kind of get him into a lesson and really see what Gabe knew. Gabe, in fact, is actually going to be a missionary in Provo, Utah. So, to anyone who is reading this letter, if sometime in September you meet a new missionary named Elder Sees, he is from my ward right here. He is really awesome!

Also on Friday, we went by a young woman’s house named Alice. She is great, she is really awesome. Her younger siblings are named Ange or Angel. They have a younger brother, but I can’t remember his name. They are great. Alice is younger, she is YSA age. She is really, really cool. She enjoys learning about the gospel and she loves the Book of Mormon and the things that we have been telling them so far. They have been reading the BOM together and that is really great.

Then on Saturday, we went by a new member’s house, named Ruberwa. He is awesome! I love Ruberwa! He is really great! He has been learning a lot about the gospel and has tried to get into the temple to do some baptisms.

On Sunday, we went and did a fireside. It used to be known as “New Member Training Fireside”, but now it is the “We Talk of Christ Fireside.” They are great! They are such a big help to new members to help them learn about the gospel. We went with Ruberwa to that and he loved it. He ate it up! 

That is my week. I really enjoyed all that we were able to do. I’m excited to be back in this area. I really love watching new members grow. I remember watching them grow when I was first here and now seeing them grow even more and it just brings me so much joy. I know that Christ works on people even when we are not around and God is really searching for everyone. 

I hope that everyone has a great week!

The Land of My Youth

So, transfer news came in on Tuesday and we transferred on Thursday. I've been assigned to return to Le Pays De Ma Naissance, or in other words my first area, to be with Elder Lowe. It's weird to be back, and honestly, I wondered if anyone would remember me. I can happily report that they do! Or at least most of them, ha-ha. 

On Wednesday, we visited all the members which was sad to see them go. But, honestly it was easier than it has been before. I wasn't here for nearly as long as my other two areas, so it was not too bad. Especially because, I'm still in the city. There's this funny tradition though. We teach Abdou in a target parking lot, because his roommates don't like us. Because of that, every now and then, we will talk with him walking around the store. Target had video game demos, ha-ha. So the last few missionaries, to go home played Mario cart with him, when they left. Naturally, I took a few minutes and showed him my skills, since it was my turn to leave. It was fun, and I won, ha-ha. 

All the members seemed sad to see me leave, I find interesting, but here in the French work, we often are a major force in keeping the groups or branch alive. So, because of that, we build pretty strong ties with a lot of our members. I've come to truly love a lot of these people and it's hard to leave. 

But, now I'm here back in my first area ,seeing how everything has grown. We had a great turnout. My favorite part was seeing members who were newly baptized when I arrived. They were all smiling and happy and I could see how the gospel has changed their lives. 

We saw Jean from last week! I got transferred into the area that he's in so, we went by and had a great conversation with him about the restoration. He met with missionaries a few years ago, and seems pretty interested in learning more. 

The last few days, we've gone by and tried to meet with people, but not a lot has gone through yet. 

It's going to be a good transfer. Since Elder Lowe is new, he's really excited to learn and grow. He's hugely immersed in the scriptures and loves to discuss them, which is so fun! 

It was my birthday last Saturday, so we went out to lunch. I did service for brother Ciarlante. I screwed a roof onto his chicken coop.

This week I've been reminded that God has a plan. He loves us and knows so much more than we can comprehend. I know that I'm in this area at the right time, for the right reasons, and I'm super excited. Ask God his plan for you, he will tell you some of what he has in store. I promise you will feel his love and see his hand. 

Love you all and happy Independence Day!

This white board was still the same from when Elder Baird and his companion had written on it before they were transferred. Nobody had changed it. They left it the same for nostalgia's sake.

Priesthood Ordinances

Monday June 24th and July 1st.

Two for one email this week so let's get into it, sorry again to everyone who is waiting for me to send these out!

Past couple weeks we went by Abdou as usual. Truthfully were just his friends at this point and he has started just texting us asking if we can come over that evening ha-ha. He is also a missionary, when we were at Walmart talking in the parking lot he saw a man walking and said "lets go talk to him". So we went over and introduced ourselves and he turned out to be from Togo and is pretty cool! We're trying to get something set up still but it was a great moment. Also, he got his patriarchal blessing these past couple of weeks. It was such a neat experience to see him walk out with this big grin on his face, not to mention, how he doesn't speak English very well and we don't translate live things that are sacred. The spirit really touched his heart and it was great to see.

Moses has been really busy so we haven't been able to meet with him too much lately. We did get a pretty good plan of salvation lesson though, as well as a some great unplanned chats outside his house as well. He's awesome.

We also recorded a video for the Facebook page with Sœur Toye the member. It was about the temple and what we do. They're still editing it but I'm excited to see how it turns out! Sister Toye is actually the best! She was baptized in Africa and has a huge testimony and understanding of how the church functions. 

I also met some dudes from Ghana. I'm unsure how interested they actually are but it interestingly enough they said there's quite a few people in Louisville from there. My older brother served in Ghana so it was fun to try and use the few words I know (Sadly they were from the wrong part so they didn't understand, but its alright.)

We have had quite a few meals with Elder Ballard. Here in the 2nd ward we don't get a ton of member meals so he has taken it upon himself to spoil us ha-ha. You'll see a lot of pictures of that. 

We talked with James again and he told us about his thoughts on baptism. He said how when we said that we can always feel the holy ghost but with the gift its in a greater measure that it scared him. Because he was worried that we were talking about a different power or like some witchcraft in order to have the holy ghost with us even when we sin. We explained the sacrament prayers and the baptismal covenant to help him and to explain the promises that we gain.  I think he that he understands now, but he is still having a hard time coming to church, sadly. But, I have faith that he will come and see some day. 

We also Found a woman named, Benedict at a park. It was really cool because we were just walking through to get to a neighborhood. We knocked a few doors trying to find a home of someone we had met before. It was honestly a miracle that we found his house, because we had so little information but then as we were walking back I saw a woman sitting at a picnic table and the spirit told me to go up and talk to her. She was pretty cool and let us sit down and share. It was a great conversation and ended with sending her the Book of Mormon in Lingala to her phone. 

I had a final Exchange of the transfer with Elder Price and it was great. I've seen him come a long way and I'm really proud of watching him grow, even if it's only been 3 months. He's a great guy and an awesome missionary. I can't wait to see how far he goes. Honestly, if nothing else happens because of me as a district leader, I can be happy knowing I've had an effect on him. 

Also, last weekend we sent out tons of church invites because of a zone challenge and it was great how many people pulled up to church! We had some somewhat inactive members come as well as 3 new friends. They were all people who said they'd come on like the first visit, but never made it. They were super cool! Turns out, a couple (Jean and his wife) don't actually live in our area, so we'll have to send him off, but it was great to see them there. Hard work and effort really does pay off. 

There's a family in the ward named the Dore's and they just had a new baby! He was so cute and tiny, only like 2 weeks old. She clearly hasn't left the home yet even though she really wants to though ha-ha. This is like their 5th or 6th kid and they're all so fun and crazy. We're hoping to help them get a new couch too, because theirs is beat up. 

I've been thinking about the priesthood power through ordinances lately because of Abdou's patriarchal blessing. Honestly I am so grateful for the power God has given us, and even more than that I know that priesthood authority is real. I've felt it's power through my father and others who have worthily acted according to their callings, and I know it's real. God has truly restored the world's access to the same power that rose the dead. I know this to be true. 

Have a great week! Love you all!