Pictures Jan 18

Title: A week full of MIRACLES

I think I probably say this in every blog post, but I love my mission so much! This week has been a little bittersweet because my companion, my trainer, is going home tomorrow. I have learned so much from her and we have had so much fun together. I am going to miss laughing non stop with her but I plan on visiting her in Honduras after the mission! 

This week we saw so many miracles. The first was when we were walking to an appointment. There was a little girl with a lady who was about the same age as us. The little girl was pushing the lady in front of us so we started talking to her. She said that she moved into our area 3 months ago and has been wanting to talk to us ever since. She is a member and returned from her mission one year ago but has been inactive for awhile because her husband isn't a member. She has a baby of 3 months who is extremely sick, and she is sick as well. She just asked us if we can pray a lot for her because she is having a lot of challenges in her life. It is amazing how the Lord puts people in our paths so that we can give them the love and the help that they need. 

Another miracle: Two weeks ago we received a referencia for a lady whose daughter is a member. We called them right away to make an appointment. We made the appointment for Sunday. On Sunday when we called their phone was turned off and we didn't know where they lived because it is in a part of our area that is in the mountains. We tried calling them later and the phone was still turned off. We were contacting this week and we contacted an older lady with her two grand kids. The granddaughter said that her mom was Clara and was a member, the grandmas name was Faustina...She was the reference! We talked for a few minutes and then made plans to meet up with them on Sunday so that we could find there house. Yesterday we went to the appointment and found out that Faustina has been going to church with her daughter for almost 8 years but hasn't been baptized. We asked her to be baptized, and she committed without hesitation. It is truly amazing how each person has their specific time. After 8 years of attending church she is now prepared and we have the amazing opportunity to reteach her the missionary lessons and be a part of her baptism. 

I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve the Lord. I have truly gained a testimony that our Savior lives. There has been experiences that I have had in the last three months that make it impossible for me to deny this. Thank you to everyone for all your support and love!

Con mucho amor de Guatemala,

Hermana Baird 

Time is seriously flying by! I cannot believe I have been in Guatemala
for 4 months now. I am going to finish my training this next week. I am super sad because my companion (mi madre en la mision) is going to finish her mission...Hermana Rodriguez and I get along super well, she is
definitely going to be one of my best friends for the rest of my life.
But, I am also excited to get a new companion and learn how to work
with someone else! Pray for me that she will have patience, cuz my
Spanish still is no where near perfect.. Always a struggle.

I have learned so much on my mission so far.  I have really
learned in the last couple of weeks that when we have faith,
miracles really do happen. We read about this in tons of scriptures in the
Libro de Mormon and the Biblia.  I know that it is true because
of things that happened these past few weeks.  One afternoon it
was extremely hot and all of our lessons fell through. So we began
to contact. We felt like we should go to this area that is at the top
of a huge hill. We felt like we needed to contact the first house that
we were passing by. We knocked and almost immediately someone answered,
her name was Bilma. Her husband was hit by a car in the previous week
and was in the hospital because both of his legs were broken. She said
that she wanted to listen to us but she had to go to the hospital. We
set up an appointment for the next week. Hermana Rodriguez and I both
felt as if we needed to invite her to baptized, and she accepted the
date! She said that she wanted to keep learning. We visited her again
Saturday and before we started the lesson we asked her if she had any
questions about what she read in the Libro de Mormon. She said no, but
then said that after reading part of it she felt like this was the
most correct church, and that Jose Smith really was a prophet. We were
so excited! She then said that her kids (they are around 20 yrs old)
were reading the introduction of the book and wanted to learn more
about it too. So tonight we are having Family Home Evening with her whole
family! She is truly a miracle for us. It is amazing how when we
really listen, the spirit guides us exactly where we need to be.

Estoy muy agradecido para todos los bendiciones que podemos recibir a
través este evangelio. Yo se que esta es la Iglesia verdadera. Yo se
que nuestro Padre Celestial nos ama todos de nosotros y quiere la
mejor para cada uno de nosotros. Se que podemos ser la mas felices
cuando vivimos la Evangelio de Jesucristo. Muchas gracias a todos para
su apoyo a mi. Les ama mucho! Tenga una feliz semana. Con mucho amor,
Hermana Baird :)