I'm Allergic to Those! (August 7, 2017)

This week was way packed with miracles. 

Being that I'll be in good ole Missouri tomorrow I'm gonna keep it short :)
I dont remember much of Mon or Tues.. sorry! 

Needless to say, we started seeing miracles since day one.

Wednesday - We had our mini missionary Mariah! She is absolutely incredible and we had so much fun together. We stopped by to see Kadyn, our wonderful 13 year old friend who we thought left for forever to California. Well, he's back! See Saturday.

Thursday - We went to the shelter, had departing interviews, taught a ton of awesome lessons, picked up a former investigator, and ran into a little kid who told us "I'm allergic to these!" pointing to the cat sticker on his hand. me too kid, me too.

Friday - Kelsie the miracle investigator up and moved from Oklahoma in three days, packing 7 people, two dogs, a cat and the little that they could into a mini van and drove cross country due to a prompting from God. She left her house and everything that she had to come to Moses Lake with a family she had met once to learn more about the Mormon church. Long story short, we taught her and her mom Friday and Saturday, they came to church on Sunday and loved it and are praying about baptism. That was just one of the miracles that we saw that day :) 

Saturday - Taught Kadyn a really powerful lesson 5 all about the temple and the importance of the sealing power and he told us he wanted to be baptized on Saturday! Really sad that I'm going to miss that by a couple days but hey, I'm just glad he's making that step. 

Sunday - Said goodbye and taught so many incredible families. I'm gonna miss Moses Lake but I will never forget it.

Excited for what this next chapter will bring. Love you and see y'all soon!
Hna Baird

Pictures for the Last Time (August 7, 2017)

Me and Darth my favorite dog in the whole world Ps I found a way to ship him home. You'll meet him in a couple days ;)

The Center family!! Clara likes to ask, "What do the missionaries say? Shine on!"

The dog that used to bite me but after dealing with pit bulls and labs at the animal shelter for a month I decided it was time we were friends #imadogwhisperer

Day 1 of our incredible Mini Missionary Mariah!

This is Runty.  I think it's a misnomer.

This is Smokey. Poor guy had his ears clipped to his head and we gave him a bath to wash pepper spray off of his face. Pitbulls have such a bad rep but they're awesome.

​Day 2 of a mini missionary!

Natalie :) We almost caught a snake. But I missed.

​​

--
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission

Reminiscing in Royal (July 31, 2017)

 ​Pues this week was stellar as always.
We went on exchanges with my beloved STLs (Hna Hull whom I greenie busted and Hna Lindsay whom I trained). I went to Royal City with Hna Hull and had so much fun with her, Hna Lin and Hna Falla who are now two of my best friends even though I only served around them that one day. It was wonderful to be with my best friend from my mission again. We talked so much about the last year since we've been together and we helped each other talk out some of the things that we've been struggling with. As a newly called STL, she and Hna Lindsay are training each other to be one and she asked me a lot of questions on how to be a better leader which made me realize that I have made some lifelong friends here. She helped talk me down from the ledge of not returning home since I've been fighting it pretty bad and struggling with some fears that come with normal person life. I got to meet incredible people, be a part of wonderful miracles and all in all came out of it at peace with some of the changes that will be happening in the coming weeks.

We did lots of service, we helped at the food bank, cut hair, played with puppies, had an allergy attack with kittens, swept floors, carried trash cans, painted hallways, fixed cars (well, the elders did. we just translated) helped people move (in skirts mind you - Shoutout to Hna Hurst and Lindsay). It was a blast :)

Went to my last Zone Conference. That was hard, having to give a departing testimony. My main thesis (because feelings are hard, so I wrote a talk/essay) was that the gospel brings us a happiness that is independent of who you are around, the situations that you find yourself in, the trials you are facing, and the hardships that are affecting your loved ones. After stressing how important it is to know that this gospel is true, I challenged everyone to figure out their testimony and resolve now to never ever go less-active. A couple people thanked me for bringing down the hell-fire but I can't see my beloved fellow missionaries and friends ever fall away. It would break my heart and all those around them.

I love it here. A lot. I am so grateful for the experiences that I have been given and the miracles and blessings that God has allowed me to be a part of. I love the people I am serving with and I know that this is the greatest work that anyone could be a part of.


I cut 4 inches off of Ashley's hair (ignore the slight curve, that chick has SO MUCH hair) :) Kayleigh is creeping in the background

 Knocking out in Royal and suddenly Missouri

I feel like I'm home

 

My babies! Hna Hurst, Hna Lindsay and Hna Hull <33333 #tendermerciesoftheLord

One of my all-time favorite families that reminds me of MY family :) the Youngs

​Tracting out in Royal City means sometimes you park in a ditch #passengersidestruggles

Love you all!

--
Hermana Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission

Transfersss (July 24, 2017)

New Zone Leader Elder Ence, he came out with me!!

Due to the fact that Hna Long is incredibly awkward around elders, they had their arms around each other and shes standing in front of them to complete the awkwardness of everything.

Found some pollywogs

​I was trying to not throw up when she poured them into my hands. #thethingsyoudoforpictures
 

Hna Hurst! #waitingforourwardmissionleader

​Out on the rancho, a little batdog. there were like 7 of them :)

Corn Stands and Reno, Nevada (July 17, 2017)

Fun things happened this week!

Adriana and Norma got baptized this week! We met with them everyday for the last week and Norma, this last Friday said "I don't want to talk about Jesus anymore. Can I just take a break from Jesus for one day?" as she collapsed on the couch. So close kiddo.

Transfers destroyed our zone. Four missionaries are going home, there are 5 new missionaries coming in, districts were combined, areas were combined and half of the zone is changing. The most interesting one was my companionship. Hna Long is getting transferred to WHITE SALMON!!!! And I'm greenie busting for my last little stretch. It certainly will be interesting to see what happens here in these coming weeks.

There's this corn stand that set up next to the gas station. So we're walking to an appointment and the guy at the corn stand waves us over. We circle back after and end up talking to him for like 2 hours about the gospel and asking him question after question.
Round 2, we return and end up taking a call for him on FaceTime with a guy from Reno, Nevada and expound the Book of Mormon for about an hour.
The biggest thing that catches them up is Galatians 1:8 - if it is any other gospel, even from an angel it shall be condemned. But the hole in their argument is the question:

"Well then how do you define the gospel?"

Depending on who you're talking to it could mean lots of different things.
Baptism as a baby for Adam's sins?
Baptism as an adult for the remission of your sins?
Baptism by immersion or a sprinkling?
Can anyone do it or is there an authority that has to be there?
Do you get it from a school or a priest?
Can't I get a certificate online?
How many years of schooling do I need?
Isn't baptism really just a show of faith?
Do we receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands?
Or do we just accept it whenever?
What does it mean to be baptized by fire?
Is the priesthood a thing?
Who can have it?
How do you get it?
There are prophets again.
No, a Pope.
there are lots of false prophets.
God has reached out to other countries and we have another testament.
Did you hear about the scrolls and other scriptures found in the Vatican?
Nope, there's just a Bible.
Nope actually, it's just the first 5 books.
You return to God when you die.
You go to sleep when you die?
You just kind of poof when you die.
We came from evolution!
The Big Bang theory.
Adam and Eve.
Aliens.

Alright now I'm being a little silly. And I could honestly go on for hours. But do you see the problem? Some of these are easily argued, others are the reasons there are so many churches today. And so when I am confronted with this scripture I simply think, "So you do believe there is one true church. So where is it?"
"Oh no, all of them are good."
"And yet we don't teach the correct gospel? Who does then?"

Y'all catching my drift?
God is All-Powerful. He can do anything He'd like. He also is the same, yesterday, today and forever.
So where are the prophets?
Where are the Apostles?
Where is the Priesthood?
Where is the laying on of hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost as defined in Acts 8?
Why wouldn't He talk to other countries and peoples and manifest His power and gospel to them?

The Gospel in the Bible is laid out as
Faith
Repentance
Baptism by Immersion
Gift of the Holy Ghost
Enduring to the End

Scripture after scripture teaches us this.
Isaiah 55:9 teaches "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
So it's safe to assume then that our understanding does not limit God in the slightest.

I know that this is true. My testimony has really been put through the wringer these last three weeks with person after person arguing that I'm teaching the wrong gospel. But as I've turned to the Bible and the Book of Mormon, I can say without a doubt in my mind that there is one true gospel, the same gospel that Christ taught when He was on the earth. Logically, and spiritually it boils down to one. And it is each of our job to figure out which one that is. 

To save you time, I would refer you to the Mormon Missionaries. 

Start there. :)

Love you all!

--
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission

Fotos (July 17, 2017)

Chicks and Hens - still don't have dirt for them

 Shelter and kittens!!

normal district (kind of)

Awkward district foto

​Norma and Adriana got baptized! I promise she isn't as scared as she looks X)

Can we just appreciate her scared face?

​Slightly less scared now.

​Transfer calls where literally everything got blown apart

--
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission

I ran over a Mailbox. . . (July 10, 2017)

Da week.

Monday we were Mexican to celebrate America. Correctly.

Tuesday we did lots of service with moving rocks, dropped a bucket on my knee (see bruises), chased off a drunk Mexican as I translated car spanish because life in trailer parks are never normal. Apartment checks that night and then we went to sleep at like 9. It was glorious.

Wednesday we picked a protein bucket full of rasberries, brought some flowers to Ruth, went to Singing service, went tracting, met a Finnish man, woke up a cop, poorly handled 2 door approaches back to back concerning passed on husbands, tracted in 102 degrees, called some members to repentance (lovingly), taught Kadyn (our almost on-date that will might actually be our baptism or California's, not sure yet - all he knows is that he wants to get baptized ASAP!!), got some fresh Ranier cherries, and contacted an INCREDIBLE referral from Columbia.

Thursday Hna Long got sick. So I studied and updated the area book for about 4 hours. Then we went on mini-exchanges so that we could go to a lesson with the referral from last night, we knocked for a minute, ate dinner, our toilet broke AGAIN, had an AWESOME lesson with Adriana, Norma and the Dominguez where Adriana put herself on-date for Saturday the 15th!!! and then a wonderful lesson with Brother Hochstatter :)

Friday we weekly planned, tracted for a while again in like 300 degrees, had a fun lesson with Miguel and his mom, had a lesson with Bunny where we learned about compassion, ate with the Dales and then had some awesome lessons with the McCombs, Kadyn and then a referral from Venezuela. I want to speak Spanish like them so bad.

Saturday I took out Elder Bergman in ultimate frisbee (Timo, remember that one time when you dove and did the flip thing? Similar except that I tripped him and he didn't catch the frisbee). We moved rocks again, visited Connie, had lunch, comp, idioma (first official ones in like literally a month #migraines) and talked about some rules, went way out to Mae Valley and used our dinner hour (that was empty - no food) to contact some people we haven't for a while, then stopped by a member and interrupted THEIR dinner to ask about my knee, got pizza and were rescued from tracting that night in the sketchy trailer park that we had the run in on Tuesday with and then had a lesson with Adriana and Norma. They are my favorite. They are the first family that I have taught since the beginning and they are so close!

Sunday I learned a lot, we weren't contacting productive but we did lots of good work for the ward. Trek just got over with and Sacrament meeting was all about their experiences. The Spirit was so strong. I wish I could have gone. We talked about the 13 Articles of Faith (memorize those if you don't know them), talked to the Primary kids about missions, coordinated about helping build the ward, translated sacrament meeting, learned about repentance (which is something that I have been thinking about a lot lately), stayed in Young Womens, had a 2 hour meeting where we went over every member in the branch and figured out if we knew them or not, grabbed a bite to eat and then went to the Cobbs (whose mail box I then ran over), had another lesson with Adriana and Norma who are so prepared and excited to be baptized. Please keep them in your prayers. Adriana is looking for a new job.

Love you!

--
Sister Jaycie Baird
Washington Yakima Mission