Welcome Home Elder Baird!!!

 

Kwa Heri and Au Revoir

 March 10 2025

This week has been a bunch of goodbyes and a lot of preparation for returning. I have so many mixed emotions right now and it is a bit hard to process that the end is really in sight. 

We started on Tuesday evening with an exchange. My last one with previous companion Elder Arscott. I was here when he started his mission, his companion a year ago, and now he sees me leave. It's crazy to see how much he's grown and I'm really proud to see it. We went and visited the member family of Innocent. He's so awesome and I love to see how much he loves the gospel. We also taught Albert for apparently what would possibly be the last time I saw him. We didn't have much time for the rest of the week, and he didn't come to church yesterday. It was a great conversation about the plan of salvation. But at the end he said, "this was great to learn and all, but I thought you said I am going to be baptized so why am I not learning about that." I took this opportunity to explain to him the actual reason we get baptized. It is to open up the gate into the path that leads to heaven. We had a good conversation about the importance of covenants to gain God's help to prepare us to return to his presence. 

Thursday, we had some fun walking around Walmart speaking Swahili. We enjoyed watching people's head's turn when we started talking in their language. We even found a few people in the juice isle and had a good convo with them. We're hoping to schedule a time soon to come by and start teaching them. 

On Friday we had a great DC where we talked about helping new members progress along the covenant path. It was a great discussion about the importance of assisting them in understanding how to live life now as a member of the church. I have a huge testimony of this facet of missionary work. I've done my very best to help every new member grow, and having varying degrees of success. I also loved hearing everyone else's thoughts on best practices. 

Saturday, I had my last branch council and a dinner with the Shumway's. It's crazy that it's been a year since they moved out to Kentucky to help us out. I also learned that they've lived in west Kaysville for the last like 20 years. They made some awesome soup called hamburger soup. They have been such a big help to the branch and us missionaries.

Saturday we also did service for a couple in the English ward named the Jenkins. They are awesome but sadly are moving soon so we helped them clean up their yard a bit and also had dinner on Sunday. 

Also, on Sunday evening we went over to Degaule's home where we had goat and rice and beans. He's an amazing member and I'm going to miss him so much. Also president Bawilii was there so I was able to say goodbye to them. 

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary. I've grown to love these people so much and I will miss them. But I am excited to come home and see everyone! Love you all and see you soon!!

In Due Time

So, to start off this week had the last exchange of the transfer with Elder Lukins. He was reassigned from Africa a while back and because of that we will return home on the same day. I've never had a good experience to spend some time with him and we didn't have a great relationship most of last transfer, but this exchange was a perfect way to get to know him. All of our lessons were canceled so we just ended up knocking on doors to fill most of the time. We had some great conversations about grace, and I loved it. I also got to interview a young man for baptism, he's usually been pretty aloof to most things church related but recently he seems to have felt the spirit and decided he wanted to meet with the missionaries again and get baptized. I have confidence that he will continue learning and growing. Tuesday night we had our transfer call where President McGinn announces to the whole mission where we will be headed. We learned that Elder Mann would be headed to Louisville and Elder Bradley would be coming here with me. I was his District Leader for 3 transfers back in Louisville and I'm so excited for this transfer!!

Wednesday, we spent most of the day packing and preparing for Elder Mann to leave. We visited a couple of people and planned some lessons for the next week. That evening we went over to Sanngo and Mauwa. There was a moment that we were all eating and listening to music Mauwa was sitting on the couch holding her youngest daughter singing along, and it just dawned on me that I wouldn't have many more of these experiences. It was a sad feeling but it gave me a good push to work hard and finish strong.

Thursday, we transferred and interestingly enough one of the Spanish sisters came up to me and asked if I know a member of the 70. I said I had one in my ward, and she said that in her parents' Stake Conference a 70 came and talked about me. Many of you have heard the Elder McKay's story but I did find it funny to hear he is still telling it around the nation. I saw most of the friends I have made on the mission, and it was a good time. 

The next few days were somewhat uneventful, we are working on getting into a good groove. Elder Mann was good at keeping me going ha-ha, but we are figuring out a good system. Sunday Merci (the young man from above) was baptized. And it was super chaotic, but it was good, and we figured it all out. When I confirmed him, I started in Swahili, but something stopped me, and I realized that I needed to do it in English. I recognized that it was the spirit telling me Merci would understand better in English and I am really grateful to be able to hear the spirits whisperings.

Something really impactful happened on like Friday night. I was talking to Elder Bradley about some of the people he had taught in Louisville. He was talking about these two kids Kibu and Joseph. I saw on his Facebook that Kibu's second name was Akili, and I realized that I have met those boys before. For those of you that have been reading these since the beginning you will recognize that in my training, I taught a family where the dad's name was Akili. This family was great, but they stopped progressing and I have always wondered what became of them. Something I have struggled with often is a blessing I received about my mission. In the blessing it was stated that as a missionary if I was obedient my labors would be crowned with success and also "In due time, many people will come into the church as a result of your efforts." What I've struggled with these past 23 months is that feeling that I haven't been completely obedient and wondering if my labors are successful. And secondarily I have always recognized that the "in due time" of that promise could very likely mean that I wouldn't see the fruits of my labors for a long time. Up until about 3 weeks ago not a single person that I had taught had been baptized (Alenge and wife Mwaliasha were baptized, look to a few weeks ago for that story). Of course, that isn't failure, but I have often had a hard time reconciling this idea with the blessing I had received. The spirit impressed upon my mind while I was talking to Elder Bradley and hearing his excitement about Kibu and Joseph that this was a taste of what the Lord had in store for a few of the people I taught back in my first transfer. I can promise everyone reading this message that the Lord does fulfill his promises in full. He has more in store than you can ever imagine. The roots of this story go even deeper because apparently Akili's brother-in-law is the branch president here. The Lord's plan is truly perfect, it is simply up to us to choose to follow it or not. Trust in Christ, trust in his power and know that His work involves nothing other than our eternal life.

I love you all and have a good week!!