deer!
Deer!
DEER!
Suddenly, a wild giraffe
Hna Hull :)
saw each other at a zone conference
Gorgeous double rainbow on our way to church
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Sunday, November 27, 2016
"Jaycie, will you pray?" (Novenber 21, 2016)
This week has felt like an eternity, probably because so much happened in it!
Service - Thanksgiving we get to help set up a quincenera #servicegoals
Exchanges
"El tuvo una vaca con asthma le dio medicina y estuvo bien feliz por tres dias y entonces despues murio."
"Murio?!!"
"Si, pero corrio bien feliz!!"
("He had a cow with asthma that he gave medicine and it was very happy for three days and then after died."
"Died?!"
"Yes, but it ran very happy!!"
Some things are just better in Spanish)
Spanish investigators
Jesus says, "Las preguntas *holds up el folleto*, las respuestas *holds up the Libro de Mormon*
("The questions *pamphlet*, the answers *Book of Mormon*"
Seriously though. It's so much funnier in Spanish.)
Yolanda
"Tienes novio?"
"No"
"Oh. Pues tu debes tener muchos pretendientes."
("Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No"
"Oh well you should have many suitors.")
Baptismal Invites
"Seguira el ejemplo de Jesucristo..."
"Claro, claro que si!"
"..y ser bautizado.."
"Ah, eso yo no se!"
"Cree que esas cosas son verdaderas??"
"Pues, porque no? Es de Dios!"
"Okay! Entonces, seguira el ejemplo de Jesucristo..."
"Claro, claro que si!"
"..y ser bautizado.."
"Ah, eso yo no se!"
"Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ..."
"Of course!!"
"...And be baptized?"
"Now that I don't know!"
"Do you believe these things are true?"
"Well why not! They're of God!"
"Okay! Then will you follow the example of Jesus Christ"
"Yes of course!"
"...and BE BAPTIZED"
"Now that I don't know!"
"Julian!!")
Dinner
me - "Dangit I poured too much mustard"
Jace (4yo) - *in the background* "I wanna play the game!"
Bro Taylor - "Life is full of disappointments Jace."
*small freak out moment*
me - "Ohmygosh I thought you were talking to me because my name is really close to his."
Sis Taylor - "Oh really? What is it?"
me - "Jaycie"
Bro Taylor - "Ha! Sorry about that."
*fastforward to end of meal*
Sis Taylor - "Isn't that cool? Her name is like yours!
Bro Taylor - "Sister Hernandez, will you -"
Jace - "Jaycie, will you pray?"
*dying*
Little kids are fun. Here's to hoping he doesn't blurt out my name at church.
And then the hurdle. So for a while now I've been really excited about starting up a Spanish group here in White Salmon. And we were getting so close! Then Saturday we get a text from the Zone Leaders telling us that they have to go to Hood River, no exceptions. The rest of the day we were running back and forth trying to get anyone to give them rides, to figure out who was going etc. The next morning we were up bright and early in a meeting with Bishop trying to figure out all what to do. Then we ran back and forth trying to get everyone where they needed to be. It will certainly be interesting to see how it all pans out but I am willing to do whatever the Lord needs me to do and am excited for what lies ahead :)
--
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission
Service - Thanksgiving we get to help set up a quincenera #servicegoals
Exchanges
"El tuvo una vaca con asthma le dio medicina y estuvo bien feliz por tres dias y entonces despues murio."
"Murio?!!"
"Si, pero corrio bien feliz!!"
("He had a cow with asthma that he gave medicine and it was very happy for three days and then after died."
"Died?!"
"Yes, but it ran very happy!!"
Some things are just better in Spanish)
Spanish investigators
Jesus says, "Las preguntas *holds up el folleto*, las respuestas *holds up the Libro de Mormon*
("The questions *pamphlet*, the answers *Book of Mormon*"
Seriously though. It's so much funnier in Spanish.)
Yolanda
"Tienes novio?"
"No"
"Oh. Pues tu debes tener muchos pretendientes."
("Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No"
"Oh well you should have many suitors.")
Baptismal Invites
"Seguira el ejemplo de Jesucristo..."
"Claro, claro que si!"
"..y ser bautizado.."
"Ah, eso yo no se!"
"Cree que esas cosas son verdaderas??"
"Pues, porque no? Es de Dios!"
"Okay! Entonces, seguira el ejemplo de Jesucristo..."
"Claro, claro que si!"
"..y ser bautizado.."
"Ah, eso yo no se!"
"Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ..."
"Of course!!"
"...And be baptized?"
"Now that I don't know!"
"Do you believe these things are true?"
"Well why not! They're of God!"
"Okay! Then will you follow the example of Jesus Christ"
"Yes of course!"
"...and BE BAPTIZED"
"Now that I don't know!"
"Julian!!")
Dinner
me - "Dangit I poured too much mustard"
Jace (4yo) - *in the background* "I wanna play the game!"
Bro Taylor - "Life is full of disappointments Jace."
*small freak out moment*
me - "Ohmygosh I thought you were talking to me because my name is really close to his."
Sis Taylor - "Oh really? What is it?"
me - "Jaycie"
Bro Taylor - "Ha! Sorry about that."
*fastforward to end of meal*
Sis Taylor - "Isn't that cool? Her name is like yours!
Bro Taylor - "Sister Hernandez, will you -"
Jace - "Jaycie, will you pray?"
*dying*
Little kids are fun. Here's to hoping he doesn't blurt out my name at church.
And then the hurdle. So for a while now I've been really excited about starting up a Spanish group here in White Salmon. And we were getting so close! Then Saturday we get a text from the Zone Leaders telling us that they have to go to Hood River, no exceptions. The rest of the day we were running back and forth trying to get anyone to give them rides, to figure out who was going etc. The next morning we were up bright and early in a meeting with Bishop trying to figure out all what to do. Then we ran back and forth trying to get everyone where they needed to be. It will certainly be interesting to see how it all pans out but I am willing to do whatever the Lord needs me to do and am excited for what lies ahead :)
--
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission
I'm so bad at fotos (November 21, 2016)
when you're all lactose intolerant #silkmilkfordays
The sunsets here are gorgeous
exchanges!
me, hna luevano from Mexico, hna pons from Argentina, and my comp hna hernandez from Mexico.
me, hna luevano from Mexico, hna pons from Argentina, and my comp hna hernandez from Mexico.
Call me guerra.
Help Thou My Unbelief (November 14, 2016)
Transfers have come and gone and here I am in White Salmon with a native companion! Her name is Hermana Hernandez and she's from Jalisco Mexico but came from Portland. She's a convert of about 3 years and has always wanted to serve a mission since the missionaries first began teaching her.
So this week, like most other weeks, I learned a thing or two about faith.
We have an investigator pool of about 12 people, the majority being Hispanic. There's never enough time and yet way too much every day, a paradox I'm still trying to figure out. So we've begun to weed people out here and there. We've invited just about all of them to baptism but the main concern is that they were already baptized and they have no need to be baptized again. We discuss the whole authority thing but still, it just doesn't seem to stick.
Thursday we decided to go knock Klickitat. We brought Matt (our recent convert) with us and we started from one end of the town and knocked every door on the street (and it's a long one.) Lots of people weren't home, lots of people were and mostly looked like they couldn't believe that we dared to stand on their porch and ask them if they knew their grandparents. Sometimes, they would just laugh and then shut the door. I got a little bit indignant honestly, I wanted to tell them, "Hiwe'remissionariesandI'monly19andI'veleftmyfamilytobehereandtotalktoyouhere'sacardthatexplainshowyoucanfindallofyourancestorsandprintoutyourfamilytreebecausehowawesomeisthatIhavevikingsinmyfamilyhistoryandyoucanevendoitallbyyourselfyoudon'tevenneedusthankyouhaveniceday!" Just kidding. But seriously. They won't even listen to something that could bring them so much joy because I'm standing on their porch in a skirt. It's actually rather comical. Anyway, we knocked about 20 doors and no one was interested at all. And I remained positive and happy even though I really hate knocking doors. There came a point where I wanted to call it quits and head to find some less-actives, but I remembered the Ricciardi letter where he had been sent to a horrible and rotten area so that he could learn and grow and was eventually blessed for it. So onward we went. And two houses later, out come a couple of people on bikes. Matt had now seen us attempt to talk to someone 20 times and took the lead as we talked to them. He started with fishing and then just told them upright that we were sharing a message about family history. They asked, "Have you had any luck?" "A little" And then, we got to talk to them about family history and I got so excited. When I get excited I tend to talk really fast and I was off, talking a mile a minute about how awesome family history is and they loved it. She told me I reminded her of her niece and was excited to check out her ancestors. It was a reminder to me that we have to just keep going. So we did. And silly me, I lost a little faith once again as we were knocking and nothing was happening. And right before I was about to turn around and call it a day on this street, Matt said "Hey lets talk to that guy." Again, he initiated the conversation and got us a return appointment. I'm rather embarrassed to admit how much faith I had lacked but I am grateful that even though I really hadn't wanted to continue, I pushed forward and was blessed for it.
I had a similar experience that Saturday. We knocked a handful of doors and everyone was so offended that we were there. So I said to heck with it, lets go up to Underwood. As we were driving we pull up to a car that had just barely crashed on one of the really windy roads. She was pretty shaken up and we immediately pulled over to the side and directed traffic and made sure she had people coming. She looked like the last person that would have wanted missionaries to come to her door but she was so grateful that we had stopped and waited with her. When her guardians showed up they weren't very kind and basically shooed us off but she gave us a big hug and said "Thank you for stopping!"
I thought a while about that. If someone had let us in while we had been knocking, we wouldn't have been driving to Underwood at the very same moment that happened. And perhaps we won't ever see her again. But, I know that we made a difference to her in that moment and maybe in the future, she'll remember those two girls in skirts that stopped when missionaries knock on her door.
Anyway, we continued to Underwood and decided to knock because every single appointment had fallen through. I decided to finally just abandon every bit of pride and unwillingness and just knocked on doors I knew white people hid behind with an attitude of "They are going to love us!" I have gained a testimony of spiritually creating physical happenings because two of the doors were totally willing for us to come back and the third was this awesome lady named Carolina. She talked to us for a bit until she asked what church we were from. We told her and she said, "Riiight the Jehovah's Witnesses." "Actually the Mormons!" She blinked and then said "I was baptized as a Mormon when I was 10 years old." We talked a bit longer and then she said, :Come in."
Wait what??
Honestly??
I am so glad I kept knocking!
She let us in and told us about all of the different churches she's been to and made us some herbal tea. Then she asked for a summary of the Mormon church. We gave her about a 5 summary of the Restoration and ended with the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon so much and I promised her that this book is how she could know that what we are saying is true. I got really excited and started telling stories from it and her 15 year old son Justin said, "Wow! I think I'm going to really like this book!" She then asked whether we believe in Hell or what happens after this life and so we explained the three kingdoms of glory. She sat there with a pensive look while Justin exclaimed, "Wow, what a cool religion!!"
On Sunday we had a lesson on faith and I was reminded of the story from the Bible of the man who brings his son to Christ to heal him.
23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
To me it is such an incredibly tender moment and how I felt often this week. ALL THINGS, not just some things, but ALL things are possible when we have the faith to believe. And we do believe! We do have faith, but sometimes we have just the tiniest bit of doubt, of fear which causes us to cry out "Help thou mine unbelief."
Sunday night we visited a handful of families and helped them make a family mission plan, starting with inviting friends to the Primary Program because it's easy and not a huge commitment. I think we all tend to forget that missionary work isn't always knocking on doors but inviting anyone even to just a mutual or the Primary Program. It's so simple! It's helped me to realize how to better help the members become more missionary oriented and it gives them a purpose.
I invite you all to ask the Lord this week to help your unbelief, help you overcome the doubts, fears, walls you may be facing. We have the promise that all things are possible when we have the faith, but even when we lack it, He will be there to make up the difference.
"27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties,even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise aparticle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire tobelieve, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe ina manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."
Alma 32:27
So this week, like most other weeks, I learned a thing or two about faith.
We have an investigator pool of about 12 people, the majority being Hispanic. There's never enough time and yet way too much every day, a paradox I'm still trying to figure out. So we've begun to weed people out here and there. We've invited just about all of them to baptism but the main concern is that they were already baptized and they have no need to be baptized again. We discuss the whole authority thing but still, it just doesn't seem to stick.
Thursday we decided to go knock Klickitat. We brought Matt (our recent convert) with us and we started from one end of the town and knocked every door on the street (and it's a long one.) Lots of people weren't home, lots of people were and mostly looked like they couldn't believe that we dared to stand on their porch and ask them if they knew their grandparents. Sometimes, they would just laugh and then shut the door. I got a little bit indignant honestly, I wanted to tell them, "Hiwe'remissionariesandI'monly19andI'veleftmyfamilytobehereandtotalktoyouhere'sacardthatexplainshowyoucanfindallofyourancestorsandprintoutyourfamilytreebecausehowawesomeisthatIhavevikingsinmyfamilyhistoryandyoucanevendoitallbyyourselfyoudon'tevenneedusthankyouhaveniceday!" Just kidding. But seriously. They won't even listen to something that could bring them so much joy because I'm standing on their porch in a skirt. It's actually rather comical. Anyway, we knocked about 20 doors and no one was interested at all. And I remained positive and happy even though I really hate knocking doors. There came a point where I wanted to call it quits and head to find some less-actives, but I remembered the Ricciardi letter where he had been sent to a horrible and rotten area so that he could learn and grow and was eventually blessed for it. So onward we went. And two houses later, out come a couple of people on bikes. Matt had now seen us attempt to talk to someone 20 times and took the lead as we talked to them. He started with fishing and then just told them upright that we were sharing a message about family history. They asked, "Have you had any luck?" "A little" And then, we got to talk to them about family history and I got so excited. When I get excited I tend to talk really fast and I was off, talking a mile a minute about how awesome family history is and they loved it. She told me I reminded her of her niece and was excited to check out her ancestors. It was a reminder to me that we have to just keep going. So we did. And silly me, I lost a little faith once again as we were knocking and nothing was happening. And right before I was about to turn around and call it a day on this street, Matt said "Hey lets talk to that guy." Again, he initiated the conversation and got us a return appointment. I'm rather embarrassed to admit how much faith I had lacked but I am grateful that even though I really hadn't wanted to continue, I pushed forward and was blessed for it.
I had a similar experience that Saturday. We knocked a handful of doors and everyone was so offended that we were there. So I said to heck with it, lets go up to Underwood. As we were driving we pull up to a car that had just barely crashed on one of the really windy roads. She was pretty shaken up and we immediately pulled over to the side and directed traffic and made sure she had people coming. She looked like the last person that would have wanted missionaries to come to her door but she was so grateful that we had stopped and waited with her. When her guardians showed up they weren't very kind and basically shooed us off but she gave us a big hug and said "Thank you for stopping!"
I thought a while about that. If someone had let us in while we had been knocking, we wouldn't have been driving to Underwood at the very same moment that happened. And perhaps we won't ever see her again. But, I know that we made a difference to her in that moment and maybe in the future, she'll remember those two girls in skirts that stopped when missionaries knock on her door.
Anyway, we continued to Underwood and decided to knock because every single appointment had fallen through. I decided to finally just abandon every bit of pride and unwillingness and just knocked on doors I knew white people hid behind with an attitude of "They are going to love us!" I have gained a testimony of spiritually creating physical happenings because two of the doors were totally willing for us to come back and the third was this awesome lady named Carolina. She talked to us for a bit until she asked what church we were from. We told her and she said, "Riiight the Jehovah's Witnesses." "Actually the Mormons!" She blinked and then said "I was baptized as a Mormon when I was 10 years old." We talked a bit longer and then she said, :Come in."
Wait what??
Honestly??
I am so glad I kept knocking!
She let us in and told us about all of the different churches she's been to and made us some herbal tea. Then she asked for a summary of the Mormon church. We gave her about a 5 summary of the Restoration and ended with the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon so much and I promised her that this book is how she could know that what we are saying is true. I got really excited and started telling stories from it and her 15 year old son Justin said, "Wow! I think I'm going to really like this book!" She then asked whether we believe in Hell or what happens after this life and so we explained the three kingdoms of glory. She sat there with a pensive look while Justin exclaimed, "Wow, what a cool religion!!"
On Sunday we had a lesson on faith and I was reminded of the story from the Bible of the man who brings his son to Christ to heal him.
23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
To me it is such an incredibly tender moment and how I felt often this week. ALL THINGS, not just some things, but ALL things are possible when we have the faith to believe. And we do believe! We do have faith, but sometimes we have just the tiniest bit of doubt, of fear which causes us to cry out "Help thou mine unbelief."
Sunday night we visited a handful of families and helped them make a family mission plan, starting with inviting friends to the Primary Program because it's easy and not a huge commitment. I think we all tend to forget that missionary work isn't always knocking on doors but inviting anyone even to just a mutual or the Primary Program. It's so simple! It's helped me to realize how to better help the members become more missionary oriented and it gives them a purpose.
I invite you all to ask the Lord this week to help your unbelief, help you overcome the doubts, fears, walls you may be facing. We have the promise that all things are possible when we have the faith, but even when we lack it, He will be there to make up the difference.
"27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties,even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise aparticle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire tobelieve, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe ina manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."
Alma 32:27
Another Transfer, Another Companion (November 7, 2016)
So in short
Hermana Hull is being transferred to Yakima! I will be receiving a native companion from Jalisco, Mexico, Hermana Hernandez.
We found a bunch of new investigators this week, again. The first couple of weeks here was a real struggle due to the fact that we had nothing to do it seemed other than tract. But now we are finding about 8 new investigators a week and since then we've had plenty to do. This last ZTM (zone transfer meeting) was also really cool because we were given a lot of new policies, one of which is we are to tract an hour a day. Everything that I have since struggled with on my mission has been solved little by little at each ZTM and I am so excited for this next transfer.
We're working on starting a Spanish group in White Salmon. The Stake President told us that the requirements are 10-15 regularly attending people and it takes care of the hurdle we have been hitting with trying to get Hispanics over to Hood River. It's been something that I have been praying about a lot, trying to figure out how to get our investigators to church, how to fellowship them with members from across the river and finally it's all come together. We have a solid base of 12-15 spanish investigators and I'm getting a native companion. We have started implementing tracting with the youth and the members. Our goal is to have more member presents than other lessons so that every investigator we find instantly has a friend in the church. Already we have seen some enormous blessings from it, we have enlisted the help of the handful of Spanish speaking RM's and the youth, translating as we go and the ward is so excited!
Things are really looking up :) Be a missionary! Study Preach My Gospel! Love you!
--
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission
Hermana Hull is being transferred to Yakima! I will be receiving a native companion from Jalisco, Mexico, Hermana Hernandez.
We found a bunch of new investigators this week, again. The first couple of weeks here was a real struggle due to the fact that we had nothing to do it seemed other than tract. But now we are finding about 8 new investigators a week and since then we've had plenty to do. This last ZTM (zone transfer meeting) was also really cool because we were given a lot of new policies, one of which is we are to tract an hour a day. Everything that I have since struggled with on my mission has been solved little by little at each ZTM and I am so excited for this next transfer.
We're working on starting a Spanish group in White Salmon. The Stake President told us that the requirements are 10-15 regularly attending people and it takes care of the hurdle we have been hitting with trying to get Hispanics over to Hood River. It's been something that I have been praying about a lot, trying to figure out how to get our investigators to church, how to fellowship them with members from across the river and finally it's all come together. We have a solid base of 12-15 spanish investigators and I'm getting a native companion. We have started implementing tracting with the youth and the members. Our goal is to have more member presents than other lessons so that every investigator we find instantly has a friend in the church. Already we have seen some enormous blessings from it, we have enlisted the help of the handful of Spanish speaking RM's and the youth, translating as we go and the ward is so excited!
Things are really looking up :) Be a missionary! Study Preach My Gospel! Love you!
--
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission
Monday, November 21, 2016
fotos (November 7, 2016)
gorgeous sunsets on the Dalles gorge
zone pic! since the last one I should have been in was missing on my camera because they ditched us at the temple :)
Obviously we're not even close to anything normal
Gorgeous plain on top of a mountain. Hopefully some future investigators will be found up here
we're goals. and being split up. But. It's okay.
can't park
--
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission
Wet Boots and the Gift of Tongues (October 31, 2016)
Some silly things -
-Hna Hull doesn't know what a cold is or how you get it. So when I told her to take off her wet socks and boots she shrugged and said "It's fine" She now knows what a cold is and is hating life. Sometimes we have to learn from experience X)
-There are crazy killer clowns infesting Washington. Pray we don't get killed!
So this week was amazing.
Highlights/Lowlights
Tuesday we had District Council and then interviews with President! While we were waiting, we dropped off our car to get its tires changed and then after interviews and such we headed to dinner. We've been really working with the members lately because our training in District Council was all about
Wednesday we went to the ENT to figure out what's wrong with my ear. I was really grateful to just be there for my ear this time. We walked past a glass case with a bunch of the throat scopes that go down your nose and it brought back some happy memories. Hna Hull was majorly grossed out.
Thursday we had exchanges. We have recently been planning a little bit differently, and on Thursday we were incredibly blessed! We have begun to plan more people each day than we can possibly visit. Not when we have appointments, but instead of only planning one or two backups every hour, we have a list of at least 10 people for each hour. So, when we went on exchanges we had dozens of people to go contact, all potentials and formers. It was amazing to see how blessed we were because we had overprepared! Throughout the day, we were never lacking for someone to talk to. When the people we had written down weren't home or we couldn't find them, we contacted around the area. Hna Pons and I were walking during the day time and between the constant Spanish and walking, I really felt like I was back in Wenatchee. It was such a good day. At the end of the day, we had found 18 new investigators. We were all in disbelief and beyond that, 15 of them were Spanish. I was reminded again that the Lord is the one driving this work. Yes, we had split up and there were four of us working in the same area but we had more success in that one day than we have had in weeks combined. The Lord truly does bless us after the hard work, diligence and enduring to the end that sometimes we have to do.
Also, due to the amount of walking we did, my boots soaked through. I jokingly asked if we could stop and wring out my socks and then I was actually able to wring them out. We decided to stop by a less active to see if she had some extra socks and she not only gave me some socks, she gave me a pair of brown ugg boots that she was going to give away to GoodWill. They didn't match with anything I was wearing, and my leggings didn't quite make it down to where the boots stopped, but my feet were warm and dry and so I buried my pride and walked on. The Lord works in mysterious ways to humble us and to show us the goodness in those around us. It's really quite amazing to me.
Saturday was an awesome day for me. We revisited a lot of the people we found on Saturday and all day long I got to speak in Spanish.
Saturday was an awful day for Hna Hull. Despite all of her studying, she has struggled with Spanish badly and didn't speak the entire day.
Sunday was a day full of miracles. Hermana Hull asked Bishop for a blessing and in it she was promised that her tongue and mind would be loosed. I spoke to her in Spanish all during lunch and she understood and replied to everything I said. It was amazing! We had lots of Spanish to speak that day as we went by more of the investigators we found on Thursday and she understood and responded in every conversation/lesson we had.
Later that night we had a lesson with Angel and Roman, two new investigators. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't have much faith, I didn't think that it was going to go very far. We went in and began to talk and I was immediately humbled by Roman as he summarized the Restoration for us. Angel and Roman then asked us lots of questions about prophets and how we know and are really excited to begin to read the Book of Mormon.
Over and over I am reminded of the mercy and the goodness of God. I am so incredibly grateful that I get to be a missionary and encourage all of you to be one too! I am so proud of my little sisters that ran around sharing little pass along cards, because it's what made them happy. Guys, this gospel is what makes us happy, do we not want others to be happy??? Of course we do!! So we need to let them know how they can be more happy!!! If you have not gotten a Preach My Gospel and have not been studying it diligently, I encourage you to do so. In our mission we are striving to be Preach My Gospel missionaries but we all need to strive to be Preach My Gospel wards and members!
I love you all so much and Dios les bendiga!
Hna Baird
-Hna Hull doesn't know what a cold is or how you get it. So when I told her to take off her wet socks and boots she shrugged and said "It's fine" She now knows what a cold is and is hating life. Sometimes we have to learn from experience X)
-There are crazy killer clowns infesting Washington. Pray we don't get killed!
So this week was amazing.
Highlights/Lowlights
Tuesday we had District Council and then interviews with President! While we were waiting, we dropped off our car to get its tires changed and then after interviews and such we headed to dinner. We've been really working with the members lately because our training in District Council was all about
Wednesday we went to the ENT to figure out what's wrong with my ear. I was really grateful to just be there for my ear this time. We walked past a glass case with a bunch of the throat scopes that go down your nose and it brought back some happy memories. Hna Hull was majorly grossed out.
Thursday we had exchanges. We have recently been planning a little bit differently, and on Thursday we were incredibly blessed! We have begun to plan more people each day than we can possibly visit. Not when we have appointments, but instead of only planning one or two backups every hour, we have a list of at least 10 people for each hour. So, when we went on exchanges we had dozens of people to go contact, all potentials and formers. It was amazing to see how blessed we were because we had overprepared! Throughout the day, we were never lacking for someone to talk to. When the people we had written down weren't home or we couldn't find them, we contacted around the area. Hna Pons and I were walking during the day time and between the constant Spanish and walking, I really felt like I was back in Wenatchee. It was such a good day. At the end of the day, we had found 18 new investigators. We were all in disbelief and beyond that, 15 of them were Spanish. I was reminded again that the Lord is the one driving this work. Yes, we had split up and there were four of us working in the same area but we had more success in that one day than we have had in weeks combined. The Lord truly does bless us after the hard work, diligence and enduring to the end that sometimes we have to do.
Also, due to the amount of walking we did, my boots soaked through. I jokingly asked if we could stop and wring out my socks and then I was actually able to wring them out. We decided to stop by a less active to see if she had some extra socks and she not only gave me some socks, she gave me a pair of brown ugg boots that she was going to give away to GoodWill. They didn't match with anything I was wearing, and my leggings didn't quite make it down to where the boots stopped, but my feet were warm and dry and so I buried my pride and walked on. The Lord works in mysterious ways to humble us and to show us the goodness in those around us. It's really quite amazing to me.
Saturday was an awesome day for me. We revisited a lot of the people we found on Saturday and all day long I got to speak in Spanish.
Saturday was an awful day for Hna Hull. Despite all of her studying, she has struggled with Spanish badly and didn't speak the entire day.
Sunday was a day full of miracles. Hermana Hull asked Bishop for a blessing and in it she was promised that her tongue and mind would be loosed. I spoke to her in Spanish all during lunch and she understood and replied to everything I said. It was amazing! We had lots of Spanish to speak that day as we went by more of the investigators we found on Thursday and she understood and responded in every conversation/lesson we had.
Later that night we had a lesson with Angel and Roman, two new investigators. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't have much faith, I didn't think that it was going to go very far. We went in and began to talk and I was immediately humbled by Roman as he summarized the Restoration for us. Angel and Roman then asked us lots of questions about prophets and how we know and are really excited to begin to read the Book of Mormon.
Over and over I am reminded of the mercy and the goodness of God. I am so incredibly grateful that I get to be a missionary and encourage all of you to be one too! I am so proud of my little sisters that ran around sharing little pass along cards, because it's what made them happy. Guys, this gospel is what makes us happy, do we not want others to be happy??? Of course we do!! So we need to let them know how they can be more happy!!! If you have not gotten a Preach My Gospel and have not been studying it diligently, I encourage you to do so. In our mission we are striving to be Preach My Gospel missionaries but we all need to strive to be Preach My Gospel wards and members!
I love you all so much and Dios les bendiga!
Hna Baird
When your boots aren't rain boots and get soaked through and your socks too. Yas.
Found this dead mouse in front of our car like an offering of some sort. I mean sure it's gross but if she had to touch it, why didn't it just go in the trashcan? Poor mouse.
"I Mean We're All Children of God!" "No we're not."
It's been so long since I've written an actual email I hardly remember what I used to write!
We've been doing a lot of finding lately and building member trust. We've been working a lot with the members and it really feels like home.
Wednesday we went to do service for Amber. Unfortunately, she cancelled but it was okay because we went and helped Paul build a retaining wall. He had jokingly asked if we wanted to help and we were more than happy. I mean come on, digging up ancient cinder blocks and chipping away at the dirt? It was awesome. Paul was actually almost baptized in Hood River, and so for the 2 and a half hours we dug, we talked all about the church. We asked him all about what he knew, why he wasn't baptized and he just kept talking and talking. It was really really cool to me to see that there are so many people that are prepared for the gospel. In the scriptures it talks about how there are so many who are searching for the truth but are kept from it because they know not where to find it. On Sunday he came to church because we were playing a violin duet and he spent the next two hours talking with different priesthood holders. Once, we walked by and heard him say, "I know it's true, I just have some things I need to get figured out." It honestly is such a blessing to be a part of this work. We don't even do anything and the Lord allows us to bring to pass the salvation of many souls.
Thursday we were able to go back and do service for Amber. It was raining and cold but we loved planting chicken and hens, washing out pots, missing the pots and soaking our feet, clipping off twigs to make garden sticks, it was wonderful. Before my mission I loved to serve but truly I have learned to love it with all my heart here. It can be snowing, raining, 107 degrees, NO IMPORTA. Service is literally my favorite thing to do. AND Amber came to church on Sunday! Again, because we were playing the violins (because how awesome is it that Sister Hull and I BOTH play the violins I mean so cool) but one of the talks was meant for her. She's so cute and funny, when we invited her she asked, "But none of them are going to try and convert me right?" We assured her that they would just be nice :) And she loved it! Hopefully she'll keep coming. But service. Service is the key :)
Thursday we also went out to Lyle, one of the many surrounding towns in our area to meet with a less active that turned out to be sick. So we stopped by a member to see if she had suggestions for where we should knock. We ended up sitting and talking with her for a while, we could tell she really just needed to talk. I love her so much. She is a returned missionary and has 4 kids I think. She told us a story about her stroller being stolen and how she knows it shouldn't bug her but her inner mommy won't let it go. "I was so desperate to get another stroller, I found one on Craiglist and immediately loaded the kids up to go to Portland (2 hours away) but I didn't have any cash so I grabbed all of the yard sale money, a bunch of ones and I had 57 with a bunch of quarters which was perfect but then I had to cross the bridge and there went a dollar and NO ONE would let me get cash off of my card and I only had 15 minutes left and I finally just broke down and said 'Please I just need some cash!!' and the lady said 'well how much do you need?' and I said ' a dollar' and she said 'oh well here! just take it!' and then I started crying and said 'You made me realize that not everyone steals strollers!!'" We were all in hysterics and she gave us a couple of people to stop by but more importantly, I'm glad we stopped by to help her. Sometimes we all need a little bit of a hysterical moment.
On Friday night we helped a young couple clean the church. It's odd here, they have one family clean it a week and there are only two of them so we offered to help. I learned then that there are lots of different ways to earn member trust. Sometimes it's service, being really serious, and other times it's messing around with the vacuum with your companion and accidentally sucking up your skirt as they turn the corner. #missionaccomplished.
Saturday - So when I grow up and am old I hope that I am the kind of lady that invites a couple of young whippersnapper missionaries to her turkey dinner with a bunch of other old lady friends. Mary, a less active due to health, had us over with a couple of her non member friends and we had a blast. We talked about the Doctrine of Christ and sat in and listened to them bicker about how many boyfriends Linda really had. Then we talked about baptism. It was kind of awesome. Actually it was really awesome and I am so grateful that she invited us. Linda is actually sweetest little lady I have ever met, she was recently baptized as a Methodist but she loved listening to the scriptures we read from 2 Nephi 31.
Other quotes of the week:
"Fins have Aspergers"
"Dolphins have Aspergers?"
#stillwaitingtobeabletohearoutofmyrightear
"My wife had kids and it's like the dog had puppies."
He turned it around with a really tender story about the said children catching fish and being so proud and showing him. He also said, "There's something to the eternities. It's literally in our genetics." kind of cool.
"Yeah, I mean we're all children of God"
"No we're not. You would know that if you read your scriptures."
#scaryladiesbehindreallyprettypinkdoors. I've learned a new meaning to the scripture "Pray for them that curse you". I had walked away from that door trying not to cry at the brutality but after praying that she would have a nice day for the last couple of nights, I love her enough to knock on her door again.
"Hi!"
"Yeah, we're not interested."
"Yessir!."
#southernhospitalityinthenorthwest
There were some other really neat experiences that ironically taught me that we really are all children of God. The (codename) Nimma's are a family that we have been working with for a long time. We visit them twice a week, reading the scriptures with them and helping them grow in their conversion. We're finally bringing back Art and Tyler! Tyler has even given us some of his friends to go visit. Sunday morning we were so excited to see them at church but they never showed up. We went that night to see if everything was okay and they told us about his sister codename Curly who has bipolar disorder. That morning they had all been dressed and ready to go, Tyler, Art, Dottie but as they were about to leave something triggered Curly and ultimately led to them being unable to go to church. It was so hard to feel their pain, to feel the pain the Curly must have and to know that they had been trying their best to go back to church but were unable because when we are doing good, Satan tries even harder to prevent us from receiving those blessings. I know that if nothing else good comes from me being in White Salmon, I have at least been sent for their little family. I love them so much I can hardly believe it and every time I see them trucking along, getting back on their feet I want to give them all the biggest hug in the entire world but I can only hug Dottie so we hug her a lot.
The Lord is so good to us. I'm so grateful to hear that little ole' Jackson, MO is coming together, uniting in Christ. Christ truly is the path to happiness and it brings me such hope to hear that there are still places that are fighting for what they believe by simply rejoicing in the gift that it is.
I love you all and am so grateful for the letters and emails and I am so sorry that I am terrible at writing back. Love you!!
Hna Baird
We've been doing a lot of finding lately and building member trust. We've been working a lot with the members and it really feels like home.
Wednesday we went to do service for Amber. Unfortunately, she cancelled but it was okay because we went and helped Paul build a retaining wall. He had jokingly asked if we wanted to help and we were more than happy. I mean come on, digging up ancient cinder blocks and chipping away at the dirt? It was awesome. Paul was actually almost baptized in Hood River, and so for the 2 and a half hours we dug, we talked all about the church. We asked him all about what he knew, why he wasn't baptized and he just kept talking and talking. It was really really cool to me to see that there are so many people that are prepared for the gospel. In the scriptures it talks about how there are so many who are searching for the truth but are kept from it because they know not where to find it. On Sunday he came to church because we were playing a violin duet and he spent the next two hours talking with different priesthood holders. Once, we walked by and heard him say, "I know it's true, I just have some things I need to get figured out." It honestly is such a blessing to be a part of this work. We don't even do anything and the Lord allows us to bring to pass the salvation of many souls.
Thursday we were able to go back and do service for Amber. It was raining and cold but we loved planting chicken and hens, washing out pots, missing the pots and soaking our feet, clipping off twigs to make garden sticks, it was wonderful. Before my mission I loved to serve but truly I have learned to love it with all my heart here. It can be snowing, raining, 107 degrees, NO IMPORTA. Service is literally my favorite thing to do. AND Amber came to church on Sunday! Again, because we were playing the violins (because how awesome is it that Sister Hull and I BOTH play the violins I mean so cool) but one of the talks was meant for her. She's so cute and funny, when we invited her she asked, "But none of them are going to try and convert me right?" We assured her that they would just be nice :) And she loved it! Hopefully she'll keep coming. But service. Service is the key :)
Thursday we also went out to Lyle, one of the many surrounding towns in our area to meet with a less active that turned out to be sick. So we stopped by a member to see if she had suggestions for where we should knock. We ended up sitting and talking with her for a while, we could tell she really just needed to talk. I love her so much. She is a returned missionary and has 4 kids I think. She told us a story about her stroller being stolen and how she knows it shouldn't bug her but her inner mommy won't let it go. "I was so desperate to get another stroller, I found one on Craiglist and immediately loaded the kids up to go to Portland (2 hours away) but I didn't have any cash so I grabbed all of the yard sale money, a bunch of ones and I had 57 with a bunch of quarters which was perfect but then I had to cross the bridge and there went a dollar and NO ONE would let me get cash off of my card and I only had 15 minutes left and I finally just broke down and said 'Please I just need some cash!!' and the lady said 'well how much do you need?' and I said ' a dollar' and she said 'oh well here! just take it!' and then I started crying and said 'You made me realize that not everyone steals strollers!!'" We were all in hysterics and she gave us a couple of people to stop by but more importantly, I'm glad we stopped by to help her. Sometimes we all need a little bit of a hysterical moment.
On Friday night we helped a young couple clean the church. It's odd here, they have one family clean it a week and there are only two of them so we offered to help. I learned then that there are lots of different ways to earn member trust. Sometimes it's service, being really serious, and other times it's messing around with the vacuum with your companion and accidentally sucking up your skirt as they turn the corner. #missionaccomplished.
Saturday - So when I grow up and am old I hope that I am the kind of lady that invites a couple of young whippersnapper missionaries to her turkey dinner with a bunch of other old lady friends. Mary, a less active due to health, had us over with a couple of her non member friends and we had a blast. We talked about the Doctrine of Christ and sat in and listened to them bicker about how many boyfriends Linda really had. Then we talked about baptism. It was kind of awesome. Actually it was really awesome and I am so grateful that she invited us. Linda is actually sweetest little lady I have ever met, she was recently baptized as a Methodist but she loved listening to the scriptures we read from 2 Nephi 31.
Other quotes of the week:
"Fins have Aspergers"
"Dolphins have Aspergers?"
#stillwaitingtobeabletohearoutofmyrightear
"My wife had kids and it's like the dog had puppies."
He turned it around with a really tender story about the said children catching fish and being so proud and showing him. He also said, "There's something to the eternities. It's literally in our genetics." kind of cool.
"Yeah, I mean we're all children of God"
"No we're not. You would know that if you read your scriptures."
#scaryladiesbehindreallyprettypinkdoors. I've learned a new meaning to the scripture "Pray for them that curse you". I had walked away from that door trying not to cry at the brutality but after praying that she would have a nice day for the last couple of nights, I love her enough to knock on her door again.
"Hi!"
"Yeah, we're not interested."
"Yessir!."
#southernhospitalityinthenorthwest
There were some other really neat experiences that ironically taught me that we really are all children of God. The (codename) Nimma's are a family that we have been working with for a long time. We visit them twice a week, reading the scriptures with them and helping them grow in their conversion. We're finally bringing back Art and Tyler! Tyler has even given us some of his friends to go visit. Sunday morning we were so excited to see them at church but they never showed up. We went that night to see if everything was okay and they told us about his sister codename Curly who has bipolar disorder. That morning they had all been dressed and ready to go, Tyler, Art, Dottie but as they were about to leave something triggered Curly and ultimately led to them being unable to go to church. It was so hard to feel their pain, to feel the pain the Curly must have and to know that they had been trying their best to go back to church but were unable because when we are doing good, Satan tries even harder to prevent us from receiving those blessings. I know that if nothing else good comes from me being in White Salmon, I have at least been sent for their little family. I love them so much I can hardly believe it and every time I see them trucking along, getting back on their feet I want to give them all the biggest hug in the entire world but I can only hug Dottie so we hug her a lot.
The Lord is so good to us. I'm so grateful to hear that little ole' Jackson, MO is coming together, uniting in Christ. Christ truly is the path to happiness and it brings me such hope to hear that there are still places that are fighting for what they believe by simply rejoicing in the gift that it is.
I love you all and am so grateful for the letters and emails and I am so sorry that I am terrible at writing back. Love you!!
Hna Baird
PICTURES finally (sent October 24, 2016)
Shaaaaaaake breaaaaaaak! I don't remember if I sent this one a year and a day ago but anywho. Gosh that felt like forever ago.
Baby chicks! Also, my wonderful companion, Sister Hull :D
Klickitat. When we accidentally went there at 6 at night. Fun fact -
they don't know what missionaries are and also if you go after 5 they
look at you like you came from Mars. Long story short, we don't go there
unless it's broad daylight.
Sometimes you have to gain member trust. And sometimes that means
cutting up a deer. (Dad are you proud of me yet?) Jk, we didn't help
them cut it up but they promised that if they get an elk they will call
us to help them.
Another one because I was just so happy that Sister Hull dragged me
over to see the deer because I honestly refused to get anywhere close
for a while.
pictures pictures pictures (send October 24, 2016)
first day in White Salmon - 117 miles. I can now testify that actually that is totally normal.
Alpaca and goat friends. Just kidding the alpaca actually hates us I don't know why.
Wild turkeys! (shoutout to dad)
Matt's baptism!! It was so amazing. He is the funniest guy. His son
is Japhia and is quite the character. We love them both a lot.
Old trucks that are super awesome and also a mural painted by a
less active who we spent all of dinner talking about art with. It was
kind of awesome and it made me realize how much I really love art.
Sometimes we let our hair down. a couple of pdays ago we went to a gorgeous waterfall hike. it was pretty epic
Some pics (sent October 24, 2016)
1 My best friend on Pday's because he would play frisbee with me! Elder Mayes
2. The zone one last time
3. Elder Favila. #BFFS
4-5. Elder Colunga. We butt heads a lot but we're still friends
6-8. White Salmon sunsets/road to Lyle
(October 18, 2016)
Wow look! Another week and another Pday with no time to email!
Lucky for everyone back home, there are plenty of other things to read and see that I don't know about :)
Short news
Bro N came to church and was glowing. The ward went into shock when they saw him and we just sat there and cried.
Matt got baptized on Saturday and we played If You Could Hie To Kolob on a couple of violins, the one I had only had 3 strings #broketheA #moderndayPaganini
For the new member lessons with Matt, Matt and Megan (member going on a mission in December to Pennsylvania!) have been teaching us the lessons in role plays. We are having a blast and we're helping Megan prepare for the MTC, AS WELL AS Matt is more excited than ever to share the gospel. #churchishonestlysotrue
Went to the temple and talked to a girl who told us her GPS led her there. She is amazing and will hopefully be contacting the missionaries soon to learn more :)
Miracles are real. The Lord knows us. This gospel is true and I am literally happier than I have ever been in my entire life.
How great will be your joy if you bring but one soul unto Christ. I hope you bring your own, but bring as many others as you can with you!
Until next week!
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission
Email from Sister Hull:
Lucky for everyone back home, there are plenty of other things to read and see that I don't know about :)
Short news
Bro N came to church and was glowing. The ward went into shock when they saw him and we just sat there and cried.
Matt got baptized on Saturday and we played If You Could Hie To Kolob on a couple of violins, the one I had only had 3 strings #broketheA #moderndayPaganini
For the new member lessons with Matt, Matt and Megan (member going on a mission in December to Pennsylvania!) have been teaching us the lessons in role plays. We are having a blast and we're helping Megan prepare for the MTC, AS WELL AS Matt is more excited than ever to share the gospel. #churchishonestlysotrue
Went to the temple and talked to a girl who told us her GPS led her there. She is amazing and will hopefully be contacting the missionaries soon to learn more :)
Miracles are real. The Lord knows us. This gospel is true and I am literally happier than I have ever been in my entire life.
How great will be your joy if you bring but one soul unto Christ. I hope you bring your own, but bring as many others as you can with you!
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission
Email from Sister Hull:
we took this picture trying to capture the man
with his long beard in the back.
"moses is that you??"
with his long beard in the back.
"moses is that you??"
" (October 10, 2016)
So this week I'm basically just going to describe in quotes.
Sunday - "Yeah, you can stop coming by here." (see Wednesday)
Monday - "Let's Plan a baptism!"
Wait, what?
"Are we here for any other reason?"
Well, no...
"Well then let's plan a baptism!"
Matt is an investigator that the sisters have been working with for a long time. We were really hoping that he had received the answers to the questions he had at general conference and we went into the lesson hoping to find out what all is happening and eventually plan the baptism. He surprised us all by sitting down and saying the above. It was
Tuesday - "There's always a friend, there's always a friend, there's always a friend!"
There are lots of deer on the long and lonely roads to the middle of nowhere where 3 people live. And if there's one, you know there is always going to be a friend.
Wednesday - "I do not appreciate you sending missionaries to knock on doors after 8 on a SUNDAY night and I will not, I repeat, I will NOT EVER join your church. And this is me being polite. Thank you."
-Sometimes people don't like us very much. The Bishop got quite the kick out of it.
Thursday - "Pasense!!"
(Come in!)
-said by Hispanic man who we've never met before. Totally just invited us in to teach his whole family and the 12 children there. Due to the rather awkward circumstance where he didn't follow us and we probably scared the heck out of one of the women there, we decided to come back another day when the investigator we were looking for was there.
"Cerra la puerta!"
Ya las dije que estan!"
"Digales que estoy banandome!"
(Shut the door!
I already told them you're here!
Well tell them that I'm showering!
#whenyougetinvitedinbysuperprepared10yearolds)
-His dad is a less active and his mom is a nonmember. She doesn't want much to do with the church but Adam, the 10 year old, wants to be baptized and wants us to convert his family.
Friday - "I want to be like you one day and have marbles all over my house."
Saturday - "You can pretty much beat Call of Duty if you just read the war chapters in the Book of Mormon." - me
"I don't know..." - Tyler
"I have Vikings in my family history. Do you want to see a Viking sword?" - bro N
"I really think the sword of Laban is probably cooler. It was made with exceedingly fine workmanship. Also, it's owner was killed by it and Nephi used it to design all the rest of the swords to defend his people." - me
"You can't change the subject!" - Sis Hull
"I love you sisters so much." - Sis N
-had an awesome dinner with a less active family in the ward. Sis N is super active and so is her daughter. She is raising her grandaughter's little boy and the rest of the family is inactive. As you can tell from the incredibly confusing conversation, every time we try to have a gospel discussion the subject gets changed. Shout out to the Book of Mormon for allowing us to tie everything back to how amazing that Book is. Tyler came to church the next day. :D
"Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ.."
"Yes"
"And be baptized"
"yes"
"BysomeoneholdingthepriesthoodauthorityofGod"
"YES"
Andres is an amazing investigator. He is so amazing! We taught him the Restoration and when we got to the apostasy he asked, "Wait, but who fixed it??" When we extended the baptismal invite he said yes before we could even finish inviting him.
Sunday - Miracle after miracle after miracle!!
ONe day the internet will work and I will be able to send pictures and longer emails. One day :)
--
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission
Sister Hull's email about the week:
I'M TOURING WHITE SALMON WITH MY BEST FRIEND.
OCT 10, 2016
Hi y'all!
Update on my companion, I actually hate her.
LIES
AHAHA SO FALSE
I'm actually obsessed with her.
We were driving through Klickitat, which is about 40 minutes away from our
home, and it was just another one of those fun road trips and she turns to
me and says, "I feel like I'm touring White Salmon with my best friend
everyday." We are so similar. I love her to pieces.
Yesterday was a day of miracles!
4 less actives were at church. Earlier in the week, Hermana Baird and I
went to dinner with the codename: Winniepoohs and the only active on in the
family is the mom. We told them how much we loved the Book of Mormon all
dinner long. I told them my favorite stories, especially captain Moroni and
the one time the Nephites won a battle by digging a long ditch outside
their town and tricking the Lamanites in leaving their city by a tiny
little clan of Nephites running away, so that the giant army of Nephites
took over. ANYWAYS, Hermana Baird and I are super scriptorians and the boys
loved it. The next Sunday they showed up at church!! WE WERE SO HAPPY.
We were tracting down some houses and we ran into this one guy codename:
Aladdin (because he looks like him and is super mystical). Aladdin loves
spiritual journeys. He loves talking with people about Jesus and pathways
we've found to reach him. He asked us so many questions about the premortal
existence. He said he's run into so many people who believe that we just
popped up here, but he knows we couldn't have. So we bore our testimonies
about the knowledge we have of the preexistence. We told him that we know
we lived before this earth life with Heavenly Father and are all his
spiritual children; made of His spiritual DNA! He was so excited to hear
someone else believes him. Aladdin told us he doesn't believe in organized
religion because we are all different and all have different paths to find
Christ. We told him that the Church is just the means that Christ gives us
to find our own paths. We aren't converting people to the Church, we are
converting people to Christ! I bore my testimony on prophets and how they
encourage us to pray and explore other religions so that we will have a
testimony of this way. We are encouraged to pray and seek personal
revelation and confirmation that these modern day prophets are called of
God. He was so intrigued by that and asked us for the website where he
could find these talks and watch them and seek a confirmation for himself.
He told us GOD BLESS YOU WONDERFUL GIRLS!!!
Yes
I cried for about 30 minutes on our way to dinner.
It was amazing !!!
On Monday we had a lesson with Macarroni!!!
He sat us down and then said, "Let's plan a baptism"
We were so surprised!! I started to cry because he received his answer from
listening to the prophets talk to him at general conference. He felt the
spirit so strong listening to prophets called of God.
He wants to be baptized on the 15th and asked Hermana Baird and I to play a
violin duet. I AM SO EXCITED TO TOUCH A VIOLIN AGAIN.
We had to go to the hospital this week for Hermana Baird. She hadn't been
able to hear out of one ear and had really bad neck pain and bloody noses.
We went to the doctor and she gave her a lot of antibiotics to get the
fluid out from behind her ear drum. The doctor was trying to scrape away
ear wax that was so far back so that he could see her ear drum and poked it
so hard and Hermana Baird was in so much pain after that. What he could see
of her ear drum was read and swollen. Thank goodness for drugs.
#gettinghealed.[image: Inline image 2][image: Inline image 1] this is
Best Friend :)
[image: Inline image 3][image: Inline image 5][image: Inline image 4]
Look at the beautiful landscapes I see every day
#fallisbeautiful
#fallisfreezing
#bootsandleggingsfordays
Sunday - "Yeah, you can stop coming by here." (see Wednesday)
Monday - "Let's Plan a baptism!"
Wait, what?
"Are we here for any other reason?"
Well, no...
"Well then let's plan a baptism!"
Matt is an investigator that the sisters have been working with for a long time. We were really hoping that he had received the answers to the questions he had at general conference and we went into the lesson hoping to find out what all is happening and eventually plan the baptism. He surprised us all by sitting down and saying the above. It was
Tuesday - "There's always a friend, there's always a friend, there's always a friend!"
There are lots of deer on the long and lonely roads to the middle of nowhere where 3 people live. And if there's one, you know there is always going to be a friend.
Wednesday - "I do not appreciate you sending missionaries to knock on doors after 8 on a SUNDAY night and I will not, I repeat, I will NOT EVER join your church. And this is me being polite. Thank you."
-Sometimes people don't like us very much. The Bishop got quite the kick out of it.
Thursday - "Pasense!!"
(Come in!)
-said by Hispanic man who we've never met before. Totally just invited us in to teach his whole family and the 12 children there. Due to the rather awkward circumstance where he didn't follow us and we probably scared the heck out of one of the women there, we decided to come back another day when the investigator we were looking for was there.
"Cerra la puerta!"
Ya las dije que estan!"
"Digales que estoy banandome!"
(Shut the door!
I already told them you're here!
Well tell them that I'm showering!
#whenyougetinvitedinbysuperprepared10yearolds)
-His dad is a less active and his mom is a nonmember. She doesn't want much to do with the church but Adam, the 10 year old, wants to be baptized and wants us to convert his family.
Friday - "I want to be like you one day and have marbles all over my house."
Saturday - "You can pretty much beat Call of Duty if you just read the war chapters in the Book of Mormon." - me
"I don't know..." - Tyler
"I have Vikings in my family history. Do you want to see a Viking sword?" - bro N
"I really think the sword of Laban is probably cooler. It was made with exceedingly fine workmanship. Also, it's owner was killed by it and Nephi used it to design all the rest of the swords to defend his people." - me
"You can't change the subject!" - Sis Hull
"I love you sisters so much." - Sis N
-had an awesome dinner with a less active family in the ward. Sis N is super active and so is her daughter. She is raising her grandaughter's little boy and the rest of the family is inactive. As you can tell from the incredibly confusing conversation, every time we try to have a gospel discussion the subject gets changed. Shout out to the Book of Mormon for allowing us to tie everything back to how amazing that Book is. Tyler came to church the next day. :D
"Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ.."
"Yes"
"And be baptized"
"yes"
"BysomeoneholdingthepriesthoodauthorityofGod"
"YES"
Andres is an amazing investigator. He is so amazing! We taught him the Restoration and when we got to the apostasy he asked, "Wait, but who fixed it??" When we extended the baptismal invite he said yes before we could even finish inviting him.
Sunday - Miracle after miracle after miracle!!
ONe day the internet will work and I will be able to send pictures and longer emails. One day :)
--
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission
Sister Hull's email about the week:
I'M TOURING WHITE SALMON WITH MY BEST FRIEND.
OCT 10, 2016
Hi y'all!
Update on my companion, I actually hate her.
LIES
AHAHA SO FALSE
I'm actually obsessed with her.
We were driving through Klickitat, which is about 40 minutes away from our
home, and it was just another one of those fun road trips and she turns to
me and says, "I feel like I'm touring White Salmon with my best friend
everyday." We are so similar. I love her to pieces.
Yesterday was a day of miracles!
4 less actives were at church. Earlier in the week, Hermana Baird and I
went to dinner with the codename: Winniepoohs and the only active on in the
family is the mom. We told them how much we loved the Book of Mormon all
dinner long. I told them my favorite stories, especially captain Moroni and
the one time the Nephites won a battle by digging a long ditch outside
their town and tricking the Lamanites in leaving their city by a tiny
little clan of Nephites running away, so that the giant army of Nephites
took over. ANYWAYS, Hermana Baird and I are super scriptorians and the boys
loved it. The next Sunday they showed up at church!! WE WERE SO HAPPY.
We were tracting down some houses and we ran into this one guy codename:
Aladdin (because he looks like him and is super mystical). Aladdin loves
spiritual journeys. He loves talking with people about Jesus and pathways
we've found to reach him. He asked us so many questions about the premortal
existence. He said he's run into so many people who believe that we just
popped up here, but he knows we couldn't have. So we bore our testimonies
about the knowledge we have of the preexistence. We told him that we know
we lived before this earth life with Heavenly Father and are all his
spiritual children; made of His spiritual DNA! He was so excited to hear
someone else believes him. Aladdin told us he doesn't believe in organized
religion because we are all different and all have different paths to find
Christ. We told him that the Church is just the means that Christ gives us
to find our own paths. We aren't converting people to the Church, we are
converting people to Christ! I bore my testimony on prophets and how they
encourage us to pray and explore other religions so that we will have a
testimony of this way. We are encouraged to pray and seek personal
revelation and confirmation that these modern day prophets are called of
God. He was so intrigued by that and asked us for the website where he
could find these talks and watch them and seek a confirmation for himself.
He told us GOD BLESS YOU WONDERFUL GIRLS!!!
Yes
I cried for about 30 minutes on our way to dinner.
It was amazing !!!
On Monday we had a lesson with Macarroni!!!
He sat us down and then said, "Let's plan a baptism"
We were so surprised!! I started to cry because he received his answer from
listening to the prophets talk to him at general conference. He felt the
spirit so strong listening to prophets called of God.
He wants to be baptized on the 15th and asked Hermana Baird and I to play a
violin duet. I AM SO EXCITED TO TOUCH A VIOLIN AGAIN.
We had to go to the hospital this week for Hermana Baird. She hadn't been
able to hear out of one ear and had really bad neck pain and bloody noses.
We went to the doctor and she gave her a lot of antibiotics to get the
fluid out from behind her ear drum. The doctor was trying to scrape away
ear wax that was so far back so that he could see her ear drum and poked it
so hard and Hermana Baird was in so much pain after that. What he could see
of her ear drum was read and swollen. Thank goodness for drugs.
#gettinghealed.[image: Inline image 2][image: Inline image 1] this is
Best Friend :)
[image: Inline image 3][image: Inline image 5][image: Inline image 4]
Look at the beautiful landscapes I see every day
#fallisbeautiful
#fallisfreezing
#bootsandleggingsfordays
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